Real Estate Auctions: Worth it?
15
May
5/15/2008:
When I was walking down 12th Street the other day, I noticed a not-so-usual real estate sign at 1140 Garden Street: An Estate Auction.
Has anyone attempted to purchase a home this way before? Do they sell close to opening bid price? What do you think this location is worth?
FYI: This afternoon is the last day you can inspect the property before the auction, which takes place on Tuesday, May 20, 2008 at the Hyatt Regency Jersey City (Exchange Place).
See Buyer Packet for 1140 Garden PDF Here.

Maybe the “will it sell?” reader will send something about it?
19 Responses to ** Real Estate Auctions: Worth it? **
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May 15th 2008 - 11:54:19 |
That’s a nice building. Probably fetch a mil and a half.
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May 15th 2008 - 12:16:41 |
If you are to bid on this, I would DOUBLE CHECK the current lease / rent contract for current tenants.. Rent controlled could mean anything from ‘rent is the same since 1980′ to ‘rent increases x% every year’ to ‘Tenants are protected’… the last being the catch on this unit.
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May 15th 2008 - 12:22:04 |
“Protected Tenants” can’t be evicted even if you want to condo the building?
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May 15th 2008 - 12:23:41 |
That place is huge - 5200 square ft and in a great location. I’m thinking $1.5 is the minimum reserve for that place unless the place is a dump in the inside. Based on the current retns for the units, that doesn’t appear to be the case.
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May 15th 2008 - 13:02:36 |
Don’t landlord/tenant laws change if this is the owners sole property, and he/she lives there?
The current rents are listed in the packet. To me, the “rent control” on those numbers seems a bit off. I bet there’s an error (or omission) in the rent calculation somewhere along the way, and it’s a bit over-priced.
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May 15th 2008 - 13:20:38 |
I saw this property…the inside needs work…the “garden level” unit is a dark dank dungeon and the tenants are currently in the process of being evicted. The previous owner died on the 4th floor. 4 or 5 Fraternity brothers rent out the 3rd floor. Didnt see the 2nd floor, door was locked.
Nevertheless, opening bid is 850K and will probably trade in the 1.2mm range…the garage/office behind it is also up for auction
anyone going?
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May 15th 2008 - 13:21:26 |
apparently, this Auction is an estate sale.
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May 15th 2008 - 13:46:05 |
hoboken411 wrote:
I just reread the brochure and I take it back, I must have misunderstood. I agree, ‘rent control’ for a 3K rent for a 2 bedroom seems off.
If it can pull 7K+ in income every month, I’m sure it will go for over 1 million. Assuming a 100K downpayment (hypotheical), 7K+ a month gets you a 1 million dollar jumbo mortgage + taxes, effectively allowing you to own while your tenants are paying your entire mortgage (i.e. FREE).
If I only had money!
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May 15th 2008 - 14:27:43 |
They’ll get 1.8 to 2 million for the building
Chop!Chop!
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May 15th 2008 - 14:43:21 |
And I thought realtor fees where bad… Ouch.
Buyer’s Premium: All sales at auction shall provide that each purchaser pay a premium
equal to 10% of the High Bid Price. This amount shall be added to the
final bid and inserted in the Purchase and Sale Agreement to
determine the Total Purchase Price.
REALTOR®/BROKER PARTICIPATION INVITED:
A referral fee of 2% (two percent) of the high bid will be paid by the seller to the real estate
broker, acting as a “Buyer Broker†whose Client pays and closes on the property.
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May 15th 2008 - 23:45:23 |
How can the tenants be in the process of being evicted unless the current owners have already filed for condo conversion which is extremely unlikely? Tenants can’t just be evicted in a rent controlled building. It’s four units so owner occupied rules don’t count. Perhaps the estate bought them out to make it more valuable? Or maybe the tenants didn’t bother to seek legal help and are meekly moving out (which happens a lot with younger tenants)? Or maybe whoever said they are being evicted are lying? If it was a real estate agent I wouldn’t trust a word he or she said.
My ex-landlords sold this building and the real estate agents that went through here made up stories for every client depending on what they thought would sell the place. They would say one thing to one person and the opposite to another later that day. They even advertised the place as having “parking possibilities” although there’s no garage or anything. I guess they meant if you got home before 5pm it was possible that you’d find a spot somewhere within a few blocks. One 4th of July afternoon, when the streets are actually almost bare of cars, I heard a real estate agent telling a client outside a building down the street that he could see how easy it was to park on the block. (I spoke up and corrected this impression. I have no love for real estate agents.)
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May 22nd 2008 - 15:57:55 |
Did anyone go to this and/or know whiere it traded?
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May 22nd 2008 - 17:14:04 |
I hope they didn’t pay more than a million for this. You will have to buyout the tenants if you want to convert. That can cost a lot of $$$$$$$.
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July 8th 2008 - 16:01:14 |
Does anyone know the price this where this auction closed?
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July 8th 2008 - 16:39:53 |
Hobo91 wrote:
That $1.5mm might be a good price if it weren’t for the rent control! I bet that is why the suggested opening bid was in the $850K range.
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July 8th 2008 - 19:42:10 |
I did a search for 1140 Garden and came up with this posting on 411 that someone killed himself in this building last year. http://hoboken411.com/?p=7318&cp=1
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July 8th 2008 - 21:10:33 |
a_siren wrote:
I remember that. The guy was a Realtor.
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July 31st 2008 - 12:34:44 |
yeah, he owned this buidling (and the others in the auction) and lived on the top floor (and thus the vacancy). The auction was to settle his estate.
In any case — does anyone know where this property traded? Is it in public records yet?
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July 31st 2008 - 13:54:33 |
My understanding is that the entire building, including the small office & garages on the 12th St. side, went for a bit over $2 million.
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