All Forum Posts by: Ingrid Nagy

Thanks Steve, very interesting articles!!

Chesapeake and Cabot oil are some big firms in on the gas drilling deal. Texas has been big on these leases and they have now become popular in the region of the Marcellus Shale in portions of PA and NY.

Over the last three years I've seen offers start out at $25 an acre; last known deals I saw were at $5750 per acre. The lease terms I have seen are 5 year leases with lump sum payments up front. IF they decide to drill within the initial five years of the leases they generally have clauses giving them the automatic right to an additional 5 yr term at no cost. Anything pulled up however usually requires a royalty payment to the landowner of approx. 20%. I'm not sure however how the actual 20% of the net is calculated. If you are in a known "area" where they want to explore there is no need to find the players - they will find you. They are locking up parcels of all sizes.

Generally in cities (metropolitan areas) leases run about $19000 to $24000/yr. leases are 5 yrs with (5) five-year renewal options usually at 15% bumps. Towers in country areas-pastureland are less. My dad has a monopole on farmland and he is in year 17 of a 25 year term. Since his lease is old the base rent is one-fourth of mine. Any increases in real estate taxes are borne by the cellular carrier as well as legals if it goes to litigation (assuming the carrier really wants the site badly). Construction expenses also are borne by carrier. If the installation is on an existing building the building dept may require upgrades to accommodate the installation - this is also paid by the carrier. i.e. I needed a larger electrical service to accommodate the carrier - the building department required an upgrade of not only the amps running to the building but an upgrade of all circuit breakers and boxes to each individual apartment's service. Carrier covered this expense.

In the old days sites were always selected on private property because ordinances prevented this type of construction on municipal land, buildings, schools etc. Many towns have revised their ordinances now and are permitting towers on public property because they are realizing the income stream to the budget. In my case the town made the carrier search in the "search ring" for a comparable site on a commercial property because the ordinance provided that these installations could only go on commercial buildings. There is also a middle school 250' away from me. However, the then existing ordinance prohibited this type of install within 200' of a school. The Board repeatedly denied the application and the case went to the Superior Court where the Board's decision was overrided because FCC guidelines supercede the municipality - cell towers provide for the "Public good" - emergency 911 phone service.

Where the towers make their money is not only through our monthly service fees, they sublease and co-share with other carriers. My dad's lease is an old one and is not with a cellular company but with a company that merely locates and constructs. Then they sublease to carriers. His site now has 6 major carriers on it as well as the State emergency system.

I have cell antennas on top of an apt building (not a monopole). Not quite sure how to go about soliciting them. In my experience they solicited me through their "Site Acquisition Specialist". He is assigned an certain area that the data collection department determined is either a dead zone or an area requiring more antennas (places where calls frequently drop because usage exceeds capacity of site). My site because an offload site for the main antennas about 10 blocks away.

It may also be that the town/community your property is located in has an ordinance against cellular towers. Some municipalities ban it even though the FCC guidelines supercede that of a municipality. My site took 3 yrs in court to actually finally get approval - mainly because the town did not permit antennas on residential structures.

Honestly when I rented apartments when I was young, I never even thought about renters insurance, no matter what the lease said. In all the years I have seen very few people that carry it. Normally they get it only after they have experienced a loss of some kind.

My tenant from hell just moved April 3. She's looking for her sec dep now and I'm pondering what I will do. My damages were $300 to an electrician, a new stove hood $54, replacing the vinyl floor tiles in the kitchen damaged and sanding and refinishing the cabinet above the hood. None of it substantial enough to put in an insurance claim as the deductible wouldn't even cover it. I did also have to pay two $150 charges to have my common area hallway fire extinguishers recharged. They had two kitchen fires, one in Dec and one last month. The first caused the damage, the second no additional damage. The extinguishers are there for emergencies and I realize that their use probably minimized their damages and mine. However, when the second stove fire occurred they did it again, using the extinguishers as their personal method of fire prevention. If I make some deductions her only recourse would be to sue me. I feel like giving her some grief for the years of pain she has caused me, legal fees, bed bug infestation etc. yet the other side of me feels as a landlord I should be fair.

any suggestions?

This is my first apartment where the cat urine went thru the carpeting into the flooring. Ripped out the carpet & we are refinishing the floors soon. Anything I can do to get rid of the smell without tearing up the flooring??

You know youre a real estate investor when you put a bid on a property and simultaneously run a craigslist ad to test the rental market as if you already owned it while also figuring out how you can get started working on in before closing to have it rent ready on the seller's dime.

I was practically begging for new tenants to fill vacancies all Winter long. Suddenly in the month of March all hell broke loose in NJ. Its back to leasing them up before they are even empty! There are vacancies everywhere but this proves that when you have developed a reputation of providing quality, clean affordable housing....a good reputation will have them beating the door down. Life is GOOD................

I learned about the law the hard way one year ago. In NJ we have State "green card" inspections every five years. At my last inspection the inspector asked "do you have your lead certificate? who does your painting repairs?". Naturally with a super I advised her he made my repairs. She politely informed me of the law. I was given a laundry list of violations and 60 days to make repairs with a Lead Hazard Certified person, NOT the Super.

Education next - I immediately signed myself and my Super up for one-day courses offered at Rutgers University - cost $35.00 each. Course taught the hazards of lead of course, ways to "properly" do repair work and Certifications. This building is 100 years old this year and there are photos on my profile so it is inevitable that I must comply. Once the repairs were completed I had to produce the "Certificate" evidencing we were certified to make such repairs.

Where the lab and outside lead remediation contractor come into place is when you are given a specific violation stating this requirement. For example, in 37 units I had about 12 painting violations. There was no rhyme nor reason why those units were selected as many had NO peeling paint. She just wanted them painted because they looked like they hadn't been painted in a while. In other units that had minimal peeling paint, the Certfiicate we provided covered these repairs (because the amount of peeled paint was less than 2 square feet). She selected two of these apartments requiring that they be tested by an outside remediation contractor. For the units that required minimal painting repair we were required to produce paperwork evidencing that one certified person took dust samples and the other certified person made the repairs. The same certified person could not do both. Lab tests per apartment-dust wipes ended up costing $50 per apartment for 5 dust samples. More paperwork.

If you are still reading and interested in how the remaining two occupied apartments had to be handled I'll post it. I figured you may be getting bored by now :)

Become Lead Hazard Free Certified....in NJ it requires a one day course and a $50.00 fee. The course has been offered for teh past 1 1/2 years, long before this new law's effective date. Why take the risk?