More News from the Rent Guidelines Board

According to an article in today’s New York Times, the Rent Guidelines Board, which oversees proposed increases in rent for tenants living in rent-regulated apartments, there will be an increase in 2009. Despite wide-spread calls for a rent freeze or even a decrease, the RGB has stated that rents will likely be raised between 2% and 4.5% on one-year leases and between 4% and 7.5% on two year leases, despite a stagnant economy. The increases are supposedly to help landlords cover rising expenses. FYI–the RGB has never lowered or frozen rents since its inception in 1969.

More coverage over on Curbed.

Can’t Make Rent? Throw a Party!

This past weekend’s New York Times real estate section covered an emerging trend of unemployed and hard-up people throughout the city throwing rent parties to raise money. For those unfamiliar with the concept, you invite friends and acquiantances over to drink and dance and give a small donation which will be applied to paying the rent. Read the full article HERE.

Landlords Must Make Buildings Greener, Pay for it Themselves

I saw this via a link on Brownstoner . The NY Post reports that a city initiative will have the owners greening large older buildings with environmentally-friendly and energy-saving capital improvements. Tenant advocates were concerned that the costs of these improvements would be passed on to rent controlled tenants. Instead, the mayor’s pointman for this initiative, Rogit Aggarwala, states that city leaders pledge to prevent costs being passed on because increased energy efficiency soon pays for itself.

New Exclusive: 2 Bed/2 Bath With Laundry in the Apartment

This new listing just came in, right off of Astor Place where everyone wants to be! 1400 square feet of brand new renovations featuring a huge living room with showcase windows, open kitchen with stainless steel appliances and granite countertops. Two huge bedrooms that can fit king-sized beds, two full baths and your very own LAUNDRY ROOM in the apartment! Currently priced at $5000, I’m hosting open houses on both Saturday and Sunday from 12:00-2:00. My email is on the side-bar if you want to come by and see these unique units.

Rent Stabilized Tenants Can Expect Small Rent Increase

According to the NY Daily News, this year the Rent Stabilization Board (the body that sets the amount of rent increase that rent stabilized apartments can expect every year) has thrown tenants a bone. The increase will likely be modest because landlord’s reported a relatively small increase in operating expenses–the metric which is used to determine the percentage that rents can be raised. There was an outcry last year as rents were raised 4.5% on a one year lease and 8.5% on a two year lease. This is good news for non-stabilized tenants as well because many landlords follow these guidelines to avoid mass tenant exoduses. Of course, on non-regulated rents there is no limit to how much they can be raised in a given year and it is up to landlords to decide.

More than a Quarter of New Yorkers Pay Half Their Income in Rent

Via the NY POST: According to Representative Anthony Weiner, more than a quarter of New Yorkers are paying half their income to their landlords. This number was highest in the Bronx with 33.1% of residents dedicating half their income to housing while 23.7% of Manhattanites paid rents that equalled half their yearly incomes.

East Village Has highest Vacancy Rate in the City

via EV Grieve.

I find this fascinating because I work down in the EV all the time, I speculate that many of the vacancies are in apartments that should not be lived in anyway–below-grade basement studios, sad neglected apartments in poor repair. Maybe this will inspire some landlords to fix up their places? A girl can dream…

Stay tuned for the Citi Habitats March stats, to be posted here later!

Citi Habitats Releases February Market Report

Prices for studios, one bedrooms, two bedrooms are lower than they were in December but three bedrooms held somewhat steadier–no surprise as shareable three-bedroom apartments represented better value from the outset.

Citi Habitats February Market Report: Vacancy Rates by Neighborhood

This past month, the East Village had the highest vacancy rate in the city and vacancy is down in Soho/Tribeca. Are you all finally moving into your soho dream loft?

Manhattan Vacancy Rates Still Going Up

For the 9th straight month in a row, the overall vacancy rate in Manhattan continues to rise, although we’re not yet touching 3%.

How Much Did a Doorman Cost You in February 2009?

Prices continue to decline across the board and it looks like a doorman is one of those amenities that people are more willing to forgo in tough times as the price of apartments in doorman buildings declines faster and more dramatically than comparable non-doorman buildings.

Hall of Mirrors

One of my favorite things about being a broker is getting to see the crazy and awesome interiors that can be found all over this city. I just had to take a picture of myself in this awesome entry hall with mirrors on both sides. I look like I am in a kaleidoscopic infinity mirror. And yes, there are apartments available in this Upper West Side classic with doorman and elevator. One bedrooms for $2300 all the way up to a $6800 classic 6, get in touch if you want to see it for yourself.

Renegotiating the Rent??

As rent prices go down, landlords and tenants alike are wondering what their apartments are “really worth.” I’m no economist and especially in these difficult times I’m not able to make predictions. I do know that prices are going down overall and vacancy has been on the rise for the past few months. The trend is downward but activity has been picking up noticably in the past month. I’ve been getting more phone calls, there are more apartments on the market and I’ve seen units renting that were vacant for months. Many landlords have made the necessary adjustments and lowered their prices, offered free rent, paid the broker’s fees, upgraded their units (not usually all at once though) and these units are being snapped up by tenants looking for more, bigger, better, cheaper.

With activity on the rise, the question on everyone’s mind is “can I renegotiate my current rent?” This is a difficult question, one that demonstrates the forces of the market at work, the fact that an apartment is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Are tenants prepared to walk away from apartments they feel are over-priced? Is now the moment to find that dream apartment that has seemed so elusive for the past few years? Only you can answer that question, but whether you’re renegotiating with your landlord or are looking for a change, it’s important for tenants to be realistic about how much of a discount you can expect to receive and for landlords to be cognizant of the fact that people are looking for bargains and are no longer forced to take sub-standard units because vacancy is so low.

This issue unfolds from both perspectives over on the Brownstoner forum:

“Renegotiating Rent in Park Slope”

“Lease Renewal in Cobble Hill”

“Rent 2009”

“Renegotiating with Landlord”

My Craigslist Roundup

Check out my Craigslist ads for today!

No Fee: Bright Gramercy one bedroom for $2000

No Fee: Huge East Village pre-war 2 bed with eat in kitchen, garden, laundry, elevator for $3450

No Fee: West Village pre-war one bed with all new appliances and renovation in a classic elevaor building with laundry, you would think this one was a condo or co-op it’s so well-maintained. This picture is of an already-rented apartment in the same building as the current one is being gutted. A steal at $2800

No Fee: East Village junior four with 2 full baths in doorman, elevator building with laundry, tons of character including beamed ceilings and French doors for $3550

Low Fee: East Village real two bedroom with living room, very bright, steps to F Train at Second Ave for $2250

Low Fee: East Village three room large, shareable one bedroom with closets, eat in kitchen, very cute and well-maintained in a prime location for $1950

“New York Landlords Fight as Rent Refunds Loom” via the NY Times

According to this article in the NY Times, some of the city’s largest landlords may be forced by a court order to return millions of dollars in rent paid by tenants living in de-regulated apartments. It seems that it may not have been permitted for landlords of tax abated properties to deregulate units based on factors such as capital improvements. Obviously, this is a complicated issue and the article outlines the reasons that some buildings may be in trouble.