In addition, my triplexes are right across the street from the high school, so there is a drug free zone charge as well.

A hard money lender isn´t going to charge you to speak with them. 

A few years ago I started drawing up leases for my mom and I was in charge of renewing leases and for the first time she has asked me to increase a tenants rent.What is the proper procedure on increasing a tenants rent in New York City? 

She could do a owner finance deal and make more monthly as to the spread between her debt payment and the rent she could charge that is the average rate in that area. 

If you are just getting started go interview with some Brokers in Charge with some of the well respected agencies in your area.

A property manager will charge a fee to place new tenants there....you're also going to have to carry utilities while the home is vacant.If the tenants are happy, let them stay and enjoy the revenue while you stash that cash to be able to re-invest it into the property after they vacate. 

Kudos--have you considered charging more?

Then you would just charge to people a ticket to take them on the bus to the area.

Check the area to see how much rent you can charge for this home in this particular area. 4.

I am still learning about REI (a little late to this party, I should've been learning about it much sooner) but it seems like OOS would be our best bet for monthly cash flow.