Question: An owner calls up and says, "I want to put a storage building on the rental house that you handle for me. Please tell the tenant that I will be doing this."

Your Professional Landlord's answer. I will be more than happy to contact the tenant and make sure this is ok with them. Remember they have  leased the property and have all rights to it. They will need to give you permission to do this.

Question-Tenant wants to pay 1 year in advance on the rent and get a discount for doing this. Can you do it?

Your Professional Landlord's answer. You can but probably will not want to do this. You are at extreme risk by doing so. First it is harder to get the tenant out if there is a problem. Second, you do not want to pay the owner because if there is a problem and you have to refund the money then you have to go back to the owner who may or may not be willing to give you the money back or worse the owner is in foreclosure.

Question- House is leased and the owner of the home goes into foreclosure. Is tenant's lease still valid?

Your Professional Landlord's answer. No. The tenant has no rights and the lease is not valid.

Who would have thought that commuting to work in this beautiful mountains would be so difficult. I moved to the mountains 15 years ago and learned very quickly that it would take at least a year for me to become “Countryfied”. I was still “Cityfied” and I had to learn how to slow down and not let that road rage come into play in the country. One of the first things that I learned was that you don’t honk your horn at other people in cars. They will make that left turn even if they don’t have their bleaker on to show they are turning. They may be driving slower than you would like but you will just have to have a little patience.

 It is hard for “Cityfied” people to understand what it is like to deal with the problems of commuting in the country. Last week I was on my way into work, I had an appointment in 20 minutes and all of a sudden, on Hwy 175, there were 7 deer crossing the road. I stopped. They watched me. I watched them. Other cars stopped and they watched. What a magnificent sight. No where else could you enjoy such a sight. We all waited for them to cross the road and our appointments would just have to wait!!

Hiawassee/Hayesville Vacation rental market

Property management companies are hurting also in these trying times.

Those of you that are licensed in North Carolina get the North Carolina Real Estate Commission newsletter. When you go to the back section to see the list of "Bad guys in Real Estate"  you may not have noticed that of the 45 violations Property Management had 16 and all others were 29. Most of the violations were related to trust account discrepancy. 

When you look at the way things are now it makes sense but 1 year ago you did not see it coming. I know that I did not see it coming. In large metropolitan areas the rental market is going crazy. In small rural areas where there is no industry and there are NO jobs, it is a totally different situation. 

We do have good news here. Snap On in Murphy is hiring 50 new employees. Young Harris College is hiring Professors and some want to rent before they buy so they come to us.

Mark your calendars for April 18th. Mountain Manager & Associates will be having a seminar for "Investors/Landlords". We will have various speakers that will discuss everything from 

Your legal nightmare-Mold to How to Screen a Tenant.

I must share an amusing story about Lou Anne Reagle, one of our property managers. While Lou Anne was out showing property recently she came in contact with a local who wanted to rent one of our homes. He said that he had chickens and he hoped he could bring them with him.  Lou Anne (still somewhat “City-fied”) said she would have to check with the homeowner's association and see if it was acceptable. He (definitely “Country-fied”) then said, "All I really care about is coming home after work, have a beer and then go outside and fluff my chickens". Lou Anne spent the next couple days talking to local farmers asking them what “fluffing” their chickens was and thinking this was a local slang. As it turned out, he didn’t rent from us.  Our lease has a no “Chicken Fluffing” clause.