All Forum Posts by: Scott Williams

Just for some market info. I'm house hacking in Brownsville because I was priced out of BedSty. I got a 3 unit for $515k in July 2014. The price was top of the market at the time. Still might find stuff here, but it looks like the real growth is in East New York.

I can see why it looks like a leak, but it's just a really poor patch attempt by the previous owner.

Do you have any good contractor you use?

Greetings community.

I hope this is an acceptable question for the forum. If not, let me know and I'll take it down. I want to know if any of my fellow Brooklyn folk have recommendations for handyman/contractors to do a small job. Specifically, I need the door frames and trim replaced and new doors hung where the tenant and their cat damaged everything. Also, of all things, the ceiling on the unit is pulling away from the walls. I do a lot of my own work but have never seen anything like this. It's the top floor of a 3 story building (2006) and I attribute it to settling (picture attached with old repairs done by prior owner).

I have one person's contact that I met at the recent BP get together in Brooklyn, but I want to get a couple bids since I'm unsure of what needs to be done to fix this.

Thank you in advance for your thoughts.

Welcome James. I hope you find BP very helpful. I've met a bunch of great people so far. 

I used to be a probate court clerk in Texas, but wasn't dealing with real estate at the time so never even thought about this. If you care to say, do you find that some sellers are motivated and are more interested in a quick sell, rather than top dollar?

I hope to meet you at the next Brooklyn get together.

Out of sheer curiosity...may I ask why?

Hi David. Just know that it can take up to 6 months to evict someone in NYC. I've gone through the process and the Brooklyn housing court acts more like a social worker's office than a court of law. The tenancy rules here heavily favor tenants. If your doing a holdover, and they're not Section 8 or Subsidised then you may get them out sooner.

@Frank N. if you have tenants using 300 to 800 gallons per day then you likely have a leak. On a busy day, my 3 unit building in Brooklyn uses 80 gallons a day. Go to the utility website and look at the usage per hour. If you see a constant usage at 2, 3 and 4 in the morning then you have a leak. That's what was going on when I bought my place and I lowered the water bill from $3000 to $400 a quarter.

After I originally wrote is, I realized I as thinking of CF and not gallons. I went to check and my whole building ranges from 224 to 600 gallons a day, so I still say you might have a leak or see if they're running a private laundry service using your water.

Hi @Leon Greene. Brownsville certainly has a reputation. It, along with East New York, has the highest concentrations of Sec-8 tenants. I live right across the street from one of the housing projects towers you were referring to. The area is almost elusively low-income African american. We haven't had any problems and I walk through the projects and play with my daughter on the many playgrounds in the project's complex. That's not to say we don't hear plenty of colorful language outside the window from passers-by. I'm happy to share any other info if you like.

@Daniel Montes I would certainly give you the name of the realtor I used if I thought they could help. I did all the heavy lifting to find and buy my property in Brownsville. My realtor was useless and the seller realtor was brand new. I wouldn't use either of them again. If I come across a good one I'm happy to let you know. If anyone else knows of a good realtor, I'm always happy to check them out.

Welcome to the neighborhood. We bought just what the thing you said you were looking for last year in Brownsville (right next to East New York. These are the last "affordable" areas in Brooklyn. The challenge I had for the multifamily properties was competing against so many investors making full cash offers above the asking price. With some persistence we got the 3 unit building we're in now. I'm happy to share any knowledge I can.

Good luck in your quest. I'm sure we'll be looking at similar properties to grow our future.