Borrowing Against Fully Owned 3 Family House


Hi. My wife and I own outright a 3 family Williamsburg house we bought a little over a year ago. We’ve got some renovation issues and need extra liquidity. Given the profile of the building, what would be our best avenue to finance the work outside of the 203K route? Ideally, i’d like to take out a small mortgage, around $100K. I have excellent credit, decent income, and own the building completely. Any advice?

Categories: Real Estate
By cyrus_pumphouse | 05/17/2011 1:36 PM | Comment

Fixing a Disaster


Can anyone recommend a Williamsburg-area architect that can help me rectify a bad situation at my house? I won’t go into how this came to pass but we got hit with a “work without permit” violation for wall partitions and heating system in our basement. I need to get this straightened out–yes, I am well aware of the trouble I face–and need an architect to get the ball rolling. Any suggestions? Thank you.

Categories: Architects
By cyrus_pumphouse | 05/12/2011 1:40 PM | Comment

Problem construction site in Williamsburg


Hey all. I’ve got no particular dog in this hunt, but I’m curious just the same. Just up the street from me in Williamsburg a fairly notorious landlord is doing what looks to be four stories of new construction.

Given that quality is Job #1 for this guy, he’s enraged his neighbors and cut a thousand corners. He’s got many complaints against the site, has been slammed with stop work orders, and has open violations. He also has a number of unresolved fines, most of which he got because they were default judgements imposed when he didn’t show up for the hearing. According to the DOB, he’s got thousands of dollars in unpaid fines.

Question is, how does he get away with this? What’s his endgame? Is the city that powerless in the face of a guy with a “damn the torpedoes” attitude?

Categories: Building Code
By cyrus_pumphouse | 03/29/2011 2:54 PM | Comment

The Disappearing Plumber


Got a big problem on my hands. Contracted with a licensed plumber to do some repair work on my house. Part of the job included a boiler installation. We bought this house in a pretty messy state and one of things the old owner had done was install a state of the art boiler, without permit. But he hadn’t finished the job.

Our plumber was willing to file the permits for a “new” boiler and complete the install, as part of the broader job of fixing fouled pipes. I’ll also add the plumber was well-vouched for and had worked with other trades on the house, so due diligence was done. Electrical work at the house is being done by permit, so we’re not trying to skirt anything here.

Here’s the problem. As the job has wound toward its end, the plumber has not gotten a permit like he was paid to do, and while he’s done almost all the work, including checking and doing the final hookup of the boiler, he has disappeared. Gone for a month. Can’t reach him by phone at all. He’s even owed a decent chunk of money on completion of the job, so it’s in his interest to return. I’m losing faith he will.

We need to get this boiler official, and get the thing turned on. It’s all there save the permit to install it in the first place.

What are our options? Thanks.

Categories: Plumbers
By cyrus_pumphouse | 03/22/2011 1:25 PM | Comment