Forum Archive: Posts by: byndcivilization

We are in the process of negotiating a Brownstone in Bedstuy and the process recently came to a standstill. I’m getting a really sketchy vibe because of some of the things that have happened. It should be noted that the agent is acting as a dual agent (which is our own fault i guess).. The first thing was the fact that there were a bunch of things that showed up in the inspection that the RE Agent should have known about due to a previous inspection last year. Mainly about 80 grand in additional renovation costs. Then there were all sorts of renovation costs that he disputed, not because they weren’t valid, but because they would be able to be put off for a year or two. Examples are a 30 y.o. steam boiler that was providing both heat and hot water, plumbing, etc. Then when we put in a revised offer, he contacted our mortgage broker directly to ask him to run the loan at 10k higher, “just to show us that it would only constitute $50 more a month. The last straw was that we made an offer with a sellers concession, which he presented to the seller by tacking the concession on to our offer, making the offer about 35 grand more, despite numerous emails outlining this. Any one of these could be seen as an honest mistake, but the house has been on the market for a year and the RE agent seems a bit desperate to get it done with already. The last sticking point on the concession seems extra underhanded as it appears that he was hoping we wouldnt notice until we were in contract. Is this normal for NY real estate agents? Am I being sensitive? The kicker was that after all of this, he emails me to ask if he can send the inspection report we paid for on to another buyer. WTF?

We are in the process of buying a four story four family brownstone in bedstuy. We put an offer on the house, which was accepted, but we are not in contract yet. We knew the elictrica system needed to be updated and had planned 25k for that. We also knew the kitchens would need to be updated and had planned for that money also. We are using a 203k loan to get the renovation funds. We had an inspection yesterday and found that there were substantially more repairs than we had thought. Specifically the plumbing is in severe need of an update, there is no hot water heater, the boiler will need to be replaced, asbestos removed, all the windows need to be replaced. I have a couple of questions:
1. Even though the contracts are drawn up (not signed), is it okay to come back and renegotiate the price. The house has been on the market for awhile and the imspector thought there had been at least 3 previous inspection.
2. Does anyone have any off the cuff idea how much this would cost. I think we would do things like sheetrocking, labor for the kitchen updates, etc. But the bigger stuff listed above is definitely out of my skill level. We need to be able to come back with a specic number, but electricians an plumbers are (understandibly) hesitant to
do estimates and are trying to charge us for an estimate. I am hesitant to sink any more money into a deal that may very well go nowhere.

I am looking at buying a multifamily brownstone in Bedstuy. I am wondering if people think that prices are still very high, or if sellers are still lagging at last years prices.
I’ve seen a bunch of places that the sellers are basing their asking price on last years appraised prices. What is your reading?