Today I received an early Birthday present.

I closed the sale of a house in Paterson NJ. I had purchased this two family home out of foreclosure on March 4th 2010. My partners and I purchased it with the intention of fixing, renting and then flipping it.

What made this home so special is that it is one of the few homes in Paterson, NJ with a driveway. At the time I found this home, my partners were not ready to purchase additional properties. We currently had 13 units and were nervous about the downward trend we saw in the market.

After a lengthy discussion with my partners and a fair amount of arguing, they relented and agreed to invest in the purchase and rehab of the property. What convinced them was my willingness to put my name on the line, and of course, my prior track record of success in the rehabbing of properties had something to do with their level of confidence as well.

My responsibility was to be the general contractor, which means I am responsible to hire all the sub- contractors, purchase the materials, design the rehab of the home and to bring all this in on budget.

After completing the rehab on time and only several thousand dollars over budget I then got the home rented to Section 8 Government subsidized tenants.

Watch video Link here (If you can stay awake through my boring soundtrack) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOB5kAyfI_w


From there the next challenge was finding a qualified buyer. After having two contracts disappointingly disintegrate in front of my eyes, with help from my real estate broker, we found a qualified buyer.

Today, October 27th, nine months after the purchase of the home, we reached our goal of selling the home. The feeling of accomplishment I experienced at the closing was truly amazing.

I would like to give special thanks to my investors, and to their trusting me with their capital, to Shannon my contractor, who took great pride in his work, and did an exceptional job. A special thanks to my realtor Mell Espinosa without whom him this would all not be possible.

As if this wasn't enough, today I also closed my second commercial lease in New Britain CT working with Jasko Group. (Thank you Avner)

Two closings in a single day!
Happy Birthday to me :)

Monday August 23rd, 2010 marked one of the biggest days in my real estate carrier. 
Adrian Goldstein  and I formed GoldKat, LLC  in 2008. On August 27,2008 , we  purchased our first property at 13 Pennington street in Paterson NJ. It was a three family home.  Since that time we have purchased a total of 17 units. One of which we sold for a substantial profit. The rest are 100% leased with government subsidized tenants. 
 
What made this day so special was that  it was the first time we had come full circle  by accomplishing  our goal of  purchasing  multi family homes from foreclosure with  cash , rehabbing  them, renting  them out, and  then re-financing  them. 
 
A few years ago one would have thought that the easiest step would have been the refinancing, but in today’s market it turned out to be the most challenging. After working almost 16 months, with two different banks, and two brokers we finally got the deal closed. Sitting at the closing table and  seeing my dream come to fruition was the most rewarding feeling I have yet to experience. 
 
I would like to thank Adrian,  my partner for giving me the opportunity and entrusting me with his capital. George, our mortgage broker for making this deal happen. Lee, our attorney for all his diligence in making sure all details were handled, Mario supply and family in Paterson NJ for support and guidance, Damian from Gelt, Inc for all his help and support and  my parents for being there for me through all the ups and downs. 
 
Thank you! 
 


Adrian and I at our are two family home 318 Van Houten Street Paterson NJ



At the signing table




From left to right a picture taken after our closing.
George Stergiopoulos, our mortgage broker from COOPER-HOROWITZ- Jacob Katsof-Lee Levitt our attorney who has been with us since day one - and of course Adrian my partner.



Later that night we went to celebrate at a fantastic restaurant in NYC
My new partner Avner Krohn from Jasko Development joined us for dinner.
From left to right: Jacob,Adrian, Jordan (Adrians eldest son) and Avner

New Britain is a vibrant up and coming city with the second to largest Polish population in the US and with a total population of 82000

I plan on taking all of my experience and knowledge learnt from working in Paterson NJ to New Britain. With Jasko help build an a successful portfolio of real estate.

Below our pictures of our new office.






I recently partnered with Jasko Development, LLC A real estate development company in New Britain CT.
Check out their website for more info http://jaskogroup.com/

Below are some Before and after pictures of my most recent Rehab in Paterson NJ

Running your own business is always going to be challenging,
Surrounding yourself with friends and colleagues in a similar industry but can be very useful in many different ways.
They will help you gain new ideas and perspectives, obtain invaluable contacts, suppliers and they can also be there for you to help motivate and help you through the tough times and help you reach your goals.

I have several friends to which I call on a daily basis for advice, to run ideas through or simply to vent, my friends range from CA, NY, NJ, CT and although the bylaws and technicalities can be very different we all share something in common, Entrepreneurism and Real Estate

This past week I was privileged to spend time with two close friends both working in CT

My first stop of the day was New Britain CT about a 2 hour drive from NYC, New Britain has a population of roughly 93,000 and is growing prosperous city with a large blue collar community.
During my commute I was delighted to turn on the radio to channel 1150 am and hear my friends voice booming from the radio.

Avner Krohn just 28 years of age Founder and CEO of Jasko Group who was going to take time out of his day to allow me to pick his mind and learn from his accomplishments was at this very moment being interviewed by a very popular New Britan Radio host.
You can check out Avners Website at http://www.jaskogroup.com/index.html

Above: I am with Avner Krohn President and CEO of Jasko Development, LLC



Above picture is a Restaurant, all of the necessary infrastructure is already in place, the space is kept this way so that any potential lessee can then design the space specifically to his or hers preference

"one of Jaskos Newly finished shopping centers"




Afterwards I headed to New Haven CT to spend the rest of the day with Joseph Ittali
Joseph, 25 years old with already 20 + Rehabs under his belt currently works for a large real estate investment company (Levitin Management, LLC) which focuses on purchasing dilapidated multi family homes, rehabbing them, and then renting them out to government subsidized tenants.
just this past March Joseph purchase and rehabbed his very own Single family home in New Haven CT
View Picture below

Check out our upcoming Real Estate Event Wednesday May 12th
Copy and paste the below link into your browser for more information.

http://www.yjpnewyork.org/r/?event=re5&host=jacobkatsof&page=


Below is some information on our last event



Top Row: Norman Sturner, CEO Murray Hill Properties; Stanley Chera, CEO, Crown Aquisitions; Bottom Row: Steven Witkoff, CEO, The Witkoff Group; Steven Siegel, Chairman, Global Brokerage CB Richard Ellis; Lloyd Goldman, President, BLDG Management; Howard Michaels, Founder Carton Group



Hosts for the evenings event: Jacob Katsof; Levi Eichenstein; Mr. Mermelstein; Naftali Rotenstreich; Justin Sutter; Stephanie Knepper; Aaron Lefkowitz and Shaya Lesches

We decided to enhance the appearance of the dethatched garage at our current rehab property in Paterson NJ

• Reinforced the roof
• Installed a new roll down tar roof
• Painted the garage with a two tone paint job

One day worth of work, less then $300.00 in material
And look at what a difference it makes

Running your own business is always going to be full of challenges and surprises.

Being able to roll with the punches while remaining calm and clear-headed under stressful situations is imperative to your success, and once you’ve learned to mastered this specific skill set there will be no obstacle that you cannot overcome.

Last week, I had one of these unplanned instances happen.

During one of the worst storms NJ has seen in years, a neighbor’s tree came crashing down on one of my duplexes, smashing through the roof and causing tremendous damage.

To make matters worse, I started construction on my most recently purchased duplex that same day and had a truck load of material being delivered that very morning!

I had to remain calm, and decided to write a punch list of my priorities, given the circumstances:

1. Relocate the government-subsidized tenant to a safer location
2. Call the City of Paterson to check if there were any mandated laws I had to comply with for securing the property
Call my insurance company to report the claim
3. Arrange several contractors to bid on the job for tree removal and necessary house repairs
   
Find and contract a reputable independent insurance adjuster to help me with my claim
4. Contact Section 8 offices to inform them of the situation and to arrange a Section 8 inspection
5. Make sure that the Lowe's delivery to my new project was handled and received correctly

I then went about executing this punch list in order, one by one.

I had the tree removed by the lowest biding contractor.

I met with a insurance adjuster, who was highly recommended by a colleague.

I drove the tenant to a family member and agreed on subsidizing her with $35 per night until her home is deemed safe by Section 8.

I arranged a re-inspection with Section.

And lastly, I had the delivery pushed back to a later hour so that I could be there to receive the shipment.

Each obstacle was easy to triumph over because I was able to remain calm and had all of the necessary contact information readily organized for situations just like this one.

I started Construction on our 7th duplex this past week
Intentions of this purchase is to by and flip. Due to the location, Size and the fact that this home has a driveway with a garage I feel strongly about the ease of which we will sell this property.


This is the 9th multi family home which I have rehabbed since I started back in 2008
and so far things are working out great.

Old Steam boiler

New Steam Boiler

On my rite is a close friend who has done some work for me in the past. He is taking care of painting,sheet rocking and Spackle a long with roof work, exterior paint, siding repair, power washing, and more. Its always more fun working with a friend!

We re-Sheetrock over the old panel walls it gives the home an entire new look and feel.

Preview

Below is some material delivered from Loews


I go to Lowes and Home Depot before every project, I mark down every individual skew for each item which we intend to purchase, i then submit the skews with the required quantity to the bid room. i then go with the best offer. (For other items such as kitchen cabinets,tiles and paint i go to specialty stores)
not only does going to a bid room save me money, it also saves me a lot of time. i have all of the product shipped to the job site at one shot, saving us countless trips to home depot and back, and Time is Money

A Day in the Life

Managing 13 Section 8 apartment units in Paterson, NJ is not as simple as you might think. New challenges arise daily and I am constantly learning as I go and making adjustments as necessary. Some days I spend completely on-site speaking with contractors, stopping at multiple properties. Other days are slower and I am able to focus on scouting potential properties. Today, however, was particularly hectic.

My Morning
I started my morning by snaking a tenant’s bathtub. For this particular situation, I needed a snake that had a drill attached and found one that I thought would be perfect. Depending on the severity of the problem, you might need to consult a professional. Usually these service calls cost around $150 and require you to wait during a two or three hour for someone to arrive. Doing it myself, however, saved me time and money.

Additionally, I called a roofer to come to the same property to patch up some leaks and also needed Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) to come take care of a meter problem. Lucky for me the roofer came on time, PSEG came on time, and the bathtub had no hidden problems.


So, before the clock struck 10 am, I was able to take care of three issues:

* Roof Repair ($100.00 material and labor)
* Clogged bathtub drain ($16.00 hand held snake)
* Gas Meter Issue (free)

Rest of the Day
After taking care of those maintenance issues, I hustled over to our 318 Van Houten Street property in Paterson. We have a Section 8 tenant scheduled to move in during the first week of February, and had to complete a series of inspections.

Section 8 Housing
Section 8 housing is government subsidized housing put into place for people who could not otherwise afford a place to live. Once a house is deemed “section 8”, there are a series of inspections that must be passed before the property can be occupied. These include:

1. Lead Inspection–City checks entire house for lead, if lead is found a Section 8 tenant with a
child under the age of 6 would not be permitted to live in your home
2. Smoke and carbon inspection by a fire department inspector
3. Section 8 Inspection––very strict inspection done by a specialist inspector from Section 8
housing.
4. Re-Rental Inspection–completed by the City of Paterson

Last Call
Before the close of the business day, I had one last contract to sign on our newest property, located at 290 Ellison Street in Wayne, NJ. We are expected to close on February 22nd, so keep an eye out for more updates on that property closer to that date!


One thing I love about the real estate industry is the endless amount of opportunities at your fingertips. As a young professional in the city, I am always improving my understanding of the business and industry trends and am looking to explore new avenues in hopes to expand my business and meet new people. One of the opportunities I found and enjoy is Young Jewish Professionals (YJP). It’s been a great way of making connections and learning from other individuals in the industry.

Tonight I had the chance to host an event for YJP and was introduced to a few mortgage brokers--very exciting! I hope that the connections made at events like those from YJP will lead to prosperous and long-lasting endeavors.