All Forum Posts by: Luis Rodriguez

I was actually thinking of moving there. I have an online business and can work from anywhere. I have to move out of my place in Sept. I just feel like the high cost of living and income taxes in NYC are getting to be too much. Florida has no state income taxes so thats a huge plus. I'd like to get a studio or 1BR. I like the older 2 story buildings but I'd worry about flooding.

Something like this would do.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1776-James-Ave-A...

How much is flood insurance on Miami beach if I were to go with a place in a 2 story building ?

bump since I wrote this post at 2AM.

There seems to be a lot of rentals available and rent prices have dropped dramatically compared to when I looked late last year. How is the housing market for a studio - 1BR at the moment ? I'd consider buying a vacation property depending on the price.

@Shmuel Harris, we found their website they use to rent the properties. I spoke to someone and he told me the owner is firm on his price and they're just going to try and rent it. They think the property will appreciate next year. On to the next one...

@Shmuel Harris, both. I was told they had a tenant for 2 30 day leases in the smaller unit but other than that, its just been sitting empty.

@Randi Plevy, You're right, we did fall into that mindset since there isn't something like it in the areas we're looking in. The rent prices they want are ridiculous for the area. It's a 2 family and they wanted to rent it to one tenant. They recently marketed it for 2 tenants but the rent they're asking is still too high.

Ding ding ding! We have a winner! I've done my research and these guys have a ton of buildings. The property has low taxes so I'm sure they dont care if its sitting for a long time. It's already been a year. They tell people it was remodeled top to bottom, but thats not the case. They probably did a few minor things and added new appliances. I tried reaching out to the owner myself. I called the guy who he uses to rent the properties this morning but haven't heard back. @Shmuel Harris

My wife & I are interested in a 2 family property in Queens. It's been a month and the house has had 4-5 agents. This house has been up a year. The seller doesn't want to deal with a buyers agent. The first agent I spoke to let me know there was a big price drop. We thought about it for a week and a new agent came up on Zillow. We go see the house, we love the lay out. Everything is in good condition. It just needs a few little things. The agent was a weird guy and he's not sure about the questions we asked. We made a low ball offer and he turns it down. He doesn't even tell the owner. 

Now a new agent comes up on Zillow and he lists himself as the owner and I think he really was the owner, but he was pretending to be an agent. We made a better offer but he wanted $20K on the side because the owner wouldn't want to pay him his commission. We move on.

Now a few days later a new agent list the house. He works for the same company the first agent worked for. I asked about her and he told me she ended up leaving the company. We go see the house and we look at the house together. We point out the things wrong with the house and we make an offer. We fill out a letter of intent. A few days later we find out the offer was turned down. He gives me a bunch of high comps which are either in better locations,have parking,3 family homes, and 400-600 more sq footage. He also tells us the owner doesn't want to deal with an FHA loan. He gives me a banker who's his bosses long time friend, but I dont feel comfortable with the sellers agents knowing my banker.

Let's fast forward to today and another agent list the house. I call him up and pretend like I dont know all these things about the house. I tell him I spoke to a different agent last week, are you the new agent ? He says yes, but its an open listing. I ask if the owner would be okay with an FHA loan ? He tells me he'd have to ask. He calls me right back and tells me the owner would be 99.9% okay with an FHA loan.

Can someone explain to me what is going on ?!?!?

I assume so. They weren't hard numbers. I just wanted to get an idea what we'd be getting into. I was told around 10K by two bankers.

Closing costs/refinancing in NY is expensive. Since it's a 2 family, every other loan besides an FHA wants at least 10%. If it was a 1 family, even in the same price range, we'd be fine with 5%. I'll keep looking and hopefully I can find something.