All Forum Posts by: Darren Chang

@Dave Skow in my previous post I gave the capital stack

@Michael Haas also I'm not just looking into Seattle city itself. I know the market has been rising for years. I'm very open to other areas outside the city 

@Michael Haas this is my back of envelope calculation:

3000sf x $250/sf + 250k for land = 1 mil all in

Capital stack:

200-300 equity

200 investment equity

500-600 loan

Two units for rent, each as 1000sf 2-3br unit rent for 2500/mo. Two unit for a year = 60k

Annual cash on cash = 12%

Very rough and I’m just start to think about this. Not purely as an investment but also an exercise for my design and construction muscles. I’m a registered architect.

I'm thinking of buying a vacant land (or a rundown building) and build a small multifamily on it, maybe a triplex or quadplex. Then I will move into one unit and manage the rest as rentals. Any ideas/suggestions on how to locate the land? Areas that you recommend? Any comments on construction, costs, permitting process will be welcome. 

Thanks everyone for the replies. I think I’ll have some mobilization work to do with my neighbors. What I hate the most is the shareholder meeting is held once a year, and they send this survey just two months after the meeting, which puts ten months between now and the next time I can voice my opinion. As for running for the board, again I need to wait for ten months. Even last meeting there was not enough turnout to have a legitimate vote. I plan on doing some posters and inserting letter into each mailbox. I also set up an email where people who oppose the transfer fee can email and connect.

Hi, as a shareholder I just got a survey from the coop boarding saying they are “contemplating” a Transfer Fee of 2.5%. This comes to me as a complete shock. This means if I sell my unit for 400k, I need to give 10,000 bucks to the building. This appears to be absurd, especially given the two facts that

1) At the shareholders’ meeting in December, it is said the building’s financial health is in good shape.

2) The maintenance fee has been consistently increasing for the past 5 years for a total of more than 20%.

I decide to protest against this transfer fee, even rallying the other shareholders. My questions are:

- Is this kind of transfer fee typical of NYC coop buildings?

- Is there legal basis to resist such a fee? I can involve an attorney if needed.

Thanks,

Darren

Hi David (and thanks to others for their replies), in your reply you mentioned "so no need to pull credit or pay for ANY appraisals in order to get a firm loan comittment". I'm not sure how this can be done, unless you are talking about a pre-qual letter or pre-approval letter. But I don't think there is a way to lock into any interest rate without going through the whole appraisal/application. Say if the closing is expected to be on 1/15/2020, can I ask the lender to lock into a 60-day rate now? @David de Luna

Hi, would people recommend to apply with two mortgage lenders at the same time? I searched online for this topic and found the opinions split 50-50. On the pros side, I can compare rates and costs until the moment I need to lock the rate. On the cons side, I need to pay twice the appraisal fee, and might hurt my credit score. What do people with real estate in this area recommend?

Thanks,

Darren

https://www.meetup.com/New-York-Real-Estate-Investors-Association/ @Eli Lederman

Hi, a really basic question: where do you typically get your RE-related news, especially which websites do you use? The areas of interest are NYC and NJ. My typical go-tos are Real deal, bisnow, jersey digs, but feel there is something missing, especially for small investors.