Ever wondered what it's like when the Big Apple starts to feel a bit like California? We kick off with a refreshing take on New York City's recent rainy blessing, breaking a two-month dry spell and bringing much-needed relief. As the city prepares for cooler fall and winter seasons, we share our excitement about holiday preparations and the heartwarming traditions that bind families together this time of year. Amidst the festive cheer, we also take a moment to discuss some pressing environmental concerns like unusual highway fires and the dual nature of snow, both beautiful and a challenging responsibility for homeowners.
Navigating the world of real estate can be tricky, but fear not! We dive headfirst into the essential steps needed when purchasing a home—starting with the need for accurate property surveys to avoid disputes with neighbors. Sharing a personal tale of an error we encountered, we emphasize the importance of clear property records. We also unravel the complications surrounding Certificates of Occupancy (CO) and open permits, especially for older properties, and how these can impact your buying experience. Stay tuned as we explore the complexities of legal home renovations and the consequences of unauthorized modifications, urging the importance of professional guidance to navigate city regulations smoothly.
Get ready to meet Heidi, our expert mortgage broker, whose creative solutions are nothing short of miraculous. With access to over 95 banks, she excels at finding the perfect mortgage program, even for those with unique circumstances like ITIN holders or properties with additional dwelling units (ADUs). We highlight her empathetic approach and dedication to client satisfaction, making her an invaluable ally in the home-buying process. As the year winds down, we encourage you to explore the vast array of mortgage options available and wish you all a joyous holiday season filled with new connections and opportunities.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to Suda with Bias Podcast, and I'm here with
my co-host.
Angel Bias and I'm Alex Bias.
I'm excited it's finallyraining in New York City.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Right, it is.
I mean, it's been two months, Ithink, since we last had rain
like this.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
I know you were seeing these highways looking
like California ia man yeah, itwas really really dry out of
here it was really dry man it's.
It was two months without rain.
I mean, I've never seen it.
It's been.
It's gonna rain literally allweek next week.
Today is raining all day.
It's cold.
It's really cold like I lovethis weather, though I'll be
honest with you.
I love this weather.
I was born in the summer, but Ilove the winter, the fall,
(00:46):
winter me too.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
I like, uh, having my big coat on, you know.
Yeah, it was all nice andfluffy the best thing is the
holidays, though.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Yeah, I'm ready for those holidays.
Yeah, holiday spirit.
You already got all the thingsfor the holidays.
You said, nah, another to mywife, heidi.
Oh yeah, that's right, heidi'sa beast at those holiday
decorations gifts.
Heidi's the one that holds itdown, but I enjoy seeing her
doing all that.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
She goes all out for the holidays Too much.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Too much, but it's fun.
It's actually exciting seeing,heidi, the decoration.
You go to my house, oh my God,it looks like there's so much
lights everywhere, wow it.
God, it looks like.
Oh, it's so much lightseverywhere, wow, it looks nice.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Though you know it's good, you know beautiful
memories there with the kids andthe wife and the family and the
holidays, the holiday spirit,man, I love it it's nice because
your family gets to visit, youget to catch up with all these
people and stuff that youhaven't talked to in a little
bit, you know yeah, you catch up, you know, because you have
your family and you got yourother family too.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
This is the time to catch up.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yeah, absolutely Especially like even like we're
really busy most of the time sowe don't get enough time with
family and stuff, and I knowpeople listening to this podcast
probably are in the same boatwhere you know you're busy as
heck and you really don't havethe time just yet.
So it's like a good part tolike a good way to catch up with
(02:07):
people.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
I don't like saying so.
I had to.
One of my cousins told me onetime he was like I always had
this thing, like I'm real busy.
I'm real busy and I'm here's alist of Alex.
I like you, but I want you tostop saying you're busy and I.
The reality is that you're busyfor what you want to be busy.
Right, you choose and pick yourschedule right.
Reality when you tell peopleyou're busy, it's basically
(02:27):
telling them they're not soimportant as that right.
One thing I do I don't tellanyone I'm busy anymore Because
it really got to me.
I'm like, if you're importantin my life, I can't tell you I'm
busy Because that means you'renot without saying you're busy
oh.
I was just telling her it'scalled life.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Oh man, and how we were saying about the rain not
coming.
You know, I've been seeing alot of fires in New York In the
highways right.
Yeah, I even put it on myInstagram that I was driving by.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
It was fake, to be honest, because Instagram that I
was driving by.
It was fake, to be honestbecause I mean, since I was born
I'm from the 90s I've neverseen that in New York City.
You see, in California, in thenews, you see all types of
places right where it's really alot of heat, right, but I've
never seen the heat in New YorkCity.
So it's kind of like weirdseeing that coming out in the
news.
You see, jersey, like the otherday I was driving, I'm like I
came out of my car.
I'm like yo, my car smelledlike fire, but it was the air,
(03:25):
Right, because I live right in,basically right on the line of
Jersey.
So I'm like whoa, do you see allthe smoke, you see all the
smell of the fire?
And it was literally like a fewhours just smelling fire.
So I thought it was my car.
The whole time Went under thecar, look at the brain, right,
but it wasn't.
I'm like wow.
So now, seeing that in the news, it's good that it's raining,
you see how important rain is.
(03:46):
Yeah, it needed to be rainingmore often.
It's been two months, accordingto the news, right.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I think another reason why there was a lot of
fires is because the plants andeverything was very dry or
something because of the windand all that.
So the rain kind of counteracts.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Two months without rain, that's a lot.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Yeah, I think it's been like two months.
Yeah, because it's been a while.
It's been a while since we hadrain.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
I don't.
I personally don't like therain, but nature needs rain.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah, what about the snow?
Speaker 1 (04:13):
We haven't had snow just yet.
I like the snow just when ithappens at the moment, but then
afterwards it's disgusting.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Like the black ice and all that.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
I cannot stand how disgusting it is after the first
day.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Oh, yeah, it gets so bad yeah disgusting.
Yeah, especially, I don't mindlike the ice right, like the
solid ice, like, even thoughit's probably more dangerous,
but I don't like the black snowitself, you know.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Yeah, I'm with you.
It gets so nasty, man.
You know, as a homeowner yougot to send someone to go clean
all the snows because you don'twant to get sued if someone
falls and trips in your snow infront of your house, Right?
So, oh, got to be ready for thesnow guys.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Mm-hmm.
No, absolutely Talking aboutthat.
Like someone slipping andfalling in front of your house.
What about, like if there's atree in front of the house and
it has roots coming out in thesidewalk?
Speaker 1 (05:02):
It's good you said that.
So basically, the trees thatare inside your lot.
You're responsible for thetrees.
Basically, if you want to takeit down, you can.
The trees that are on thesidewalk.
I mean, that's the public,that's the city.
You cannot touch the tree, youwill get fined.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
You will get fined, yeah, big bucks for it.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
What if someone comes in and trips over a sidewalk
that's going up, that's in frontof your house and it's the tree
causing that?
So basically that becomes likethe homeowner responsible.
He has to fix a sidewalk.
Right before they were givingum sidewalk liens on the
properties, um.
But then the city realized mostof the sidewalk liens were
because of the trees, and thetrees that are on the sidewalk
belongs to the city and youcan't know.
They said I'm doing that right,but the city now is doing like
it goes 50-50.
The homeowner might beresponsible or the city might
come and fix it because due tothe tree, but especially in the
(05:51):
Bronx and city, there's a lot ofsidewalk violations because
basically that's the thing aboutthese trees they lift up the
sidewalk, they lift like.
That's why it's not so good tohave trees close to your house,
because those roots go insideyour house, right.
It can do damage to thefoundation, to your house,
piping, anything you got goingon, right.
So you don't know what's goingon, because these roots they
destroy.
(06:11):
I don't like trees.
So when I bought my house Iactually had a really big tree.
Those trees even damaged theroof of your house.
The trees, yeah, the nature isbeautiful and all the trees.
Yeah, the nature is beautifuland all, but actually, if it's
on your property, it does moredamages than anything.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Also, when the leaves fall, they clog your gutters,
the roof also.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
they start seeing basically leaves growing on the
roof too.
All the vines and all of that,and then also the roots of those
trees are huge.
You know you don't see thembecause it's on the ground, but
you start seeing when they'reheading in the direction to your
house.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
And they're very strong when they grow Very
strong so they'll penetratealmost anything sometimes.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
It's expensive.
By the way, guys, it's veryexpensive to take down trees
Like, I took down a tree and itwas pretty big.
It cost me about, except forone tree, one tree.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
One tree.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Yeah, that's how a lot of people let the trees grow
in because they're so expensive.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
But it might cost more.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Yeah.
So what you do to these trees,right, don't let it be on top of
your property and if it is, atleast cut down the branches.
Hire a professional to cut downthe branches no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
You're going to get sued.
What are the cities going to goto?
Speaker 1 (07:30):
It all depends where it happens.
Right.
If it happened on the sidewalk,we're responsible as homeowners
for the sidewalk.
Right.
If it's a tree and it falls onthe car or any of that, the city
property.
Right, it will be the cityresponsible for it.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Got you.
I'm just saying, like, if theroots right bring up the
sidewalk and it's causing ahazard and the owner is
wondering like can I fix that?
Can I touch the roots of thetree or can I not?
Speaker 1 (07:55):
What I do is that in that situation, you call the
city and do a report.
I've done it.
So one of the branches fellfrom the tree.
I called the city.
They came and fixed it and theyactually cut down the branch
down too of the tree that was.
It was basically rotting thebranch.
So they called the city.
So just call the city to verifybefore you do any action.
Okay, because you don't want nofines or you know any problems
with the city.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Yeah, because I've seen some really bad ones where,
like, the sidewalk is all theway over the, the actual block
itself of cement.
Yeah, and I'm like, okay, Iguess you got to call the city
then.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Before you do anything, call the city, cause
also the city is the one thatgives violations and all this
Right and they go after yourproperty and it goes to the
title of your property and thenyou got to clear before you sell
.
Yeah, definitely call the citybefore you do anything, guys.
Definitely call the city Beforeyou do anything.
Guys, get informed by theprofessional and definitely do
the right thing.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Right and keep calling them.
So you, you know, like Godforbid, someone trips and falls,
Like you've taken action tryingto call the city over and over
and over.
So you know like, hey, this wasa problem, I was calling you
and you never picked up.
That's on you, Like that's Ahundred percent.
How can I be liable?
I don't want to touch it andthen get a fine from you guys.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
So on my property where I live at, there's a tree
in front of my house right Ofthe city.
I've been calling the city likehonestly, like two, three times
a year because I'm worried theywant them to take that tree
down, because that tree isactually lifting up the sidewalk
.
Yeah, I told the city and thecity.
All they did was just come andcut the branches that were
drying up and that's it.
They didn't want to take thetree down.
(09:25):
But then the neighbor in frontof me, they took his tree down
and only because one branch fell.
It fell down to the street.
It was a pretty big branch.
They took the whole tree down.
Yeah, so the city, so yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
No, I get it.
I mean, there's always allthese questions that we have
from homeowners, like newhomeowners, like about those
types of things and whatnot.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Reach out to us guys.
You guys have questions, right?
You know everyone havedifferent opinions, right?
Reach out to us.
Well, it's all free.
Yeah, exactly, reach out to usAny questions, opinions, right,
reach out to us.
Well, it's all free.
Yeah, exactly, don't chargeanything.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Reach out to us any questions you might have Exactly
.
And then there's questionsabout like shared driveways and
stuff Like can someone park in ashared driveway?
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Like, if I mean, you can if you get permission from
the neighbors.
So the shared drive right.
When you're purchasing theseproperties, right.
If you see that there's ashared driveway, most likely
there's an easement.
Right you got to.
Every easement is different.
You got to read the easementand the agreement that's in
there.
Right, and usually the easementthat's shared driveway.
Both homeowners have access tothat driveway but no one could
block the driveway.
Right, you have to make sureit's always accessible for both
(10:40):
homeowners to pass.
Right.
And when you're buying aproperty with an easement, make
sure you have a goodrelationship with your neighbor.
Right, because you guys aregoing to come across all the
time because you're sharing theeasement and you will need to
know your rights with theeasement, what you can do and
what you can't do.
Right.
So it's important that whenyou're purchasing a property, if
there's an easement, get thefull details of the easement,
(11:00):
because every easement isdifferent.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Get the survey as well, to know what part of like,
where it ends and where itstarts.
What belongs to you Survey isso important.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Always when you purchase a property right, it's
your option as a homeowner rightto get a survey.
I highly recommend to alwaysget a survey.
You know it's your option.
Right, it is costly but it'sworth it because you would know
your lines.
You would see in your lines youare seeing your lines of your
property right.
If anyone is the other property, someone is on your line or
you're on their line.
It's like, most of the time, isthe fence right?
(11:29):
So most of these homeownersplace a fence where they think
the line is at and when you comeand sell the property, you see
that they're on top of your line, your neighbor from the back or
from the side.
So it's very important, guys,to always do a survey.
I highly recommend to always doa survey.
Every property we purchase wedo a survey.
It's very important.
How much do surveys?
(11:49):
usually cost every survey isdifferent.
I would say the average is fromlike 700 to 1000 700 to 1000.
It depends how big the home isyeah, the lot, because some lots
are huge when a surveyor isdoing it.
They also got to go to therecords to see basically where
your lines are on the D Right.
So, um, they will go andmeasure everything around for
(12:10):
you.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah, have you ever had a survey that wasn't
completely accurate and you hadto get like a second opinion?
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Yes, I recently had a survey done like that it was,
that was, it wasn't accurate.
And the neighbor next door waslike the survey that your client
has is not accurate, so I hadto use both surveys and then we
had to contact back the surveyorand apparently that the
surveyor was the one that didthe incorrect.
I mean he did a mistake.
It happens, we're all here andthe only reason he made a
(12:37):
mistake was because when he sawthe records on the city he
couldn't see the numbers.
It was a two or a five.
That's a big difference whenyou're doing a survey right of
fee.
So he didn't know, he couldn'tsee if it was a two or five.
He showed it to me and I waslike, yeah, it was pretty hard
to notice it.
But he noticed that it wascloser to what the lady was
saying next door Gotcha, did youget a refund for that?
(13:04):
No, all he couldn't see thenumbers from the city.
How did you realize that therewas a mistake?
The neighbor next doordefinitely indicated that the
survey was incorrect.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Oh, okay, yeah, Gotcha yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
And then we verified, Because the way you verify also
you see the neighbor's surveyand then you call the surveyor
to see who was right and who waswrong.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Right To cross-check it.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
And he cross-checked and he realized that he was off
by I think it was like three,but that's a lot, three feet.
You know what I'm?
Saying yeah, that's a lot.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
That is a lot.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Yeah, so it was just that it was actually.
I'm sorry so it was two, but itgot fixed.
So surveys are very importantguys.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Right.
Another question that we havefrom people are like what is a
certificate of occupancy?
Speaker 1 (13:49):
That basically will tell you if it's a legal single
family, if it's a legal twofamily.
It'll tell you the rooms, howmany rooms each unit is.
And it's very important to havethat because bank also requests
it.
Before they give you the moneyto purchase the property they
have to verify that there's aseal, got it.
So ceo basically lets you know.
Basically it's safe to live inthere.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
In other words too and it tells you the lay of the
uh tells you the layout inside.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
It all depends because every ceo is different,
because remember some housesbuilt in the 1900s, so any is.
I'm actually happy to mentionthat any house built before 1938
, there there's no seal.
It's after 1938 the sealstarted coming out, right.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Yeah, so you don't need a seal if it's 1938 or
below.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Below Correct Correct Seals is after 1938.
After 1938?
.
They have seals and the sealwill basically indicate if it's
a single family, two family andit will tell you how many
bedrooms each unit is bathroomand all that whatever it was
like uh, remodeled almostcompletely afterwards, like
almost and they've renovated thehouse entirely yeah, like as
long you don't take walls down,you could renovate it, but
(14:53):
definitely pull out permits,yeah, when you're doing
renovations and that's anotherthing right that we've been
seeing with the listings thatwe've been getting as of lately,
there's a lot of open permits.
I'm happy you mentioned it, soI've been seeing recently.
So when we go and list yourproperty homeowners, the first
thing we do is order a titlereport.
And the reason we order a titlereport?
Because we want to see if yourtitle is clear and clean, right.
(15:15):
This helps out a lot because weknow exactly what we're working
with, so we don't wait till abuyer goes in contract and order
their title report.
We order our title reports onthe property.
So recently I've been seeingthat a lot of these homeowners
bought properties and theprevious attorney, right or
title company they work withthey didn't let them know that
they were open permits, so theywill buy properties with open
(15:36):
permits right.
So when you're buying aproperty, guys, you have to make
sure title report is clear,meaning that there's no
violation, open permits right,no liens on the property, of
course, no mortgage right andanything with the city right.
Make sure it's clear.
One thing I've been noticing isthat there's been a lot of
property with open permit Rightnow.
For instance, I got a client.
She bought a house in 2017,which is very recent, right and
(15:59):
her property had two openpermits she wasn't aware of.
How was she able?
Speaker 2 (16:03):
to buy it then.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
The reality is that the bank still gives the funds
to purchase right, even withthese permits, as long as you,
as the homeowner, know thesepermits are open and understand
it.
You know, as long as it'sdisclosed to you, you can move
forward, right, right, unlessthere's no CO, then it becomes
an issue, right?
So she bought a property thathad plumbing and also electric.
Both of them were, if I'm notmistaken, 2003, 2005.
(16:27):
But she bought the propertywith it.
So what happens, guys, now thatshe's selling her house?
Now the new buyer wants thetitle to be clear.
So she's responsible to closethose permits.
Right?
So now she has to hire aprofessional plumber and a
professional electrician toclose those permits out, because
the city will not close itunless they come and do a final
(16:48):
inspection.
You could pull up all thepermits you want.
The city will not close permitsunless they do a final
inspection.
If there is no final inspection, those permits are going to
maintain open.
And as a homeowner, when you'reselling your house, just put
yourself in the position of abuyer.
He wants to make sureeverything's clear on title,
meaning that he don't wantanything open.
He don't want to be responsiblefor any of that, and now it's
(17:11):
her responsibility to close themor you could work something out
with them.
So you got options right.
We try to find out otheroptions for the client.
One thing we do a lot wedisclose every detail because we
don't want no one to walk intoany surprise.
So we make sure the buyerseller understands what's going
on in detail, especially we'rerepresenting them.
So now the seller has twooptions they close the permits
(17:33):
or offer money to the buyer ofcredit to get it done but will
have to be disclosed in detailexactly what the permits are,
what they say and what it wasopen for.
And then the buyer will decidethat credit amount is good
enough for them and it's not,and they will get negotiated or
the seller will have to closethose permits.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Got you and for these open permits right.
Do they accrue like extra coststhe longer you have them open?
Or is it just a one-time thingwhere you just got to get them
closed and that's it?
Speaker 1 (18:03):
No, you just got to get them closed.
But basically what you need todo, what is going to be costly
is when you hire theprofessional, for instance, if
it's an electrician.
When you hire the electricianto come and close that permit
that he did not do, he has tocome and verify the work.
If there's work to be needed,you have to pay to get the work
needed to be up to code to closeit Got you.
So really you cannot say howmuch it's going to be.
(18:24):
But if it's an open permit,definitely you're going to pay,
because you're going to pay andthe licensed electrician to put
his license in the line and nowhe's going to take over the
permit, so the line and he, nowhe's gonna put take over the
permit.
He's gonna.
So he gotta make sure that allthe work that has to be done is
up to colon and materials andlabor is gonna be cost you plus
the permit got you.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
All those fees are gonna be piled up to you and you
will have to pay to close it soI can only imagine when you
know homeowners hear this andthey gotta go like am I gotta
pay even more money now because,like I didn't know, there
might've been a permit open andstuff.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
That's why it's important to hire someone that
will do all that research foryou.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
We usually order for the homeowners so we can know
what's going on and we alreadyhave a plan of action to see how
we're going to handle this, howwe could deal.
And we also will come and bringabout two to three contractors
electricians, plumbers,depending on the permit to
basically help us clear andclose those permits and we'll
give the homeowner the optionthey could choose.
But we let the professionalscome in and give us estimates on
(19:23):
this because we like to sellthe property with a clean title.
That's the honest truth.
I always advise the client whenyou're selling your house, it's
best to sell it with a cleantitle.
Why?
The first reason is I like todo the things right with
transparency.
Secondly, I want to max yourpocket.
I want to make sure thehomeowner gets the max rent.
(19:43):
If you're selling a propertywith a clean title, you're going
to definitely benefit atclosing.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Right and without a clean title, people have second
thoughts about buying the homebecause they don't want to take
on that heading exactly whenthey get in there.
Yeah, so definitely.
That's why in the last podcastwe discussed like also, when
you're um investing in homes tosell them again, you can't be
doing a cheap job on it too, andyou got to make it presentable
and stuff like that, because yougot to think of the buyer as
(20:09):
well.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
They don't want no problems when they go into that
home, just I do do want to bringthis out on a tip out to
everyone, all the homeowners.
To all the homeowners before youdo any work to your house, get
professionals involved.
Right, because there's a lot ofhomeowners that I sold their
houses that they come and do anillegal extension, illegal
bathroom in the basement,illegal basement.
Right, a lot of people like todo decks.
(20:32):
That's one of the most illegalthing you can be doing, because
you got to get permits, you gotto get plans, you got to involve
an architect to get this donefor you, you got to involve a
contractor to pull out permitsand it costs you more.
But when you do the things theright way, it's going to be less
costly than when you do it thewrong way, because if a city
sees you doing any work to theproperty illegally, you're gonna
(20:52):
put a stop work order, it'sgonna be costly and give you
fines, and then now you have todo the whole process because
nobody wants to buy a propertywith a stop work order oh yeah,
we've seen uh, I've seen acouple, yeah, where they're
doing work and then they getstopped because they're not
doing it the legal way.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Now you're backed up three months or something like
that, and then you're justletting that thing sit.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Yeah, because once you get the stop work order,
that means you cannot do anymore work in there or you're
going to be fine and as far asgoing to jail, they will
honestly lock you up.
If you go inside the propertyand do more work to it, it's
best to do everything the rightway.
So I've been seeing a lot ofpeople just doing a lot of Just
make sure, before you do anywork in your property, make sure
you see the plans, the originalplans of the inside of your
(21:36):
house Right, because it's goingto let you know what's legal and
what's not.
And if you want to take a walldown, if you want to do extend
your kitchen or if you want todo an extra room, make sure you
submit plans with a licensedarchitect to get it done for you
, because if you get caughtyou're going to get a stop work
order and I've seen it a lot oftimes.
(22:00):
You know so I'm very involvedwith these titles.
I'm very involved with thesepermits.
So I witnessed a lot of myclients and I advise a lot of my
clients to always do the rightthing because I don't want to
see them stuck with a propertylike that.
I had one client that hired meabout a year ago.
He had over 200 violations.
You know.
We helped him clear all of it.
We got him in Cornelie, we gothim to architect, so we were
able to get all the cure and weended up selling the property
(22:21):
for a great amount.
But he was very stressed outbecause he had 200 violations.
He did a lot of legal work.
He got caught by the citymultiple times.
He was at the line of losingthe property.
Thank God he didn't because wehelped him out.
You know, but just when you'redealing with any renovations,
any extensions, any plumbing,electric, make sure you hire a
(22:42):
professional, an electrician.
But first person you need tohire to do these works is
usually an architect so he coulddraw the plans for you.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Yeah, and an architect can also be like if
you're trying to do somethingelse to the home, like actually,
like anything that's doing thatyeah yeah, they can also be
engineers as well, likearchitects can sometimes be
engineers no, it's two differentlines.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
So it's architect.
It has his line of joint plans.
Engineer is more structuralyeah to make sure everything's
good, but the engineerdefinitely.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Oh, the engineer could be.
The can be an architect as well, but an architect might not
always be An architect is not anengineer.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
An engineer could cover both lines, if I'm
understanding, but architectonly does architect and drill
plants.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
And does the codes to make sure you know it's all
covered, right?
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Yeah, and have you heard of the City of yes
Initiative?
Speaker 1 (23:36):
That's Adams, correct , the mayor, mayor Adams.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Yeah, it's a comprehensive zoning reform
proposed by Major Eric Adams,aimed to address New York's
housing crisis, and the reasonwhy I bring it up it's because
this is one of the things thathelped one of our clients secure
a home because of an ADU, anadditional dwelling unit.
I don't know if we talked aboutthis before, but an ADU is
(24:01):
really important, I mean forsome buyers trying to get a home
, because they could essentiallylook at a single family home
that has a full basement thatlooks like an apartment.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
You can use that as extra income to actually qualify
for that home For a singlefamily right yeah, basically
single family with a walk-in,walk-out basement, separate
entrance, entrance and it'sconsidered like an apartment,
right exactly you could use thatas income, as a, as the
apartment, and it's going to beable to qualify for more for the
(24:30):
purchase of the property itbasically becomes a a
multifamily home in a way,because you're able to use the
income that you would be gettingfrom that-.
Basement.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Yeah, from that basement towards the loan.
So it's a way to kind of getlike a pseudo multifamily home.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
I remember that client.
So that client didn't actuallyqualify for the single family.
By the way, heidi was actuallythe mortgage broker on this.
She actually was the lender onthis property.
She came up with the ADU andwas able to get the buyer the
funds to purchase the property.
We've got a lender that wasable to do it, which was Heidi.
I just want to let you guysknow to all those buyers out
there, all those buyers thatthink they don't qualify
(25:09):
Depending on your situation,everybody got a different
situation right.
But just call us.
You never know.
Heidi covers ITIN, she coversall types of programs.
She's a mortgage broker.
She has access to over 95 banks.
So they have tons of programsout there that you don't know of
.
But I'm sure if you bring it upto Heidi's attention she could
definitely assist you.
(25:29):
I remember that client.
He was actually happy.
He didn't qualify to buy it asa regular loan but it was able
to do it with the ADU.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
We had to look very specifically at single-family
homes that had a full basement,complied with everything, so it
had to have a separate entrance.
It had to have windows on everybedroom besides the bathroom.
The bathroom doesn't need tohave windows, but everything
else and the kitchen right.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
The kitchen, but everything else and the kitchen
right, the kitchen?
Speaker 2 (25:57):
yeah, it has to have.
It has to have a stove and ithas to have cabinets, at least
in the bottom, along with, likethe sink and stuff.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Yeah, yeah it's so many programs out there.
You know, with these banks andas I've been noticing, that,
every day is a new program thatcomes out.
So all those buyers, every dayis a new program that comes out.
So all those buyers, every dayis a new program out there
that's coming out.
They have the 0% down payment.
A lot of people call for that.
Guys, it's programs foreverything, especially now for
first-time buyers.
We've got so many programs.
Take advantage, you never know.
Just give us a call, right, letus know, we'll send you to
(26:27):
Heidi, heidi's, our preferredlender.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Oh man, she would definitely assist you.
If she has a poor one thatcould assist you, she will tell
you.
Yeah, she's very creative withstuff too.
She'll move a lot of thingsaround to see how we can make it
happen.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
I'll be honest with you, I've never seen someone
like she literally puts herheart into those files.
She literally puts all herenergy and heart in.
She loves to see those clientsbe happy.
I'll be honest with you, I sawher one time.
She was clients be happy.
I'll be honest with you.
I saw her one time she was likecalm down, but she puts her
heart so much into it.
She was freaking out, freakingout for a co-op.
(27:00):
She did a co-op i-10, whichthey don't have that program
anymore.
The buyer was done and thelender was just taking a sweet
time and she will literally callevery single day till she got
it done.
And I will see her on theholidays, even in time with the
family.
She was supposed to be whereshe.
She would be calling all theselines to make sure this client
got what was promised to her.
I saw her crying and tears forit and when she got it done you
(27:20):
know she would cry with thesebuyers, like Heidi's very like
emotional, and she wouldliterally cry with these buyers
of excitement.
You know, because she reallyputs her heart and feels for
these families, because she putsherself in like their position
and says they have families justlike we are.
It's a family business and wetry our best to provide as much
value to these families thatyou're not going to be able to
(27:41):
sustain, right?
Speaker 2 (27:41):
She always says like, what are you comfortable with?
Like, what are you reallylooking at?
Because she doesn't want tojust give you a loan for like
800,000 and expect you to go allthere.
She might as well just have youat 700 paying something that
(28:05):
you're more comfortable withLike you're, it better suits you
.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Yeah, we're here for you, guys.
Please put some questions inthere comments.
We're here for you guys.
Please put some questions inthere comments.
We're all over TikTok,Instagram, YouTube.
We're everywhere.
So, guys, please comment, likeand see you till next time and
happy holidays if we don't catchyou guys.
Happy holidays, guys.
Bye.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Bye-bye, Bye guys.
Welcome to Suda with Bias Podcast, and I'm here with
my co-host.
Angel Bias and I'm Alex Bias.
I'm excited it's finallyraining in New York City.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Right, it is.
I mean, it's been two months, Ithink, since we last had rain
like this.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
I know you were seeing these highways looking
like California ia man yeah, itwas really really dry out of
here it was really dry man it's.
It was two months without rain.
I mean, I've never seen it.
It's been.
It's gonna rain literally allweek next week.
Today is raining all day.
It's cold.
It's really cold like I lovethis weather, though I'll be
honest with you.
I love this weather.
I was born in the summer, but Ilove the winter, the fall,
(00:46):
winter me too.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
I like, uh, having my big coat on, you know.
Yeah, it was all nice andfluffy the best thing is the
holidays, though.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Yeah, I'm ready for those holidays.
Yeah, holiday spirit.
You already got all the thingsfor the holidays.
You said, nah, another to mywife, heidi.
Oh yeah, that's right, heidi'sa beast at those holiday
decorations gifts.
Heidi's the one that holds itdown, but I enjoy seeing her
doing all that.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
She goes all out for the holidays Too much.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Too much, but it's fun.
It's actually exciting seeing,heidi, the decoration.
You go to my house, oh my God,it looks like there's so much
lights everywhere, wow it.
God, it looks like.
Oh, it's so much lightseverywhere, wow, it looks nice.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Though you know it's good, you know beautiful
memories there with the kids andthe wife and the family and the
holidays, the holiday spirit,man, I love it it's nice because
your family gets to visit, youget to catch up with all these
people and stuff that youhaven't talked to in a little
bit, you know yeah, you catch up, you know, because you have
your family and you got yourother family too.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
This is the time to catch up.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yeah, absolutely Especially like even like we're
really busy most of the time sowe don't get enough time with
family and stuff, and I knowpeople listening to this podcast
probably are in the same boatwhere you know you're busy as
heck and you really don't havethe time just yet.
So it's like a good part tolike a good way to catch up with
(02:07):
people.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
I don't like saying so.
I had to.
One of my cousins told me onetime he was like I always had
this thing, like I'm real busy.
I'm real busy and I'm here's alist of Alex.
I like you, but I want you tostop saying you're busy and I.
The reality is that you're busyfor what you want to be busy.
Right, you choose and pick yourschedule right.
Reality when you tell peopleyou're busy, it's basically
(02:27):
telling them they're not soimportant as that right.
One thing I do I don't tellanyone I'm busy anymore Because
it really got to me.
I'm like, if you're importantin my life, I can't tell you I'm
busy Because that means you'renot without saying you're busy
oh.
I was just telling her it'scalled life.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Oh man, and how we were saying about the rain not
coming.
You know, I've been seeing alot of fires in New York In the
highways right.
Yeah, I even put it on myInstagram that I was driving by.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
It was fake, to be honest, because Instagram that I
was driving by.
It was fake, to be honestbecause I mean, since I was born
I'm from the 90s I've neverseen that in New York City.
You see, in California, in thenews, you see all types of
places right where it's really alot of heat, right, but I've
never seen the heat in New YorkCity.
So it's kind of like weirdseeing that coming out in the
news.
You see, jersey, like the otherday I was driving, I'm like I
came out of my car.
I'm like yo, my car smelledlike fire, but it was the air,
(03:25):
Right, because I live right in,basically right on the line of
Jersey.
So I'm like whoa, do you see allthe smoke, you see all the
smell of the fire?
And it was literally like a fewhours just smelling fire.
So I thought it was my car.
The whole time Went under thecar, look at the brain, right,
but it wasn't.
I'm like wow.
So now, seeing that in the news, it's good that it's raining,
you see how important rain is.
(03:46):
Yeah, it needed to be rainingmore often.
It's been two months, accordingto the news, right.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I think another reason why there was a lot of
fires is because the plants andeverything was very dry or
something because of the windand all that.
So the rain kind of counteracts.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Two months without rain, that's a lot.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Yeah, I think it's been like two months.
Yeah, because it's been a while.
It's been a while since we hadrain.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
I don't.
I personally don't like therain, but nature needs rain.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah, what about the snow?
Speaker 1 (04:13):
We haven't had snow just yet.
I like the snow just when ithappens at the moment, but then
afterwards it's disgusting.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Like the black ice and all that.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
I cannot stand how disgusting it is after the first
day.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Oh, yeah, it gets so bad yeah disgusting.
Yeah, especially, I don't mindlike the ice right, like the
solid ice, like, even thoughit's probably more dangerous,
but I don't like the black snowitself, you know.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Yeah, I'm with you.
It gets so nasty, man.
You know, as a homeowner yougot to send someone to go clean
all the snows because you don'twant to get sued if someone
falls and trips in your snow infront of your house, Right?
So, oh, got to be ready for thesnow guys.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Mm-hmm.
No, absolutely Talking aboutthat.
Like someone slipping andfalling in front of your house.
What about, like if there's atree in front of the house and
it has roots coming out in thesidewalk?
Speaker 1 (05:02):
It's good you said that.
So basically, the trees thatare inside your lot.
You're responsible for thetrees.
Basically, if you want to takeit down, you can.
The trees that are on thesidewalk.
I mean, that's the public,that's the city.
You cannot touch the tree, youwill get fined.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
You will get fined, yeah, big bucks for it.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
What if someone comes in and trips over a sidewalk
that's going up, that's in frontof your house and it's the tree
causing that?
So basically that becomes likethe homeowner responsible.
He has to fix a sidewalk.
Right before they were givingum sidewalk liens on the
properties, um.
But then the city realized mostof the sidewalk liens were
because of the trees, and thetrees that are on the sidewalk
belongs to the city and youcan't know.
They said I'm doing that right,but the city now is doing like
it goes 50-50.
The homeowner might beresponsible or the city might
come and fix it because due tothe tree, but especially in the
(05:51):
Bronx and city, there's a lot ofsidewalk violations because
basically that's the thing aboutthese trees they lift up the
sidewalk, they lift like.
That's why it's not so good tohave trees close to your house,
because those roots go insideyour house, right.
It can do damage to thefoundation, to your house,
piping, anything you got goingon, right.
So you don't know what's goingon, because these roots they
destroy.
(06:11):
I don't like trees.
So when I bought my house Iactually had a really big tree.
Those trees even damaged theroof of your house.
The trees, yeah, the nature isbeautiful and all the trees.
Yeah, the nature is beautifuland all, but actually, if it's
on your property, it does moredamages than anything.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Also, when the leaves fall, they clog your gutters,
the roof also.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
they start seeing basically leaves growing on the
roof too.
All the vines and all of that,and then also the roots of those
trees are huge.
You know you don't see thembecause it's on the ground, but
you start seeing when they'reheading in the direction to your
house.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
And they're very strong when they grow Very
strong so they'll penetratealmost anything sometimes.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
It's expensive.
By the way, guys, it's veryexpensive to take down trees
Like, I took down a tree and itwas pretty big.
It cost me about, except forone tree, one tree.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
One tree.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Yeah, that's how a lot of people let the trees grow
in because they're so expensive.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
But it might cost more.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Yeah.
So what you do to these trees,right, don't let it be on top of
your property and if it is, atleast cut down the branches.
Hire a professional to cut downthe branches no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
You're going to get sued.
What are the cities going to goto?
Speaker 1 (07:30):
It all depends where it happens.
Right.
If it happened on the sidewalk,we're responsible as homeowners
for the sidewalk.
Right.
If it's a tree and it falls onthe car or any of that, the city
property.
Right, it will be the cityresponsible for it.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Got you.
I'm just saying, like, if theroots right bring up the
sidewalk and it's causing ahazard and the owner is
wondering like can I fix that?
Can I touch the roots of thetree or can I not?
Speaker 1 (07:55):
What I do is that in that situation, you call the
city and do a report.
I've done it.
So one of the branches fellfrom the tree.
I called the city.
They came and fixed it and theyactually cut down the branch
down too of the tree that was.
It was basically rotting thebranch.
So they called the city.
So just call the city to verifybefore you do any action.
Okay, because you don't want nofines or you know any problems
with the city.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Yeah, because I've seen some really bad ones where,
like, the sidewalk is all theway over the, the actual block
itself of cement.
Yeah, and I'm like, okay, Iguess you got to call the city
then.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Before you do anything, call the city, cause
also the city is the one thatgives violations and all this
Right and they go after yourproperty and it goes to the
title of your property and thenyou got to clear before you sell
.
Yeah, definitely call the citybefore you do anything, guys.
Definitely call the city Beforeyou do anything.
Guys, get informed by theprofessional and definitely do
the right thing.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Right and keep calling them.
So you, you know, like Godforbid, someone trips and falls,
Like you've taken action tryingto call the city over and over
and over.
So you know like, hey, this wasa problem, I was calling you
and you never picked up.
That's on you, Like that's Ahundred percent.
How can I be liable?
I don't want to touch it andthen get a fine from you guys.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
So on my property where I live at, there's a tree
in front of my house right Ofthe city.
I've been calling the city likehonestly, like two, three times
a year because I'm worried theywant them to take that tree
down, because that tree isactually lifting up the sidewalk
.
Yeah, I told the city and thecity.
All they did was just come andcut the branches that were
drying up and that's it.
They didn't want to take thetree down.
(09:25):
But then the neighbor in frontof me, they took his tree down
and only because one branch fell.
It fell down to the street.
It was a pretty big branch.
They took the whole tree down.
Yeah, so the city, so yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
No, I get it.
I mean, there's always allthese questions that we have
from homeowners, like newhomeowners, like about those
types of things and whatnot.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Reach out to us guys.
You guys have questions, right?
You know everyone havedifferent opinions, right?
Reach out to us.
Well, it's all free.
Yeah, exactly, reach out to usAny questions, opinions, right,
reach out to us.
Well, it's all free.
Yeah, exactly, don't chargeanything.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Reach out to us any questions you might have Exactly
.
And then there's questionsabout like shared driveways and
stuff Like can someone park in ashared driveway?
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Like, if I mean, you can if you get permission from
the neighbors.
So the shared drive right.
When you're purchasing theseproperties, right.
If you see that there's ashared driveway, most likely
there's an easement.
Right you got to.
Every easement is different.
You got to read the easementand the agreement that's in
there.
Right, and usually the easementthat's shared driveway.
Both homeowners have access tothat driveway but no one could
block the driveway.
Right, you have to make sureit's always accessible for both
(10:40):
homeowners to pass.
Right.
And when you're buying aproperty with an easement, make
sure you have a goodrelationship with your neighbor.
Right, because you guys aregoing to come across all the
time because you're sharing theeasement and you will need to
know your rights with theeasement, what you can do and
what you can't do.
Right.
So it's important that whenyou're purchasing a property, if
there's an easement, get thefull details of the easement,
(11:00):
because every easement isdifferent.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Get the survey as well, to know what part of like,
where it ends and where itstarts.
What belongs to you Survey isso important.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Always when you purchase a property right, it's
your option as a homeowner rightto get a survey.
I highly recommend to alwaysget a survey.
You know it's your option.
Right, it is costly but it'sworth it because you would know
your lines.
You would see in your lines youare seeing your lines of your
property right.
If anyone is the other property, someone is on your line or
you're on their line.
It's like, most of the time, isthe fence right?
(11:29):
So most of these homeownersplace a fence where they think
the line is at and when you comeand sell the property, you see
that they're on top of your line, your neighbor from the back or
from the side.
So it's very important, guys,to always do a survey.
I highly recommend to always doa survey.
Every property we purchase wedo a survey.
It's very important.
How much do surveys?
(11:49):
usually cost every survey isdifferent.
I would say the average is fromlike 700 to 1000 700 to 1000.
It depends how big the home isyeah, the lot, because some lots
are huge when a surveyor isdoing it.
They also got to go to therecords to see basically where
your lines are on the D Right.
So, um, they will go andmeasure everything around for
(12:10):
you.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah, have you ever had a survey that wasn't
completely accurate and you hadto get like a second opinion?
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Yes, I recently had a survey done like that it was,
that was, it wasn't accurate.
And the neighbor next door waslike the survey that your client
has is not accurate, so I hadto use both surveys and then we
had to contact back the surveyorand apparently that the
surveyor was the one that didthe incorrect.
I mean he did a mistake.
It happens, we're all here andthe only reason he made a
(12:37):
mistake was because when he sawthe records on the city he
couldn't see the numbers.
It was a two or a five.
That's a big difference whenyou're doing a survey right of
fee.
So he didn't know, he couldn'tsee if it was a two or five.
He showed it to me and I waslike, yeah, it was pretty hard
to notice it.
But he noticed that it wascloser to what the lady was
saying next door Gotcha, did youget a refund for that?
(13:04):
No, all he couldn't see thenumbers from the city.
How did you realize that therewas a mistake?
The neighbor next doordefinitely indicated that the
survey was incorrect.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Oh, okay, yeah, Gotcha yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
And then we verified, Because the way you verify also
you see the neighbor's surveyand then you call the surveyor
to see who was right and who waswrong.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Right To cross-check it.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
And he cross-checked and he realized that he was off
by I think it was like three,but that's a lot, three feet.
You know what I'm?
Saying yeah, that's a lot.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
That is a lot.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Yeah, so it was just that it was actually.
I'm sorry so it was two, but itgot fixed.
So surveys are very importantguys.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Right.
Another question that we havefrom people are like what is a
certificate of occupancy?
Speaker 1 (13:49):
That basically will tell you if it's a legal single
family, if it's a legal twofamily.
It'll tell you the rooms, howmany rooms each unit is.
And it's very important to havethat because bank also requests
it.
Before they give you the moneyto purchase the property they
have to verify that there's aseal, got it.
So ceo basically lets you know.
Basically it's safe to live inthere.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
In other words too and it tells you the lay of the
uh tells you the layout inside.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
It all depends because every ceo is different,
because remember some housesbuilt in the 1900s, so any is.
I'm actually happy to mentionthat any house built before 1938
, there there's no seal.
It's after 1938 the sealstarted coming out, right.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Yeah, so you don't need a seal if it's 1938 or
below.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Below Correct Correct Seals is after 1938.
After 1938?
.
They have seals and the sealwill basically indicate if it's
a single family, two family andit will tell you how many
bedrooms each unit is bathroomand all that whatever it was
like uh, remodeled almostcompletely afterwards, like
almost and they've renovated thehouse entirely yeah, like as
long you don't take walls down,you could renovate it, but
(14:53):
definitely pull out permits,yeah, when you're doing
renovations and that's anotherthing right that we've been
seeing with the listings thatwe've been getting as of lately,
there's a lot of open permits.
I'm happy you mentioned it, soI've been seeing recently.
So when we go and list yourproperty homeowners, the first
thing we do is order a titlereport.
And the reason we order a titlereport?
Because we want to see if yourtitle is clear and clean, right.
(15:15):
This helps out a lot because weknow exactly what we're working
with, so we don't wait till abuyer goes in contract and order
their title report.
We order our title reports onthe property.
So recently I've been seeingthat a lot of these homeowners
bought properties and theprevious attorney, right or
title company they work withthey didn't let them know that
they were open permits, so theywill buy properties with open
(15:36):
permits right.
So when you're buying aproperty, guys, you have to make
sure title report is clear,meaning that there's no
violation, open permits right,no liens on the property, of
course, no mortgage right andanything with the city right.
Make sure it's clear.
One thing I've been noticing isthat there's been a lot of
property with open permit Rightnow.
For instance, I got a client.
She bought a house in 2017,which is very recent, right and
(15:59):
her property had two openpermits she wasn't aware of.
How was she able?
Speaker 2 (16:03):
to buy it then.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
The reality is that the bank still gives the funds
to purchase right, even withthese permits, as long as you,
as the homeowner, know thesepermits are open and understand
it.
You know, as long as it'sdisclosed to you, you can move
forward, right, right, unlessthere's no CO, then it becomes
an issue, right?
So she bought a property thathad plumbing and also electric.
Both of them were, if I'm notmistaken, 2003, 2005.
(16:27):
But she bought the propertywith it.
So what happens, guys, now thatshe's selling her house?
Now the new buyer wants thetitle to be clear.
So she's responsible to closethose permits.
Right?
So now she has to hire aprofessional plumber and a
professional electrician toclose those permits out, because
the city will not close itunless they come and do a final
(16:48):
inspection.
You could pull up all thepermits you want.
The city will not close permitsunless they do a final
inspection.
If there is no final inspection, those permits are going to
maintain open.
And as a homeowner, when you'reselling your house, just put
yourself in the position of abuyer.
He wants to make sureeverything's clear on title,
meaning that he don't wantanything open.
He don't want to be responsiblefor any of that, and now it's
(17:11):
her responsibility to close themor you could work something out
with them.
So you got options right.
We try to find out otheroptions for the client.
One thing we do a lot wedisclose every detail because we
don't want no one to walk intoany surprise.
So we make sure the buyerseller understands what's going
on in detail, especially we'rerepresenting them.
So now the seller has twooptions they close the permits
(17:33):
or offer money to the buyer ofcredit to get it done but will
have to be disclosed in detailexactly what the permits are,
what they say and what it wasopen for.
And then the buyer will decidethat credit amount is good
enough for them and it's not,and they will get negotiated or
the seller will have to closethose permits.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Got you and for these open permits right.
Do they accrue like extra coststhe longer you have them open?
Or is it just a one-time thingwhere you just got to get them
closed and that's it?
Speaker 1 (18:03):
No, you just got to get them closed.
But basically what you need todo, what is going to be costly
is when you hire theprofessional, for instance, if
it's an electrician.
When you hire the electricianto come and close that permit
that he did not do, he has tocome and verify the work.
If there's work to be needed,you have to pay to get the work
needed to be up to code to closeit Got you.
So really you cannot say howmuch it's going to be.
(18:24):
But if it's an open permit,definitely you're going to pay,
because you're going to pay andthe licensed electrician to put
his license in the line and nowhe's going to take over the
permit, so the line and he, nowhe's gonna put take over the
permit.
He's gonna.
So he gotta make sure that allthe work that has to be done is
up to colon and materials andlabor is gonna be cost you plus
the permit got you.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
All those fees are gonna be piled up to you and you
will have to pay to close it soI can only imagine when you
know homeowners hear this andthey gotta go like am I gotta
pay even more money now because,like I didn't know, there
might've been a permit open andstuff.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
That's why it's important to hire someone that
will do all that research foryou.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
We usually order for the homeowners so we can know
what's going on and we alreadyhave a plan of action to see how
we're going to handle this, howwe could deal.
And we also will come and bringabout two to three contractors
electricians, plumbers,depending on the permit to
basically help us clear andclose those permits and we'll
give the homeowner the optionthey could choose.
But we let the professionalscome in and give us estimates on
(19:23):
this because we like to sellthe property with a clean title.
That's the honest truth.
I always advise the client whenyou're selling your house, it's
best to sell it with a cleantitle.
Why?
The first reason is I like todo the things right with
transparency.
Secondly, I want to max yourpocket.
I want to make sure thehomeowner gets the max rent.
(19:43):
If you're selling a propertywith a clean title, you're going
to definitely benefit atclosing.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Right and without a clean title, people have second
thoughts about buying the homebecause they don't want to take
on that heading exactly whenthey get in there.
Yeah, so definitely.
That's why in the last podcastwe discussed like also, when
you're um investing in homes tosell them again, you can't be
doing a cheap job on it too, andyou got to make it presentable
and stuff like that, because yougot to think of the buyer as
(20:09):
well.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
They don't want no problems when they go into that
home, just I do do want to bringthis out on a tip out to
everyone, all the homeowners.
To all the homeowners before youdo any work to your house, get
professionals involved.
Right, because there's a lot ofhomeowners that I sold their
houses that they come and do anillegal extension, illegal
bathroom in the basement,illegal basement.
Right, a lot of people like todo decks.
(20:32):
That's one of the most illegalthing you can be doing, because
you got to get permits, you gotto get plans, you got to involve
an architect to get this donefor you, you got to involve a
contractor to pull out permitsand it costs you more.
But when you do the things theright way, it's going to be less
costly than when you do it thewrong way, because if a city
sees you doing any work to theproperty illegally, you're gonna
(20:52):
put a stop work order, it'sgonna be costly and give you
fines, and then now you have todo the whole process because
nobody wants to buy a propertywith a stop work order oh yeah,
we've seen uh, I've seen acouple, yeah, where they're
doing work and then they getstopped because they're not
doing it the legal way.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Now you're backed up three months or something like
that, and then you're justletting that thing sit.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Yeah, because once you get the stop work order,
that means you cannot do anymore work in there or you're
going to be fine and as far asgoing to jail, they will
honestly lock you up.
If you go inside the propertyand do more work to it, it's
best to do everything the rightway.
So I've been seeing a lot ofpeople just doing a lot of Just
make sure, before you do anywork in your property, make sure
you see the plans, the originalplans of the inside of your
(21:36):
house Right, because it's goingto let you know what's legal and
what's not.
And if you want to take a walldown, if you want to do extend
your kitchen or if you want todo an extra room, make sure you
submit plans with a licensedarchitect to get it done for you
, because if you get caughtyou're going to get a stop work
order and I've seen it a lot oftimes.
(22:00):
You know so I'm very involvedwith these titles.
I'm very involved with thesepermits.
So I witnessed a lot of myclients and I advise a lot of my
clients to always do the rightthing because I don't want to
see them stuck with a propertylike that.
I had one client that hired meabout a year ago.
He had over 200 violations.
You know.
We helped him clear all of it.
We got him in Cornelie, we gothim to architect, so we were
able to get all the cure and weended up selling the property
(22:21):
for a great amount.
But he was very stressed outbecause he had 200 violations.
He did a lot of legal work.
He got caught by the citymultiple times.
He was at the line of losingthe property.
Thank God he didn't because wehelped him out.
You know, but just when you'redealing with any renovations,
any extensions, any plumbing,electric, make sure you hire a
(22:42):
professional, an electrician.
But first person you need tohire to do these works is
usually an architect so he coulddraw the plans for you.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Yeah, and an architect can also be like if
you're trying to do somethingelse to the home, like actually,
like anything that's doing thatyeah yeah, they can also be
engineers as well, likearchitects can sometimes be
engineers no, it's two differentlines.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
So it's architect.
It has his line of joint plans.
Engineer is more structuralyeah to make sure everything's
good, but the engineerdefinitely.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Oh, the engineer could be.
The can be an architect as well, but an architect might not
always be An architect is not anengineer.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
An engineer could cover both lines, if I'm
understanding, but architectonly does architect and drill
plants.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
And does the codes to make sure you know it's all
covered, right?
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Yeah, and have you heard of the City of yes
Initiative?
Speaker 1 (23:36):
That's Adams, correct , the mayor, mayor Adams.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Yeah, it's a comprehensive zoning reform
proposed by Major Eric Adams,aimed to address New York's
housing crisis, and the reasonwhy I bring it up it's because
this is one of the things thathelped one of our clients secure
a home because of an ADU, anadditional dwelling unit.
I don't know if we talked aboutthis before, but an ADU is
(24:01):
really important, I mean forsome buyers trying to get a home
, because they could essentiallylook at a single family home
that has a full basement thatlooks like an apartment.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
You can use that as extra income to actually qualify
for that home For a singlefamily right yeah, basically
single family with a walk-in,walk-out basement, separate
entrance, entrance and it'sconsidered like an apartment,
right exactly you could use thatas income, as a, as the
apartment, and it's going to beable to qualify for more for the
(24:30):
purchase of the property itbasically becomes a a
multifamily home in a way,because you're able to use the
income that you would be gettingfrom that-.
Basement.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Yeah, from that basement towards the loan.
So it's a way to kind of getlike a pseudo multifamily home.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
I remember that client.
So that client didn't actuallyqualify for the single family.
By the way, heidi was actuallythe mortgage broker on this.
She actually was the lender onthis property.
She came up with the ADU andwas able to get the buyer the
funds to purchase the property.
We've got a lender that wasable to do it, which was Heidi.
I just want to let you guysknow to all those buyers out
there, all those buyers thatthink they don't qualify
(25:09):
Depending on your situation,everybody got a different
situation right.
But just call us.
You never know.
Heidi covers ITIN, she coversall types of programs.
She's a mortgage broker.
She has access to over 95 banks.
So they have tons of programsout there that you don't know of
.
But I'm sure if you bring it upto Heidi's attention she could
definitely assist you.
(25:29):
I remember that client.
He was actually happy.
He didn't qualify to buy it asa regular loan but it was able
to do it with the ADU.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
We had to look very specifically at single-family
homes that had a full basement,complied with everything, so it
had to have a separate entrance.
It had to have windows on everybedroom besides the bathroom.
The bathroom doesn't need tohave windows, but everything
else and the kitchen right.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
The kitchen, but everything else and the kitchen
right, the kitchen?
Speaker 2 (25:57):
yeah, it has to have.
It has to have a stove and ithas to have cabinets, at least
in the bottom, along with, likethe sink and stuff.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Yeah, yeah it's so many programs out there.
You know, with these banks andas I've been noticing, that,
every day is a new program thatcomes out.
So all those buyers, every dayis a new program that comes out.
So all those buyers, every dayis a new program out there
that's coming out.
They have the 0% down payment.
A lot of people call for that.
Guys, it's programs foreverything, especially now for
first-time buyers.
We've got so many programs.
Take advantage, you never know.
Just give us a call, right, letus know, we'll send you to
(26:27):
Heidi, heidi's, our preferredlender.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Oh man, she would definitely assist you.
If she has a poor one thatcould assist you, she will tell
you.
Yeah, she's very creative withstuff too.
She'll move a lot of thingsaround to see how we can make it
happen.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
I'll be honest with you, I've never seen someone
like she literally puts herheart into those files.
She literally puts all herenergy and heart in.
She loves to see those clientsbe happy.
I'll be honest with you, I sawher one time.
She was clients be happy.
I'll be honest with you.
I saw her one time she was likecalm down, but she puts her
heart so much into it.
She was freaking out, freakingout for a co-op.
(27:00):
She did a co-op i-10, whichthey don't have that program
anymore.
The buyer was done and thelender was just taking a sweet
time and she will literally callevery single day till she got
it done.
And I will see her on theholidays, even in time with the
family.
She was supposed to be whereshe.
She would be calling all theselines to make sure this client
got what was promised to her.
I saw her crying and tears forit and when she got it done you
(27:20):
know she would cry with thesebuyers, like Heidi's very like
emotional, and she wouldliterally cry with these buyers
of excitement.
You know, because she reallyputs her heart and feels for
these families, because she putsherself in like their position
and says they have families justlike we are.
It's a family business and wetry our best to provide as much
value to these families thatyou're not going to be able to
(27:41):
sustain, right?
Speaker 2 (27:41):
She always says like, what are you comfortable with?
Like, what are you reallylooking at?
Because she doesn't want tojust give you a loan for like
800,000 and expect you to go allthere.
She might as well just have youat 700 paying something that
(28:05):
you're more comfortable withLike you're, it better suits you
.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Yeah, we're here for you, guys.
Please put some questions inthere comments.
We're here for you guys.
Please put some questions inthere comments.
We're all over TikTok,Instagram, YouTube.
We're everywhere.
So, guys, please comment, likeand see you till next time and
happy holidays if we don't catchyou guys.
Happy holidays, guys.
Bye.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Bye-bye, Bye guys.
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