All Forum Posts by: Mary Schr

Thanks Jason-I don’t know: my attorney is saying that as long as they can produce a mortgage rejection letter, they can walk away—the thing is that I spoke with the buyer and they already got approved for a mortgage but decided the mortgage closing costs are too high.  Now they’re on their fourth mortgage broker and seem to be in no hurry or interest to close.  

The offer in contract is 935k (20k below my asking).  All cash offer is 905k and she wants me to remove upper floor tenant as well.  I would take the all cash offer if it wasn’t so low...I’m already not making back any of my original investment with my asking as it is.  

Thanis-this is my attorney telling me this. And he’s generally a good attorney.  He said the law bends over backwards to give a buyer their earnest deposit back. 

Property address is 3211 72nd street, queens, ny

Hi-I’m trying to sell my two family home (top floor is occupied by tenant but can be delivered vacant) because I just can’t afford to hold onto this property (rents don’t cover mortgage; was my first investment decision).  
It’s on the market for 955k—at which price I won’t even be making back my initial investment.  I got an offer for 935k and went into contract.  As part of the deal, the buyer wanted us to kick out the first floor tenant: the first floor tenant is awesome but we paid them some money to move out and they did.  Closing date is on Friday and the buyer is now being weird about the sale—they might not close.  I’m out of money bc I had to ask a rent paying tenant to leave (and pay them to leave) but lawyers are telling me I cannot keep any of the contract deposit at all.

I now got another lowball offer of 905k all cash.  This buyer wants the whole house vacant.  905k is so low and I’m just so torn.   I desperately want to get rid of this property (I just can’t deal with landlording and I need cash to pay other bills) but if I accept the lowball offer, I’ll lose so much money...I’m also worried housing market will collapse soon and that any nyc tenants may be risky to deal with (eviction moratoriums, etc).  

I don’t know what to do...

I just want a ballpark figure because it’s to hard to know.  And is it worth the headache so I can potentially increase rental income by an additional $1400 a month?

Hi,

I went through the process of vetting the feasibility for adding a third story to my exist two family. The department of buildings said it was allowed (I went to the Queens department of buildings with an architect—they said it would be a third story with a dormer).

What is the usual cost for adding a third story?  I have been quoted anything from 100,000 to 200,000.  It’s not large in terms of square footage (850 square foot apartment with one bedroom).  Any insight or thoughts on this?

I guess I’m wondering if anyone ever added a story to their home and lived to tell about it.

Hi,

We bought a two family home in East elmhurst, queens, NY two years ago.   We purchased for around 870,000.  However, after purchasing we had a sudden job relocation issue so we had to rent the apartments out.  The upstairs is a two bedroom (rent is $2325 with parking) and the downstairs is a one bedroom (rent is $1830, no parking).  The rents don’t cover the mortgage and we have to pay in about $609 a month for all the expenses.  

I am vacillating between selling the house or somehow making it into an income producing property.  On one hand, I’ve always wanted to have a rental property portfolio and, although I wouldn’t have started off with this one, I’m wondering if I should take the plunge and try to do something.
A friend of mine is an architect and he asked the Department of Buildings if we could add a third story to the building.  My neighbor added a third apartment and she said it was a good decision for her.  I was told it would cost around &150,000 and the house value would increase, not to mention the rental income. Is this a ridiculous pipe dream or an investment worth venturing into?   NYC real estate is insane and it’s hard to find clear answers.

On the other hand, if I sell it, I don’t know if I’d break even or make a profit....

Any thoughts or ideas?

Update: the situation has not gotten better.  The tenant refuses to communicate with me or the property manager.  She pays rent on time but refuses to talk.  And now she got the president of the coop board (who happens to be a difficult person) sympathetic to her.  The president of the board (without my knowledge) agreed to grant her an extended sublet lease even though it goes against the building’s coop rules.  The coop rules only allow a one year lease but the board president has become friends with my subletter and is telling me I have to honor the lease I gave her.