Dorchester Towers NYC March 2010 Rental Report
The spring rental season is upon us and rentals at Dorchester Towers are hitting the market. Dorchester Towers as I have talked about before has a very unique situation as about half of the apartments in the building are sponsor owned and the other half are owned by individuals. This creates a situation where if you are an owner of a property at Dorchester you will have built in competition of not only other owners but also from the sponsor.
At Dorchester Towers we have represented both owners who have rented out their apartments and also tenants who have rented from the sponsor and from individual owners. I have found a number of common elements that impact renting an apartment at Dorchester Towers Condominium.
1. Price: Let's face it, price is the great equalizer and it's important to look at the differences between the two products. Typical asking prices for a standard 1 bedroom through the sponsor run about $2900-$3100 depending on the floor and the particular layout. Typical asking prices for a standard 1 bedroom for an apartment individually owned are $2400-$2800. Obviously the next important question to ask is why are the prices lower for an individual unit. This is something that I will directly answer below in condition and incentives.
2. Condition:If you have never seen one of the units from the sponsor and you are thinking of renting I would encourage you to make an appointment to see some of their inventory. Typically their apartments have been just recently gut renovated or renovated in the past couple of years. Apartments have new parquet floors, marble bathrooms with new vanities, fixtures, new kitchen cabinets, new appliances including dish washers, granite counters, fresh paint jobs, moldings, etc. The finishes, I would say are well done but not overly lavish.
The condition of individual owned apartments in the Dorchester Towers varies dramatically. I have seen units in a somewhat original condition circa when the building was built in the 1960's to brand new top of the line kitchens with Viking appliances, Waterworks fixtures, etc.
3. Incentives: The sponsor at Dorchester Towers currently will either give the tenant one month free rent or will pay their broker 1 Month Broker's Fee. This is a big incentive in my opinion because most renters do not want to pay a broker's fee if they don't have to or if the math doesn't make sense if they amortize broker's fees with the price they are getting for the unit.
If the apartment is from an owner there will typically be a broker fee involved that if the owner is not paying the tenant will. Broker fees vary but typically they are anywhere from 1 Month to 15% of the first years annual rent which equates to 1.8 Months.
In this market we encourage our owners to pay or contribute to the broker's fee to remain competitive with all of the other competition that is paying the fee.
Conclusion:
If you are thinking of renting your apartment you have to think like a renter. A renter is more than likely going to be looking at a lot of different apartments and in our case at the Dorchester Towers they are going to be looking at the built in rental product already in the building. In order to compete with the newly renovated and incentives that the sponsor owned apartments possess in the building, keeping an open mind on pricing is highly encouraged.
Our experience understanding the complexities of the rental market in our building have given us an opportunity to help many owners like yourself to rent out their units. If you are thinking of renting feel free to contact us, or if you are deciding between renting or selling your unit we will provide you with the same up to date information as far as your options. Call us today at (917)837-8869 if you are thinking of selling or renting your Dorchester Towers apartment.
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