Did you know

All property managers are not the same. Their services vary as much as their qualifications. If you are looking for a property manager, take the time to decide if they are the right property management company for you. Interview several before making a decision. The company that you decide upon will be handling your investment which is, more than likely, one of the largest investments that you have.

Here are a few questions that you may want to ask them.

How many properties do they manage?

How many leases do they do each month?

How many houses do they have available for rent?

How long does it take them to lease a house?

How do they collect rent?

How do they handle repair requests?

Do they only handle rents or do they also sell properties?

One of the most important question is:

How long have them been managing property? If they are a start up company, you don’t need them to get experience on your dime. It is hard to beat experience as a teacher. Do they know the procedures for evicting a tenant. There is nothing negative about being the new kid on the block. The question is, have they done their homework. Are they familiar with handling mold, a tenant paying partial rent, dealing with roommates, monies owed after the tenant moves out and the list goes on and on and on.

Being in the mountains and a rural area, many might forget that technology does drive businesses and property management is no exception. How do they collect rent. Do they allow credit cards, ACH or tenant paying online? Is their website secure? Property managers need to be on the cutting edge of technology.

Real Estate companies general don’t have this stuff. They are doing their best to sell property not be a property management company. This tells you that they are not serious about being a property management company. All they want to do is sell property and are biding their time by doing property management until the sales start coming back.

Take the time to be informed before you decide who you will use to manage one of your largest assets. You can always change your mind but it will cost you more in the long run if you choose someone that is not qualified but is “So personable”. Take your time and ask questions and then more questions.

Liquor sales in Hayesville

In this sleepy little town of Hayeville, N.C. an amazing thing has happened. Today was the election on whether to have 4 things happen. They were all related to liquor sales. Liquor by the drink, malt sales, ABC stores and wines sales. 

Clay county has a population of 10,000 people with supposedly 8659 registered voters. This number is very suspect but on with the story.  Several months ago a group of concerned citizens got together and said “We need to keep tax dollars in Clay County”. They decided to get a petition going that would put liquor sales on the ballot. They would need 35% of the registered voters to sign the petition to get it on the ballot. They needed 35% of 8659 registered voters which is approximately 2900 people. Volunteers set out to get those signatures. They had a plan and they had a goal. They needed so many signatures each week. They worked hard and got the signatures with 20 to spare.

Now was the time for the people to be heard.

 Did this tiny little town nestled in the Tusquittee Mountain range need or want change to happen? 

Tonight the results came. There were 4613 ballots cast out of 8659 registered voters. The number of registered voters has been very suspect but what really matters is that 4613 ballots were cast.  In all 4 categories the vote was approximately  

60% voted FOR Liquor sales in all 4 categories

40% voted AGAINST Liquor sales in all 4 categories

Tenants are gone

We no longer have the tenants. Someone came in the night. So sad. They left one egg but I really don't believe that it will hatch. Nature can be hard to deal with just as people can be difficult. Understanding is needed in both cases. Tomorrow will be another day and hopefully someone else will come live in the the nest.

Tenant will fly away

WE Have a new tenant living just outside our office. They moved in about 7 days ago. They have no lease and will probably fly away . We are so excited to have them here. They are so nice and are truly a blessing to our office.

What happens to the security deposit when a tenant moves out. Depending on the state laws and the lease agreement, but in general the tenant will receive their entire deposit back minus any repairs for damage. In the state of Georgia, once the tenant has vacated the property and turned in the keys, the landlord has 3 business days to inspect the property and notify the tenant if there are any repairs to be done which were caused by the tenant or their guests.

This is where things can become complicated. The tenant had lived in the house for 4 years. He had taken good care of the home. His teenage daughter has spilled something on the floor in a bathroom and admits that even though he had it professional cleaned, he would be responsible for replacing/repairing the tile. 

After inspecting the house, we found that the tile indeed would need to be replaced. There was additional minor damage that would be considered  "Normal wear and tear. Now the owner is expecting to take most of the tenant's security deposit to handle all the repairs. We are now in the middle of a situation that both parties are not happy.

This just came into my email account and I just had to pass it along.

I threw out a mother years ago as she was left in a garage and in my opinion (not knowing momma was in there) all the items appeared to be trash.  The tenant sued me for throwing mother out, as well as some other junk (which he admitted was junk).  I felt bad that momma got spread at the dump but the judge did dismiss the case as I could not have possibly know she was in there and she was not actually thrown out until 7 days later as it was a low priority make ready and the tenant didn’t call during those 7 days get access for the junk or momma.  Sometimes tenants can really give you a curve ball. 

Being a member of NARPM(National Association of Residential Property Managers) gives me an opportunity to learn from my peers. We have what is called a list serve where we email each other and ask questions. We try to respond to situations that we may have dealt with in the past. One that was interesting to me was when a tenant moves out and leaves food in the refrigerator but has the electric turned off, how do you get the smell out of the refrigerator. There were many different answers. Everything from Baking soda, coal & Clorox. 

This was the latest.

In the “I thought I’d heard it all” department:

 

We got a call this morning from a tenant who stayed for a month in one of our vacation rental properties.  She is looking for her mother and thinks she may have left “Mother” at the rental property.  Turns out mother died and was cremated during the daughter’s visit to the Monterey Peninsula, and the daughter had her ashes in a box, which, upon returning home,  she cannot locate. 

 

Sure hope the housekeepers didn’t throw anything away . . . there is now a new tenant in the property .

Responses from her problem.

look in the trunk of the car....... that is where a friend of mine found her husband.

Evict the new tenant for too many occupants and charge the old tenant for improper cleaning for not cleaning the ashes

We try to have a laugh now and then just to make sure we are still sane.