new landlord - resources & howto?

Hi all… Am really enjoying this forum. Lot of great help from folks out there. So thx in advance. I’m about to purchase a multi-family (4 units). I’ll occupy the garden unit. No rent stabilization or rent control. What are some basics I should know about being a landlord? Tenant rights? Setting rents, & increases. Managing keys (should I set master keys on all the locks for example). Allowing smoking or not? Setting rules & policies? Ensuring security. Getting tentants to communicate issues. Gaining access to units. Also tips on basic maintenance, regular inspections to check for leaks etc? A beginners howto guide would be wonderful, either web resource or a book. Any suggestions? Thx. -Sean

hullsean

in About Brooklyn 12 years and 1 month ago

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grthesuperstar | 11 years and 11 months ago

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bedstuytownhouse – great info and vid link; would greatly appreciate if you would email me REBNY lease as well…wjmailbox at gmail dot com. -Thanks

bedstuytownhouse | 12 years and 1 month ago

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LL – if you post your email address, I’m happy to send it to you.

landlord | 12 years and 1 month ago

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bedstuytownhouse – I am impressed. Can you email me a copy of that REBNY lease as well?

slopefarm | 12 years and 1 month ago

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1\. Pricing — search CL no fee listings for comps. If you are inundated with calls after an ad, you priced it too low; if you get no response, you proced it too high. 2\. Self-selection — your ad should include that it is an owner-occupied bronstone/townhouse, etc. 3\. Have a no smoking policy and also a no dogs without owner’s consent policy. 4\. I highly recommend NOT using a broker, but showing the apartment yourself to prospective tenants. You learn so much about them by watching them look at the apartment and by their questions and comments. Have them fill out the application in front of you. Better to get a bunch of applications and pick who you like than have broker screen and give you one the broker preselected. 5\. I tend to prefer a one-year lease to month to month. 6\. Have your turnover date be May, June, Sept. or Oct. More people looking at those times. Stagger the turnover dates for your apartments so you don;t lose everyone at once. 7\. I agree with “above average” quality. Specifically, I would focus on a kitchen one could actually cook in (d/w, decent counter space, decent amount of storage), and provide a w/d if you can. You will be able to charge more and you won’t lose good tenants as fast.

sunbury | 12 years and 1 month ago

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bedstuytownhouse – I would love a copy of the REBNY lease for myself and a good friend. Can you email me at kellyk437 at yahoo dot com? Thanks

Rick | 12 years and 1 month ago

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Renting a couple apartments in your home is different than the anonymity you get in a large apartment building. Always do a credit check and background check. National Tenant Network is helpful and yes go with your gut but use your head. Provide high quality. Make your rentals better than average and charge less than market value so that you will have lots of interest. Try your best to pick a tenant that is open and honest. ( Ask yourself if this is the kind of person that will listen to criticism.) Think twice about giving a year lease. Giving a month to month rental agreement with 30 days notice often works out well for tenants and landlords. Often tenants lives change, (new job and or relationships ) at the drop of a hat and they will break the lease. The benefit for landlords is that if a tenant has emotional or drug addiction, problems now effecting your life, you can give 30 days notice and not have to live with a problem tenant until their lease is up. Don’t forget that this is a business relationship not a friendship. As landlord don’t sweat the small stuff!

greenmountain | 12 years and 1 month ago

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I am available to inspect your bathrooms and discuss tile concerns any time. A lot of maintenance can be avoided if your bathrooms don’t leak. There were some advances in tile waterproofing about 25 years ago, but many property owners are still using the older materials and concepts. My initial consultation is complimentary and I won’t hound you for work, because I am busy enough (thanks).

bedstuytownhouse | 12 years and 1 month ago

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Tenant rights in NY work like this…as an owner, you have none, as a tenant, they can get away with virtually anything. Took us six months, 35k in legal fees to get rid of a couple of deadbeats who only paid two months’ rent and five figures in fixing the damages they caused and we were told that we were lucky by our attorney. We also only use REBNY leases which give landlords a little more protection at signing. If you list your email, I’ll send you a blank, electronic one to use in the future. Sorry for the multiple posts…I keep thinking of things we wish we had known when we bought.

bedstuytownhouse | 12 years and 1 month ago

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Btw – I also recommend to anyone buying a house where they intend to rent a portion of out to watch this. I think it is really informative…its Barbara Corcoran, of the Corcoran Group, discussing all of the mistakes she made in her first investment property. http://www.today.com/id/29642902/ns/today-money/t/how-score-your-first-investment-property/

bedstuytownhouse | 12 years and 1 month ago

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When screening tenants, we not only do the credit/criminal/l&t court check, we ask for proof of rent payments for the past six months to avoid any deadbeats. If a prospective tenant is a deadbeat, their current landlord will tell you they are the Pope to get rid of the issue. Go with your gut…if something seems off, on to the next in spite of how badly you need the money because if you don’t, it will come back to haunt you. It did for us. We also write into the lease of our top floor apartment, that we are allowed access at any time, with fair warning, to deal with any roof issues. We do not allow smoking OF ANY KIND and I say that after telling one of our first tenants that if they had a cigarette here and there it would not be a big deal and they took that to mean they could smoke weed all day, every day which we could smell three floors below. We make it clear that our home is not a party house or a flop house. We address repairs very quickly but expect to notified of issues just as quickly. We intentionally did not set up a door release on our intercom system because it ensures that the tenants are shutting the doors behind delivery people, etc to keep only tenants and their guests in the building and no one else. Good luck.