All Forum Posts by: Ro Maga

I saw a post a few days ago of someone looking for mentees in NJ. Do a search, it should come up.

It's Irvington so count on tax hikes, little or no appreciation, and lots of CapEx. I'm not so sure this is a steal.

Taxes? So you're planing on moving from Brooklyn to Irvington? That's a jump!

Yes, you need to check with JC's building department for that. The short answer is that if it were easy and inexpensive, there wouldn't be so many illegal units throughout. At the very least, you're going to have to add a fire escape, and minimal room heights, in addition of making sure everything is up to code. We looked at what it would take in Newark to do a conversion to a 3 family, and among other things it involved a minimum amount of parking spots (3?). Also, the process might open you up to additional upgrades, like redoing all of the house's electrical and/or plumbing. If your heart (or your spreadsheet) is set on a 3-family home, it will most likely be cheaper and more time efficient to pay the difference and buy a 3-family. Unless, of course, you were planning to gut the whole house in the first place. But don't take my word for it; check with the city.

The quotes we were given here in Jersey were $75 for a 1 bedroom apartment, and anything with a confined, hard to clean space as those little lofts would involve an extra fee. If she's as thorough as you say she is I hope you're paying her at least $20 per tiny house, and I'd definitely up her pay. Good cleaning support that reliable and affordable is the holy grail of vacation rentals. This is not where you penny-pinch. Show her that you value her!

We just rented a condo, and the monthly pet fee was how we got around the NJ limit on rental deposits. That said, we were only considering cats, max 2, with a $25 monthly fee each. Given the amount of damage our neighbors' dogs did to the wood flooring in the common halls just in their way in and out to their daily walks, we knew we'd have to charge a very high fee to cover repair costs. So, no dogs in our units. At least not until we get some sort of indestructible flooring.

Goodness, @Jim Kennedy! You're awesome! How do you have time to do all of this?  I'll reach out to Rocco Esposito as well.

 Thanks!

Thank you, @Michael Greenberg!  It's really bewildering that there isn't a real insurance solution (let alone options) for vacation rentals yet. I mean, Airbnb has been around for almost a decade now, and VRBO for over two!

Slice.is doesn't really do what I need since my vacation rental is not a room in my own home, but a dedicated unit. If I understand correctly how the work, that means I would have to double up on insurance: one for whenever its rented, and one for when it's vacant (and policies for vacant homes are a pretty penny). Besides, it's been over a week since I requested information from them and they're yet to contact me.  Maybe others have had better luck with them. 

I contacted proper, but their quote is 3x my current insurance. 

I'll keep on looking. 

Thank you, @Loren Clive! I'm still searching, and will post if I find someone who can consolidate. 

Thanks @Jeff Graves!  

Anybody else?