All Forum Posts by: Robert Chen

Hi Emily welcome to Westchester and I also recently moved here from Rhode Island. I house hacked in RI and it was easily the best decision in my life. I am currently also looking for multi-families in the Westchester area and the inventory is incredibly low here and the high prices and taxes makes it difficult to have positive cash flows even with the rental prices around. 

Based on what I have seen so far, I wouldn't say there is a sudden appearance of multi-families.  I did notice Greenburgh, Tarrytown, Ardsley, etc. recently had a change in how properties are assessed and I haven't figured out what the real impact of this is yet. 

I hope you find a great deal in the area and enjoy your house hack here! I am not an agent or anything but I'd love to share my experiences if you have any questions.

Hi @Eric Hathway. I know this post is 2 years ago and I am really curious how it turned out. I have a similar situation where a pipe froze and burst (even though heat was on) in a vacant unit. The water leaked to the other units rendering them uninhabitable (ceiling cave in.. ) How did this turn out for you? Did you have property management? I would love to get in touch if you have any time.

Hey Kate and Steve, Thanks for sharing your experiences and suggestions. Good to hear from you guys! I will update this post as I go. Yeah it's a bit of murky for me right now. I am not too sure how (and when!) the insurance company will judge the amount they will pay and after that, how I would work with my property manager on doing the work. I am sure property managers handle things differently too.. I have heard the core-four and I just found some good contractors but how to manage the interactions between each other is quite another story!

Recently I purchased a 4 family multi in Providence, RI and I have been listening to Biggerpockets podcasts and reading people's stories like I am addicted. The property I purchased was at a good price because if the units are fully rented even below market, could generate 800+ cash flow a month and other properties in the area was selling at 10-20% higher. However, as I was still trying to turn around 2 of the units with carry-over tenant in the other 2, a water pipe burst due to the Northeast freezing storms. The burst happened on the top unit so all the units below, including the 2 rented, had significant water damage (ceiling caved in). 

I am still in the process of dealing with the property management, insurance and tenants.. I am quite anxious how everything will go. This is my first investment property so it's a pretty good slap in the face. 

However, I am hopeful and I am still very excited about real-estate in the long run. Every guest on the podcasts say persistence is the most important thing to succeed. At a time like this, I am very thankful for Biggerpockets to bring this community together and giving me the encouragement to keep going in real-estate. 

I know there are a lot of success stories on here but it would be great to talk about some of the lessons too. Let me know if you have had a similar experience or if you have any suggestions. I'd love to hear!

Hi Daniel. My name is Robert Chen and I just moved to a new job around the Norwalk area. I am a fairly new investor interested in multi-families and BRRRR type. What do you think of the Norwalk market? What is a normal cap rate?

Hi Anthony, yeah definitely a big lesson learned here. Thanks for the tip that there may be a disconnect between land use vs. tax records.. I suppose I will just need to keep going down the path and learn more as I go. 

Great advice Frank! Thanks so much

Hi Frank. Thanks for the quick feedback! It's good to see this happens else where too and good to get a sense of how much it could be to fix.. I am trying to use the fact that I just bought the house with no prior knowledge of this issue for either some leniency with the city or get some form of compensation from the seller.. Would this be an issue when trying to sell the property?

Hi everyone. I recently purchased a property in Providence and it was listed as a 4 unit and the building really does have only 4 units in it. However in the tax record this is listed as a 5 unit. The deal was made as a 4 unit and I even got conventional loan for it. I thought the lawyers would record the deal in the city and it will get converted to a 4 unit on the records too. However I went to the city to check 2 months later and they told me I have to start from scratch to get the record changed and they could put a lien on the house for no-permit work done if I don't.... What should I do? 

I am talking to the closing attorney and the Realtors but they are just finger pointing.. 

Has anyone gone through this before? Any advice would be helpful