New York City, NY · Member since 2016 · 7 posts · 0 votes
Hi All,
I'm looking at a 4-family property in Montclair. Currently it is fully rented but the rents seem to be a bit on the low side. I'd like to know if there would be any kind of restrictions if we were to buy it and tried to increase rents as leases start to expire.
Where in Montclair did you buy? We just bought a two family but it took us almost 9 months to fill our second unit! We were asking $3800 for a 5 bed 3 full bath 2nd and 3rd floor. Only issue was no parking. I’m curious how you found this market?
FYI they are looking to propose a rent control regulation soon. All the neighboring towns have had it for a while, this is the last in the area to adopt one. It was never really needed because the rents steadily went up but nothing crazy, but in the past 5 years a lot of long term residents have been forced out of the area because their rents have spiked up to 25% year over year. It’s mostly new investors to the area that are doing this, not the owner occupied homeowners who appreciate and respect the community they live in, and are not just trying to exploit the increased popularity of the market. It’s unfortunate really because it was one of few places where tenants and landlords lived harmoniously as neighbors and now the tenants are forced to fight for regulations just so they can keep affording to live in their hometown.