For those tenants living in my Brooklyn properties whose contracts would be ending during this year, I would raise rent by 5%. Even with the 5% raise, the rent will still be considered very favorable to my tenants since I have always kept my rent lower than the market price.
Recently, I put on a bid for a row house in Queens and was outbid, thus lost the deal. The real estate market in NYC vincity just refused to bend.
Rent in Northern VA is moving higher. I did not raise rents, instead, I signed longer term leases with my current good tenants as the condition of not raising their rents. A trouble free landlord is a happy landlord.
The 5 short sale rentals in Herndon I accumulated through the last 2 years, surprisingly, already increased a lot in value. With the DC Metro coming in 2015 into Herndon, I have no plan to sell anyone of them. The only and sole reason I pick Herndon is very simple, THE METRO. However, I do not feel the current price in Herndon is favorable to the investors now since the rent/price ratio is getting too low.
The job market in DC is openning up this year and as the economy recovers, DC's real estate market, especially lower-mid end houses, will remain strong. As a matter of fact, I believe the return of real estate in DC will out run NYC vincity in the next up trend.
