All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Yup - it turned out that there are two buildings owned by the same coop on this single BBL, and both have unit 1As. Got in touch with the coop board president who clarified it for me.

Thanks!

To clarify what I'm asking: it appears as if this one unit (BBL) has two addresses listed for the exact same unit, and only one address is being foreclosed on. If I buy the property that's being foreclosed on, will I own the unit free and clear? How can I figure out how to answer this question, or is there anybody I can talk to who would be able to explain it?

I provided the number of shares just to illustrate that this one unit is being treated with two completely separate chains of title.

Hey BP,

I'm interested in buying a coop unit off of a foreclosure auction.

I think I understand the difference between buying a coop vs. buying a condo. I'm confused, however, because when I look the unit up by BBL on ACRIS there are two addresses with two completely separate "title trails," and each trail is for a different number of shares (150 vs. 165). Only one of the two currently open liens is being foreclosed upon, and I'm trying to understand whether this foreclosure will give me possession of the unit without any other claims.

For example, the last recorded deed transfers were in 2006 and 2009, under two different addresses, and the buyer (under one of the addresses) in 2006 was not the seller (of the other address) in 2009. The UCC1s, RPTT and RETTs for this one BBL create a history that looks something like this:

2003: Jessa sells 165 shares of 10 Woodlawn Ave Unit 1A to John

2004: Deena sells 150 shares of 20 Green St Unit 1A to Dan

2006: John sells 165 shares of 10 Woodlawn Ave Unit 1A to Jane

2009: Dan sells 150 shares of 20 Green St Unit 1A to David

2017: Jane is currently being foreclosed upon for her 165 shares for 1 Woodlawn Ave Unit 1A.

I've heard of issues with title, but I've never seen something like this before. Is this an example?

Does anybody have any advice, resources or contacts that might be able to help educate me?

Thanks to @Jonathan Twombly's generous help, I'm meeting with his colleague (a former architect who branched out to advise on and facilitate a wide range of projects) on Thursday. Again, Jonathan - I'm truly grateful and owe you a favor.

@Ceasar Rosas, three other investors and I went to the auction on 7/17 - I can't believe prices have rocketed up so quickly. I'm always happy to keep track of the market if you want to go together, or if you know anybody else who would want to go.

Thanks all. I am serious about this and I have some resources, but I frankly have no experience with a project on this scale. 

At this stage, I'm hoping to get a grasp of the numbers and understand whether this project is feasible at all before approaching potential partners. In the long term, I'd be happy to work with an experienced developer or sell to one.

How do I roughly estimate costs to build a 25 - 75 unit multifamily in NYC? I'm looking at a small number of possible locations in the Bronx and in Queens.

Another investor and I own three adjacent lots in the Bronx, one of which is vacant. Made me wonder if we could work together and get a loan to build it ourselves. We're nearby the proposed Jerome Avenue rezoning plan, which is receiving slight pushback because residents want the plans to require more affordable housing units than it currently does. 

If the project is possible at all, I'd like to reserve a good number of units for low- and median-income families and then apply for rezoning around the time that the overall plan is voted on.

@Angel Rosado, this thread has the most details I've ever posted on BP, honestly. Message me if you have any specific questions.

@Raina B., when is the home scheduled for auction? Are you pre-approved for a mortgage? And how much do you want this particular home? 

If you can secure financing for a typical loan, you could try to contact the previous owner and the bank's REO officer (the one who currently controls the home) and buy it from both of them before it reaches the auction. There are lots of resources on this process - look up "pre-foreclosures" in any book or maybe online.

But even if you do get pre-approved for a mortgage, and even if the REO broker agrees to sell to you at the price you want, convincing the previous owner to sell can be incredibly difficult and frustrating. I tried to do this myself in the north Bronx about a hundred times and I didn't get anywhere near success. The hardest part is that you literally have to knock on the door of the house, introduce yourself and try to make your case that they should sell to you (assuming it's an owner-occupied home). The only thing that you have to offer them is that selling to you will keep their credit score clean, but almost all of them are in denial about the entire foreclosure, or about anything that has to do money. If you're really skilled at door-to-door soft selling to all kinds of defensive people, then this might be a good route, but in general I wouldn't suggest this strategy for NYC.

@John Hickey, thanks! 

Just to be clear, this book is definitely not an enjoyable read on mindset or strategy like Rich Dad, Poor Dad or any of the common favorite real estate books. It's basically hundreds of pages of instructions that read like bulletpoints with statutory law cases in extensive footnotes.

So far I'm really happy with the deal. It should be at least a 1%'er when I'm done with renovations, and this insane market has given it a 25% appreciation or so. I know that everybody's a genius in a bull market, but for my second deal and my first in NYC, I'm feeling pretty relieved so far. I just hope the market doesn't fall before I can sell.

Feel free to lmk what you're working on, or if we can work together. I'm great at searching through literally thousands of homes for that one deal, and I'm definitely interested in exploring outside of NYC.

Hey all,

If any of you want to meet up in a group, I'm trying to organize an visit to the Bronx foreclosure auctions on 7/3 or 7/10 at 2 PM, or the Brooklyn auctions on 7/6 or 7/13 at 2:30 PM. We'll probably want to get there at least 20 min early, especially for the Brooklyn auction.

Most of the other invites went to other Bronx-focused commentors on this forum: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/721/topics/411790-bp-members-thoughts-on-bronx-ny-for-investment?page=1#p2827340

Colleague and message me with your schedule and details if you wanna come. Everybody's invited, we're almost all newbies.

@Dirk S. I bought it in foreclosure auction. Most of the developers at the auction were looking for the cheapest homes to flip (around the $175k - $325k range as of 10/16), which left slightly nicer, more expensive homes available. I was actually the first and only bidder for this property.

I'll be flat-out real: except for the macro/population stats and info I posted above, the only factors that drove me were the numbers. I've always loved the feel of the Bronx, but that didn't play into my strategy at all. You don't get to be choosy when you're a newbie investor in NYC during a seller's market (unless you have millions to work with).

There are a lot of ways to research foreclosure auctions, but I'll just focus on the one unusual factor that mattered. Somebody - either a previous owner or tenant - was extremely meticulous and filed violations with the city for every single tiny problem over ten years. They even reported a rain gutter pointing in the wrong direction. This let me go through all the problems in the home and estimate costs without entering.

The rest of the process that established my maximum bid amount was pretty conventional. I ran comps on the neighborhood to estimate an average price, subtracted all those repair costs and then subtracted an additional $30k or so to be conservative. The strike price (the minimum bid) was $8k under my max bid, so I'm just lucky that nobody else bid above me.

I had been going to foreclosure auctions in both the Bronx and Brooklyn for months with no luck. Foreclosures are risky and it takes a lot of time and work to reduce that risk, but I'm probably going to repeat this exact same process when/if I sell this place. After I finish renovations, this should be at least a 1%'er and it's already appreciated over 25%.

If any of you want to get coffee or go to a foreclosure auction, reach out to me. I'm pretty new at this myself and I'd love to work together.