All Forum Posts by: David Shulski

The real estate broker I use happens to deal with a lot of investors and he is located in Nassau.  I'll give you a quick story.  I agreed to put down ten thousand on a short sale.  I bring the contract to my lawyer, and he says "ten grand... you're out of you're mind"  he scratches it out and says "We are only giving five and from now on if you want deals, make your broker offer one thousand down on five short sales instead of five on one.  The first one who comes back is the winner.  You have to realize the time value of money."  I said "doesn't that seem a little dishonest."  He says "Do you think the bank won't cut you off of a deal after committing your money to them and waiting around for a year.  I see it all the time.  This is business.  Make no mistake, we are all in business to make money."  I'm not going to put his name on a post.  If you want his information, send me an email.  

The house is in Center Moriches.  I've put a ton of work into it so far, and I figure I have about 6-7 weeks of work left on it (doing 75% of the work myself).  This experience has taught me much more than a book, blog or podcast ever could.  

Chris, what type of Real Estate are you looking to get into, something similar?  I keep a lot of tools at the house and it is unoccupied a lot, so I'd be a little skeptical of bringing strangers there but I wouldn't be against it if you want to meet up for a cup of coffee first.  

I work with a lot of HOA's in New York. I was under the assumption that if there was a mortgage on the unit, the bank would pay the real estate taxes themselves, this way they can go forward with the foreclosure process and it wouldn't go to a tax deed sale. Also, if there is no mortgage on the property, most Boards along with Management usually foreclose on the property themselves in an attempt to collect the arrears on the unit. I see this happen all the time. I guess anyone can drop the ball though.

That is too funny.  I worked at a U-Haul when I was younger and we found someone sleeping in one of the storage units.  He had piss jugs in there and everything.  My Best friends house (Mastic) was next to an abandoned house and the same thing happened. The Cops were there kicking the people out, and when we asked them what happened, they said the same thing.  Someone who didn't own the house was renting it out to these people.  Life is a trip.

Hey Raja,

This is a little off topic, but since you said you had a section 8 house there, I figured that i'd bring it up.  I was told once that Gordon Heights has more registered sex offenders than registered voters.  I took a look at a house in that neighborhood around 8 months ago.  From the looks of it, that definitely could be the case.

Mastic Beach has recently become its own township, it is no longer a hamlet of Brookhaven.  From what I hear, they are making it much more difficult to have section 8 housing there.  I know that Shirley was also trying to follow suit, but I'm not sure how far they got.  If Mastic and Shirley do the same, it may be more difficult down the road.  Just something to keep in mind.

Nick, not sure who you are directing your question to, but I did not finance the property.  I'm using personal funds.

Raja, Do you find it difficult dealing with Section 8 Tenants in those areas?  How do they treat your houses?

The Woman who runs the local REIA does a lot of houses in that neighborhood as well. If you do go for it, just stay away from Neighborhood Rd. and anything south of it.

I'm flipping this house.  It was a short sale.  Doing most of the work myself  except for some of the larger projects like adding the bathroom and replacing the roof.  

An old neighbor of mine just sold his place.  It was around the corner from TJ Hero shop.  It's a 2/1 and went for 183k.  He had it listed for only 3 days.  But in this case, the house was in really good shape.  So, it can be done I guess.  

I grew up in Mastic Beach, so I know the area quite well. It's not a very nice neighborhood. The west side of William Floyd away from the water is alright, but kind of expensive considering that you still have to send your kids to William Floyd High School. Take a ride through the neighborhood if you want to know about the supply. A lot of streets have more than one boarded up house. I would also take a look at FEMA's flood maps. Sandy did a number to a lot of the homes closer to Smith Point. There are a lot of cheap houses over there, but I wouldn't even feel safe leaving my tools in an unoccupied house in that area. I'm currently working on a house in Center Moriches, it's my first one. It cost a little more to pickup, but it's a much nicer area.