All Forum Posts by: Paul Stewart

Hi Everyone

 So I currently House hack my home in Long Island NY.  I have owned the property and lived in it for almost 3 years. I'm on my 3rd tenants that are a couple. They are very nice and always pay on time but being that I live on the premises I notice how dirty they are in many aspects. I have tried to speak on the issue with them before and they were receptive and apologized but yet its still the same thing. I have been inside the apartment several times to pick up rent and to fix a bathroom fan and a jammed window on another occasion and every time the apartment smells there is a sink full of dirty dishes old food laying around and just overall dirty... I have had mice in the apartment a few years ago and I know it is only a matter of time before I get mice again or worse Roaches...Other then them being dirty and their trash outside over flowing I have to say they are good Tenants... Any idea's on how to drill the message home to them that they need to clean the premises more..lol I know weird issue to have especially when its a house hack so we share the overall property. I have the main house they have a smaller 2 bed room on the side of the house. Any creative Idea's would be appreciated. Thanks 

 Hi Daniel

Well AC does have some good options for sure... I recently purchased a SFR in the city in the Bungalow park area right near Gardners Basin. It took me basically a full year to find the right property and in that year went through 3 agents over 50 properties and 17 offers on properties.... So here is a synopsis of things I found difficult in the City.

 For Starters is seems at least from my experience there is a lot of "part time" real estate agents that have very little experience in being a agent and do not have much Knowledge to help a Investor. I would suggest not to rely on any agent so you need to do the homework and research yourself especially the basics of foreclosures and or short sales as I find that's the best way to get a deal.  Second as far as good area's well that is another issue most of Atlantic City is filled with crime and area's that you or your wife / kids etc would not want to walk through after the sun goes down so finding a good area to buy in is another obstacle but it is very possible.. again you should do the research yourself view crime analytics for the particular area drive by the area late night a few times so you can get a good idea of what to expect in that neighborhood. Now lets say you find the perfect property in a great area etc well I would suggest before getting excited get flood insurance quotes cause with some properties that is a deal killer and of course Taxes as some properties in AC are getting taxed at a value that is 3 times higher then the value of the property today. You can always grieve after you buy but for a time you will have to pay the higher Tax amount ( that's my current situation). So in all there is still room to make money for a flip or buy and hold rental etc but you have to due your due diligence yourself I would not take the word of a agent.. your agent or the selling agent because there is some sketchy agents in AC for sure. Hope this helps and good luck Hunting!  

@Christopher Phillips ok got it! Thanks so much I understand now. 

@Christopher Phillips Thanks Chris!

 So The bank is the one who has brought up Escrow for Repairs. For me to close on the house with the cash I have I need the repairs to be fixed. I could fix them myself but with this property the Taxes are very high I know when I grieve them they will go drop extremely but because I have to pay the Taxes in closing it takes away some of my money I would have used for repairs and kind of disrupts the math on the property. Let me ask you this the Repairs are being take out of the sale price of them home correct? So its not a additional amount I have to pay. It is X amount taken out of the sale price to pay for the repairs correct? 

Hey 

So I have been in negotiations on a foreclosure property. The property needs about 10k in repairs in the property. The price they are asking for I believe in my opinion is the ARV price. The Bank is offering a sellers escrow for repairs to maintain there asking price. All the damage in the property is cosmetic. I'm waiting to hear back from the bank on what the repairs consist of. My question is how does a sellers escrow for repairs work? Has anyone done a deal like this with a REO property? I googled it and got a basis of what it means but want to get a more in depth answer and a step by step of how that process works. Thanks in advance for any help that's sent my way.

@Chris Miller  Almost all the Condo's in AC do not allow Airbnb. I almost found this out the hard way. 

@Theresa Kennedy

See I agree with that and can understand it more for a owner selling but a bank using that kind of thinking makes no sense to me being the more REO properties a bank sits on the less lending options the banks have it causes issues for the bank getting their lending as all banks just get lending from bigger banks. I'm aware of all the good development the new casino's, Stockton, the tech company the Tenseness ave re development, the supposed re development of ducktown etc etc but there is no factual comps to support a real estate boom higher then 10%, overall home sales in the country are still down and there has not been much of a kick up in sales in Atlantic county. I can't imagine banks are gonna start guesstimating markets to make a extra 20k on a property that they have to up keep and pay taxes on. It makes no business sense as banks are bank not real estate investors... Thanks for the reply! Love to hear everyone's thoughts

So I must have the worst luck with searching for properties in Atlantic City. I have been looking for a SFU for 6 months have put multiple offers in and even had a short sale go side ways on me and I have been in at least 60 properties by now. I watch the market daily on what is being sold in what area and at what price and what kind of sale it was. I watch people buy homes 50k under asking price but I have made similar offers and seem to strike out 1 after another. I have dealt with some shady selling agents and my agent who was a bit unexpired (currently working with new agent). I have missed properties by my offer not getting submitted fast enough even with me having the higher offer. Overall it seems like a lot of bad luck...how much longer can this go on before I hit a home run right? My primary use for this property is as a buy and hold property that I will use for a few years as a vacation home and will Airbnb it out when i'm not using it. I obviously only want to buy a property in a "good" area in AC ( not many to choose from ) and a property that I have at least 20% equity in. It seems like I might have missed the boat or maybe not... There are still properties but I see so many REO properties completely over priced and have had offers turned away on properties that have been on the market for over 90 days and the listing price does not reflect a single comp in the area. I'm starting to lose my patience especially when I make a fair offer on a house that the offer is supported by half a dozen comps but yet the bank won't budge but then I'll see a better property that was listed for more that sold for half the price...Maybe this is some real bad luck here I do not know. I'm in AC every month and over the last 10 years have got to know AC as good as most locals, Its not like I do not understand the market in the AC area. Well this is really just a post for me to vent but anyone with a thought is welcome to post. Thanks for reading...