All Forum Posts by: Ryan Vienneau

I own a PM company 10 mins from Ballston and have worked with quite a few investors and agents right here on BP, message me and I'd be glad to help you out.  

Don't be fooled thinking that just because a PM is a licensed broker that they have any idea what they are doing with regards to property management, most are just agents looking for some extra cash that took on some clients by accident, but we find most don't follow the constant stream of law changes in NY, nor do they have the support or systems in place to manage professionally.  

I would suggest quizzing any new PM on some of the tenant-landlord laws that were passed back in June, and if they don't know them inside and out (90% won't have any idea what you're even talking about), then find another PM.   Same goes with your RE attorney, incredibly 90% of those haven't paid attention to the law changes either, and are poorly advising many landlords who are getting educated the hard way, in court.  

We still see listings posted every day from licensed PM's with things that were made illegal earlier in the year (last mo's rent required, $30 app fees, double deposit for pets, etc., all are illegal in NY).  The agent and broker licensing process is 99% focused on real estate sales, and there is one short chapter on PM, none of which covers any of the laws or best practices that pro companies should observe.  

@Joseph R. Smith You're 5 years late to Troy, I'm a property manager there and we are at the tail end of a boom and revitalization going on there, prices are overheated in my opinion, but deals can still be found. However, crime is out of control in north and south troy this year which is hurting vacancy.

Since income source (Sec 8, DSS, etc) is now a protected class in NYS, if they meet your other rental criteria, you can't decline them just due to the fact they are on Sec 8, so might as well get on board.  Most of the time they don't meet our credit qualifications any way, but we manage several that are 100% paid by Sec 8 and its actually been quite good to work with.  Regarding snail mail from DSS, we only accept rent payment online or via direct deposit and that's a condition of renting from us (which is not a protected class...) and that's right in the application, so if the program won't autopay us or do direct deposit, we decline the app on that basis.  We've gotten in some debates about this with the program people, but we don't budge, not having the ability to pay online is a them problem, not an us problem.  

@Andrew Worgan No grandfathering, that part of the law takes effect Oct 12, so you would have to give notice prior to Oct 12 in order to not give a full 60 day notice. This is also why all of our leases are now 364 day leases, because the law says that leases of 365 days must provide 60 day notice.

@Kevin Buckley Hmm, that must have been the 5-day late notice, because those must be certified mail, but the 14-day is separate and must be delivered by "process server methods", and can't go by certified mail.

@Kevin Buckley When is your PM serving notice, after how many days late?  

@Rob Sawyer Jaime has been taking a very active role in lobbying and organizing landlords to fight pretty much every word of the new law, and she's been doing awesome and knows the new laws inside and out.  However, she's also realistic and is bracing for the potential for the laws to get even worse (like possible rent control statewide in Jan) before they get better, if ever.  I hope she succeeds and I'm 110% in support of her efforts, but I don't have much faith in NYS lawmakers to fix the issue any time soon and in the meantime we need to figure out how to operate in this new environment.  

@Patrick DiDomenico You can do that, but its really semantics and youd just be shifting everything 5 days earlier. Doesnt actually fix anything.

@Mark W. This is exactly what i was thinking, and spoke with an attorney friend of mine who also owns properties and he said he is planning to do this. My only concern though is that a mo to mo lease could scare off the best applicants though that want a year lease.

@Bill Keast Yes, i know Jaime well actually and had lunch with her a month or so ago to discuss the laws, which is what prompted me to write this post, because she's by far the most knowledgable on the laws, but even she is still at a loss for how to deal with it on a practical level as business owners.