All Forum Posts by: Suja N.

I am under contract to buy a commercial building and am planning to convert it to a 20 unit apartment complex.  The environmental phase 1 analysis came back with a number of issues.  The site was once an auto repair shop, across the street was once a dry cleaners, and next door was once a gas station.  The site was also oil-heated in the past.  The phase 2 environmental report is around $15K.   I'm trying to decide whether to get out now or pay for the phase 2 study. This is my first commercial rehab.  I'm wondering if these issues are too potentially serious and I should just get out now or pay to learn about what, if any, remediation would be necessary.  $15K is a large amount of money for me and feels like just flipping a coin.  It is a good deal in a great up-and-coming area but hundreds of thousands of dollars in cleanup would make it a dealbreaker for me.

If I do get a clean phase 2, is there anything else I should be concerned about in the future?  Does it forever taint the property or could there be liabilities that they didn't find with the sampling?   I have a meeting with the environmental engineer later this week and have a lawyer on this transaction but any advice from experienced people out there would be appreciated.

Hey, I wanted to give you all an update on the situation.  I spoke to a tree specialist and he said that that the only way a neighbor can be held liable in the City of Seattle for a fallen tree is if the neighbor does a professional tree inspection report and sends it to me by certified mail.  Looks like this guy is trying to set me up by offering to pay for the inspection.  

I spoke to the city and they said they don't inspect trees on private property.  If I want to remove a hazardous tree, they told me I need to get a professional inspection, file for a hazardous tree removal permit, and pay potentially thousands of dollars in application fees and review fees, in addition to the tree removal.  

Honestly, I just am not going to do this.  That tree looks fine to me and it is holding up the hillside.  If it gets removed, I think the foundation of my house is at risk.  The truth is that any tree can come down in a windstorm.  That doesn't mean it was hazardous and I have no reason to believe this one is.  

I did offer to have my yard guy do another ivy removal.  He did it a few weeks ago but this neighbor says it hasn't died off.   I told him my yard guy will be there at 9am on Thursday and I will be there this week to hear what he would like to get done.  Also, I will check out his claims that the ivy hasn't died off.

I guess that's where I will have to leave it.  I am starting to feel harassed by this guy.  Kind of wish I hadn't agreed to meet him on Thursday but I will hear him out and not commit to anything (other than removing the ivy if in fact it wasn't removed).

I have a good umbrella policy and I am in the process of putting my rentals into LLCs.  I wasn't going to do this one since I plan to sell it soon but given the situation, it is worth a few hundred dollars for the extra protection.

@Lynn McGeein. Thank you! I like the idea to get someone from the city to do the inspection instead of his expert.

I love BiggerPockets! So many people that know so much more than I do.

Hello BP,

I was wondering if the community could help me with a neighbor's request.  I have some tall trees in my rental property in the city of Seattle.  I have a neighbor who has repeatedly expressed concern that the trees could come down on his house in a windstorm. He wants to come on to my property and inspect the trees with his expert and do a soil analysis.  The trees do sway during heavy winds but they are also holding up the hillside and there is no way the City of Seattle would let me cut them down anyway.   I asked an arborist to look at them once and he said they look healthy but any tree, even a healthy one, could come down in a heavy storm.  Am I opening myself up to liabilities if I let him inspect?  I have owned the property for 13+ years and no neighbor has ever asked me for anything like this. I also intend to sell the property in the next year and I'm wondering if he could get mad and upset the sale process.  

Any thoughts or ideas on what to do?

I don’t necessarily assume a seller is being deceptive.  It’s more of a “trust but verify” approach.

@Bjorn Ahlblad @Jimmy Hodges. Thanks for the advice.  I totally agree that the economic uncertainty in the next 6-12 months matters as much as the historical financials.  I still don't know how to detect deception from a seller but given that evictions are going to start up soon maybe that is less likely to happen.

@Bjorn Ahlblad. Great idea to avoid elevator buildings.  Most of the buildings I am looking at have open-air staircases but I hadn't thought about incorporating COVID trends.

I'm interested in buying a few multifamily properties, potentially as big as 30 units.  I have looked at few different deals and every single one of them says the tenants are current and paying in full.  If I were to go under contract, how would I verify this?  I could look at bank statements but some tenants pay by money orders and I wouldn't be able to distinguish between an actual money order from the tenant vs one from an unscrupulous seller trying to make it look like the tenants are paying.

One a separate note, every seller and property manager I have spoken to, which is about 10, have said their tenants are paying in full.  How is this possible with 15% unemployment?  I understand that expanded unemployment benefits have made rent collections higher than expected but I find it hard to believe that no one I have spoken to has non-paying tenants.

Any ideas on how to verify rent collections would be appreciated!

Hello!

I'm looking to invest in a 10-25 unit multifamily property in Eastern, WA.  Right now, I am targetting Spokane and the Tri-cities due to their mix of cashflow and appreciation, although I am open to other suggestions.  I live in Western WA.

Would love to meet people who want to discuss real estate in these markets. I'm also open to advice on landing my first multifamily deal. I have 10 years of landlord experience with a SFH and a duplex as well as the financial means to do this deal but I've heard it can be hard for first-time multifamily investors to win a deal.

Looking forward to speaking to some of you soon!