All Forum Posts by: Davendra Bhagwandin

@Chris Terborg

Would be interested to know more in regards to the lien

@Amanda Gordon
Have never done any work out in Atlanta, GA but I can tell you what I've done and have seen clients/colleagues do up here in NYC. Some free some paid, all helpful in their own way.

Pulling data straight from sites like. Auction.com, Xome, Hubzu. It's free to create an account
Attom Property Data is something my old office used and paid for and was pretty great resource for foreclosures and lispendences.

Usually county courthouses will display property data on their websites or you can see it posted there in person ( Free)

Property Shark is paid but pretty useful up here in NYC as well.

Free is always nice and as someone who's been privileged enough to used the paid services I would add that if you can afford it, pay for a service for a month or so. What you pay for in money you save in time, and honestly all you need is one lead out however many you're going to get from one month of the service to make it worth it.

Best of luck in your investment journey

Hey @Danny Johnson
Happy to connect. I'm Davendra Bhagwandin from The Bronx, I'm an experienced Real Estate Broker with the Corcoran Group, and have been working in The Bronx and Westchester for over 10+ years with homeowners sellers, and investors alike. in both the capacity of a Broker, Investor, and Violation Resolution. Happy to also send you over some recommendations of folks who you seem to be looking for as well. 
Looking forward to chatting soon.

Hey @Shane Insang I'm a Bronx based Broker, Resident and Lic.Expeditor here in NYC
and can offer some insight into your plan if you'd like in terms of rent room specifics. 

Financials and strategy aside which I'm sure you've got down, It's important to look at the external risk factors when renting out ANY  property as an SRO Single Room Occupancy in NYC. As the department of buildings has very strict codes of use. You also run the risk of voiding your homeowners insurance. The following is an expert from an article on Brick Underground that explains it really well.

Can I rent out bedrooms in my NYC townhouse to help pay my mortgage?


"New York City allows members of the public to have roommates in both single-family homes and in apartments, provided that these roommates maintain what is known as a 'common household,' meaning they share the livable space of the dwelling unit,"

Under the NYC Administrative Code, no more than three unrelated roommates can occupy a dwelling unit and maintain a common household, which means you can take on one or two roommates.

But you can't rent out single rooms. "It is not legal to divide an existing dwelling unit into separated living spaces, thereby creating new dwelling units, without first obtaining DOB work permits,"  That would be an illegal conversion and can result in violations and other enforcement actions.

"If someone were to rent out part of an existing dwelling unit in a way where members have limited rights to use the common spaces and don’t have access to the other rooms—for example using external locks to separate the home into different areas—that would constitute an illegal conversion,...

You will also need to update your insurance policy.

"You can void your insurance by renting out rooms, especially on a short-term basis,"
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This doesn't even cover the type of violations you'd get slapped with (if reported of course) and what it would take to get them clear. 

So as a licensed Broker, and Expeditor with experience in dealing with investments/investors, distressed homes, and multifamily violations here in NYC I can tell you that your plan is pretty sound but the fine details of how it is executed (types of locks you use, how it is divided etc) matter here in NYC. Because housing court and violation resolutions is a daunting process.

Feel free to send me a message any time with any specific questions or such or any questions about residential 1-4 fams in NYC I'll do my best to answer what I can. 

Best of luck on your investment journey, hope you knock it out of the park soon 

Hey Dave
I've worked on both the sales and processing side of short sales and in my experience it depends on the processor/lien holder for the home, it can be within a week and sometimes up to a month. Depends on what is going on with the home on their end.

 Following this thread I'd also be very interested in joining a Bronx Real Estate meetup 

 Hey Steven sounds like quite the "a rock and a hard place" you and your family are in at the moment. As I'm sure you know and have seen from all of the wonderful advice you've gotten there is no right answer, just the right answer for you. I've worked with many clients who have found themselves in this position and wanted to say you've done a great job with the first step of which is having a strong control and understanding of your finances (You'd be surprised at how often first-time homebuyers do not).

Wealth creation within the NYC Real Estate can be challenging for many of the reasons listed on this thread and also compounded by the uniqueness of the market in each borough though it can be done.

As a broker with a strong understanding of the residential markets borough to borough I would be happy to connect and hear more about what you and your family are trying to do as well as provide any valuable insight to help along with your decision making process.

 Hi Ali,
I'm a Broker here in NYC who'd be more than happy to provide you with any info I can on our rental market. Please PM me if you'd like to connect.

Hey Jay
While I can't personally speak to the profitability and scalability of this model, my bit of advice comes from resolving violations for investors who have had these types of properties in their portfolio/ have had tenants who operated those types of businesses in their properties.

Be aware and hypervigilant of keeping the building up to code for it's specific usage especially with something like this. In NYC it is not uncommon to find out that someone "cut corners" and has been getting away with it while profiting. The issue arises once something finally does go wrong and the whole situation unravels. Violations tend to follow the property/ Landlord not the tenant. 

Source: I once took on an expediting job for an Landlord who rented their property via a master lease to someone who was working with a city agency to help at risk individuals. Even though the tenant had created the violating conditions the landlord was still issued violations and a vacate order that made it so the property could not be occupied until costly repairs (permits, plans etc) had been completed.   

Hi Mary 
 As a broker in The Bronx and a licensed expeditor who's work on resolving municipal violations for investors this is the advice I would give.

On passing your next inspection and proper way to decommissioning the illegal unit:
It depends on the exact nature of the violating condition, what exactly was seen & recorded. 
Was this determination made solely from the inspection?                                                                                                                                         Also if the violating conditions/violations are on record regarding the illegal unit and which entities have issued them.
When dealing with a gas line in NYC a licensed plumber is needed to ensure the work is done to code.

Is it necessary to decommission?
Yes if the insurance turned you down for an illegal unit and that has been documented.
Being found in violation of occupancy/use and an illegal unit can result in multiple violations from DOB, ECB and HPD all stemming from the same underlying violating condition. 

Would future insurances I inquire always see a history of a failed inspection?
To my knowledge no. It is not like car insurance where it follows you if you were to change insurance companies. Though fixing the violation of course would put you in the right.

All in all it is a fixable but tedious issue

If you'd like some help in coming up with a gameplan/ navigating the process feel free to reach out to me.