First Property in NYC! How would you handle?

[Nkosi King]

Hi guys I just got into a property in the NYC area .

2 family home, it was brought to my attention by a friend. And it's main selling point was buying into equity in a neighborhood that's about to explode.

Main thing for me was the option to be able to Cash out Refi down the line. 

Anyhow. One of my concerns is the layout.

3 stories, 2 family. One ground level unit. 2 bedroom 1 bath simple design. 

No basement. The 2nd unit is a multilevel unit. 

2nd floor with kitchen, living area and bathroom. 

3rd floor with 3 bedrooms and a bathroom. 

Here's the kicker, the boiler and water heater are contained within a locked room on the second level. 

Spoke to the energy supplier, they stated that the gas and electric bill will be combined on one bill. The bill will be sent to the resident of unit #2. 

I am sure that the resident of the second unit will not want to take responsibility of gas and heat for unit number one. 

I do not intend to live at this residence. How will I be able to handle this ?

To be honest I was quite excited about the property because of it's location, and chance to appreciate and equity we are coming into. But I should have looked into this aspect more. 

Anything I should place in the contract to protect myself ?

[Chinmay J.]

How much will it cost to pull permits and split everything, so each unit is self sufficient and independent. Given the fact that your property is in Brooklyn, I am thinking it would be worth it as a percentage of actual sales price, even if it costs you say $10,000. 

I recently sold one of my Richmond, VA units, and the price to split water was $6000. I had to give a little bit of credit to new buyer, to push the sale. It's definitely worth it in the longer run to split these costs, and let the tenant pay their own bills.