All Forum Posts by: Justin McElroy

Hey everyone!  I just looked at a property today that's been abandoned for some time.  I'm no paint expert (and to remain conservative in my estimates) I'm going to assume the worst for now and say the paint that is peeling off the walls is lead based.

Does anyone have any idea what the process is and the costs associated with lead paint removal?  Unfortunately its so bad that we can't just throw some new latex paint over it (which I understand is okay? but please correct me if it is not).

It's a 2 family house, that is about 2,000 square feet of floor space

Thanks in advance - this would be a huge help in figuring out my numbers!

Hey Samuel. Welcome! That’s a great read and it paved the way to my first property that I just purchased recently. 

There are a couple of really good meetups in the area. Go to meetup.com and look for “Hudson County Real Estate Investors” and “Hudson County Flippers and Funders”. They both hold meetups about once a month and have some good people that show up. 

Feel free to reach out with any questions!

Hi everyone!

Can anyone recommend a bilingual RE attorney in the Hudson County area that is well versed in foreclosures?  Will welcome someone that is outside of the area as well.

Please let me know! Thank you in advance!

Hey @Kunal Kapur

I unfortunately wasn't able to connect with anyone who could give me an indefinite answer, but I was able to do some research myself.  Each town has their rent control ordinances online that you can read through (although, they're usually not very clear).

Here is a link to my google drive folder where I keep all of these files: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1IB5PV0I_KK...

I don't have Hoboken in there, just because I'm not interested in investing there, but a simple google search for "hoboken rent control" should pretty much bring you right to their ordinance write up.

All of the towns in the area are pretty similar, where only owner occupied properties have the ability to mark the rent to whatever they'd like.  If it is not owner occupied and the rent has been recorded with the town in the past, then you are kind of tied down to increases on the rents that were previously reported. The increase is usually based on the annual ECI, although Guttenberg just made it a flat 3% recently (with some exceptions).

Some exceptions to be able to mark the rent to market, is if there is a "considerable" amount of renovations done to the property.  No one can really define what "considerable" renovations are exactly, so it seems like that can be left up to interpretation...

It would be great to meet another local investor.  Shoot me a PM and we can make plans to grab some coffee.

Justin

@Dan Barli is M&T a community bank or federal credit union?

@Shawn Mcenteer  I'm actually closing on my first property tomorrow - it's a 2 family in guttenberg. Pretty pumped to get the ball rolling finally!

@Rigo V. @Ronak Shah

I started a thread about this not too long ago and got some recommendations.  I haven't worked with any of them at all just yet, but it seems like a good list to start with when the time comes.  Let us know how it goes!

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/572/topics/55...

@Shawn Mcenteer Wow that's amazing! Keep it up!

@Shawn Mcenteer where is your property that you’re able to get that much per unit? Also, how many beds/baths in each unit?

There's a great podcast I recently listened to on the topic of protection of assets. There is a way to get the property out of your name and into an "anonymous trust." I'm going to be speaking with an attorney to see how I can make this happen once I close on my first property. I will also have insurance. I don't plan to start an LLC until later on when it makes more sense.

Here is a link to the podcast: http://rporeipodcast.libsyn.com/ep124-get-that-property-out-of-your-name-and-other-asset-protection-advice-from-scott-smith