5/14/2012 8:52:00 AM
Turnkey Landmines
Turnkey, that vacancy period when a rental property is being renovated or prepped for marketing, creates a potentially perilous situation for property managers. Indeed, depending on the terms of the management agreement, it could be a no-man’s-land, ...
Views: 71
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4/19/2012 6:28:00 AM
Extent of a Landlord’s Responsibility
What can a landlord do when the tenant complains about a neighborhood menace? In an apartment complex, management would probably step in and solicit the troublesome resident, assuming that the pest is on the apartment property, and especially if known to be ...
Views: 111
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4/11/2012 6:42:00 AM
Renting Houses to Illegal Immigrants
A byproduct of the recent illegal immigration hysteria in Georgia begs the question: Should a landlord of residential dwellings in Georgia take extraordinary precautions when renting to illegal immigrants, or simply avoid it altogether? It’s not the ...
Views: 126
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4/5/2012 12:19:00 PM
Vacant Rental Property Registration
Thank you Georgia General Assembly, for the recent passage of a new statute that puts constraints on runaway municipalities that saw revenue opportunities in taxing landlords astronomical fees on their vacant properties. According to the amended statute, O.C.G.A. ...
Views: 83
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4/3/2012 8:08:00 AM
The Cost of Property Management is not in the Professional Fees.
When I bought my first investment home back in 1997, I did not even know that property management companies existed. So I self-managed. When I reflect back now, after 15 years of managing other peoples’ property, I quake in my boots thinking about my ...
Views: 80
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3/26/2012 2:43:00 PM
Freon Operated Air Conditioners—A thing of the past.
Does your air conditioner use Freon (R-22)? If so, you are in for some inevitable, and perhaps unexpected, expenses in the very near future. Exactly what we do not need with the housing market flipped upside down already! This can only make it worse. According ...
Views: 78
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3/12/2012 1:00:00 PM
Discounted Real Estate Services—Bargain or Bust?
Why is it that Americans, generally, do not see the whole truth when it comes to discounted services? There are certain economies of scale in which true discounts are possible, but that is the unusual situation—not the norm. Most real estate companies ...
Views: 93
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3/5/2012 10:11:00 AM
A Reservation Deposit is Not a Security Deposit
So you are a landlord or property manager. You approve a rental applicant and have the applicant sign the lease, with a move in date scheduled 14 days later. What if the tenant does not appear on the day of move-in? You already took the property off the market, ...
Views: 168
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2/29/2012 8:29:00 AM
What’s Up with Home Rental Rates?
The market’s tough right now. No doubt about it. Home sales are off. Gasoline prices are up. You might even feel guilty about the second piece of toast, because grocery prices are on the rise too. But what about home rental rates—what’s happening ...
Views: 76
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2/20/2012 2:43:00 PM
Homeowner Associations and Leasing
A large number of mandatory homeowner associations (HOA) have policies that prohibit homeowners from leasing their properties. The reason for this misplaced rationale is the belief that rental properties tend to bring the neighborhood’s home values down. ...
Views: 85
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