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Suit Up With Baez
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Suit Up With Baez
Episode 6: Transparency Triumphs in the Big Apple Housing Market
Embark on a journey through the intricate maze of New York's real estate laws with us as we dissect the landmark updates to the property disclosure requirements. Gone are the days when a seller could sidestep revealing a home's quirks and qualms for a mere $500 credit at closing. With the introduction of a comprehensive 48-question disclosure form, we explore how this move toward full transparency stands to reshape the landscape of home-buying, offering you a vital shield against unseen pitfalls. While we champion these strides toward accountability, we also stress the importance of a meticulous home inspection to complement the paperwork—a duo that promises to arm you with the insight necessary to make an informed purchase.
Navigating the murky waters of illegal housing practices, we bring to light the stark realities that can ensnare unsuspecting homeowners and tenants alike. Take the eye-opening tale of an elderly homeowner who found themselves in an $80,000 financial sinkhole after an illegal rental catastrophe. The harrowing accounts of overcrowded and unsafe living conditions in unauthorized apartments, including one where 70 people were packed into a space meant for a fraction of that number, reveal the grim side of housing violations. By sharing these stories, we underscore the need for landlords and agents to practice integrity in their dealings—because cutting corners can have dire legal, financial, and human costs.
In our final chapter, we open up about personal encounters with substandard living conditions and the transformative effect they can have. From the despair of a family living in a fire-ravaged Bronx apartment to the resolve of becoming a reputable landlord, these narratives are a testament to the strength drawn from adversity. They illustrate why absolute commitment to tenant well-being and proactive property management isn't just a legal obligation—it's a moral imperative that reverberates through lives and communities. Join us as we navigate these emotionally charged stories and advocate for a compassionate approach to real estate.
So it's 70 migrants under a furniture store in Queens, guys, 700 violations on his property what?
Speaker 2:No way, 700.
Speaker 1:It was so uncomfortable with the landlord and then the landlord just kept putting pressure for us to move out and you know, the rest are so high. My mother was a single mother. It was hard for us to move out of there. We live, baby. Welcome to suit up with bias podcast, episode number six. Hello everyone, we're excited to be in this podcast today. We've got some interesting topics to talk about today. Most importantly, there's a new law that's coming in and affect March 20th. It's the New York property disclosure law Very interested document that's coming into effect March 20th that is mandatory for homeowners.
Speaker 3:Yeah, usually you could get away with just paying a $500 credit and closing and just not do the form, but now New York is requiring that you do fill out the form and you can no longer do the 500 credit and closing. Yeah, Alex.
Speaker 1:So this, this property disclosure form, it's good. I think it's very beneficial for sellers and buyers. Why? Because the seller is going to be honest and is obligated to be honest, right and be transparent. So it's going to go over some topics like, for instance, the general information of the property, the environmental, structural and mechanic system and, most importantly, the property condition, right. So it's good that the sellers now is going to be able to do this Right. Giving them filling out is 48 questions the sellers have to fill in and they also have to sign the document with honesty. So it's good because before, right, most property they sell as this All right, we got that, but now we're going to get a detail of what is as is Right?
Speaker 3:Um, chris, what are the types of questions that they have there Like, um, what usually comes into that? That? Um disclosure?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so basically, like Alex said, it was 48 questions, Um. So most common question is basically is is there flood insurance? The condition is there's any mold, any leaks, Is there any rodents in the property? Yeah, there's other types of questions in the list.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and those are the brief ones that come to mind. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it's coming in an effect March 2020, 24. Also, having mine is for residential one of four families, condos. Co-ops are included as well.
Speaker 1:That now every home one is required to do so. Before, guys, we used to sell properties as is right. At the closing, the seller will always get found a lot of credit. Now is no more credit Is no more 500. Now is this document, which is the property disclosure form, which is a law. It's required. It's not if we want, it's required.
Speaker 1:But I, what I see more in all of it is like you know, I feel I feel happy about this, believe it or not. No, it's going to be more work for the sellers Now it's going to be more thing, but now the sales are going to be more transparent than anything, because now you're liable with whatever you put in this document. You kind of you are liable for it, right? So me as a buyer, if I was a buyer's position, right, I now have a document with a seller, so what do they have to say? Of course, buyers do not think that you're not supposed to do an inspection. I will still and highly always recommend, when you're purchasing a property, do an inspection, regardless of this document. That's my opinion. Regardless of this document, andrew and Chris, yeah, I agree with you, alex.
Speaker 2:I think it's best for both sides sellers and buyers so at least the buyer knows what they're going to get into the home and if they're comfortable with the home then they can do the inspection.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I mean just to add, on top of that, it's always good to have a second opinion. Sure, you can get the disclosure and you can see from a glance what you're getting into, yeah, but of course you never know if the inspector did a good job at informing the seller of what the condition was from his opinion. Getting two opinions on the same property opens up your eyes. In case one of them is something, then the other one might pick it up. So it's always highly recommended that you get your own inspection done. Right, alex, yeah 100%.
Speaker 1:You have to do an inspection, but I think it's good now because now it's working with good faith. And one thing about us we love to do sales right, not sale, but in a sense, like when we sell someone a home, we want to make sure it's with good faith, because everything comes back to us right. So I'm a father of two kids, right, I'm married. Most people that are homeowners are buying our families, right, maybe or not, but you know, in the other families of buying another home and transparency is going on, how do we feel as agents? Right, it makes you feel good. Right Now.
Speaker 1:These homeowners have to be transparent and honest, right, and they also have to do a signature, so they are liable of what they put in that document, right. So I'm actually excited that this happened in New York and Connecticut is happening. I mean, when I did the sale recently in Connecticut, it's already been active, so it's good that it happens. Right, because when they see the disclosure and they review it now, with the inspectors reviewing everything they also put in, and the inspector is going to give his honest opinion as a professional of what he thinks of what they filled in, right. So it's actually helpful also for the inspector Because you know what he's walking into and he can have an idea. He might agree or disagree with the seller there, but as long the buyer knows what they're walking into, I think that's the most important thing, right? Because something comes up in the inspection report. Guys, I'm not gonna say that whatever they, the seller, puts in that document is gonna be very accurate, right? Sometimes he sells been there for 30, 50 years, is it is.
Speaker 3:Chances are highly and be accurate is not that high and they might not even remember some of the stuff that they did. And it's like you don't want a lot. A lot of the problems is that Sometimes you're just busy in life and you forget what you've done around the house. So you need a professional to come in and kind of gauge what is actually the condition of the property. You might think it's a perfect condition and you can honestly think that like no lie you could say it's in perfect condition. But then the inspector comes in and says that there's a major problem here, here and here and now you know.
Speaker 1:And then it's good and now all parties are gonna know right before they go in contract. Obviously, I always say don't inspect me for you when contract. So it's good that every party is gonna know now, right?
Speaker 3:Yes, and you can prepare yourself to like, in case you get the inspector to come in, do the disclosure with your home. You actually see that there might be some problems that you didn't know and now you can start getting ahead of the game and maybe repairing those. So you already patch up all the work. The buyers are ready to go. Nothing is really gonna be asked for, hopefully during on the Negotiation part, the inspection, because you've already taken those steps ahead of time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, one understand, you still got actual credit to. And anything comes up on the inspection report, I always say and I always push extra credit guys because, when you go for, alright, let the seller repair it.
Speaker 1:We have witness a lot and closing. Instead, we let the seller repair it and guess what happened in closing? Oh, you did a cheap job. Why was? This is hard when this and then and it starts another chaos and guess what? That's when we come in again to negotiate for a credit because the buyer felt like it was a bad job.
Speaker 1:Right, and you know most homeowners gonna go through a cheap route. That's the honest truth. So it's better just to get a credit and let yourself, as the buyer, choose what you want to repair and how you want to repair and how do you want it to be done. Right, and you choose who you like. So it's better you paying for it than someone else, because then you know exactly who you pay, who you felt comfortable with doing it with. It's more beneficial getting always a credit. But this document is, I see, more benefits than anything in it. So be honest with you. Right for homeowners and and buyers. Right, because now buyers, you know they got. They gonna feel comfortable in buying, knowing that they sending you know as a disclosure sign.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean circling back a little bit to all what you said about always asking for credits Instead of having the buyer do their own thing. I know that Chris has a story about one of the properties.
Speaker 1:We live baby. Welcome to suit up with bias. Podcast, episode number six. Hello everyone, we're excited to be in this podcast today. We've got some interesting topics to talk about today. Most importantly, there's a new law that's coming in and affect March 20th. It's the New York property disclosure law very interested Document that's coming into effect March 20th. That is mandatory for for homeowners.
Speaker 3:Yeah, usually you could get away with just paying a $500 credit and closing and Just not do the form, but now New York is requiring that you do fill out the form and you can no longer do the 500 credit and closing. Yeah, alex.
Speaker 1:So this, this property disclosure form it's. It's good. I think it's very beneficial for sellers and buyers. Why? Because the cell is gonna be honest and it's obligated to be honest, right and be transparent. So it's gonna go over some topics like, for instance, the general information of the property, the environmental, structural and Mechanic system and, most important, the property condition, right. So it's good that the sellers now is gonna be able to do this right. Giving them filling out is 48 questions the sellers have to fill in and they also have to sign the document with honesty. So it's good because before, right, most property they sell as is all right, we got that. But now we're gonna get a detail of what is as is right, um, chris.
Speaker 3:What are the types of questions that they have there, like, um, what usually comes into that, that disclosure?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so basically, like Alex said, it was 48 questions. So most common question is basically is is there flood insurance? The condition is there's any mold, any leaks, is there any rodents in the property?
Speaker 3:Yeah, there's other types of questions in the list and those are the brief ones that come to mind. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So it's coming in effect March 2020, 24. Also, having mine is for residential one of four families, condos. Co-ops are included as well, that now every home one is required to do so. Before, guys, we used to sell properties as is right. At the closing, the seller will always get found a lot of credit. Now is no more credit is no more 500.
Speaker 1:Now is this document, which is the property disclosure form, which is a law. It's required. It's not if we want. It's required. But I, what I see more and all of it is like you know, I feel, I feel happy about this, believe it or not. No, it's gonna be more work for the sellers now, it's gonna be more thing, but now the sales are gonna be more transparent than anything, because now you're liable with whatever you put in this document, kind of you are liable for it, right? So me as a buyer I was a buyer's position, right? I Now have a document with the seller said what they have to say. Of course, buyers Do not think that you're not supposed to do an inspection. I will still and highly always recommend, when you're purchasing a property, do an inspection, regardless of this document. That's my opinion regards of this document, andrew and Chris.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree with you, Alex. I think it's best for both sides sellers and buyers so at least the buyer knows what they're going to get into yeah home, and if they're comfortable with the home, then they can do the inspection.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I mean what you. Just to add on top of that, it's always good to have a second opinion. Sure, you can get the disclosure and you can see from a glance what you're getting into, yeah, but of course you never know if the inspector did a good job Informing the seller of what the condition was from his opinion. Getting two opinions on the same property it opens up your eyes. In case one of them is something, then the other one might pick it up. So it's always highly recommended that you get your own inspection done, right, alex?
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100%, you have to do it, you have to do an inspection, but I think it's good now because now it's working with good faith. And one thing about us we love to do sales right, not sale, but in sense, like when we sell someone a home, we want to make sure it's with good faith, because everything comes back to us right. So I'm a father of two kids around Mary. Most people that are home owners are buying our families, right, maybe or not, but you know, in that other families are buying another home and Transparency is going on. How do we feel as agents? Right, it makes you feel good right now.
Speaker 1:These homeowners have to be transparent and honest, right, and they also have to do a signature so they are liable of what they put in that document, right. So I'm actually excited this happened. I'm in New York and Connecticut is happening. I mean, when I did the sale recently in, connecticut has already been active, so it's good that it happens. Right, because when they see the disclosure and they review it now, with the inspectors reviewing everything they also put in and out of the inspector is gonna give his own Opinion as a professional of what he thinks of what they filled in.
Speaker 1:Right, so that she is helpful also for the inspector, because you know what he's walking into and he can have an idea. He might agree or disagree with the seller there, but as long the buyer knows what they're walking into, I think that's the most important thing, right? Because something comes up in the inspection report. Guys, I'm not gonna say that whatever they, the seller puts in that document is gonna be very accurate, right? Sometimes he sells been there for 30, 50 years, is it is chances are they gonna be accurate. It's not that high.
Speaker 3:They might not even remember some of the stuff that they did and it's like you don't want a lot. A lot of the problems is that Sometimes you're just busy in life and you forget what you've done around the house. So you need a professional to come in and kind of gauge what is actually the condition of the property. You might think it's a perfect condition and you can honestly think that like no lie you could say it's in perfect condition. But then the inspector comes in and says that there's a major problem here, here and here and now you know and then it's good, and now all parties are gonna know, right before they go in contract.
Speaker 1:Obviously, I always say doing inspection before you go in contract, so it's good that every party is gonna know now, right?
Speaker 3:Yes, and you can prepare yourself to like, in case you get the inspector to come in, do the disclosure with your home. You actually see that there might be some problems that you didn't know, and now you can start getting ahead of the game and maybe repairing those. So you already patch up all the work. The buyers are ready to go. Nothing is really Gonna be asked for, hopefully, during the negotiation part the inspection because you've already taken those steps ahead of time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, one understand, you still got actual credit to anything comes up on the inspection report. I always say and I always push extra credit guys oh yeah because, when you go for art, let the seller repair it.
Speaker 1:We have witness a lot and closing. Instead, we let the seller repair it and guess what happened in closing? Oh, you did a cheap job. Why was? This is hard when this, and then and it starts another chaos and guess what? That's when we come in again to negotiate for a credit because the buyer felt like it was a bad job.
Speaker 1:Right, and you know most homeowners gonna go through a cheap route. That's the honest truth. So it's better just to get a credit and let yourself, as the buyer, choose what you want to repair and how you want to repair and how do you want it to be done. Right, and you choose who you like. So it's better you paying for it than someone else, because then you know exactly who you pay, who you felt comfortable with doing it with. It's more beneficial and getting always a credit. But this document is, I see, more benefits than anything in it. So be honest with you. Right for homeowners and and buyers. Right, because now buyers, you know they got. They gonna feel comfortable in buying, knowing that they. Sending you know is a disclosure sign.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean circling back a little bit to all what you said about always asking for credits instead of having the buyer Do their own thing. I know that Chris has a story about one of the properties that he was involved with where they let the owner Kind of fix a pitch that was supposed to be done and they yes and in the room.
Speaker 2:So basically the story, how I was. So we were in contract and we did an inspection of the full property. This was a three family. So basically in the roof there's a slope that is basically have a pond of like water that's staying on the roof and basically Every time it rained it'd be always like a river of water in the roof and it doesn't go out of the property. So basically my buyer, he wasn't very comfortable buying the property assets with that Issue, so we did ask the seller nicely, or can you fix this before closing. So once it was raining the next day, basically we saw that they did a cheap job and so I I can't take the contractor basically who repaired the Repair the roof and basically they they say that it was basically just added another slope on the roof and and basically they did a cheap job.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I want to add on to that. So this buyer particular, we did tell him to go for a credit but he decided not. So he wanted the seller to do it because he was like he wanted to deal with it. But guess what happened? Like Chris, they actually went with a cheap route. They achieved I didn't do the full repair as is supposed to do it. They were supposed to take out the whole roof, basically, and put a new plywood and then put the layers on top of it. They didn't, they just put a whole layer on top of it and they thought the buyer wasn't gonna notice.
Speaker 1:You know, when you work, when we were representing the buyer, we get very involved in it. So I believe Chris went to the roof and actually would an inspector and expected and noticed that the job was cheap. And obviously we transparent. We told the client listen, they did a cheap job but you have to see and you have to approve it. Once the buyers saw he didn't like it and it started a chaos and guess what? We end up still getting them a huge credit at closing. He didn't like the job thing was like what? How much was it we got?
Speaker 2:I think you can.
Speaker 1:Seven seventy five hundred 800 yeah, 7800, 7500 around there, which is a great amount. He ended repairing it and he ended up repairing most of the roof now. So he's happy, we're happy, so you know. But in that time we also didn't have a disclosure form. Now the disclosure form does ask about the roof, guys. Right, yeah, there's a disclosure form. Acts about the roof, about Boiler, about everything that electric, anything that comes with the home it acts is for, and as a homeowner, you got to be honest and transparent. Right, if you got a leak coming in, angelo, you already know there's roof on issues right, so you have to be honest.
Speaker 1:Right, it's always gonna come up on the report inspection for so homeowners. You know it's still gonna come up on the report, even though some inspectors might bypass and will notice. But most of them will notice it, right, like the ones that we work with. They will notice it 100% right. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3:You need an experience inspector that has done this for a good amount of time to really go thoroughly through your property and make sure that they do all the bells and whistles and finding out what's wrong or what the condition is.
Speaker 1:So, guys, I got these two articles that are really like, been like in my mind for the past month, right now, and I want to bring up these articles. It's a crazy article. So it's 70 migrants under a furniture store in Queens. Guys, 70 migrants, wow. So tell me, guys, I know what the migrants that's going on right now in New York. I know it's getting a little out of hand, but we got to do things. The right way, at the end of the day, is about people's safety, and I'm huge about people's safety. So there were 70 guys. Wow. I mean, this is I've never heard of 70 people living in the basement.
Speaker 3:Yeah, from what I heard, though, the reason why they even caught wind of it is because the neighbors complained that there were so many bikes parked in like the side of the property, and they were like there's just so many and it's such a hazard that they're all there like that. And so the city came in and investigated and they found all these migrants in the basement. At least that's what I remember from that article.
Speaker 1:Wow, 70. So, honestly, guys, people's safety is important. Right, it is. And the state of New York noticed this and put the law in effect with them because they basically gave them basically a vacant order. Vacant order is serious, guys. When you're renting out illegally, like a basement, renting per room, and they put a vacant order for you, it's big.
Speaker 1:I got a big story about vacant order. I actually sold the property about a few years ago. The homeowner had a vacant order. Unfortunately, she wasn't really aware of it. She was elderly and when it came to the sale, vacant order, that's one of the biggest leans. People don't understand how big it is. So they got a vacant order because she was renting per rooms. On the second floor she had about three different tenants renting per room. One of the tenants called in. They didn't feel comfortable in the property. The city came, picked them up and guess what the city does? They put them in a shelter. And that's not the problem that they put them in a shelter, which is right, right, people's safety. But what had happened from when they put them in the shelter? Guess what? They put them in. Not some of them put them on a shelter, but most of them. They put it in hotels. Who do you think is paying that?
Speaker 3:bill Right the taxpayers, so no.
Speaker 1:So on this case was that the city covers that bill, no problem. But guess what? I'm coming after you. You're the homeowner, you did this illegally and now I'm responsible for you. No, that's not going to happen with the city. The city has to make their money back right and they have to protect the people. So guess what happened? They had almost three years two to three, almost three years living in hotels. Do you think these, these, these people wanted to leave living in hotels? Yes, what happened, guys? So when I came to sell the property, I did see that there was a lien. The city put a lien on this property, a vacant order lien of $80,000. And guess what happened with this property? Because of that $80,000, they were not willing to negotiate.
Speaker 1:Also happened during COVID. Also, she was 70 years old, very elderly, you know. Also, she didn't know English, so she wasn't aware of this and she didn't even know about this vacant order. Of course, they sent, they sent they, they mailed the document out. She's healthy, she, by herself, her husband in this house. Guess what happened, guys? So she won't go into full closure. I did a short sell for her. I literally did a short sell for this lady because those $80,000 went over and what the property was worth.
Speaker 1:So vacant orders, guys, is serious. Most people like to rent basements. Most people like to rent per room. Have in mind something, guys you rent by basement. Guess what happens? Right, god forbid, a fire happens in that basement. What's a safety hazard? People don't understand how big it is when you go and rent basements, right, safety hazard If it's not legal, it's not livable, simple. So basements are serious. So most people that are doing these renting illegally, they don't understand that, god forbid, something big happens in the house. Angel, you're the real. Live with your, the homeowner. Vacate orders are serious. You get jail time if something happens to those people in the basement and it goes on. Right, I'm not out of the turn, but things get us ugly when you got a vacant order. So he got a vacant order right For 70 people in the basement. You know what?
Speaker 3:Oh my.
Speaker 1:God, I feel bad for these migrants. I understand they came to our country, to this country, but how do you think they were feeling in the basement?
Speaker 2:Right, okay, question. So if a homeowner doesn't listen, that they have a vacant order and they're problem, what will happen to them?
Speaker 1:Honestly, when they put a vacant order, you basically have to basically follow what they say. Basically, when they put a vacant order, you cannot go in. They say on the document believe it says that you will go to jail if they go in there because it's not safe. If you see you got a vacant order, it means it's not safe in there, right, and you're doing things illegally like renting by rooms or renting a whole basement. That's why a lot of people get vacals in the basement. So it goes like they're going to find you, they're going to come after you. It's better if I'm not going in there, because once you get in the back side of the city they're going to come with tons of violations and violations and fines In jail time Possibly jail time. Okay, it's not 100%.
Speaker 3:We're going to touch on that in the next upcoming article, but I did remember that one of the reasons that they said that they had to immediately vacate the premises is because they also had ventilation issues. It was very hot in there. You could just imagine 70 people there.
Speaker 1:Do you know the square footage of the basement?
Speaker 3:I don't. I was actually trying to see if I could pull it off. I wasn't able to before the podcast started, so I was also curious about if it was so yeah, because it has to be tie in there.
Speaker 2:I think it was 700 square footage, if I'm not mistaken. That means 10 square foot for every person.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's that's true, because they didn't have bunk beds yeah, it was 70 people too much. I mean in the basement having so much people like that. I mean reality, the guy I don't know what the business owner or the landlord was- thinking about they were also getting remember.
Speaker 3:in the article, I believe they said that they were getting $300 per sum of the people that were living there.
Speaker 1:Jesus Christ. Yes, so 70 times 300 to the math Angela.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's a lot of money. My guy, that's a lot of money.
Speaker 1:Wow. So hey, you're making good income out of it, but is it really good to make, not the right way. Is it really good to make good income when people are not safe?
Speaker 3:Right, it's not ethical to do that. No, I know that. To further go on with this article, I know that Chris was telling us that there's another property that he just got busted for as well, which was here, actually in the Bronx. Same business owner, the same business owner.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I searched it up a little bit before the video this is like a business for him that he's doing, trying to make money like that.
Speaker 3:Well, he's saying that he cares about the people and he wants his fellow people to reside somewhere. So it's. I mean, yeah, he's a big keeper, he's charging $300.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you care so much about people, because the amount that he's charging, if that's the amount that he's charging, I mean I don't see no caring there, I just see business. Because I mean it's uncomfortable $300 and there's 70 people in there, no privacy, right, it's not safe. The air in there must be. It's not safe at all. You're breathing on top of each other. It's like I don't know if he had a kitchen down there or what he had going on, but bathroom rooms I don't know how that was 70 people to use the bathroom. We all got to go to work at 7. That's going to be insane. You must have just a minute, two minute showers, because I don't know what was the situation inside there, how it was salvaged.
Speaker 1:But vacant orders I'm. So when I hear vacant orders, I'm like wow, why are you going through that route? Most homeowners love renting out the basement Guys. Vacant orders are huge guys. You don't want to be in that situation. Yeah, the income might be good at the moment, andrew, because a lot of homeowners do it because of the income, right? But if a neighbor or somebody calls the city and they come and inspect it and they put that vacant order. Now you're responsible for that person in that basement.
Speaker 2:So how long does it take to remove the vacant order of your property?
Speaker 1:It gets more interesting when it comes to that because basically the people that deal with that, basically they got to have a place to go to. So it's like you really came in town when it's going to end, because look at those, they still live for three years on a hotel for free. And she paid $80,000 from her robbery. And guess what, when we did the short sale, the city was not negotiable at all. The vacant order, that fee, was charged and there was no buts if and I told them, listen, she got to go into full closure if you guys don't work with her. City wanted their money, simple as that.
Speaker 1:And I mean it was a vacant order and unfortunately she wasn't aware of it. She was very upset. She didn't believe me. I had to get her proof of documents. I was like, listen, it's not me coming up with this, she was. Then she called her attorney. Her attorney wrote for everything. I told her and I was like yo title report came in with the vacant order and guess what? We had to order the payoff letter. On the vacant order, the lien was, like it said, 30 something, $30,000. And then when you order the payoff because that's what having mine guys sometimes the lien stays the amount, but that's not really the amount. That's where you have to order payoff letter, just like a mortgage. You go out with the mortgage, it stays an amount, but then you always have to order the payoff.
Speaker 3:And what is the payoff letter for people that don't know?
Speaker 1:Payoff letter, basically, is going to give you the final amount. Oh, to whoever you owe to. So it was the bank and visitor city. It gives you the final amount and that's including all the fees. So it's literally the final amount. So just have that in mind that you got to wait for that pay off. But when the payoff letter came, it was about to be exactly like $79,000, almost $80,000 and change. So I came back and she had no choice to go into a short sale. I mean, you know, property also was the stress. It's like I was doing everything I can to sell this property for the max.
Speaker 2:There also was another lien in the property right and there was a legal extension or this property had a lot of stuff into it, but more important was the vacant order.
Speaker 1:I had an legal extension, but you know I disclosed this to everybody because, right, when you do guys do a legal extension, once you order survey Andrew is going to come up, Right, guys? You guys need to know that once you order survey Andrew, it's going to come up because all this is recorded with the city.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's why it's so important to be completely transparent with whoever you're working with to avoid those problems because, like Alex said, it's all going to come to light sooner or later, so it might as well be sooner. Tackle the problem, fix it if you can, or just let the buyer know that this is what comes with it.
Speaker 1:I want to add on to what you just said, which is big no-transcript. You hiding it or you think they're not gonna find out, guys, we're in a different century now. Yeah. Or the title report, or a survey, bank scores I was in appraise it's not the same guys, you're not going to go the way with it. Just do the sell the right way, because you don't want to like it to be done to you. I'm very strong on that. Don't do wrong on others that you wouldn't like it to be done to you. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So I'm very strong on that. Like, just do the right thing. And then also, as an age, I feel good because I'm like even I just represent the seller. I feel good because I like to do things transparently. Because I go and sell you a property, angel, and I know the roof is collapsing and you didn't notice it. I'm not gonna feel good when the roof collapse on you. Me personally, my heart not gonna be at peace. Right, Others could say differently. Right, others are thinking about oh, I just want to get a sale, got a commission. No, we don't think like that. Me and my team are very strong on that. Like, guys be transparent at all times. I'm very strong on that because I don't want any back going to us. Do it. I want our reputation to look good and sense like these guys. They work with good heart, good faith. When you work like that, you don't drink, that it goes good guys.
Speaker 3:Right, you don't want a guilty conscience on you. No man that drags you down so much. Yeah, so much.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm with you. And then also, you know we're in this business forever. Right, this is a business that I love. We're passionate about it. I've gotten people to always remember our team Like these guys really work with good art, good faith, and when you work with Angel, guess what happens? They're gonna bombard you with referral. They're gonna also think of you and remember a few of like Angel was a good guy, Chris was this good guy. I trust him and feel comfortable. Chris actually working with one of his clients and he's helping out with his one hour clients for a rental. He didn't feel right. What would another agent? He wanted to go with Chris because he saw our transparency, he showed our honesty and he didn't want to work with no one else. He asked Chris like listen, Chris, I need you to rent this out because I don't feel comfortable with anyone but you guys, he was so adamant about that.
Speaker 3:He said Chris, you're the only one that I wouldn't trust this listing to. I don't want no one else and, Chris, you just agreed to it right After that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so right now we're still in the process of renting it out Nice. Hopefully by April, maybe April 15th it'll be 40 rental. It's an investment property, great, great.
Speaker 1:So I got another article. Guys that I've been also sticking out, I'm like, wow man, I'm like so against these landlords out like this. I'm going to call them slumlords.
Speaker 3:That's the way, I call them.
Speaker 1:But to be honest with you, I'm a landlord myself. But before I get into that, this is a landlord in Washington Heights. I've never seen this 700 violations on his property what?
Speaker 3:No 700 violation.
Speaker 1:Is that the?
Speaker 3:most you've ever seen.
Speaker 1:I mean it must be the most because it's out there really strong right now. People are talking about it. So this is in Washington Heights. One of the landlords have seven 700 violation. They even offering him jail time right now. So that's the reason the article stands out a lot, because they offering him jail time because he has 700 violation.
Speaker 3:And not only that. I read in the article that they're from the worst landlord. They're sending him to the worst jail facility, which is Rikers and Neymar.
Speaker 1:Oh, so they gave him a little taste right Of basically being a bad landlord, and now they're offering jail and guess what it's to Rikers Island, right.
Speaker 3:If he doesn't make the repairs in the necessary time. I believe that's what the article yeah that's how it is.
Speaker 1:So you got these violations, but I mean his name is all over now. This is an article is out there. I mean 700 violations, angelo.
Speaker 2:Oh, how high. How he hasn't lost the building yet.
Speaker 3:I don't know, Daniel is something else man.
Speaker 2:That's.
Speaker 1:that's a lot of violations for a building you know what it is and I'm gonna handle myself right. Let's get into that. I'm gonna handle myself. That's love. And one thing about me Every time my tenant pays the the rent, first thing I ask is everything okay, do you need anything? Right, because it's not. This is families living there. You know they're paying your rent on time, they. On top of all this, the least we could do as landlords is honestly make sure that their place is livable and is safe, maintaining and maintain it, of course.
Speaker 3:I think that's the biggest thing with landlords. Sometimes, when it's your first time buying a property, or you've bought several properties, sometimes you kind of neglect them. You just think that all they're just making you money and that's it. That's all you need to do just collect your money and that's it. But now it goes further than that. You need to set aside money for maintenance, repairs and all of this. Agree and some people are just they don't do their due diligence or just neglected, and this is what happens.
Speaker 1:I think most of these landlords man. They just thinking about their passive income.
Speaker 1:Yes, all they think about like all right, I'm making this amount. Wow, this is amazing. Let me just keep piling up, piling up. Yeah, guys, but people living there, like I say, it's like you know about when I used to rent the landlord is the rent you. That building was always clean, is where we maintain I'm out come. This is something I've been my apartment. Next day I will have someone and I saw and I was like, wow, it made me feel comfortable paying rent, made me always want to pay rent when, when tenants see this, other tenants get like yo. If you don't care about our safety in our life, you don't care about my family being here, why should I pay rent?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean for our viewers at home, right, that are watching this podcast. Comment down below and tell us what kind of landlord you're. You have a slum lord, a good landlord, or what type of landlord?
Speaker 1:Yeah, please let us know your thoughts and yeah.
Speaker 3:I'll be very interested to find out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because it's all types of landlords right. Yeah, but Pacific, this landlord, it's looking bad for him right now, you know, because now he's gonna, now all the tensions on him, all the red flags is on him front most likely owns more buildings.
Speaker 3:Right, yeah, I think he those violations were divided among two properties in Washington Heights that he owned. Oh, gotcha, so it's a two. Okay, I think so. Yeah, because he did have two properties that were in the article. I think they might have been most likely due to that.
Speaker 1:Most likely he got owns more multiple buildings. He's probably so busy. But I'm happy the city caught up on it and now the city's putting a lot of pressure on him, even offering him jail time. I mean I never heard of people basically the city offering jail time. So this is a big article because they offering jail time because he's not being responsible and that's good.
Speaker 3:I mean people should be held responsible for neglecting, you know, human lives.
Speaker 1:Like like you're, they're I'm happy the city's doing this, because you have to do an example with these landlords.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, some of these landlords just throw the, just by the building, throw it there and they don't even care. But what's going on with the building? And it happens all the time. I lived in a building like that when I was growing up. It was a building that the landlord didn't even come. One time our apartment actually got on fire and my mother's building and the Bronx I actually our apartment got on fire and guess what? They didn't want to give us another apartment, they just wanted us to leave. They were like, alright, go to a hotel and pay for you two weeks. Like they're going such a ugly row with us. And we were like you know, it was a single mother. She was like, no, we're gonna stay here. Guess what we were getting in light.
Speaker 1:We had an extension course, angel, for our apartment, which was a second floor, all the way to the basement, to get electric. So it was really bad, like, so basically, what happened was that inside the bathroom, right, there was a leak inside the walls and then it caught up with the electric and it started a big fire there in the MMI mother's apartment bathroom. So they broke all the walls. You know, when these firemen comes in, they destroy everything and not Unblame them right, wish they don't do that these properties but they destroy everything because they have to make sure there's no other little fire anywhere else inside those walls. So they break everything. So we were showering like that, like it was like one of like probably the worst experience that we experienced me, chris and my brothers, because we had no choice to live there. It was so uncomfortable, and they let us live like that for about six months because the landlord was waiting for the insurance money.
Speaker 3:Wait how long?
Speaker 1:you said six months yeah, it was like about six months on my recalling and it was so uncomfortable. The landlord and then the land just kept putting pressure for us to move out. And you know the rents are so high in my mother's single mother it was hard for us to move out of there. So my mom maintained that was very strong. I was putting a lot of pressure and I never forget what I told that landlord.
Speaker 1:As a child I was about I would say like 13, 14, 15, probably 15, I would say. I let that him in his face and I was like does your family live like this? How do you feel if your family was like this? And he looked at me and turned around and I was like, yeah, exactly no one like. And I was when with that, with my heart, and that's why I'm so like against.
Speaker 1:These landlords are slumlords. Because I experienced it Me and my brothers, we experienced this I'm like it's not a good feeling. So in my property, when I want to attend and tell me I'm instantly, I'm the next day, I'm, they want sending someone instantly, hey, go repair it. So they had an initial thing. That's all I'm gonna want in my town about door and I wasn't working or something like that. I replaced the whole door, not because I wanted to feel safe, man. She said the door kept opening, closing like it was messed up. So I was all no problem, I'll take care of that tomorrow. I'll send my guy. He fixed it, that's it. She's happy and she always tells me Thank you, you're always there, and all this and I just want them to remember that you know you're painful, this. I want you to be happy. Yeah, so like the, these slumlords, like that, it's like it's not, it's not nice to be like that.
Speaker 1:Like that experience of ours was. It was actually a really bad experience where we uncomfortable, like we were showering, I was showering, I was see through the walls, like I couldn't even see almost upstairs. So you're showering, you got no privacy. Imagine that as a child, you seeing this, you're like, oh my god. So, as we're ever growing up, that's when it motivated me to buy a property, and I always say that story, every those experience, you know, and I gave up my process. My mother's like the best mother, single mom. She did by herself can't expect more than that. She did a great job, me, chris, and my brother, calvin and John. You know we came on great kids, so first guy. But we appreciate that. But these experiences will make everybody stronger. That's what made me personally strong and push myself and motivate myself and, you know, try to provide the best I can for my kids and my family, you know, and be a best dad. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Chris, how did you Experience that whole scenario? Do you recall it or the. Christmas literally.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I do remember that this happened. So basically I was in third grade and fourth grade on this happened. So basically, my brother Kelvin, he picked me up from school and he told me that the house on the Parmesan fire and I thought he was joking online.
Speaker 1:He jokes a lot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he jokes a lot. So basically I was like nine man, you lying, blah, blah, blah. So basically, once I got in the home it did smell like a weird smell. So he told me it was in the bathroom part of the kitchen that the fire happened. So basically, once I went to the bathroom my heart dropped like that. I was like oh my God, what happened? How does it happen? It was bad.
Speaker 1:It was really dark and there we had no light. Yeah, and I mean I was calling this landlord probably every other week or every other day, like I was harassing him, like I will call this dude, I was making a complaint to him. I was because I didn't like the service and the way he treated us like we were in nothing and I was like this is not fair.
Speaker 1:You know it's not, it's not a good feeling. So imagine him. He was a kid, he was mad little, he was very little and seeing that, he definitely felt very. You know it's hard driving a little kid.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my hard drive was very scary. I'm like wow, how this happened yeah. And yeah we've been living there for six months, like that it was about six months.
Speaker 3:They never compensated you guys for any of those.
Speaker 1:You know what it was. That that's one thing, right, most of these tenants, right. You guys have so much rights and we didn't take advantage of our rights Because you didn't know what we didn't know. We didn't know Exactly, we didn't do our research.
Speaker 1:My mother also only speaks Spanish. So most of these Spanish parents, right, I just want to speak about my mom. She only knew Spanish and it was a single mom. She was so bitch, she couldn't have time. She, so my mother would take us to school, take us to doctor's appointment, take him to a lot of doctor appointments. You know, she didn't really dig into her rights. Now that we are in real estate, of course we protect, especially our love and which is our mother, but we didn't know our rights. So this landlord noticed that we didn't know rights. I was young and we were all kids. My mom was only a daughter in our household. Really, he took advantage of us. We didn't take. We could have made a big scene for him in that apartment. We had six months without no light, you know, and it was terrifying. And also the walls, all the shrieks. He wanted the insurance money, so we had to wait for them to get the insurance and he ended up fixing it, but still you still with that backflap.
Speaker 3:You know, back.
Speaker 1:So it's like is it really it's not nice to be like this? So me, knowing this angel, I'll be mean if I do something like that to someone.
Speaker 3:Right, yeah, I mean, the main takeaway of this is basically know your rights as a tenant. You have a lot of them in New York. Know your rights, guys, and if you just don't want to be you know the victim of a landlord, become a landlord yourself on a home. So you don't have to, like, buy a house, guys, yeah, so you don't have to go and try to contact this person that probably never going to return your calls.
Speaker 3:It's going to be very, very slow to do anything and you just don't have control over it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:As best as you would have if you were an owner yourself.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So, honestly, guys, go buy your house, push yourself, because I understand everyone has a different situation and, right, I could go and tell you, buy a house to everyone. But if your situation is not there, well, prepare yourself, push yourself, make sure you and your partner come to an agreement, keep saving, keep pushing yourself, because I did it with Heidi when we got married. We didn't even have a house and then we went off from there and everything else assisted. But push yourself, guys, because it's the best feeling. You don't want to be in that position when you got a bad landlord. Right, push yourself. Is landlords, or you got to vacate or you know all those home owners. Stop renting out these basements, guys.
Speaker 1:But, yeah, you choose what you do, as long as you know what's going on and you are basically you know we give you what we know. Right, don't rent those basements. I know it's good income, but long term it could be a chaos in that basement. Right, got for bigots on fire, got for big all these stuff. So just do the right thing, guys. Right, I always say buy a house, and when you won't be a homeowner, do the right thing. Everything else is going to fall into place, right? So, guys, thank you so much for joining this podcast. I'm really excited you guys came. Please subscribe, like and comment. Thank you for seeing and watching Sewed up with buys podcast. Guys, thank you so much. Take care, guys. Take care.
Speaker 1:Bye.