2021 Rental Strategies

Mouse, You and George should meet up and listen to each others complaints about NYC real estate.

I had thought about George while I wrote my post. That said, do you think I am just complaining / asking too much / thinking about things the wrong way?

I think one of the points that someone like nada is consistently making, it's not so much that renting is cheap. It's just cheaper relative to owning in most cases. They're suddenly not giving apartments away....

And you point out the obvious, it's certainly cheaper to rent right now than it was one year ago. And although I don't really follow the rental market, there's quite a bit of inventory.

Mouse, You just need to make peace that NYC real estate needs compromises or a fat wallet (think $25k+ per month rental or $10mm plus apartment; you can have great deals there right now). If you want a deal, midtown east has best ones. But you want UES good areas. So you will need to pay up a little and compromise a little (both). Only a little though in this market. No one is giving anything away in move in condition in $3mm or $7-8k 3 bed room rent range.

It's hard to complain too hard about the rental market right now. It's as cheap as it's been since 2009. As with the purchase market, the vast majority of rentals that you see will be overpriced. It's basic search - again, if I listed a PH of 432 Park Ave for $10K/month, it would go to the first person who called and immediately disappear. So yes, as with any consumer product that is highly variable, finding a well-priced apartment in good shape with a reasonable landlord takes a lot of searching. You can't be afraid to tell an owner "fuggedaboutit".

I said that to someone this summer who B.S.'ed me about having two applications on an apartment but if I wanted to put one in, maybe the owner would choose me. I politely declined, and the place is *still* on the market almost half a year later, with the rent reduced to only a little more than I would have offered.

It's important to remember that the average quality of landlord in NYC is far lower than in most other cities, and rental agents are generally the bottom of the barrel. Many people buy in NYC, or their grandpa bought here 50 years ago, and just expect to get a dividend check to support their sedentary life wherever they now are. There are slumlords even in the luxury sector who want nothing but to collect rent. They have no interest in maintaining the property, and for years they got insanely rich this way. They haven't learned to adapt.

In most other cities, the big professional landlords like EQR, Greystar, and Blackstone dominate the industry, such that you can visit 5 of their buildings and see what's available. Getting an apartment there is like buying socks at Walmart, whereas NYC is a Grand Bazaar.

mouse am I correct in this, you're not paying rent?

@Stache I currently rent

Decided to make an offer on a unit. Received the draft lease. Feel like I need an attorney to review it.

- States the owner can sell the unit with 30 days notice. [I would want 60 days and they pay my moving costs]
- Has a full pass through of common charge increases post signing lease. [non starter?!]
- Has a full pass through of tax changes post signing lease [non starter for sure!]
- Has no tenant break clause [non starter, if they can sell unit I should have same ability!]

Reality I I don't want any sale clause!

Move on. Those terms are ridiculous.

This looks like standard New york lease clause. Clause 17 and 42. I had crossed these out on my current lease. Section 23D is a cancellation clause, which says rent for the unexpired Term becomes due and payable + cost to re-rent the unit.

You have the standard Blumberg lease? Yes, everyone pretty much crosses out 17 & 42.

And I think 23D is in response to a default that isn’t cured after notice. I’ve never asked to cross that out personally.

Then again, I’m neither a lawyer nor have I read your actual lease, so don’t take my word for it & act accordingly.

George, have you never encountered a Blumberg lease?

Maybe my lease says this too (didn't read, my partner handled the transaction), but the terms are ridiculous. If one wanted to bear the risks of tax and common charge increases, they would buy, no? How can this be the standard??? Is this only for coop and condo subleases, or rental buildings too?

@inonada what else do people do in addition to crossing out 17 and 42? I made some other tweaks, but not as material as those two clauses.

I have never to my knowledge signed a lease that allows the landlord to increase the rent bc their costs go up. Every time I've done multi-year (as long as 3 years), it has been for a fixed sum. No way I'd agree to it either.

There's no rule against making below-market offers on 3 or 5 units at a time. You'll learn where the clearing prices really are without getting too attached to any one home.

Tax pass-thru is common in commercial leases. In residential that's an instant red-line, except for common charges directly attributable to my behavior (say, I sign up for a slot in the bike room, or rack up fines for bad behavior).

On a Blumberg lease, I’ve only ever crossed out 17 & 42. No one has ever balked at crossing out 17 & 42, and sometimes broker just states “we’ll cross those two out” upfront.

The rest seemed like “whatever” in the grand scheme of things to me, but then there’s always been a rider for the more relevant extra terms. For example, if you want to be able to terminate the lease early without being on the hook for the entire rent, add a termination option.

Did a REBNY lease for the first time ever this round. That one has a lot more options & fill-in-the-blanks baked into the lease form. But really, much of it ends up not mattering. For example, the lawyer drafting the lease was careful to fill in a blank saying no utilities were included in the rent & that I’d need to subscribe myself. Except after signing and asking about what date to arrange for seamless transfer of ConEd, it turned out gas & electric is included in this building’s common charges, so it is included after all.

@Thanks Inonada. That is exactly what I all did, crossed out 17, 42, and the termination = all rent clause. Also the default clause if I don't move in within 5 days due to a NYC shut down risk (but said I would not pay any rent if I could not move in either -- turns out movers are not essential services so this should be OK).