All Forum Posts by: Peter J.

Great points, @Will Gaston

Quick question.  As it relates to the irresponsibility of student tenants, do you proactively visit your units once every quarter, or every six months, to get an assessment of the units' condition?  Obviously, that arrangement would have to be worked out with the tenant in order to provide them a heads-up notice. 

Although time consuming, I'm guessing that evaluating their condition periodically would help with the end of lease turnover cycle?  Curious to hear your thoughts. Many thanks!

This is exactly what I was looking for, @Mike Cumbie.     Thank you very much for the help/ insight!

Hi BP Members,

I'd appreciate any guidance/ suggestions as it relates an unsolicited bid for a property purchase.

Context: My brother currently rents from an owner/landlord who owns a three family residential property in greater Boston. The landlord lives on the first floor and rents the second and third floors (i.e. house hacks). He "manages" the complex as well. My brother and I would like to purchase the second and third floors, however, to do so would require the owner to undertake a condo conversion.  Due to the high costs of a condo conversion on a building from 1910 (i.e. attorney fees, surveyor, architectural plans, updating to current code, adding sprinkler system, etc.), we thought it might be best to consider an outright purchase of the entire property.   

That said, however, we think the owner/ landlord may not want to part with the home entirely.  He is approx. 75 years old and does not appear to have any immediate family/ offspring/ next of kin that he's close to.  Our thought was to begin the conversation by simply asking his long-term plans for the property.  If he entertained the idea of a potential purchase, one thought was to include a special clause within the purchase + sales agreement to include a fixed-rent for the remainder of his tenure in the home.  

Has anyone had a similar experience?  Any success stories or suggestions?  Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Hello BP:

I'd greatly appreciate any feedback/ experiences from BP members regarding the conversion of an existing multi-family residential home (currently, renting to tenants) into three condominium units.   Specifically, it's a condo conversion with less than four residential units.  Instances of a conversion with four or more units would run into constricting legal requirements with respect to existing rental tenants (i.e.  protection of tenants, relocation assistance, right of first refusal, etc.).

More specifically, I'd be curious to hear your thoughts/ experiences about the following:

1. Unexpected Problems 
2. Unexpected rehab costs for conversion into condo
3. Tips on how to identify an excellent real estate attorney
4. Tips for successfully creating "Declaration of Trust" and condo by-laws

Any and all insight is greatly appreciated.  Thank you!

Thank you for suggestions, everyone!

@Russell Brazil  In this case, would you be concerned with showing off the property to potential buyers with the baby still in the unit?  Given it's a small-sized condo (550 sq ft), do you think this would negatively impact a potential sale?

Looking to get BP members' feedback on selling a small, tenant-occupied condo unit .

- The lease has 2.5 months remaining, but I'd like to list and sell ASAP.

- Condo is fairly small (550 sq. ft) and has two tenants and a newborn baby.

- Property ownership in the area is:  30% rentals (11% above national average), 65% owner occupied, 5% vacant.

- I'm impartial as to which group I sell to: investors or residential owner occupants

Options:

1) Since the lease ends June 30th, I could list it with a July 1st availability. If it's an owner-occupant buyer, the closing would be long but not terrible (under 90 days). If it's an investor, they could close and carry the lease with the existing tenant.

2) Use a "cash for keys" approach to avoid any issues when showing the condo while the tenants and baby are there.  I could create a written agreement to offer the tenants $500 to leave early (i.e. $500 for every 30 days early relative to the end of the lease).

3) Wait until lease expires.