All Forum Posts by: Howard Handler

I have a suburban Chicago townhouse that has been rented by the same family (good tenants) for nearly two years at $1625/month (I did not increase their rent the second year). The tenant prior was paying in the $1500s. Two years ago $1,625 seemed competitive and even my listing agent thought it might be slightly high. Since then rents have escalated -- in the last six months, ALL (16 total) 3 bed / 2+ bath rentals within that area listed in the MLS rented for $1850 or more with an average rental price of $2,050.

Although I just saw Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist for the National Assoc. of REALTORS, post: "Apartment rents had soared but are calming down back to earthly levels and could even fall by next year as abundant new supplies of multifamily units are under construction."

What would be a reasonable amount to increase the rent this year? I'm thinking $150. 

Thank you in advance. 

Some municipalities are worse than others -- so it's important to consider how difficult that municipality is to work with when entering a market. That said, I used to work as a real estate lobbyist -- one thing I've learned over my years, is that building departments often make up rules along the way and often are inconsistent in their rules (one inspector says this, another says that) -- if something sounds absurd, politely let them know you want to better understand the policy, and ask them to point out where its been adopted by the village board/city council -- sometimes you'll discover that the building department staff just made up the rule without any authority to do so.

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Additionally -- and I don't know the law in Minnesota -- but in some states all parties have to agree to dual agency (representation) and the sellers might very well say no.

@Bill B. - That's absolutely ridiculous -- but municipal officials can be very difficult and are not disposed to being reasonable, rational folks. At a minimum, I would reach out to the city council/village board and share your concerns.

@Tim Healey - I can absolutely connect you with an investment-savvy REALTOR -- I'd love to connect with you -- check out my profile and hit me up. Cheers.

@Aaron Maghen - I would imagine many of the same principles to investing apply. I think, though, where you may find some differences in strategy is in terms of financing -- ways and terms to finance in the U.S. may vary greatly elsewhere.

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