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At first blush, the asking price of $1,650,000 seemed too good to be true for the four-story brick house at 234 Baltic Street. Turns out, it was. The house, which just got a nice exterior tune-up, has a rent control tenant in the owner’s duplex. Doh! So how does this look as a pure investment property? Well, the rent roll is $61,200. Figure $15,000 for taxes, insurance and maintenance and you’re left with $46,200. Let’s say you put down $350,000 to buy the place. Your $1,300,000 mortgage will run you a good $100,000 a year. Hmmm. Looks like you’ll be subsidizing your tenants to the tune of about $50,000 a year. Update: At the risk of being completely morbid, a tipster just emailed us to report that the rent control tenant is indeed an elderly man. About 80, she’s guessing.
234 Baltic Street [Smith Hanten] GMAP P*Shark


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  1. Also, it would not be that surprising to see that a family member near or over the age of 62 moving in to help take care of a tenant who is over 80 — meaning that the teant who inherits the rights under the rent control law also could not be evicted even for owner occupancy.

  2. Some of the nastier posters on this blog have called me a moron in the past because I have written that old houses can come complete with rent control tenants. Duh!
    And do not kid yourself, even if you want to use the space for your own use, be ready for a battle royal. Think about it, if the renter could have been budged, the seller would have done so and sold the house empty. The new owner will have no more legal rights than the prior owner to evict the tenant.

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