I am presenting to my Board of Realtors The Gainesville Alachua County Association of Realtors next week on Property Management. I wondered what are the hot topics out there right now? What questions do Realtors have about Property Management. Are there any things about property managers you don't understand or things that bother you? How about Community Association Managers. Any and all feedback would be appreciated as I'm sure if you have thoughts,questions or criticisms you are not alone.
Aaron,
One of the main issues in residential property management today is, of course, foreclosures. More specifically, a tenants rights before, during and after the foreclosure. As you know, many so called investors are now landlords after having been caught with property they were unable to sell. Many are walking away from mortgages but collecting deposits and rent from unsuspecting tenants. Those owners pocket the money rather than pay the mortgage and when the foreclosure hits, tenants are left with little or no recourse against the owner, lost security deposits and precious little time to move and too often, no money to do so.
John,
Yeah I have foreclosures on my list as a hot topic. Thanks for the feedback. The answers to this question are very situational. For example in Florida the tenants have very little protection after the foreclosure sale. The law provide the new owner can get a writ of possesion on the 11th day following the judicial sale. That being said we had one recently where the bank still offered the tenants keys for cash and an extended timeframe to get out. Other states are different. I'm told in New Jersey the lease survives the foreclosure.
If the Security Deposit was held by the owner then, yeah chances are it's gone. That's illegal of course so its worth the tenant pressing for the return. If a management company has the deposit then its safe and generally speaking the money will be returned.
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