Deciding to raise rent

[John Tarricone]

Hi everyone-

I am a new landlord working on building my portfolio. I closed on my first duplex a few months ago and I’m currently house hacking.

I live in New York and was rushed to fill the apartment before winter, so I dropped the rent to 1500.

When the lease is up in May, I would like to increase the rent to 1700.

With that said I have a 2 part question:

1- what are some best practices for telling tenants that their rent will be increasing 200 at renewal?

2- what upgrades do you all recommend for increasing rent?

Thank you in advance!

John T.