I'm a NYC landlord. I've already lost 15 of my buildings to these ridiculous laws passed in 2019. Later this year I'll lose another 15 at least.
Over $100M of value erased with the stroke of Cuomo's pen. I started with nothing. I built my business from my living room while my wife was tending our newborn girl in the bedroom... I worked myself to the bone.... and my good wife put up with it because our goal was to build something great for the city and for our family.
My entire life's work is gone. I've removed tens of thousands of housing code violations from buildings I've bought over the last couple/few decades. All of my properties are in MATERIALLY better shape than when I bought them. Most are unrecognizably better than when I bought them.
The average rent I charge in my portfolio is $1,738 for a two bedroom apartment in NYC (the majority are in Manhattan). For some context... the city of NY spends over $3,200/month on maintenance for the units in their portfolio and they are exempt from all of the Local Laws, property taxes, and water/sewer bills. If my rents are $1,700 and their expenses are $3,200 how does that math ...math...
These socialist have been vocal about their plan for more than 10 years... bankrupt Jewish landlords (I'm not Jewish, I just got caught up in this mess) and then buy their properties for pennies on the dollar.
@leo_szac Same principle on the debt side. The hour you spend actually reading the loan docs — prepayment penalties, yield maintenance, defeasance windows, extension conditions — saves you from a six-figure mistake at refinance. People skip it because it's tedious. The tedium is the moat.
@pathfinder17m Tenant quality shows up in underwriting too. Lenders on smaller residential look at rent roll stability — a history of problem tenants, evictions, or gaps translates directly into credit risk. The dread you're feeling is what a bank puts on a checklist.
@AJManaseer The debt side is already at Step 5. Lenders underwriting rent-stabilized NYC buildings have to stress-test against this exact cycle. The ones that can still refi have an operating story that survives the fines. The ones that can't are just waiting to find out who holds the bag.
@gilmaman2 The 'taking' argument is real — and if it gets traction in court, it could reframe the whole rent stabilization debate. From the debt side, lenders are already treating stabilized NYC multifamily like distressed product. The legal risk is priced in before any ruling.
@jacobmorganbiz@CaseyMericle Seller financing is always 'off the table' until the deal sits long enough. Rate moves, lender pullbacks, or 90 days of nothing — that's usually what changes the conversation. The brokers who know how to structure it are the ones who close when the market gets weird.
@Jefffeldman Rent freeze + rising insurance + taxes + debt service = owners who can't pencil a refi. The lender sees a building that can't cash flow at today's rates. The borrower can't sell because cap rates moved. It's a trap of policy's own making.
@ReachCRE Every distressed deal has a story like this behind it. From the debt side, the same thing — the building looks like a credit problem until you dig in and find out it's actually an estate problem, a family dispute, or a management vacuum. The fix is rarely financial first.
@ChrisRamsey60 This plays out on the debt side constantly. The business owner who bought the building rather than leasing it — even if they stretched a bit on the loan — almost always comes out ahead. Income and equity are two different games.
The best time to talk to a debt broker is when you don't need one. Quiet periods are when you learn the market and build the file. Live deals reward whoever showed up already prepared.