That sheet of metal costs $45 bucks by itself. That is a pretty nice looking radiator cover. A decent amount of effort was put into it.

I've made about 10 of these things and they don't look as good as that one (but it only takes me about half an hour to build it).

Posted by: GabeS at April 17, 2009 12:27 PM in response to Spring Cleaning

That sheet of metal costs $45 bucks by itself. That is a pretty nice looking radiator cover. A decent amount of effort was put into it.

I've made about 10 of these things and they don't look as good as that one (but it only takes me about half an hour to build it).

Posted by: GabeS at April 17, 2009 12:26 PM in response to Spring Cleaning

Nothing is expected except to be paid when the job is done.

It's definitely greatly appreciated when you order pizza and soda once in a while. I'm telling you from experience. Definitely buy lunch and drinks a couple of times and offer coffee once in a while.

Never offer beer. You don't want them drinking on the job no matter what the amount. Power tools and alcohol don't mix.

Posted by: GabeS at April 14, 2009 1:39 PM in response to Tipping Contractors/Workers?

I currently have bait stations. I pay about 200-300 a year for maintenance with terminix and paid about a startup of about 1800. The barrier method is only effective if they do a complete barrier around your house which I think is impossible. My research has provided that bait stations are the better way to go.

Here's the deal. It's impossible to know the damage the termites have already done unless you start opening up walls and ceilings. If your basement has an open ceiling I would start there. Look at all the floor joists and start poking at them with a sharp screwdriver. Believe me, you'll know when the screwdriver goes through the wood if there is damage or not. Then start poking on the sill plate of your house, and look for the damage. Is your house brick or wood frame? The damage could be extensive or minor, it all depends how many termites have been eating and for how long.

Stopping the damage now makes sense. But you also need to access how much damage has already occurred. Don't forget they eat from the inside of the wood. You won't see the damage just by looking you have to poke.

I had a 4x6 wall stud in my house that looked intact. When I grabbed it with my hand it was completely hollow and literally was pulverized.

Posted by: GabeS at April 8, 2009 1:01 PM in response to Termites! Help

Look, the reason that building seems cheap is because it is rent regulated. If that six family was market rents, the building would cost double the price. Of course you look at it and say" I can live in one of the units" and the deal starts to make sense, but then you are trying to go around the system.

With six families, they are good investments, but you need to be very patient, maintain the property very well, and play by the rules. Then your investment will pay off. People will eventually leave or die, but it can take years.

If any of the apartments are rent controlled, then they will stay that way forever because of succession rights.

Before you start this venture, my advice to know everything there is to know about rent stabilization and control (and there is a lot of info to research) before you spend. Start with the dhcr website. That will take you days to read the whole thing. Then pull up all the court cases in NY involving theses disputes and study the judge's decisions and cases. This effort and knowledge will pay off and you will be in a much more powerful position.

Posted by: GabeS at April 8, 2009 11:51 AM in response to Buying a Rent-Stabilized Bldg

Rent stabilization is for buildings with 6 or more units. Those arpartments in those buildings are automatically rent stabilized. This building is a four family, so all the apartments are market rent, unless there are rent controlled tenants, which is a different beast.

You can have rent controlled tenants in any multifamily building (even 2 family buildings). These people don't just leave. Even if they are old and are dying, a relative can move in for 2 years preceding their death and then become the new "owners" of that rent controlled apartment. If you want them to leave, usually they get paid a lump some based on what they are actually paying and current market rents. I don't know the actually numbers, but if they were paying $300.00 per month, they could have easily received 50k-100k just to leave. I knew some people who were very wealthy who had rent controlled apartments in Manhatten. It's a ridiculous law and has to change.

Posted by: GabeS at April 1, 2009 10:56 AM in response to 306 Washington Sells for 26 Percent Below Initial Ask

If I was the developer, I would return them their deposit. I don't care what the contracts say, TB stole their money, legally or not. They still stole it.

Contracts are written by lawyers for lawyers. These people just thought they were buying a condo. I guarantee they had no clue that there was a chance they would lose their entire deposit due to technical clauses in a contract that was probably over 50 pages long.

TB, being a recognized name, should return their deposit, and also to whoever else got screwed by the bank. How do we know that there wasn't any backroom deals between TB and the banks. Could easily be the case. Both would make millions extra by having the banks change their policies at the last second.

Posted by: GabeS at March 23, 2009 11:50 AM in response to That's Me In The Corner, Losing My Deposit

Greenboard in a shower area is definitely a big no no.

Posted by: GabeS at March 7, 2009 8:57 PM in response to Master Bath roughing in

A kitchen and bathroom renovation is considered a capital improvement rather than a maintenance repair. From my understanding(you can confirm this with department of finance) you should not be charged sales tax on any capital improvements. A repair or maintenance item will be charge sales tax(painting, fixing a leak, repairing a boiler, you get the point).

Posted by: GabeS at August 28, 2007 8:37 PM in response to Discount for paying Cash to contractor?

Hi,

Maybe this site might help you a little.

http://www.tenant.net/Other_Laws/zoning/zontoc.html

Posted by: GabeS at August 28, 2007 8:23 PM in response to Building Classification Question

Hi,

I looked into it a little bit. Here is a link that you can spend hours reading about it. If you are serious I would read the entire website(knowledge is power). http://www.oag.state.ny.us/realestate/conversion.html#3

Good Luck. Maybe after you read it, I'll be asking you the questions.

Posted by: GabeS at August 28, 2007 8:18 PM in response to Splitting a Property then Co-op'ing

I agree with you. Maybe you should speak to an architect. They will probably be best able to advise you.

I agree with seniorbrownstone. If there is no C of O and when looking at the house, it is obviously a 2 family they will grant it. If it's a one family being used as a two(basement apartment or some other wierd setup) then they may object.

Posted by: GabeS at August 28, 2007 8:13 PM in response to What is a Letter of No Objection??

It may be that your duct size is 4" diameter and the diameter on your bath fan is 3". A 4" to 3" reducer should do the trick like quest said. Use a lot of aluminum foil tape on all the joints to prevent leakage. It grabs much better than duct tape.

Posted by: GabeS at August 26, 2007 11:18 AM in response to bathroom exhaust fan installation?

sam- what an awful story. I lived in a rent-stabilized apt. for years. It never ever occured to me to pull stunts like that. And even if I knew I could- I still wouldn't.

Posted by: bxgrl at April 8, 2009 12:13 PM in response to Buying a Rent-Stabilized Bldg

Hey Yanks not to sound harsh but this comment from eman is pretty accurate:
"it may be possible, but look forward to 3 years of litigation for starters...it seems like a really stupid idea to me"
Oh and IronBalls is spot on regarding the law changes in the works...my landlord has been stuck with 3 parasitic rent controlled tenants (well-off folks btw) for 10 years and has given up on litigation completely.
In our opinion the headache is not worth it even if you get the place @ 70% off and are in love with the place....lots of places coming on the market soon and at great discounts given the economic climate we live in.

Posted by: pierre de taille at April 8, 2009 12:14 PM in response to Buying a Rent-Stabilized Bldg

In NYC, truth is stranger than fiction. Some people will swallow all kinds of misinfinformation but will question and honest, true story.

Posted by: sam at April 8, 2009 12:19 PM in response to Buying a Rent-Stabilized Bldg

I don't doubt that there are RC/RS tenants who game the system but all the ones I have known (and I was one for about a decade) pay their rent on time every month. In fact, often they keep quiet about really crappy conditions because they are so grateful to have an apartment that they can afford.

Posted by: Carol Gardens at April 8, 2009 1:30 PM in response to Buying a Rent-Stabilized Bldg

Yanks21,
I guess everyone has a different experience, I would like to humbly share mine. I bought a 7 unit rent stabilized building in 1999. When the largest apartment came up for renewal,I expressed my interest in taking the unit and the tenant left without issue. Since then, we have had lots of turnover, and my rents are close to market rate. My building has quadrupled in value. I have never been to landlord/ tenant court and have a great relationship with all my tenants. My experience may be rare, but there were many who strongly advised not purchasing a RS building but my experience has been amazing and unbelievably profitable. I suggest checking out RSA which is an excellent resource for landlords and the rules and laws of rent stabilization. there is a lot to know and a mistake can be costly. good luck.

Posted by: owner12 at April 8, 2009 1:33 PM in response to Buying a Rent-Stabilized Bldg

yanks21 -

I'd say take many comments here with a grain of salt, except for maybe owner12 - real life experience (of a best case scenario). You've got the range from thwackamole1 (on the evil landlord end of the spectrum) advising you to get 4 apartments out of RS, to the people telling you it's a stupid idea to buy the place and assuming the worst case scenario.

You want a good lawyer experienced in representing landlords doing what you intend to do. Sounds it could be a reasonable gamble to me, because you'd get 2 vacant apartments without a struggle and the trick is to get just one more. Worst case you're stuck in a single unit for a while rather than 2 combined apartments. The path of least resistance is may be a 5 digit offer of walking money to tenants of one of the 4 apartments that could be combined with one of the 2 vacant ones. Probably better to go with how the apartments combine and who's most willing to walk rather than try to squeeze out the one with the cheapest rent, but you could adjust your offers up according to how low the rent is or how well it would work for you.

Posted by: Bklnite at April 8, 2009 1:41 PM in response to Buying a Rent-Stabilized Bldg

It a brick rowhouse. Since it's a finished basement, pretty much everything is covered up.

Posted by: zuffy at April 8, 2009 1:48 PM in response to Termites! Help

I am assuming that all of the tenants are white, or else you might not consider this purchase. If not, why not simply evict the family of color?

The rest, you can simply do your best to force them to adhere to your yppie set of trendy rules.

Posted by: Demander of Respect at April 8, 2009 2:15 PM in response to Buying a Rent-Stabilized Bldg

Get some legal advice. There are several firms in New York that specialize in these issues. (I manage some rent stabilized apts). I do not want to recommend any but you can find out pretty easily on the internet. Spending a few bucks on legal consultation may help you make the right decision..

Posted by: Cobblehillite at April 8, 2009 3:07 PM in response to Buying a Rent-Stabilized Bldg

Get some legal advice. There are several firms in New York that specialize in these issues. (I manage some rent stabilized apts). I do not want to recommend any but you can find out pretty easily on the internet. Spending a few bucks on legal consultation may help you make the right decision..

Posted by: Cobblehillite at April 8, 2009 3:07 PM in response to Buying a Rent-Stabilized Bldg