All Forum Posts by: Sami Gren

my tenant has asked me to rent the garage in back of my multifamily property, I want him to use it only for storage, does anyone have any suggestions how to structure such a lease, or has such a lease form?

Thank you

1 Vote

Newark, New Jersey

HI, I am sorry to hear this happen to you,

I won't tell you whether you should sell or not, because there are 2 factors that I don't know, 1) how bad the neighborhood is 2) how much headache you are willing to take.

The house Being vacant and broken in to is a scenario that could happen and in fact happens in each and every area, anyone that is in real estate for a while can affirm that. there are ways to protect the properties better, and that's totally fine that you weren't aware of that, we all were once new to the business and didn't know stuff, we grow and learn. But there is a big difference between a decent area where you can walk the streets, or an area that you need to look over your shoulders as soon as you drive into the block, it is a thing you need to judge on your own knowing the area.

Now hearing all these true professionals giving ideas, you can start thinking that you are doing something wrong. Let me tell you something EVERYONE MADE MISTAKES, AND BIG ONES, it is proven by talking to a lot of people, people just naturally like to talk about their successes rather than their failures. and the best courses that we all have in real estate are our failures and mistake, it is a course worth thousands of dollars, however after a failure you need to sit down and make a logical decision and see what the issue was and how to fix it.

the fact that after 3 months you have no application is a huge question mark and i would recommend you talk it over with someone that actually has experience in real estate in that specific area'

in whatever you do you should see only success from now on, Good luck

0 Votes

Quote from @Richard F.:

Aloha,

Rather than a thermometer to give you only the current temp, I recommend you get a temperature data logger such as this:

https://www.amazon.com/Elitech...

You place this in a room for 24 - 48 hours and it will chart the temperature over time, clearly showing when HVAC cycles on and off. Get several and put them in multiple rooms to see the differential in rooms at the end of a duct run or that have more windows/less insulation. I used something similar all the time when I was a PM in the Midwest. Tenants just do not understand that furnace/AC will not just bring the home to the temp they set. Usually about a 20 degree difference from ambient is the best any system can accomplish.

Thank you so much for that link, cool device I will definitely check it out.

I would also appreciate if you can explain what you wrote that the temperature difference from thermostat is 20 degrees, because in my house when it I set on 73 the rooms actually reach that temperature

Thank you

0 Votes

Newark, New Jersey

As winter approached, we all know about all the phone calls we get from tenants that the heat is not heating up the apartment enough, not to mention the big percentage of them that when we come to check it out the windows are open< ,

but I was looking for an accurate thermostat that I can carry around and get the accurate temperature to know what the temperature really is.

I want a very accurate one

Thank you

0 Votes

Newark, New Jersey

Quote from @Drew Sygit:

@Marc Mahadeo appreciate you being open-minded about all this!

Most investors don't take the time to study the PMC side of the business, yet they just constantly push for cheaper management fees.

Inflation is driving costs up for everyone, so why would a PMC be able to afford to LOWER their fees for you just because rents are increasing?

We recently had a client ask us to drop our fees. We pointed out to them they were asking us to cut our income by 25%, so what services did they want us to cut to accomodate their request? They didn't answer, but we expect they are out shopping hard to replace us.

This is what we deal with as PMC's! In what other industry would a client expect a 25% reduction in fees?

Regarding volume discounts, a lot of it is in your control. We'll openly discuss a volume discount with GREAT clients that make an effort to learn to use their owner portals and not make everything an emergency. They make managing their properties easier for us, so we can consider passing on to them a slight discount.

On the other hand, we often have clients that rarely put any effort in learning how to work easier with us, are always demanding better services, yet expect us to drop our Management Fee from 10% to 8% or even 7%. Really, a 20-30% reduction? What company can afford that?

was just curious, what portal do owners need to use if they have a PMC?

don't you take over everything?

Thank you

0 Votes

Quote from @Paul Cionczyk:

Quote from @Sami Gren:

Quote from @Nathan Gesner:

Quote from @Sami Gren:

If they are under a term lease, you can't change the terms until it expires. If they are under a month-to-month lease, then you can change the terms with a 30-day written notice.

@Nathan Gesner @Theresa Harris

thank you very much, I want to do it when the lease term is up.

My main concern is, people pay more rent because they have the heat paid by the landlord, so if I will put the heat cost on them, can I legally force it on them by the new lease term with the old rent (and even maybe putting an annually increase) ?

@Sami Gren, Once the lease term is up, be it after the 1 year or if on a month-to-month, you are setting what that new rent will be for the next term be that the next 30 day renewal on a month-to-month or a year lease, you aren't legally forcing anything on anyone since you are offering the place up for rent with different terms(i.e. no heat included, same rent price or not). I think you should consider it more from the perspective of "is the market willing to pay what you are asking". If you are changing the rent for the next term to now not include heat since it will be individually paid for by the tenants going forward, then that is a form of raising the rent to begin with, and then wanting to add in an annual rent raise on top of that. If those tenants can go elsewhere and get a better deal then many likely will try to find a different place to rent, but if you are still relatively priced similar to competing options on the market, then where can a tenant go? If they go elsewhere then you would just find another tenant. If you are overpricing your rental and there is competition, you are unlikely to get a tenant willing to pay it, you'll sit vacant, unless you are the only option they have.

THANK YOU,

I forgot to mention that in this town there is allowable of only 3% increase that's why I was wondering, if a rent control in general would be a conflict to this

0 Votes

Quote from @Nathan Gesner:

Quote from @Sami Gren:

If they are under a term lease, you can't change the terms until it expires. If they are under a month-to-month lease, then you can change the terms with a 30-day written notice.

@Nathan Gesner @Theresa Harris

thank you very much, I want to do it when the lease term is up.

0 Votes

HI everybody

I have a multifamily with 1 gas boiler and landlord pays the heat, I want to divide the heat and have installed a boiler for each apartment and change the lease term so the tenant should be responsible, what is the proper legal way to do it if any?

TAHNK YOU

0 Votes

Quote from @Mike Hurney:

@Karen Bickford What's it take to separate the heat. That's the first thing I do.

just very costly, especially now

0 Votes

All Forum Posts by: Sami Gren

Sami Gren has started 132 posts and replied 412 times.

Post: lease agreement for garage

Post: When to cut losses and pass on bad neighborhood?

Post: accurate thermostat to check exact temperature in each room

Post: accurate thermostat to check exact temperature in each room

Post: Increase of Rents with Increase in Property Management Income

Post: want to change lease term from landlord paying heat to tenant

Post: want to change lease term from landlord paying heat to tenant

Post: want to change lease term from landlord paying heat to tenant

Post: want to change lease term from landlord paying heat to tenant

Post: Landlord Thermostat