All Forum Posts by: Nik Divakaruni

Good Evening Fellow BPers,

I have a 35-unit property that I put 10% down on, and the seller carried the other 10%.  This is coming due next week.  

The seller is telling me that no legal work is needed once the funds are paid back to him, although I find that slightly odd.  I realize it's a note that has reached maturity, but I figured at least something should be done for us to close this out.

Any others here that have closed out a seller carry, and what steps were done at the very end to ensure all ends are tied off?

Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!

Nik

All, 

I'm a rather seasoned multifamily investor, and currently own 9 buildings, ranging from 4 to 10 units.  I've had mostly good luck in getting good appreciation on ones that I've sold, and working to bring costs down on buildings that were very high.

Well, I've run into my first major problem, and wondering how folks have dealt with it.  We acquired a building in a B area with C tenants - not paying the highest rents, but they paid on time (mostly) and were OK with the condition of their places being lower than I would like, in exchange for lower rent.  The intent was to deal with more pressing issues in other areas of my portfolio before getting to these.

This came back to bite me, as we've found out that there are two major things that the inspections missed.  The roof needs to be replaced (I knew it would be, I didn't realize it was in as bad of shape as it is, and the whole fire escape apparatus for the three floors needs to be addressed).  

Estimated repairs on them are nearly 50% of what I paid for the building.

Has anyone encountered this before?  If so, did you completely remodel?  Just do the requisite repairs?  Thinking about shutting down the building and completely gutting/remodeling it (and adding submeters for all utilities) and then bringing rents back up.  Good news is that rents are way below market, so just increased rents would be a major equity lift.

Curious to see how others have handled this scenario.  Thanks!

Nik

Patrick, AFCU is great, I'm no longer in the Salt Lake market but they were my lender when I was there. As far as a HELOC, they probably won't give you a line if they're not in first position on the debt. It's rare and given your relationship they may but if you're just opening up a relationship with them, then it'll be tough to get a line. Good luck! Nik

Hi @Ray Li, I currently live in the Bay Area too and actively invest in the Pittsburgh and Phoenix markets.  By June of next year, I will have over 150 units combined in those markets.

Happy to discuss experiences with you.  Feel free to PM me and we can set up a time to talk.

My advice to you - invest in a syndicated deal (as David mentioned above) in a market that appeals to you.  Learn the ins/outs of that market as much as you can, in that deal, and then go buy your own property.  I made the mistake of jumping into the market on my own without any experience, so I have quite a few cautionary tales for you.

Nik

Hi, 

I'm looking for a good, and moderately-priced contractor and/or handyman in the Pittsburgh area.  We have been using a handyman that is moving, and our contractor is frankly too expensive (although he does good work).

Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your help in advance!

Nik

Hi all,

I'm putting together my first large syndicated deal - and I was wondering if there's anyone locally here in San Francisco/Oakland area that would be willing to meet with me and discuss over coffee/dinner, and critique/give tips to my model?

Happy to cover dinner/coffee for some good expertise.  Please let me know if you're interested!

Thanks

Nik

Hi BP,

I currently live in California and invest in Pittsburgh - we have nearly 60 units in the Pittsburgh area.  Currently, we use a property manager (and subsequently their merchant bank account) to manage our finances, which gets deposited into our Bank of America account.

I'm thinking of setting up a local business checking account, but of course, the major banks that we have out here in California (namely BofA, Chase, etc) have no presence in Pittsburgh.

Does anyone have any good recommendations for a local Pittsburgh business checking account?  I saw PNC, but they limit the amount of money you can deposit before they start charging fees (WTF?!?).  I looked at SSB and First Commonwealth, but again, the fees seem to be very ticky-tack.

My current BofA account has no fees for anything if we keep a certain balance.  The Pittsburgh banks I've looked at will not charge a monthly maintenance fee, but will continue to charge the other fees.

Anyone happy with their bank?  Just a note - between despoits, bills, etc we average about 150 transactions a month, but starting to grow.

Thanks!

Scott, nice to meet you. I currently own 32 units on the North Side of Pgh, mostly in Observstory Hill and Avalon Borough. I live in CAlifornia full time but from The Burgh originally. Would love to chat further.