All Forum Posts by: Carl C.

You should talk to @Damon Bodine. He's a good guy and doing quite a bit in Brooklyn. 

We had to remove asbestos wrap around heating pipes before our bank would even let us close on our most recent purchase in the Mid Hudson valley of New York. The sellers wouldn't play ball so we had to front the money to get the work done. I was stressful at the time but not all that expensive. Frankly I'm happy to have it out of the house. 

I'm not sure I totally understand the question but I think it is bad practice to leave dead wiring in walls and ceilings. It can cause a lot of confusion for someone down the line. Check your local codes but be prepared to remove it. 

A decent attorney should be able to clear this up. Is the deal worth losing over an attorney fee? 

Yeah, this is exactly the sort of thing that the rent laws are trying to protect against. You better have a damn good understanding of what you are doing before trying to play that game. Look at Sty town as a good example. A few years ago, investors looked at the regulated rents vs market rents and said there was money to be made. In the end they paid waaaaay too much money and ended up losing their shirts. I would do my best to stay away from regulated units if you need market rents to make the numbers work. 

@Tim Gosser I have a few college rentals in the Hudson Valley and my recommendations would be update as much as you can with resilient materials to withstand some extra abuse. I've had two issues that popped up in each of our houses that I would absolutely take care of right off the bat if we buy another college rental. One is having an oil furnace die right after we closed. Make sure your oil furnace is properly cleaned and serviced well before cold weather hits. Second is plumbing issues with drains connected to showers. Old galvanized pipes corrode on the inside and may not be an issue for a family or couple but put a bunch of college kids in there and the problem will quickly reveal itself. Next time I'll be replacing them as soon as we close. The last thing to look out for is kids just not understanding what it is like to live on their own. You'll need a bit of hand holding to make sure they put out the trash, know where circuit breakers are and how to use them. Stupid things you'd never think of. That said, they produce good money and we have found relatively few issues as college landlords. Keep in mind we are also a lot closer than you are. Good luck with your purchase!

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If the cameras are going to alert them every time someone is coming over and they are going to bother you about who is there and why, I would suggest looking into more traditional cameras that are recording/transmitting without sending alerts. This way they can have the access to check in when they want but they won't likely be watching 24/7 putting a little less stress on you to worry about getting poorly timed calls. Good luck getting your credit up to snuff so you can get out on your own. 

Maybe clarify what kind of security camera access you're talking about. Interior like your living and bedrooms? Exterior? A landlord can't put security cameras into private areas of a house and expect to watch whenever they want. Your parents likely feel differently since they are family it probably seems like less of an intrusion to them. Exterior cameras are a different story. 

It sounds like you need to move out. You're better off not mixing business and pleasure (ask how many of us would rent to family members) anyway. Your parents have set some tough rules hat you seem particularly bothered by. A traditional landlord might set similarly tough rules in a lease but you'd probably be less upset about it because they aren't family. I would do whatever you can to find a place that you can afford on your own. You will never be happy living in your parent's house.