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All Forum Posts by: Barry Herbst

Barry Herbst has started 2 posts and replied 55 times.

Post: Is there a way to network to landlords that want to sell

Barry HerbstPosted
  • Real Estate Professional
  • New York City, NY
  • Posts 55
  • Votes 14
Originally posted by @Steven Price jr:

Hey Folks I live in the District Of Columbia and I wanted to ask everyone on here if there are other websites  or either search engines to track down landlord/owners. I've used  tax assessment , google, zabasearch, white pages I have a lead on multiple properties that are owned by the same individual but I just can't get a current address.

S.O.S   Bigger Pockets.

 Propertyshark ;)

Post: Newbie From New York City

Barry HerbstPosted
  • Real Estate Professional
  • New York City, NY
  • Posts 55
  • Votes 14
Originally posted by @Kin Hei Lam:

Hi Everyone

I'm new to bigger pockets and real estate investing in general. My short term goal right now is to buy a duplex or triplex in Jersey City, Journal Square area near the path train. 

The plan is to live in one unit and rent out the other to cover the mortgage, I work in the city so I would have to commute but the price of housing makes so much more sense than New York city, in terms of purchase price and rental income. Though it is more affordable, the price of real estate is still pretty high even in Jersey City.

I guess my target niche will be people who live in New Jersey but commute to work in New York City.

If anyone as any advice or tips it would be much appreciated. Also if anyone would like to recommend another location to look into that would be great also.
Thanks

Kin

 Welcome Kin Hei!

I know some brokers out there that work with investors, please contact me directly if I could connect you with them.

Best,

Barry

Post: Looking for Real Estate Agent events in NY

Barry HerbstPosted
  • Real Estate Professional
  • New York City, NY
  • Posts 55
  • Votes 14
Originally posted by @Joshua Anderson:

I'm looking for conferences and events in Real Estate to start attending in the New York or Tri State area. Can anyone point me towards any web resources or note worthy events that I can look up?

My hope is to start attending at least 2 per month as I acclimate to the industry.

 Hi Joshua,

Meetup.com has great events!

Best of luck.

Barry

Post: New to BP! Living in NYC & Looking to Buy n' Hold

Barry HerbstPosted
  • Real Estate Professional
  • New York City, NY
  • Posts 55
  • Votes 14
Originally posted by @Aaron Simek:

Hi BP Community,

I am living in Manhattan, looking to invest in a buy and hold property in greater New York and/or New Jersey (pretty much anything within 1-2 hours by train from The City) for some passive income.

I'm originally from Ft. Lauderdale, FL, and I hope to build a portfolio down there too. Most of my connections are in South Florida, but I don't yet feel comfortable doing deals down there with such little experience and such a long distance. 

Looking forward to learning and meeting awesome people! I'd love to get together with anyone with similar goals, advice, or jsut for some like-minded conversation.

Real Estate seems so fun! I can't wait to get my hands dirty.

 Hi Aaron,

Welcome to the BP Community. I work with many investors in Manhattan and the boroughs. I'd be happy add value to you and let me know if you have any questions or interest in connecting.

Best,

Barry Herbst

Post: New York City - Multifamily Real Estate Agent Recommendations

Barry HerbstPosted
  • Real Estate Professional
  • New York City, NY
  • Posts 55
  • Votes 14
Originally posted by @Brian Tracy:

Hey, I've got a brother living in NYC who is looking into purchasing real estate. He is a complete newbie with not a dime to his name, but he's very smart and wants to start analyzing real estate. I trust him absolutely. Accordingly I will be bankrolling him from across the country. 

Anyone have suggestions of agents with experience with newbie investors? 

 Hi Brian,

I'm a Manhattan-based real estate broker working with investors both experienced and new. I also work closely with other brokers outside of Manhattan who I'd be happy to put you and your brother in touch with. Feel free to give your brother my contact information. 

Best,

Barry

Post: What is your MINIMUM required Capitalization (Cap) Rate?

Barry HerbstPosted
  • Real Estate Professional
  • New York City, NY
  • Posts 55
  • Votes 14
Originally posted by @Marco Santarelli:
Originally posted by @Barry Herbst:
 
Hi Marco,

I'd say it depends on the market relative to the area in question and carrying capacity of your dollar. NYC residential condos are about 3-4% if you're lucky, and while this number is a lot lower than a 10-15% expected average mostly everywhere else, the appreciation and demand is incredibly high. Let me know if you have any clients looking to buy or sell in New York City; I'd be glad to work collaboratively. 

Yep, New York City is very expensive with very low cap rates relatively speaking.  Real estate investors have benefited greatly in many of the coastal markets on both sides of the U.S. largely because of rapid appreciation rates.  Unfortunately it doesn't go on forever as these are cyclical markets.  Getting in at the right time with positive cash flow is the key.  Chasing appreciation is a speculators game as you don't know how long it will last.   An investment has to make financial sense the day you buy it.  

I'd be happy to send clients your way if we can't help them.  Thanks for posting.

Continued success!

 Thanks Marco- happy to refer you clients, as well. Send me an email so we can discuss! Bherbst@bhsusa.com

Best,

Barry

Post: Terms for letting tenants out of lease?

Barry HerbstPosted
  • Real Estate Professional
  • New York City, NY
  • Posts 55
  • Votes 14
Originally posted by @Anna Watkins:

Tenants who moved in with a 12-month lease in April sent an email today saying a parent is buying them a house, it happened quickly, and they will be moving out September 1, only 4 months into the lease.  They've been good tenants, if young and slightly needy, and after growling and kicking doors I calmed down to think about terms.  The lease does NOT include an early exit clause (how did that happen? no idea and need to edit the lease for next time). The lease does stipulate that if they don't want to renew a lease, or want to leave after going month-to-month at the end of a lease, they need to give 60 days notice.  As it stands they're giving me 30 days. 

 The house is in unincorporated Decatur, Ga, a relatively popular intown area of Atlanta and probably won't be too hard to get new tenants (but what a pain)

I've  come up with these terms -- please give feedback --

I'll release them from the contract if we all agree in writing that:

1) they understand that they're breaking a  binding contract and legally they are responsible for the remaining 7 months of rent, HOWEVER

2) they are responsible for paying the rent in September, since they're not giving 60 days notice, BUT if a new tenant lease begins before October 1, I'll refund what they paid for September prorated for the days covered by a new lease.

3) I get to show the house to prospectives before September 1,

4) any costs incurred in getting the house ready for the next tenants will come out of the security deposit.

Does this sound reasonable?  Or should I just keep the security deposits and let them go? Is this legal in Georgia?

I haven't checked the Georgia Tenant-Landlord handbook to see if/what it says about this.

Thanks for your ideas on solving this situation.

 Hi Anna,

I would tell them that you'd let them out of the lease pending they find another qualified tenant in their stead, and meanwhile you should hire a listing agent to market the property to show to potential clients. I would negotiate terms to allow access.. and if they are serious about moving out, they should be thrilled to accommodate viewings at reasonable hours.

I hope this helps.

Best,

Barry

Post: Why do I have to view a property before agent will submit my offer?

Barry HerbstPosted
  • Real Estate Professional
  • New York City, NY
  • Posts 55
  • Votes 14
Originally posted by @Brian Wall:

So, I recently started making many more offer direct off the MLS than I have before (I am an agent submitting for an investor client). I am getting a lot of "resistance" from listing agents saying they will not submit my offer until both I and my client have seen the property.

I am only submitting offers based on ARV (after repair value) taking into account an estimated rehab cost, based on pictures and/or description, and assuming I will do a "normal" rehab. So, I know on average what my costs will be, for a 3/2 in a certain area.

I really don't care what the property looks like, until I know I have an accepted or at least close to accepted offer.

Once we have an accepted offer and open escrow, we then inspect the property in detail. A very high percentage of the time, we do not "adjust" our price. The only time we do, is if we see any foundation or other major structural issues, that would not have been seen without walking through.

I made over 100 offers in the past few weeks, these were all "fixer" properties. I could not possibly go see all these properties.

BP Nation - Help me out, what is a good response to those agents that want me to go see property. I want to be courteous, but also tell them my client doesn't really care about the paint color, carpet, etc, because he is going to rip it all out anyway. All he cares is the area, and the property has a solid structure.

Thanks,
Brian

 Hi Brian,

I always recommend seeing a property on your clients' behalf before submitting an offer, because you're working in their best interest. TI always preview properties for my buyers before putting in offers, most especially those buying site-unseen, such as my foreign investor clients. There are a few reasons for this:

1) Maintaining a strong relationship with our fellow co-brokers/agents is critical to our success and getting in the door in the future. Agents won't take you or your buyer seriously if an offer is placed on the property although no one has seen it... and besides, if you represent a seller, the seller may ask you if the broker/buyer have seen the property. Putting yourself in the shoes of the seller's agent, you want your client knowing that the buyer is serious. 

2) You can report back to your client on the structural condition before you make an offer and you have more power to negotiate on your client's behalf knowing the condition is poor- even if they're gutting the entire place.

3) Your other buyers may like a certain property you're viewing, even if it's not right for this buyer mentioned in your post. 

I hope this helps, best of luck. 

Best,

Barry

Post: Is a rent to own program legitimate?

Barry HerbstPosted
  • Real Estate Professional
  • New York City, NY
  • Posts 55
  • Votes 14
Originally posted by @David Perez:

craiglist post contain a lot of rent to own Adds  just curious to know how legitamate this Is, has anybody used one before , and was it a success? 

 Hi David,

Take a read: http://www.wsj.com/articles/rent-to-own-homes-make...

Best,

Barry

Post: What is your MINIMUM required Capitalization (Cap) Rate?

Barry HerbstPosted
  • Real Estate Professional
  • New York City, NY
  • Posts 55
  • Votes 14
Originally posted by @Marco Santarelli:

Although I'm not a big fan of using the Capitalization (Cap) Rate to analyze a property, it is a number used by many investors as a quick one-dimensional metric.  It is also one that is more commonly used in the commercial space.

Of course, investors have different subjective expectations of what a "good" or "minimum" cap rate is.

So I'm doing a quick poll via this post:

What is your MINIMUM required Capitalization (Cap) Rate?

 Hi Marco,

I'd say it depends on the market relative to the area in question and carrying capacity of your dollar. NYC residential condos are about 3-4% if you're lucky, and while this number is a lot lower than a 10-15% expected average mostly everywhere else, the appreciation and demand is incredibly high. Let me know if you have any clients looking to buy or sell in New York City; I'd be glad to work collaboratively.

Best,

Barry