By Jill Nagy
Two brothers, a doctor and a lawyer, doing business as Dwell Well Properties, are rapidly accumulating a portfolio of multi-family rental properties in downtown Glens Falls and are about to close on their first Saratoga Springs acquisition.
Kevin Grassi, chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at Glens Falls Hospital, and Justin Grassi, a real estate lawyer, bought their first property, a three-building complex on Roger Street in Glens Falls in January 2018.
Their latest purchase, 6-8 New Pruyn Street and 10 New Pruyn Styreet, near Broad Street, purchased this year, is nearby. They bought that complex, along with a third partner, Morgan Jones from USP Residential, LLP, for $950,000.
The seller had done work on the buildings before the sale, according to Justin Grassi. The three buildings have a total of 13 units, all but three of which were occupied when Dwell Well took possession.
“The vacancies filled quickly,” he said.
All of their Glens Falls properties are “huddled” on or near Warren Street. Generally, the brothers have been purchasing from “mom and pop landlords,” according to Grassi.
Although focusing on Glens Falls so far, the brothers would like to break into the Saratoga Springs area and other areas in Warren and Saratoga counties, he said. Justin Grassi lives in Saratoga Springs and his brother lives just outside the city, he noted.
All of their units rent at market rents that, according to Grassi, are competitive with other rents in the area. As of early April, they had only one vacancy.
So far, the brothers have been managing the properties themselves. The company has one employee and several contract workers on call for maintenance and other work. This may change in the future as their acquisitions grow. It may become necessary to hire one or more managers.
Justin Grassi does the legal work in connection with purchases, leases, evictions, and the like.
”For years, I have been doing that exact same thing” as a real estate lawyer, said Justin. “I am also not above seeking advice from other counsel.”
It helps that he has a “very smooth relationship with his brother,” he added.
Both brothers have busy professional practices, Grassi said. Their real estate purchases are a “side hustle” and “largely weekend work,” undertaken to diversity their investment portfolios.
Future plans include development of an app that would allow tenants to pay their rent online and to send messages to the landlords. It would also allow the owners to send notices to their tenants.
Their website is already up and running and Grassi expects to see the app ready for use within a year. They have hired out some of the work of developing the app, Grassi said.
