All Forum Posts by: Nicholas LaGatta

"Investation" was an all-too-appropriate slip of the tongue.  I'm dealing with a serious German roach investation myself, would appreciate any tips.

Check out these guys: http://www.realtycleaningusa.com/ AKA Maid in America.  When I used them to prep a property, they were fast and efficient with no BS.  I would use them again.

Bring new lock sets and a way to secure the windows, if necessary.  Photo-document all conditions before you clean up, just in case.

@Joshua Feit When in doubt, I usually take Michaela's advice ; ]

I would also recommend pulling your address in Accela and GIS (Google these) and property tax records.  This will help you see much of what they will be able to see at Office of Buildings and Planning and give you some context to current/past zoning and ownership.  

Also, I'm curious what your plans are?  If it was built in 2004 and you don't need major renovations and you plan to buy and hold, I think you would be fine.  Far be it from me to go all Barbara Streisand Effect on a property I'm working on, but really that's what I mean about treading lightly.  

Call Zoning and ask for Scott or ask to be transferred.  Unfortunately, going in person is by far the best bet, but I know how inconvenient it can be.  

Be careful to do as much research as possible and to not overshare, if you know what I mean.  Just the facts...that are explicitly asked for.

So, I spent yesterday morning down at City Hall and did the full tour, including Office of Buildings, Residential Permitting, Express Permits, Zoning, UDC, Transportation Office (for a dumpster permit I knew I didn't need that Residential Permitting insisted I did) , and the inspector's office.  

It was a massive cart-before-horse challenge to communicate the nuances of work I was currently doing at the time, work I was planning on doing myself, work I was planning to contract out, and work I would do if the requirements fell within my time and financial budget (despite bringing a clear typewritten scope of work and pictures).  After getting the full run around and very different stories depending on who I was talking to, the SWO was never entered into the system because I wasn't doing anything that required a permit and I was well down the path of being compliant for projects that I was just contemplating.  Everyone was very impressed by my familiarity with building, muni, zoning code, etc., but that should just go to highlight how incomprehensible the entire permitting process is, even for someone who has studied all publicly available materials I could get my hands on.  

One of the project managers worked with me and gave me some guidelines for what I need to start submitting Express  Permit requests, but it's still extremely unclear what documents I am going to actually need to get through the process, given that I am applying for Express Permits as a homeowner, presumably exempt from contractor requirements.  

No good deed goes unpunished.  In addition to calling the UDC last week, I sent the urban designers an itemized list of potential projects for their feedback.  Meanwhile, today I got a stop work order posted from the Office of Buildings.  The inspector was nice and said it wasn't a problem, since I was already coordinating with UDC.

After a couple hours talking with the Office of Buildings, UDC, etc., they actually won't issue me a permit because nothing I am currently doing (tearing out carpet and throwing out junk in a dumpster) requires a permit.  Since that's the case, I'm not sure how to get rid of the stop work order (which actually isn't even in their system yet), especially given that I was going to take my time to figure out the permitting process and do it right.  Now this is extremely frustrating. 

Yes, that's right.  Of course, the best course of action would depend on many different factors.  If you're talking about a "paint and carpet" situation, that's one thing and I think you're approach is fine with relatively high probability of success, assuming you know what you're doing and you're right about the condition.  If you're talking about a "let's see what things look like when we gut the walls, peel the roof off, figure out where that water is coming from, figure out why this wall is falling down, evict all these damn squatters, etc.," it's a very different story.  

Hi, Sharon.  I wanted to put in my two cents, but I think the posters above covered the main points very well.  I think you're setting yourself up for failure and being over-leveraged.  

I think you need to step back and consider your budgeting and planning to be fine in terms of the worst-case scenario and not the best-case scenario. For weighing your options and doing the math, consider a personal line of credit from your bank (I got $40k at 10% and it was as easy as buying a used car) and also consider a 401k loan (I did this for $50 fee in 10 minutes and got 4% interest), versus a draw. These can be options to avoid dealing with HML fairly-annoying draw requirements and interest rates can be much more favorable.

I invest in this neighborhood because I live here and it's a great area to invest in, if you know much about the area.  I'm not going to give up on a house I just bought due to a very minor set back.  This is a buy and hold property, not a flip.  

I don't think outsourcing all of the thinking is the way to go either.  I am asking these questions because I want to know the answers and how to approach situations like this.  

991 Metro is a great property, but definitely needs extensive renovation.  I love the gable design.