All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Can anyone give me the pros and cons of NYC buyer’s brokers? I’m looking at purchasing a 2 or 3 family property (to live in and also rent out) in Brooklyn and am getting conflicting input from friends and advisors. A few people I know are telling me to ditch buyer’s brokers entirely, because seller’s brokers don’t want to sell to someone with a buyer’s broker, because they have to split the commission. It’s often the first question I am asked when I inquire about a property with a selling agent (“Are you working with a broker currently?”) which makes me think I’m being screened out if the answer is “yes”. On the other hand, a few people I know (realtors) are saying I’ll get eaten alive without a buyer’s broker. My feeling is that adding another broker into the transaction is burdensome and that even a buyer’s broker who is working “for” me will not care if I overpay - after all, it means they get a higher commission if the sale goes through. So if I’m doing my research, I know the value of the properties I am making offers on, I know my market, and I have a good real estate attorney, do I really need the middle man?

Originally posted by @Patrice Penda:

Hey @Account Closed

Check out trulia.com 

It provides very good data on the neighborhood.

 Thanks!

I hope to be purchasing a small (3-unit) multifamily in Brooklyn this spring hear a lot about researching an area before a purchase, but I'm unsure where to find the information I need - and how to be sure it's accurate and complete when I find it. Places like Zillow and Redfin seems to often have contradictory info for sales, foreclosures, average rents, and charts of real estate values over the years.

My buyer's broker has given me some stuff - mostly recent sales and current inventory - but this doesn't go deep enough for me. For example, is there a way to find out (roughly) how many units are for rent in a neighborhood, so I can see how saturated the market is? And how important is that, when I only need to rent out two units? I feel like it isn't - but this is my first time, so I don't know what I don't know - and that always terrifies me.

I’ve spoken to two mortgage brokers and they both seemed to want W2s and bank statements before telling me whether anything less than 20% down is possible. Is that normal?

I’m loooking at purchasing a small multi-family (3 unit) brownstone in Brooklyn for around 1.5 million. I plan on moving into it and renovating and renting the other units out. I am just starting discussions with mortgage. I want to put down as little as possible. I’ve seen some low percentages stated here but the first words out of the mortgage broker were “twenty percent”. If I shop around, can I expect to get a significantly lower number? Ideally I’d like to put down ten percent but I’m new to this and don’t know how realistic that is. Some facts: - it will be my only mortgage - I have excellent credit - I have a decent nest egg - I expect to get about 4-5K from the rentals, once they’re renovated. Any tips are welcome!

This should help if you need detailed info about specific neighborhoods. https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ri/providence/crime

Depends which part of Providence. Some parts have much worse crime than New Bedford, and are pretty run down.