SRO Renovation Loan / LoC
I am interested in financing renovations of an SRO building. I am under contract to buy a building which is currently registered as an SRO. It is currently vacant and will be delivered with the Certificate of Non-Harassment (and the sale is contingent upon this). I would like to do major renovations and eventually apply for a new 3-family C of O, rent out some units, and refinance. I am paying cash for the building and would like to get a line of credit, secured by the building, to do the renovations. I’m told it’s difficult to lend against any building without an existing C of O (even if it has the CNH). Does anyone know lenders who are open to this sort of financing?

lawlorg
in Financial Services 10 years and 3 months ago
8
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lawlorg | 10 years and 3 months ago
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Hi @resident2 Wow, thanks for this info – definitely an eye-opener! I’ve come across dozens of buildings that have been converted from SRO to 2, 3, or 4-family CO’s and their builders seem to be doing quite well. I wonder what they’re doing differently than the people profiled in the NYTimes article. I’ve researched public records for brownstones in BedStuy pretty closely, and even newly renovated/converted ones seem to have tax assessments in the $5-8k/year range. I haven’t seen anything over $10k. Do you happen to have a link to it, btw? I can’t seem to find the article you’re referring to.

resident2 | 10 years and 3 months ago
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Even without a C of O all buildings have a legal use. Some just pre-date the requirement of a C of O (1930s) and if the use has never changed there is no need for a new C of O. It is grandfathered in. The process of converting an SRO, a now illegal form of housing even though there are still many grandfathered in. It is a very cumbersome process fraught with hurdles if your professionals do not know what they are doing and many do not! And if your “professionals” do file it wrong (new code for example) the Real Estate tax bill at the end of the day will probably put you into foreclosure. SRO conversions do not qualify for any Real Estate tax abatements. (This is a holdover from the KOCH administration who decided that landlords converting rooming houses was the cause of the homeless situation!) There was a very good article in the NYT a few years ago about a few home owners converting buildings in Harlem being converted from SRO’s to 3-4 family houses using 203K programs, the owners ended up in foreclosure within a few years of finishing the buildings due to $30-40,000 a year Real estate tax assessments. This is one reason why Banks do not lend on SRO’s.

no-permits | 10 years and 3 months ago
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if it’s an SRO it is designated as such. the CO, even if it has one, is irrelevant.

lawlorg | 10 years and 3 months ago
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OK, thanks for the thoughtful replies. @ditmarsman – any chance you’d be able to put me in touch with your parents or their banker at Chase? I’d love to hear more about how they handled this. @resident2, @no-permits – How do banks differentiate between an SRO with no CO and a non-SRO with no CO? If we just say “it’s an old building and has no CO” wouldn’t that be as-expected for a building of this age (~100 years)? as @Cate says?

no-permits | 10 years and 3 months ago
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as usual, resident2 is correct. don’t take this on unless you have all the money plus extra.

resident2 | 10 years and 3 months ago
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No Bank will do a construction loan for an SRO even with a Certificate of Non Harassment. Unless you have a private Banking relationship with a Bank the only financing you will find is from a hard money lender. Their terms are normally up to 50% of their appraised value, first lien position only and about 16-15% + points. An SRO to a class A certificate of occupancy will take you at least 12 months if you know what you are doing and manage the whole thing really well and that will be cutting it tight. If there are issues like being in a landmark district, add on at least 3 months. Find an architect that will file it as “old code”. It will be quicker & easier. But before you start, make sure your numbers are really right and add on 30% for contingencies. Many hard money lenders will not lend on an SRO unless they can see that you know what you are doing so expect many to pass on it.

cate | 10 years and 3 months ago
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Most pre-1920 buildings in NYC don’t have C of Os, and they don’t have any trouble getting financing.

ditmarsman | 10 years and 3 months ago
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My parents had an issue refinancing once because there was no CO, they wound up using Chase who did not require a CO