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Improve Your Bottom Line Without Investing a Dime
Making your building more attractive to potential renters by adding amenities is a foolproof way to increase the amount you can ask for rent. While it’s difficult to quantify how much specific amenities can affect rent prices, one can look at data sets and determine that some amenities have a greater impact on rent prices than others, particularly in certain areas.
The website renthop conducted a study on the subject in 2017 and found that having a laundry room in a building correlated strongly with higher rents, especially in New York City. By adding a laundry facility, landlords have a better chance of being able to charge higher rents than by … read more
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LandlordsNY Briefing for January 23rd
Home sales fell into their worst slump since 2015 in December. Analysts believe the decline was due to instability in markets, the government shutdown, a lack of housing inventory, and high interest rates.
Existing-home sales fell 6.4 percent from November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.99 million. The year-over-year drop was even more dramatic—10.3 percent. Meanwhile, home prices continue to increase, but at a far slower pace. Existing home prices grew last month at a rate of 2.9 percent from December 2017.
It is believed that the government shutdown, which is expected to continue into February, will only exacerbate … read more
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LandlordsNY Briefing for January 22nd
Mayor Bill de Blasio claims that New York City is losing $500 million each month due to the partial shutdown of the federal government. According to the mayor, the shutdown will deprive 1.6 million residents of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, lead to cuts in school breakfast and lunch programs, and temporarily halt Section 8 rental assistance (though the most common form of Section 8 assistance, voucher-based subsidies, will remain fully funded through February).
To mitigate the damage caused by the shutdown, the mayor has said that he hopes to increase the stocks in the city’s food pantries, to discourage … read more
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What Gov. Cuomo's 2019 Agenda Means for New York's Landlords
Governor Andrew Cuomo unveiled much of his legislative agenda in last week’s State of the State address. As anticipated, the governor will push the state Legislature to pass bills that reflect his increasingly progressive policies. This includes legislation to ban single-use plastic bags, legalize creational cannabis, and strengthen rent laws.
Unfortunately, the governor did not dedicate a great deal of time to describing the types of changes he hopes he will be able to enact later this year with regards to rent laws. He merely said that he hopes to eliminate vacancy decontrol and “limit” major capital improvements and individual apartment … read more
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LandlordsNY MemberCase of the Week: In the Matter of the Administrative Appeal of Z.L.
This installment of the LNY Case of the Week confirms one thing that every landlord should know (that painting and plastering do not qualify for an Individual Apartment Improvement unless part of a larger renovation project) and answers one question that no landlord has ever thought to ask (Is a 54-week lease substantially different in the eyes of the Rent Stabilization Code from a 52-week lease?).
On September 15, 2014 a tenant moved into a stabilized apartment in the East Village. The terms of the lease specified that it was a two-year lease lasting until September 30, 2016, at a rent of $2,100. The prior tenant, who had lived in the … read more
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LandlordsNY Briefing for January 21st
Ronda Kaysen of the New York Times responded to a reader’s question concerning a $17-per-month rent increase for a new refrigerator over the weekend. Because the tenant was renting a market-rate apartment, Ms. Kaysen noted that this was an unwarranted rent increase. Landlords are required to fix or replace provided appliances like refrigerators with appliances that are similar or better than the one that has broken down unless there is language in the lease explicitly stating that the landlord can charge for the new appliance.
The New York Times has more.
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In a Landlords New York Minute – A (Very) Brief Look Around the World
China's economic … read more
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How Roomeze Can Help You Avoid Vacancies
Listing inventories in Brooklyn are way down from last year. Douglas Elliman reports that there was a year-over-year decrease in listing inventories of 13.8 percent, from 2,296 to 1,971, and that apartments are staying on the market two days longer (31, up from 29) than they were last December. Median rent price only increased over the same period of time by 1.4 percent, from $2,700 to $2,738.
The numbers in Manhattan and Queens were not much better. Inventories in Manhattan were down 17.5 percent from December 2017 (from 6,004 to 4,956), year-over-year median rent was only up 0.2 percent (from $3,295 to $3,300), and the average unit was only on the market for 32 … read more
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LandlordsNY Member
What Landlords Need to Know About the L Train Shutdown
Even though we attended the emergency MTA meeting to address questions about the shutdown of the L train, we walked away without a clear understanding of what will happen (you can read our report here). It seemed as though Governor Andrew Cuomo's announcement that the L train would not be shut down for repairs was a recommendation rather than an order, and that the board would ultimately vote on whether to proceed with the full shutdown or adopt the governor's alternative plan.
According to a story that appeared on Politico New York yesterday evening, this turns out to be false.
The L train shutdown has been averted.
The MTA has determined that the … read more
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LandlordsNY Briefing for January 18th
Home prices are dropping throughout New York City. Most neighborhoods in Manhattan have seen the percentage of listings with price cuts surpass the 20 percent mark. In the East Village, as many as one-third of homes were being sold at a discount. A similar phenomenon is happening even in some of the hottest neighborhoods in Brooklyn: Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and Fort Greene. Even in Long Island City, which will soon be home to Amazon’s HQ2, 12 percent of listings had price cuts.Bloomberg has more.
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The city has officially released two proposals for the development of Willets Point. These proposals were created … read more
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LandlordsNY Briefing for January 17th
New York City spent more than $1.7 billion to finance more than 10,000 affordable-housing units in 2018. Since 2014, the de Blasio administration has either preserved or built more than 120,000 such units, which puts the mayor on track to hit his goal of either building or preserving 300,000 units by 2026.The mayor did face at least one critic, however: City Comptroller Scott Stringer. Mr. Stringer expressed concern that the mayor’s agenda has fallen short of supplying the more than 400,000 households in New York making $28,170 per year with housing that they can actually afford.
The Wall Street Journal has more.
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Creating a Community Within Your Building With Bixby
In a market report issued at the end of 2018, real estate brokerage firm Marcus & Millichap predicted that 2019 will likely see modest rent increases throughout the city. Their reasoning is simple: The city’s housing supply will continue to just barely meet demand. There is just barely enough new construction coming to the market to accommodate all the people moving here to take part in New York’s booming economy.
While it is true that landlords will be able to gradually ask more in rent, quality tenants will likely be asking more of their landlords. This is because many of these tenants are in a relatively comfortable place financially. However, … read more
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LandlordsNY Briefing for January 16th
Governor Andrew Cuomo gave his ninth State of the State address yesterday. While the governor has been known to use this opportunity to propose sweeping legislative reforms, his grandiose visions have traditionally been tempered by a Republican-controlled Legislature. This is the first year that the governor has presided over a Legislature that is firmly Democratic, meaning that it is far more likely that legislation that advances his policy goals will be enacted.
Some of these goals include legalizing recreational cannabis (though legal sales will not be allowed until next year at the earliest), banning single-use plastic bags, … read more
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LandlordsNY Member
Emergency MTA Board Meeting Fails to Ameliorate L Train Concerns
New Yorkers are still in the dark after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority held an emergency meeting to attempt to bring to light the details of Governor Andrew Cuomo's plan to avert a total shutdown of the L train starting in April. The governor's plan will only close one tube at a time during nights and weekends. This will allow L trains to run approximately every 20 minutes.
Dozens of questions followed Governor Andrew Cuomo's surprise decision to avert a full shutdown earlier this month. Why decide to call it off just a few months before the plan went into effect after thousands of people had already rearranged their lives to … read more
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LandlordsNY Briefing for January 15th
Governor Andrew Cuomo will give his State of the State address this afternoon. He is expected to unveil his plan to legalize and regulate recreational cannabis, his plan for a “green New Deal” that will put New York on a path to carbon neutrality by 2040, a plan to implement congestion pricing in Manhattan, and his stance on numerous other issues. Chief among them are: rent regulations, campaign finance reform, restrictions on the usage of plastic bags, and an increase on the minimum age to buy tobacco products.
Crain’s New York has more.
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New York City has filed a complaint in Supreme Court against Metropolitan … read more
