So, decided on a commercial tenant. It was the first one(a restaurant) that was interested but they really negotiated the terms. I negotiated back and in the back and forth, a new person (a bar) entered the mix. Made the restaurant up its terms. I am not completely thrilled about the restaurant but they don’t have to go up against a community board and I don’t have to worry about drunk people outside my place. So, lets see what happens next.
Solar
I saw this ad for solar panels and the benefits. I was about to get amped up about this but then I started thinking about it. Does this make sense for a landlord? If you are interested in green energy, yes. But, I only pay like $40/month in electric. My tenants pay their own utilities. I guess advertising that electricity is free or very low cost would be attractive but I don’t know. This is NYC and the rental market is so red hot that I don’t know if it makes sense from a pure dollars and sense standpoint. Though, there is a property tax abatement that would apply for a few years. Still, have to do the math.
Noise
Interesting site that tells you what parts of NYC are noisy.
https://newyork.placeilive.com/noise_complaints#40.71369559554873/-74.00527954101562/11
NYCHA
I have a NYCHA Section 8 Tenant. Just so everyone one is aware, there are other types of Section 8 tenants. So, she is under market but a pretty good tenant nonetheless. The NYCHA customer service reps are incompetent. I called like five times to ask them questions about extending the tenancy or terminating it. I got inconsistent answers. So, when I decided to move forward and extend, I found out that I had to give 60 days notice either way. I do get the right to raise the rent a whopping one percent! I laughed when the rep told me I would not get the raise till two months into the new tenancy because I did not inform them in a timely manner. New York City has a serious problem. There is no way to keep subsidized tenants in apartments that don’t keep up with skyrocketing rents. And I should note that the portion that NYCHA pays has stayed flat or declined.