There is always two sides to a story

Some find it  hard to believe, BUT I am really a nice person. My job requires me to be thorough when renting homes for owners. Because I am so thorough, I have a reputation on not being nice or I am a witch. A few years ago, an owner came to me and asked me to handle a house which had a tenant. The tenant did not have a lease and the owner wanted a lease. The tenant refused to sign and lease so we gave him the required 60 day notice. During that time, he also did not pay the rent. We went to court and had him evicted. 

1 month later he gets 2 free websites one called www.MountainManager.Info and the other www.MountainManager.Org . On these two websites he calls me a “SHE DEVIL” and a lot more. 

It took me 3 years and a court order to have him remove the websites. I had to spend $2500 in attorney’s fees because he felt he did not have to pay rent and he could tell all sorts of lies.  He even said, “It was his right of freedom of speech.”

Many times when people say bad things about someone, there is always two sides to a story.

Protecting the owners can be difficult at best.

Did you Know

that anyone that manages property is at risk when they hire someone to paint, cut the grass, fix a leaky faucet or fix an electrical outlet who do not have insurance. 

Not general liability but workman’s compensation insurance.

If the handyman goes to a property and does any of the items mention above and is hurt or maimed on the job, the property manager and the owner are at risk.

The handyman can and will probably sue the property manager and the owner. The handyman will have everything on his side and will most likely win

Unfortunately, in the mountains, many contractors will tell you they have liability insurance and they have workman’s compensation insurance but the next question you ask is “As the owner are you covered as well”

 Many are not covered. So if the owner of, say plumbing company does the work and gets hurts, the property manager and the owner are at risk.

One owner even said to me he will just get $2 million dollars worth of liability insurance. Unfortunately, that won’t work. If the owner hired the contractor directly, he may be covered depending on his policy. BUT if the property manager hires the contractor, he will NOT be covered.

Never said being a property manager was easy.

Going Around Agents

Did you know

when an owner sign a listing agreement it is usually for a period of 6-12 months. The listing agreement explains what the real estate company will do to sell or lease the property. Most listing agreements go into great detail about who does what,when and how.

The same applies to a management agreement. The property management company lists the property and says they will manage the property. This means they will take care of everything from collecting the rent to handling repairs to evicting the tenant if needed. Generally, the property management company will also find a tenant to occupy the property.

When there is an agreement between the owner and a real estate agent whether it be a listing agreement or a management agreement the NAR code of ethics still applies.

As a realtor, If you solicit an owner and he/she has their property listed for sale or under management you are in violation of the code of ethics by soliciting them.

Patience

Did you know

ever once in awhile it’s so nice not to do anything on a rainy Sunday. I love working in my garden which is mainly a shade garden. I spend hours and hours planting, weeding,moving plants and planning. But this Sunday I could not because of the rain which was good for my garden. I watched some movies, play on the computer and did some planning on where I was going to plant my newest member to the garden. I have always wanted a “Pink” dogwood and now I have one given to me by my daughter for mother’s day. Also received from my other daughter is a Jasmine plant. Never had one of these either. Went online and found it needs 4-6 hours of sun. I found just the right place on our deck so it can wind and twist around the railing and bring a wonderful fragrance.

My husband says I have no patience. I disagree. When you have a garden you must have patience. You plant and then wait and wait for all of it to bloom. Could be a week or two but could be several months.

As a real estate agent you have to be patient. You plant the seeds for customer to come to you when the time is right to buy or sell. It seems like those seeds are now paying off.

Good job. Keep up the patience.!!!

Eviction

Did you know

I got a phone call the other day from a very distraught landlord. She was beside herself. Several months before she had called and asked how to evict a tenant. She wanted to know what were the steps. I spent 15-20 minutes with her trying to calm her nerves and give her the step by step process.

Now she was calling again. I asked, “Did you evict them?”. She said,”Please don’t be upset with me but no I did not. I wanted to work with them. They seemed so sincere and I felt so bad for them. Now what do I do?”

“You start the process by hand delivering them a letter to vacate. Give them until tomorrow and then go to the Magistrate if they have not moved.”

This landlord had given these people 3 months to get caught up because she wanted to help them. Very admirable but all that happened was SHE was taken advantage of by the tenant.

There are some wonderful tenants who choose not to buy. They have money in the bank. They like living some place where someone else takes care of the repairs. 

Then there are tenants who live pay check to pay check. If they get behind, there is no way they are going to get caught up even though they have the best intentions.

In North Carolina it takes a minimum of 6 weeks to get a tenant out of a home and  many times longer. In Georgia it takes about 4 weeks. If a tenant has not paid for 3 months then the owner will lose 1-2 more months of rent before the tenant is out and then probably another month before a new tenant can move it.

Security Deposit procedure

Did you know

Spring has come early for the mountains and just about everywhere else. Working in my garden is one of my greatest pleasures. Planting bulbs in the fall and then forgetting where I planted them. The pleasure of seeing them begin to sprout up in the spring is what I love. It is such a wonderful surprise. Not all surprises are this great.

In Towns,Union,Cherokee and Clay Counties, if the tenant moves out and have not paid their water bills, then the owner of the property is liable. These water companies are now making the owner the collection authority instead of the water company. It does not matter if you agree, this is the way it is.

There is nothing worse than having an owner contact you and say that they just received a bill from the water company for $71.27 and it is 2 months past due. Surprises like this are not fun.

Good news.

We do not return security deposit without verification of final water bill from tenants.

There were great comments about the landlord from last week’s email. One of my favorite comments was to allow the tenant in the lower unit to move out and charge the other tenant rent for both units. Don’t you just love it!!!

Another email came in from Gail Mulford with Mike Kelly Realty. She is studying for her broker’s license and said, “ It is constructive eviction”. After talking to her and at her suggestion, I googled “Constructive Eviction”

Here is the definition:

The disturbance, by a landlord, of a tenant's possession of premises that the landlord makes uninhabitable and unsuitable for the purposes for which they were leased, causing the tenant to surrender possession.

I,myself leaned toward Quiet Enjoyment and here is that definition:

Quiet enjoyment is a right to the undisturbed use and enjoyment of real property by a tenant or landowner. The right to quiet enjoyment is contained in covenants concerning real estate. Generally a covenant is an agreement between two parties to do or refrain from doing something.

OR

In the covenant of quiet enjoyment, the landlord promises that during the term of the tenancy no one will disturb the tenant in the tenant's use and enjoyment of the premises. Quiet enjoyment includes the right to exclude others from the premises, the right to peace and quiet, the right to clean premises, and the right to basic services such as heat and hot water and, for high-rise buildings, elevator service.

Needless to say, I am not an attorney but an experienced Property Manager. In my opinion, both definitions apply to this situation. It should be left to the Magistrate Judge in the county that this occurred. I think the tenant could easily win. What do you think?

Mountain Manager DOES NOT represent this owner and WILL NEVER represent this owner.