All Forum Posts by: Howard C

What marketing strategies are you using during the pandemic to generate leads?  What letters do you write to sellers? Any particular template that is especially effective?

Is the earnest money tax deductible on the year that it is paid even though closing doesn't happen until the following year?

For example, a 10% earnest money deposit was paid in 2019 but the house doesn't close until early 2020.  Can I deduct the entire deposit amount on the 2019 taxes as opposed to when the settlement happens in '20 ?

Please advise, thank you.

How would you package your application in such a way that the underwriter wouldn't question why you will buy a triplex as a primary residence versus just another investment property since I'm an investor with many multi-families? Just to be clear my intent is to reside in one of the units and rent out the other 2. The biggest hurdle is to convince the lender that I'm not just using FHA to add to my portfolio of investments.

How would you go about this? Is getting FHA even possible in my scenario?

I need advice on how to make a deal happen.

Currently a homeowner owes $1.3M on a loan and has stopped making payments on it for past 10 years.  Property is located in New York, which is known for their long foreclosure process and also the fact that the bank doesn't have the proper paperwork to move forward from a legal standpoint.  Market value of the property is close to $1.2M.

The bank has agreed to do a short sale.  However the homeowner wants $100,000 upfront before agreeing to short sale the property and sign any paperwork necessary.

He is willing to transfer the deed over for that amount.  Will transferring the deed immediately void a short sale with the bank since there would be a new owner?

Additionally, if a deed transfer is not possible for a short sale then how am I protected if I paid him the 100K, since the property is already underwater, putting a lien on it would be out of the question.

What would you do in this scenario assuming short sale price can be around $600-$700K?

Please let me know what you guys would do.

The property is actually currently taxed as a single family and on HPD shows up as 1 "A unit apartment".  However on the Building Dept the building classification of the property is "Miscellaneous Two Family (B9)".  I have a realtor friend and he says that a TWO family will basically be 100-200K more in value which I'm losing because my attorney at the time of the purchase didn't do the proper due diligence of obtaining the Letter of No Objection.

I have an issue with a property that I own in Brooklyn that just came to light when I decided to sell.  I purchased the house as a TWO family, as was stated in the contract, but now finding out that I can't get a Letter of No Objection (LNO) for a TWO family.  My attorney basically screwed up during the purchase and never requested a LNO for me back then and since the house was build prior to 1938 a C of O is not required.  I am now forced to sell the house as a single family, which is setup as a TWO, but this will certainly yield a lower price since a TWO family would be worth more in my area.  Additionally, I don't want to go through the process of obtaining permits and applying for a new C of O since the the work that was done prior to converting it to a TWO family was most likely not done legally (eg. no permits were pulled) and certain work would have to be changed with the new building code.  What would you do if you were in my shoes?

In the state of NJ can one member of the LLC sign the listing agreement or does all members have to sign if it is not dictated in the operating agreement? This is for putting a property on the market to sell.

I just sold a property and have the funds with an intermediary. The title of the property was under my personal name. If I purchase the exchanged property under a LLC, which I'm the sole owner of, will that cause any issues with the deferred capital gains?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

-Howard

Michael,

And to answer your question how I got to 10M+ I started by saving up a decent nut and then used the funds towards the down payment to purchase my first property in 2009.  From there, just used several different strategies, like purchase, rehab, cash-out refinance, rinse and redo. The uptick in the NYC market from the past 5 years helped as well as the deals I was seeing back then for 350-400K were now worth 900-1.2M.  It goes without saying it was a lot of hard work and luck, buying in the right areas in the right time, etc.

Michael,

I generate pretty solid cash flow, low 6 figures, but to purchase a property in Brooklyn or Queens, you're looking at easily a 1M purchase for a 2 family (in an average neighborhood with a solid tenant base).  The cash flow derived in a year would be sufficient to go towards the down payment of a property but this is, in my opinion, way too slow to grow.  I mean I don't mind buying 1 property a year but the issue is about scaling and getting to the next level quickly (time frame of 10 years for example to hit the 100M portfolio).  I can buy 1 property a year but won't get to the 100M mark until I'm old and senile.  I just want to do it while I'm still young and still have the energy and vigor to source deals and the risk tolerance to invest in a little riskier neighborhood for a greater return.  

Steven,

I don't mind partnering with somebody else, and have in the past with my brother, but in this business is hard to trust somebody unless they have a proven record.  I've been trying to meet up with other investors but just haven't had the opportunity to form that relationship yet.  Finding a right partner with sufficient capital to fund the deals are hard, but I guess not impossible, just have to continue to look and network.  Also, at this point in my investment business I would rather do it alone and retain the equity for myself as a partnership will expose me to unnecessary liabilities such a personal guarantee, making sure the partner perform his end of the bargain, etc.