As property managers, we have the privilege of undergoing the required city inspections that need to be conducted prior to tenant occupancy. This, of course is for the purpose of providing safe code-enforced housing for our great tenants!!
On one such inspection, at a South Suburban location, in Illinois, my husband, who does the majority of these appointments, FLUNKED the test! It was the most meticulous he had ever undergone!
Not only did the house not pass, thewrite-ups hereceived were outrageous! To appease the intense scrutiny of the code enforcer, we'd have to practically do a total REHAB!! Mr. Rice was not very happy for he knew this was ridiculous - we were approved for the previous renter without the need to do these details asked of us!
Seeing Tony's obvious displeasure, the inspector leaned over, whispered to him and said,"look, you guys have plenty of houses.... it's nothing for you to pass.... all you need to do is slide me $300 bucks!
When Tony first shared this with me.... a thick silence began to permeate the room we were in. I checked his face for signs of an upturned lip - evidence that a grin was preparing to break out .... NOPE! Not a grimace, smirk, or any other facial contortion! This was no joke! It was NOT one of those occasions of jesting he's known to amuse me with.... not this time... he was serious!
Now, Tony had not related this to me until after he had successfully passed the inspection the secondtime with a different examiner. That particular day, he called me, jubilant that it was over and thanked me for the prayers sent up on his behalf! The owner also accompanied him after having been forced to comply to the demands imposed upon him to be in compliance.
It was later that evening, after dinner that this story emerged as my husband began to recite several obstacles he had to face.... he was giving me yet another lesson about this hard, cold, cruel, REAL world.
"Where the RIGHT Price is the RICE Price!"
Rice Property Management & Realty, a property management & real estate company which holds licenses in Indiana & Illinoisis is located in South Holland, Illinois. We are available to service buyers, sellers, reanters, investors, and thoseseeking property mangement services.
Stunning Evergreen Styled 4 Bd 3 Ba Designer Prestigious DYNASTY LAKES Home in Homewood-Flossmoor School District. Features include Cathedral Ceiling, Huge Eat-in Kitchen, Dual Staircase leading to 2nd Fl Level Balcony Overlooking Family Room . Fireplace with View of Deck. Custom-made Blinds w/Remote Control. Enormous Master Bdrm with Seperate Shower. Walk-in Closet, Garden Tub, & Private Toilet. Granduer Awaits New Homeowner!
There was a generation (possibly you?) who had respect toward paying bills, using credit wisely, and enjoying the rewards of budgeting. In that day, folks did without, for living above their income means was unheard of.... most survived on dreams, hope, prayers, and hard work. There was no such thing as "luck!" Most did not have rich relatives leaving an inheritance to look forward to. This was the time period i was raised up in....
Poor? No, hunnie, we were NOT poor.... we were PO!!(pronounced, "POE" like the poet). I came from the same area God placed his first created man, Adam in.... "thegardens!" Officially known as "Altgeld Gardens", the gardens (of Illinois) was one of the so-called "Projects" - erected (like concentration camps) to herd a multitude of poor Negroes into, residing in Chicago. These low-income rowed structures would be considered "affordable housing" by today's terms.
Was i ashamed? Not until i was old enough to understand the difference, for we were all in this together, and knew nothing else except for a few infrequent reminders heard from the uttered yearnings for a better life expressed by my Mother!
As an adult, responsibility was practiced from the lessons taught by my parents, about waiting, laying aside, and doing without! What a good feeling it was to know that what you had, was earned from the labor of your own hands! In those days, we OWNED what we had. It was an incentive to go to work!
Fast forward... TODAY?? As we look at credit reports coming from potentials tenants, we see repeated patterns in about 85% of the rental applicants.... BAD CREDIT!
Are unwise stewards of credit becoming a trend? This unconcerned attitude is seen from those with a "whateva" attitude, displaying no regard for being responsible to debts made for cell phone bills, clothing, traffic tickets, dishonored checks, auto loans, furniture bills, & others.
Is this the "Stuff NOW - Pay NEVER" era? Just a few years back, merchandisers would woo the public with clever sales gimmicks that would read such as....
"No credit - No problem"
"Buy now - Paylater"
"YOU deserve it TODAY!"
Well, it looks as though we have gone over the limit, and the evidence is shown on the credit reports with no plans for repayment, and continued accumulation of.... STUFF!!
Some readers may see this as an opportunity to quickly place BLAME on an administration, but what this is goes beyond a few elected in government, and it will take more than a few NEW ones to remedy it!
Proverbs 13:11 Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathered by labour shall increase.
It's sad to be aware that the same industry that doles out REALTOR® licenses is the very one from which frowns upon it's own members!!! We hear what you say about us Property Managers.... "OH, you deal on the low end!!!" Why has such degradation become synonymous with practitioners managing property???
We come from the same beginnings to get our professional orientation, and must abide by and do the exact required continuing education, pay the same amount of dues, and still get rejected by YOU as though we are the scum of the earth!!!
Are not we servicing the SAME client?? Do not MOST buyers have their beginnings as a renter? Do we have to continue to suffer disgrace from our own colleagues as if the origin of and the contamination of the HINI Plague began with US!!! It is a SHAME!!!
In addition to fulfilling the mandatory education, MANY of us go on to earn costly designations through respected professional associations as CPM. GRI. NARPM. MPM. PPM. E-PRO. RPM. etc. How many vowels and consonants behind our name must we acquire to be allowed to sit at the table with YOU???
People..... we are assisting the IDENTICAL customer!!! A person who lives somewhere, whether they rent for a season and purchase later, or if deciding to never own.... is still a patron!!!
Has it come down to factoring based upon a measly penny??? Are we announcing to the public that ONLY top producing Sellers and Listers are worthy to be esteemed??? If so, we have sold ourselves cheaply!!! We are painting pictures to the generation after us, that they should pattern after those who successfully make the biggest bucks from placing the SAME CLIENT in a 30 year lease that WE PREVIOUSLY SERVICED!!!
And, it will be US.....the lowly Property Managers who are the ones who will faithfully take them back in when they get evicted after they fail to live up to the terms of the contract which went with the "DREAM HOUSE" YOU placed them in!!!
When the illusion if over.... WE will still be there for them... will YOU???
Today, Tuesday, November 10Th, 2009 is a day to be celebrated! Exactly 4 weeks ago, on the 2ND Tuesday of October, a plane landed at Midway Airport carrying a special passenger from Orlando Florida!
The new arrival has been in the South Suburbs of Windy City Chicago for exactly for 1 Month today! Today is also the day 40 something years ago this dude was born!!!
Won't you join me in celebrating by leaving best wishes to Active Rain's own.....
If your search to purchase a home for the first time had you in a flabbergasted state to hastily make a choice from what's available on the market... guess what? GOOD NEWS!! The deadline date for qualifying for the tax credit awarded to home buyers has been prolonged!
Agents and buyers can both cease from holding their breath... a bit, for Congress has extended AND expanded the tax credit for qualifying buyers. The official last day for filing (income) taxes with the IRS is April 15Th, 2010. The official last day to have a written binding purchase contract for a home is April 30Th, 2010. As long as the house closes by July 1, 2010, the credit can be taken.
If you are a CURRENT homeowner, and will buy a new home between November 7, 2009 and April 30,2010, a tax credit benefit of $3250 or $6500.00 (depending upon your filing status) has been made available for you also! This is EXCEPTIONAL news for homeowners who have used their principal residence for 5 of the prior 8 years consecutively.
BEST NEWS OF ALL?? THE TAX CREDIT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE PAID BACK!!
Confused? Do not fret.The National Association of Realtors, has a more thorough explanation at their website. A helpful chart denoting the distinction between the old tax credit rules and the new extended tax credit has been issued by Governors Affairs Division and can be accessed here.
We encourage you to contact your local REALTOR® to acquire personalized information tailored to your needs. To start your search for available homes in the South Suburban or Chicago-land Area, click the Rice Property Management logo below.
"Where the RIGHT Price is the RICE Price!"
Rice Property Management & Realty, located in South Holland, Illinois, has agents that work with first time home buyers seeking homes in Illinois and Indiana. Give us a call at 708-862-7423
My last showing appointment last night, was with one of our investors who purchases rental property for us to manage.
He was so excited about this single family home because it passed every item on his check list:
It was the "RICE" Price - ONLY $39,900.00!!
It was the "RICE" Size (3 bdrm 1 & 1/2 Ba)
It was the "RICE" Location (quiet)
It was the "RICE" Type (all brick)
With flashlight in hand, my client had arrived 30 minutes EARLY in his eagerness to case out the neighborhood, visibly inspect the roof, and walk around rear of the vacant potential investment.
We have gone on such appointments in the past, and have found some short sales and pre-foreclosures to be undesirable, but THIS ONE WAS DIFFERENT!!! (So he thought!)
Upon opening the door, we were both surprised to see the electricity on! Good! We then noticed the beautiful hardwood floors!
So far so good!!! Now, I KNEW in my mind this deal looked too good to be true... so, obviously there had to be SOMETHING wrong....
My thoughts went to an earlier transaction done with the SAME investor, who has a "gift" for locating some of these diamonds in the rough. Could THIS be one of them?
Here we go... this nose of mine detected that familiar water smell.....!! Sure enough, we looked up and there it was.. the beautifully textured ceiling was dotted with circlets of grey!! Upon quickly surveying the home, we discovered infiltration of moisture that bred spores of ....MOLD!!!!!
Let's get OUT of here, "i said!" I want us BOTH to be around to enjoy many business transactions in the future! Mold like this needs to be DISCLOSED prior to permission for access!! It's a detriment to the health of the Realtor and the client!
I was EXPOSED and INAPPROPRIATELY DRESSED!!!! - If you are an agent of investors seeking a deal....don't let this happen to you... From now on, i will be dressed for the occasion and so should you!
"Where the RIGHT Price is the RICE Price!"
Rice Property Management & Realty, located in South Holland, Illinois, has agents that work with first time and experienced investors desirous of obtaining single family homes as rental property.
"Yes, I would like some cheese with this whine. Thanks." (Brett Furniss, Charlotte Property Manager and author of Charlotte Property Management Weekly)
"President Obama has declared the swine flu outbreak a national emergency..." (Charlotte Observer, 10/25/09)
Swine flu is now officially both a national emergency and a pandemic! I'm not entirely sure what that means, but it sounds pretty bad and pretty official. I imagine the only party happy about this is the pigs, who take an undeserved public relations hit, but see the demand for its flesh fall among the cautious populous (making its mortality rates decline significantly). If only the scheming cows from the Chick Filet commercials had thought of this, they could have saved themselves millions in dollars of advertising (with better results!).
Fortunately, I have not been personally infected by swine flu (yet...). I have been affected, though. I've seen this new, safer way to catch your sneeze by depositing this spittle storm into your own shirt! Yes, the one you are wearing. I've seen some guys on the street do it recently and I still can't stomach the idea of my shirt doubling as a tissue. This is healthier? What is the point of tissues then? That is the next superfluous budget item to go, I'm sure. I'm thankful I haven't seen any females do this. Apparently they believe in Fernando Lamas's (Billy Crystal's Saturday Night Live character) mantra, "It's better to look good than to feel good." But, I digress.
However, I have been affected by the "home sales swine flu" that has infected the Charlotte rental market. "What the heck does that mean?" you may ask. "And why do you keep italicizing so much in this article?" Well, let me explain. Being that few people can sell their homes, home sellers are flooding the rental market with their houses. This is creating supply and demand issues that are making it difficult for property managers to fill properties quickly and efficiently (sniff, sniff). Unfortunately, it has become painfully obvious Charlotte is infected. I've heard from other real estate professionals in other cities that they are observing the same thing.
So what about your market? If it has been infected by the HS H1N1, the following five symptoms should have started to appear:
Rentals are on the market for a much longer time (duration)
Monthly rental prices have fallen and continue to drop significantly
There are a lot more rental homes on the market! (number)
Realtors who never worked on rentals before are now listing several
Tenants are consistently trying to negotiate down already depressed monthly rents
As your real estate doctor, I can tell you that if your market is showing these symptoms, it is infected. The only known 100% cure for HS H1N1 is a mixture of "Excess Cash" and "Time." If you wait long enough with this mixture, it will go away on its own. You should check with your local economist to get a general range on how much "Time" it will take to subside. And always double your initial estimate on how much "Excess Cash" will be required.
If you are not lucky enough to have a healthy amount of "Excess Cash" and "Time", the following steps can be taken to slow the effects of HS H1N1 until it subsides:
Lock your existing tenants into 1 to 2-year leases ASAP at current rental rates
Lower the rental rates on your vacant homes by 10%
Increase marketing expenditures on vacancies while advertising the lower rate
Do NOT work with tenants who are more than 30 days behind. You must evict and get someone else in your rental!
Trust your doctor. Follow these simple steps to survive the outbreak in your market!
Brett Furniss is the President & Owner of BDF Realty, "Charlotte's Most Innovative Property Management & Investment Company" (www.BDFRealty.com and www.RentToSell.com). You can follow his Twitter thoughts on the Charlotte real estate market by clicking on http://twitter.com/bdfrealty. He is the author of the FREE E-Manual entitled "How to Rent-To-Sell Your Own Home" (http://www.renttosell.com/RTS-Book.html) which details how to get the most potential buyers to your home in this challenging real estate market.
Google SAUCE you say? Yes, that's what it is! What's that? Well, it simply means that Google finds a VERY IMPORTANT REAL ESTATE BLOG and spreads it to the public.... like SAUCE!!
SAUCE? Yes, SAUCE like in APPLESAUCE!! That's exactly what happened to:
Post By My Rain Buddy, Gabrielle Rhind, whom i simply call "GAB In the 'Mornin" for she gives us all a shot in the arm as soon as we log onto Active Rain!!
Buyers want to know, "How much down and how much a month?"
Sellers want to know, "Can you get me what I want for my home?"
They both want to know, "Why should I hire you?".
Buyers and Sellers knowwhat they want. They have already found the home they want on the internet or they know what to do to help their home generate a better price by the time they call you. With the thousands of Realtors out there, it seems to me that what consumers need or will be looking for, is an agent who they can trust to help get them through the process of getting what they want.
So, how can you set yourself apart from the rest? Simply said - by being credible.
Do what you say - or don't say it at all.
If you don't know something - don't pretend you do. Just say, "I don't know" and follow with, "But I will find out and get back with you."
Be accessible. If someone has to call you more than once to actually "speak" to you - you're losing their confidence.
With Buyers, don't show them what they don't want and what they can't afford; with Sellers, don't tell them what they want to hear - tell them the truth.
At listing presentations or showing homes, don't point out only the good things of a home or just agree with what a client loves about a home. Really look - take note of any flaws or issues and be prepared to guide Seller's on presentation and repairs; and for Buyers, making a well-thought out offer.
Know the market and the inventory first hand. Don't just rely on reading comps. Spend time looking at neighborhoods and previewing homes. When a client says, "Have you seen this home?" or "I was wondering about this home ..." - you are going to know and be able to give them first-hand knowledge.
When you're with your clients - on the phone or in person - be there 100%. Don't get distracted, don't multi-task, don't complain about how much money you're losing on the deal, etc., it's not in your or their best interest.
Develop your people skills. When it comes down to it - real estate is a people business. No matter how much you know - unless you can sincerely interact, listen, understand and empathize with people - you won't be able to meet their needs.
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
As property managers, we have the privilege of undergoing the required city inspections that need to be conducted prior to tenant occupancy. This, of course is for the purpose of providing safe code-enforced housing for our great tenants!!
enjoying the rewards of budgeting. In that day, folks did without, for living above their income means was unheard of.... most survived on dreams, hope, prayers, and hard work. There was no such thing as "luck!" Most did not have rich relatives leaving an inheritance to look forward to. This was the time period i was raised up in....
Fast forward... TODAY?? As we look at 
We come from the same beginnings to get our professional orientation, and must abide by and do the exact required continuing education, pay the same amount of dues, and still get rejected by YOU as though we are the scum of the earth!!!
to hastily make a choice from what's available on the market... guess what? GOOD NEWS!! The deadline date for qualifying for the tax credit awarded to home buyers has been prolonged!
e go... this nose of mine detected that familiar water smell.....!! Sure enough, we looked up and there it was.. the beautifully textured ceiling was dotted with circlets of grey!! Upon quickly surveying the home, we discovered infiltration of moisture that bred spores of ....
o:
Do what you say - or don't say it at all.
;)
;)
