bedstuytownhouse's Profile

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Author's Posts

July 30, 2008

Need Referral for 203k loan

Can anyone recommend someone to secure a 203k mortgage through? Definately not Alphonso Gill.

I've tried to track down Kathia Francis at SunTrust who is highly recommended on this site but I think she has left the company.

We are looking for someone good and honest to help us with a combination purchase/renovation loan.

Thanks.

July 19, 2008

Digging down to add stairs and entrance from basement to back yard

Has anyone dug down to add stairs / door from the basement to the back yard of their brownstone?

We are considering looking into this but we don't know who we would go to for this - mason, GC? Any idea for cost?

Thanks all...

January 31, 2008

Is 3% down on a 3-family, 700k possible?

I think my title says it all but is it possible now days?

January 30, 2008

How do you find out if property has liens?

Hi all,

We are looking into foreclosure properties and are curious as to how we find out if it has any liens against it - any ideas? We prefer to find this out prior to wasting time and money on an inspection if the amount of the liens is greater than the value of the home. Does anyone know where I would go and how I get these reports? 311 was useless, they kept sending me to wrong place.

December 30, 2007

Renovation Question

Hi Brownstoners,

We received a quote from a contractor who we would like to work with and on it he has a number listed for demolition and removal. He then has listed line by line the charges for the work in each of the rooms we are having done and within the breakdown, he has listed opening up of a wall and is charging a couple thousand for that in each of the rooms we are expanding. My question is, isn't that covered in the five figure demolition charge? We are doing another walk through with him next week so I want to be prepared when we are going over the numbers. Thanks all.

November 25, 2007

Is it unreasonable to have a Contractor walk through before contract to determine damage by unlicensed workers owner hired?

Is it unreasonable to have a contractor walk through a property before going into contract if the inspector found significant damage done by the previous owner in doing upgrades - example, a 6 inch section of the joist removed to accomodate a PVC pipe installed in the upstairs bathroom?

The sellers broker thinks he is doing us a favor by allowing a 30 - 45 minute visit with a licensed contractor and wants a non-refundable deposit to accomodate such request. I don't think this is unreasonable as a buyer and we told the contractor we would request two estimates, one for the damage done by the sellers "contractor" if you even call him that, and one for for the cosmetic upgrages we would like done - to clarify, we asked for the estimate to repair the damage asap to determine a new lower offer from the original accepted offer and a seperate estimate within two weeks as this would not impact the seller. Mind you this property has been on the market for 10, going on 11 months.

Who is the a$$hole here - me or the sellers agent? Thanks all.

November 15, 2007

New Bathroom with skylight questions

We are looking to combine the bathroom and kitchen on the top floor of our townhouse to create one large master bathroom with a tub and seperate glass enclosed steam shower. Based on what we would like, we will be moving the locations of the existing fixtures which I know is pricey but the previous owner did this with PVC pipes which are pulling air from the shower. Does anyone know of a good contractor that can do a job like this? Anyone know how long something like this will take to complete? We would also like to add a vented skylight in the future bathroom - any recommendations for someone to tackle this? If anyone can offer some insight on what we should expect to pay for the above, that would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Author's Comments

OP here,

Thank you for your recommendations, 11:11 and 12:13.

2:05, thank you so much for all of your input. I have to be honest, the recommendations I have received so far from real estate people have been less than stellar upon inspection of seeing work they have done for others. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder but it drives me nuts to see things like holes that were cut too large for recessed lighting, cabinet doors that are slightly off line, etc. I guess I feel like if I am going to spend my hard-earned money, I want it to be perfect.

I really appreciate the numbers you provided, it really helps to put things into place for us. Bases on the amount of damage done by previous owner, I am adding 10k into the budget to any estimates we get for the work - I cannot tell you how much damage the people did behind the walls, clearly they used someone who is not licensed.

Thanks guys and I look forward to seeing more posts from the community.

Posted by: bedstuytownhouse at November 16, 2007 2:41 PM in response to New Bathroom with skylight questions

4-6% at least and depending on how much you are putting down, you may have to pay PMI which some lenders require you pay up front. It all depends on who you bank with. We were all set to go with Wells Fargo when they gave us a good faith estimate on closing costs of 49k on a 550k home. They tried to slip in 14.5k on PMI in advance so we told them to forget it. It all worked out for the best as we are first time buyers and ended up working with Bank of America which has a program for first time buyers that covers alot of the closing costs but they charge 4%. I liked Bank of America far better than Wells Fargo and that has nothing to do with the numbers WF threw at us - I found them to be much, much more professional and helpful in the process. We worked with a woman named Margaret Rivera - 212-503-7234.

Posted by: bedstuytownhouse at November 16, 2007 5:11 PM in response to closing costs

OP here.

Thank you for your feedback.

We had our own inspector who found all of the problems with the work that was done and based on these findings, we wanted our contractor to come in and come up with an estimate to repair the damage the owner had done in hiring unskilled labor trying to save a buck or two. The home luckily is not structurally unsafe but there is about 10k (a guess until I receive my estimate) of damage to un-do.

I should have mentioned that the property has been on the market so long because the owner had it listed with another company who had it way overpriced so they just recently switched to the broker who told me the owner was doing me a favor who lowered the price to where it should be. We, however, are not being represented by a broker in this process.

We love the house, the location which is why we want to continue. We made an offer on the spot at the open house and have only been back for the inspection and the walk through with the contractor and we feel like we are being bullied.

Thanks guys - I do feel a little better. I was made to feel like I was doing something unethical in asking for this.

Posted by: bedstuytownhouse at November 25, 2007 12:10 PM in response to Is it unreasonable to have a Contractor walk through before contract to determine damage by unlicensed workers owner hired?

OP - out of curiousity, is this house on Decatur?

Posted by: bedstuytownhouse at November 25, 2007 2:43 PM in response to Termites! How bad are they??

Go with Parkway - they are the best. I found them on this website and have been very happy.

Posted by: bedstuytownhouse at December 28, 2007 12:08 AM in response to TERMITES????

OP here - thanks all for your comments.

Posted by: bedstuytownhouse at January 2, 2008 8:28 PM in response to Renovation Question

OP here - I looked on ACRIS and I could not find info on liens but it was somewhat difficult to figure out if I was looking in the right place.

Any other suggestions? I definately want to figure this out before we get stuck in a contract and before I spend $1000 on inspections and whatever else for an attorney.

Posted by: bedstuytownhouse at January 30, 2008 3:57 PM in response to How do you find out if property has liens?

OP here

Thanks, 10:12 we are not bad people but it is hard to save 100k to buy your first home when we are paying off NYU and Princeton student loans since we funded our education ourselves as we are both from lower middle class families. Appreciate the comment.

Posted by: bedstuytownhouse at January 31, 2008 10:44 PM in response to Is 3% down on a 3-family, 700k possible?

I like mortgage-calc.com

Posted by: bedstuytownhouse at January 31, 2008 10:48 PM in response to mortgage calculator

The guy from Prospect Architecture will do one free walk through and his work is amazing but expensive. Pietro at All Renovation is really good as well and a little less expensive. There are definately cheaper guys out there but you might as well do it right the first time and these guys will do that.

Posted by: bedstuytownhouse at January 31, 2008 11:44 PM in response to need help on a renovation in Greenpoint

Responses to Author's Forum Comments

Buy an apartment that is not overpriced. When that appreciates (it will eventually), sell it, and you'll have a much bigger downpayment. And perhaps you'll have paid off your student loans by then, and be earning more. That's what others do.

Posted by: guest at February 1, 2008 11:55 AM in response to Is 3% down on a 3-family, 700k possible?

I was like you two years ago, many questions and few answers. I also gut renovated my Brownstone in Brooklyn and lived off-site for 10 months. I did all the research, one some and lost some in the renovation game. I've got some good contractor stories as well. Give me a call at 646-207-6940 or email me at mr_tico@yahoo.com if you want some advice.

Al S.

Posted by: guest at February 1, 2008 1:20 PM in response to need help on a renovation in Greenpoint

You may need to secure a HUD loan or Fannie Mae loan. If your property is in Bed Stuy it is still considered an area where they will finance more than in other areas of Brooklyn. These type of loans require you to pay a MIP (I think that is what it is called) but you get most of it back after one year. You can also apply for a construction/rehab loan (if the property is eligible) at the same time as your mortgage. Its hard to qualify for the 3% down, but the 5% down is more realistic. When we purchased our home we did 3% down in Prospect Heights. These type of mortgages also allow you to use a % of the income you will receive from tenants as part of your overall income when applying. It is a lot of paperwork. Good luck

Posted by: guest at February 1, 2008 1:35 PM in response to Is 3% down on a 3-family, 700k possible?

It's a really great idea, if you are able to set up the legal mumbo-jumbo about the joint tenancy with a friend, you are probably going to be able to afford a more dramatic space for yourself. If you are willing to put up with a renovation, you are likely going to add value to your investment.

In answer to your question about what to do next, yes to everything if you are confident you want this property. Have an architect walk through it. Two or three. Have a contractor walk through it, and then a few more. Your cousins and your niece. The more opinions the better, and you're work cut out for you could actually best described as an intensive self-education process. As long as you have the energy and time for it, build up a reasonable understanding of what you're in for by broadening your experience as well as deepening.

Don't limit yourself to a single expert until you have to, in my opinion.

Now doing this for multiple properties is more of a problem, but you should be able to get experts out for free at least once to a property to help evaluate it if you are offering them work. Good luck!

Posted by: Smokychimp at February 1, 2008 5:03 PM in response to need help on a renovation in Greenpoint

Thank you all so much for thee feedback! I really appreciate it. Your advice is invaluable to me because from a knowledge and experience standpoint I am really starting from scratch. Al I would be very interested in speaking to you. I will give you a call. My name is Mike, so when I call you won't think I'm nuts. Once again, thank you all for the help, I am very grateful. Regards -Mike

Posted by: deepBTUz at February 1, 2008 7:55 PM in response to need help on a renovation in Greenpoint

There are programs where you can buy a 3 family house with 3% down.

Contact Brian Scott Cohen at 718 780 9132 or 646 584 8009 and he will go over all the programs and explain all your options. He just did our loan.....

Posted by: brianscottcohen at February 10, 2008 4:49 PM in response to Is 3% down on a 3-family, 700k possible?

The best mortgage calculator is at http://www.maracal.com , you will be prompted to enter the value of the home, the duration of the loan ( in years ), the percentage down, and annual interest rate, also, you will get information about average annual interest rates in united states, and you will get monthly mortgage payment, private mortgage insurance ( if you put less than 20% down ), and property taxes. Also, you will get detailed report on amortization for each year of the mortgage. http://www.maracal.com .

Posted by: guest at February 20, 2008 9:18 AM in response to mortgage calculator

many architects will provide a complimentary visit, or walk thru. The one I work for will also provide a free proposal/estimate; for each phase of construction/demolition, etc. that provide not only fee information, but time frame/scheduling information.

our website is www.aeiArchitect.com, if you are curious. another good source is www.aia.org; national listing/association for professional architects in good standing

hope this helps - good luck with your project!

Posted by: guest at March 12, 2008 3:23 PM in response to need help on a renovation in Greenpoint

Did you end up finding a good exterminator to handle the termites? If so, who did you use?