Hello, our small co-op is seeking an investor to buy a rent-controlled unit. The maintenance exceeds the rent, which is why we want to sell it, obviously at a huge discount. Does anyone have an idea as to how we’d market it? Through a conventional realtor who might specialize in this, or is there anothe way?


Comments

  1. Because you can buy for pennies on the dollar.

    Say an apartment is worth $600k on the open market. You pay $100k, and, say, $200 a month to cover maintenance/rent gap. Say the tenant lives for 20 more years: you pay about $50-60,000 over those years, including repairs, for a total outlay of $160k, and the apartment may then be worth 750k or more on the open market.

    Or, alternatively, you could try to buy out the RC tenant.

    I’m sure a savvy investor can figure out ways to offset the carrying costs, too.

  2. Thanks, Adam. Yes, we know we won’t get much for it, but we do need someone to cover the gap. (We actually have 3 RC units but for FNMA lending reasons don’t want to sell to same investor).

    Could you send me those realtors’ names (to pasigal@gmail.com), or just list them here?

  3. Yeah, that was a big thing back in the 80s. But the way it worked is that developers would package up a half dozen or more to reduce risk to the buyer. Buying a single unit presents a lot of mortality risk. Tenant might be 75 and live another 25 years. And then, if this is really RC and not RS, there is a hand-me-down risk as well.

    I’ll give you $1000, sight unseen 🙂