Did you know

it is not easy being a property manager. Mountain Manager does not represent this owner but what would you do in this case?

This particular tenant rents an apartment in the basement of a house. Upstairs is another tenant who thinks it is OK to play music any time he wants.

Now here is the question. Can the tenant in the lower unit break their lease if they have repeatedly asked the owner and tenant upstairs to stop playing his music after 10pm? The tenants have also called the police 2 times to try and get the tenant to stop playing the music.

In the lease it states the tenant has the right for “Quiet Enjoyment”. What would you do?

I have an opinion about this and will share it next week.

Did you know

About 5 years ago,it had become too confusing to use both the NC and GA leasing and management agreement forms. It was difficult to remember what each state had and did not have in their forms. So I asked my friends with NARPM (National Association of Residential Property Managers) to help. I put together a management agreement and lease agreement and had a local attorney make sure everything was legal. I have not looked at the GAR lease form until yesterday when I took a NARPM class on "Elements of the Lease Agreement".

I found out something that you need to know about if you are doing any leasing and using this form.

Please read Paragraph 8 below.

8. Utilities. Tenant acknowledges that all utilities and/or services are to be paid for by Tenant, with the exception of:__________________________________Tenant must connect or transfer utilities not provided by Landlord into the name of Tenant within ____days of the commencement of the lease.At any time thereafter, Landlord may, without notice to Tenant, disconnect any utilities serving Premies which are in the name of Landlord and are not being provided by Landlord under this lease. Landlord may, at Landlord's option and upon notice to Tenant, pay utilities and be reimbursed by Tenant as additional rent. For the purpose of this paragraph utilities are defined as the following: Water, Sewer,Electric Sanitation Gas and Phone.

Here is the problem with this paragraph. If tenant moves in and has not put any or all of the utilities in his name the Landlord CAN NOT TURN them off after the tenant has moved into the premises. The best way to avoid this situation is to have proof of utilities BEFORE tenant moves into the premises.

The banking crisis has made a mess for many many many people. Banks gave loans to people who really weren’t qualified. Once the owner couldn’t pay they contacted the real estate agent that sold them the house. That agent did their very best to sell the house but houses weren’t selling unless they were in foreclosure or maybe if they got lucky they did a short sale.

Sometimes the owner would contact a property management company to lease the house which would at least give them some breathing room. That didn’t always last either. Then foreclosure took place.

If there was a tenant in the house, many times they were bullied by the bank. The bank demanding they leave even though the tenant has the RIGHT to stay. The bank would tell them they had to leave even though they had a valid lease. The only way the bank could make them move was if the person buying was going to live in the house. Then the bank must give a 90 day notice.

Here are the ones that have been hurt.

1.the owner of the property

1. realtor listing the house
2. property manager who managed it
3. tenant who lived in the house

Banks need to get their act together. Work with the owners and give them a better loan. Work with the realtor and sell the property easily

Work with the property manager and allow them to continue managing the property

Work with the tenant and not be such a bully

Did you know

The new year is just around the corner. Are you planning for the next year to be better than this year? Are you planning to make more money? If you don’t have a plan then you have NO PLAN.

Here is the proverb for 2012.

Consistency will make you a winner.

If you are not consistent in all that you do, you will not win. Keep doing what makes you successful. Continue to make those phone calls. Continue to farm a certain area. Continue to go to Chamber meetings.If you don’t then you will not be a WINNER!!

Did you know

Dealing with a leak in a ceiling can be so simple. It can also be devastating. Here is what happened. Just to give you a heads up, this could have been a nightmare from hell if not handled properly. It is imperative that as a property manager you have qualified vendors to handle repairs. When you get some “Johnny come lately” who is not trained or educated, you have a nightmare waiting to happen.

Thanksgiving Day tenant calls and says water is pouring out of the ceiling in the kitchen. There is a bathroom above the kitchen so the natural assumption is that something in the bathroom is leaking. A plumber is called. Plumber goes to the house. Talks to the tenants. They state that they very seldom use the upstairs bath. When they did use the bathtub, they would soak in the tub. They never mentioned the use of the shower.

Plumber turns water on at sink and tub. No water appears in the kitchen ceiling. He flushes the toilet multiple times. No water appears in the kitchen ceiling. He does a pressure test on all the lines. Again nothing happens. Since there appears to be no problems with the plumbing we wonder if it may be from the vent in the roof. Now we send out a roofer to check for leaks in the roof.

A very reliable roofing company states that this roof is the worst roof job they have ever seen. They do the best they can and repair multiple places but state that this is a just a “band aid” and the roof needs replacing. At this point, we make an assumption. You should never assume anything. You know what they say about the word “assume”. It makes an “ass” out of “u” and “me”. We assume the problem is fixed. WRONG

3 weeks later we get a call that water is pouring out of the ceiling again. We again send the plumber. After talking to the tenants again, he finds that they have periodically been using the shower. The shower has a hand held shower head. What had been happening was they had been using the hand held shower head sometimes and it was spraying on to the spout on the tub. The spout was not sealed properly. The water would go behind the spout and leaking through the ceiling.

Here is where it gets really interesting. Plumber begins to remove as much insulation that is between the floors as he can. He can not get to all of the wet insulation. Now the untrained plumber or property manager would pull out as much insulation as they could and say all is fine.

The PROFESSIONAL plumber or property manager should call a company that can guarantee that there is no chance of mold. Wet insulation is a breeding ground for mold. This must be dried down in the proper way with knowledgeable trained people.

Thanks ServiceMaster. You are the best!!

No matter how you try, the general public does not realize all of the laws that you are required to abide by and do the right thing. 8 years ago Mountain Manager and Associates was born. The Georgia and North Carolina Real Estate Commission have the duty to audit of my books. They wanted to make sure we are doing every thing the correct and legal way.

Reading the North Carolina back page has always made be wonder, “am I doing it correctly.” Will they come after me if I am not doing it correctly? I know I am guilty. I know I am doing it wrong. All those classes that I have taken about trust account, just went out the window.(My insecurity came into play, can you tell)

I received a letter in March from the Georgia Real Estate Commission wanting certain documents. Immediately, I sent the information by certified mail. I waited and waited.

They responded 6 months later with a critic of what needed to be done!!!

I had been pleasantly surprised. I found out that they are not the Gestapo.

The general public does not know all the laws that a property manager and/or real estate agent has to abide by.

As a property manager we have a fiduciary responsibility to the owner of the property. We are required to protect them. This can be very difficult when owners think they know more than we do. We must overcome this and continue to protect them, no matter what they say. That doesn’t sound very nice!! We need to educate owners on the laws that can cause them problems and do it in a nice way.

There are issues of MOLD, LEAD BASE PAINT and FLOODING to name just a few.

Today I had a conversation with an owner who owns a home that was built before 1978. More than likely it was built in the 1950’s.

I told him that there are certain words that put the fear of GOD in me. LEAD BASE PAINT and MOLD. It is imperative that the tenant does not say these words. The house needs to be free of mold. It also needs to be free of lead base paint. If it does have lead base paint it needs to be repair by a Certified Lead Base Paint contractor. At this time, I am not aware of any contractor who is a Certified Lead Base Paint Contractor in the mountains.

Did you know

Putting the right person in the right house is a win win for both the tenant and the landlord. The landlord wants a tenant who will pay the rent and take care of the property. The tenant wants the landlord to take care of the property and give them “Quiet Enjoyment”(They want to be left alone to enjoy the home)

It all starts with the application process. It can be very quick or it can take some time.It all depends on the landlord or the property manager. Either one can do it with the same tools, IF they want to do it RIGHT.

As a landlord you can shake their hand and say, “The house is yours. When can you move?”

Or

You can give them an application. Ask them to fill it out. You will then begin the process IF you want to “Put the right person in the right house so you both win.

As the landlord you want to find out if they have the income to afford your property. The best way to do this is to verify their income. You can use their last paycheck, tax return or 1099 form. If they are paid cash, then they probably don’t file a tax return and probably won’t be renting your house.

You also want to talk to their existing and previous landlord. Now you may ask.
“Why should I talk to their previous landlord.?” The best reason of all. If you talk to the existing landlord they may want the tenant out asap and they will lie to you. If you talk to the previous landlord, they will tell more than likely tell you the truth.

Now the last step. It is now time to get a background check and credit report. Times the way they are, it is part of the process to do a credit report. You do not want to base everything on the credit score. For several years, I did not do background checks. I felt that I could tell if there was a problem. I was “SMART” I could “read” this people. Boy, was I wrong. I really don’t like admitting that I am wrong but I decided it was time to do background checks with a prospective tenant told me that he had been convicted of a

sex offender. I thought he was a good guy. BOY WAS I WRONG!!