All Forum Posts by: Allan Szlafrok

@Wesley W. There are actually a few products that I’m checking out myself. One is called Steady insurance which is a policy you buy in the unit and they guarantee the rent if the tenant doesn’t pay. For security deposits there’s Obligo and Rhino which charge the tenant a small fee in lieu of giving a security deposit and they make you Whole on the deposit would have been if the tenant doesn’t pay. That being said I wouldn’t want to rent an apartment to someone who didn’t have enough money to cover a deposit so I’m offering that program to tenants who pay well for a year. Look into those they are all starting to do big business in NY because of the new laws.

@Sean McCluskey It really doesn’t pay to try and time the bond market not even the smartest economists do that well. It’s definitely worth getting pricing today from several lenders and seeing how much you can save especially if you are well above market rates.

@Matthew Drouin With regards to the security deposit I’ve looked into a few security deposit alternatives that might help with that. Basically they issue a guarantee in lieu of a security deposit for a small monthly fee paid by the tenant. Obligo is one and I know they are doing big business in NYC in particular because of the new laws. I signed up with Rhino which is a similar program but I’m only offering it to tenants who have paid on time for a year. Anyway it’s worth a look I haven’t sent them any tenants as of today but I’m gonna give it a shot.

Disclaimer: My properties are in NJ but I know they are marketing heavily in NY.

@Jinyu Shao Honestly this sounds like a lot of work and a lot of money if all your doing it for is this single transaction. Don't forget you can also try to sell FSBO (for sale by owner) if you want. A better idea might be to use a discount broker that charges 2.5-3%. Then again a regular broker might be better as they can use their expertise to leverage better offers. You can always bargain then down to 5% for sure I've never in my life paid 6%. So I'd talk to some brokers get an opinion as far as value and take it from there.

@Jonathan Schwartz I would wait until closer to when the unit is ready maybe 4 weeks out if the demand is as high as you say then you won’t have a problem filling it. It’s hard to get a tenant to commit to your unit more than a month out in my experience and sometimes people get turned off by the fact that a listing has been open for several months. Also you never know when your project will get held up by permits, utilities or something else.

@Tim Bradley It really depends on your bank and their DSCR ratio. Stuff I bought 3 years ago and refinanced more recently I was able to get over 100% out because the rent supported that kind of debt service. Depending on your market getting 80-90% might be as good as you can expect to get. That being said it all comes down to how much debt service the rents will cover and some banks are more aggressive with they than others.

@Vernon Trice III Look into Stessa it’s free and I use it to keep track of my documents, leases, expenses and other details for my properties. I still use quickbooks for my accounting but as far as being able to get all my info at a glance I’ve really enjoyed using Stessa.

@Lance Queen I always recommend virtual staging and professional photography to get more eyeballs in your listing. Not sure if you’ve tried that yet but that usually gets more foot traffic in the door.

@Mark Belenky Yeah unfortunately the first doesn’t always mean the first but if it’s before the fifth it’s not a problem.

@Ley NezifortAdd liability insurance to your homeowners policy although most already have it you may be able to add more. Additionally you can purchase umbrella insurance for yourself for added protection if you so choose.