homes for rent: Sorry, ESQUIRE Sir! I'm not FALLING for Your Writing-For-Dollar$ Letter - 11/17/12 08:31 PM
One of the "joys" of having milirary rental residents is periodically hearing from a KNOW-NOTHING JAG attorney.
I have residents who go to UVA Law/JAG School AND I have client owners who are JAG attorneys so I am familiar with their functions and their duties to military personnel.
HOWEVER, when they take a phone call or e-mail from one of my residents about a BOGUS housing issue and then FAX me a 3-page boilerplate "demand" letter, I have to LAUGH.
The military WIFE of a couple who have had a high water bill because of a main line leak has had … (12 comments)

homes for rent: My LONG TIME Renter in MY RENTAL HOME is LEAVING * Doing it BY THE BOOK! - 11/16/12 08:04 PM
I have been dreading her e-mail as I knew she wanted to leave the area and return to AZ.  She has been a resident in my own investment home for over 4 years.
When she signed a lease renewal through June, 2013, I was excited and then I received her e-mail that her employer was transferring her to AZ - exciting for HER and while I'm in the BIZ * it threw me a little as it was not "on my WINTER schedule".
Her employer bought her out of her lease by paying me 2 months rent and when she vacates … (9 comments)

homes for rent: If People Don't want to LIVE There * They Will NOT Rent There! - 11/15/12 07:53 PM
I have been in e-mail communication with a local couple who know I am a property manager. They have been e-mailing me several times a month as they want to buy a local INVESTMENT property,
I have CONTINUALLY pointed them to a new townhouse project that has DESIRABLE floor plans * WITH GARAGES, in a DESIRABLE location within walking distance of a MAJOR employer and in a GREAT school district.
They went to the property and viewed the models.  When they got to the nitty gritty, I gave them suggessions on UPgrades and Options * have the developer install the automatic … (10 comments)

homes for rent: Move-in NOW * One-Level Villa Home w/Garage * All Appliances * $1,325 - 11/15/12 01:56 AM
 
Rental Home - Charlottesville, VA Patio home rental,
(2 comments)

homes for rent: Lake Monticello * One-Level Home w/Fenced Yd * Walk to Main Beach*Pool * $1,395 - 11/15/12 01:49 AM
 
Rental Home - Lake Monticello, VA Single family rental,
(0 comments)

homes for rent: Move-in NOW * 4-Level 4 bedroom Townhome w/2-Car Garage * $1,595 - 11/15/12 01:46 AM
 
Rental Home - Charlottesville, VA Townhouse rental,
(1 comments)

homes for rent: At This Time of the Year I Feel Like I am the ONLY Operator at the Butterball Hot Line! - 11/14/12 08:10 PM
It's that "time of the year"....when my residents have just discovered that they need to use their OVEN......Too cold to grill and microwave is too small for that T'giving meal......they need to use their OVENS.

 
Most NON-operating OVENS are because the heating/baking element has been dislodged in cleaning.  It just needs to be plugged in so that the contacts meet and the oven will work.  Sometimes, the cleaning cycle has not finished so that needs to be addressed.
I've thought about addressing this in my resident handbook; however, this is one of the FEW instances when I can actually … (12 comments)

homes for rent: What's a Nice Girl like YOU Doing In YOUR OFFICE on Sunday? - 11/11/12 12:45 AM
Since I spent yesterday working OUTSIDE my office, I am spending SUNDAY IN my office cutting, signing and stamping my owner disbursements for November.
People ask me why I actually SIGN my escrow checks and I tell them the story of a property management company I worked for in CA almost 30 years ago who shall remain nameless because the NAME is still at the same location.
The broker/company owner was working on some development in Texas with family members so he was not around for check signings so the UNlicensed office manager had a signature stamp made OF HIS SIGNATURE … (9 comments)

homes for rent: It's NOT ROCKET SCIENCE People! Take CARE when you Take Pictures... - 11/10/12 11:47 PM
One of the DISADVANTAGES of using a real estate agent as your  property manager is that they may do what you want them to do when you want them to do it.
This is a PRIME example of an UNsold listing that has become a home for lease.  I suspect the NEW property manager agent was told to "come take a picture of my house" and did not realize that some work needed to be done FIRST.....take off the pumpkin decoration from the lamp post and the spider from the front door, clean the LEAVES from the roof and gutter and … (7 comments)

homes for rent: Craigslist NO LONGER Likes POSTLETS * I L♥VE Postlets - 11/07/12 08:12 PM
I have been using POSTLETS html for as long as I have been using Craigslist to post my rental properties.
They offer an ALTERNATIVE to my HERO/HomeRentals.net listing html AND I can CONTROL posting to their partner sites.
After doing a new rental listing on my website, I copy/paste the WATERMARKED photos from the PUBLIC view of my website and I use those as my POSTLETS listing photos.

....however, Craigslist no longer likes postlets html....they say so after you create or REpost one of their listing * and they tell you not to post anything with POSTLETS.com.
OK.....I've found an … (93 comments)

homes for rent: I Think I have Been in PROPERTY MANAGEMENT Too Long! - 11/07/12 07:50 PM
I have a new resident who moved into a nice townhouse condo a few months ago.
In her lease and the resident handbook, she was notified that I have the HVAC system serviced twice a year - fall and spring.
Early in October, my HVAC service firm notified her VIA E-MAIL that they would be coming on the 7th of November and if that was not convenient to notify them AND if the resident would not be home, they have a key to the unit.  The subject line of the e-mail had the property address in it as is SPECIFIED in … (7 comments)

homes for rent: YES! Property Managers are FINALLY getting RESPECT! - 11/03/12 09:00 PM
Property Managers are FINALLY getting RESPECT....While attending the recent VAR Property Management Coalition Conference a few weeks ago, seeing the HUGE number of attendees showed me that PROPERTY MANAGERS are FINALLY getting the RESPECT that they DESERVE.
 


Having gone through the real estate slow down of the 1970s, I saw the same thing happen then...real estate agents getting into PROPERTY MANAGEMENT and brokerage firms EMBRACING property management as a SPECIALTY under their brokerage services umbrella.
One local brokerage firm that had agent/property managers has signed on with a LARGE national franchise (that discourages property management) and their agent/property … (17 comments)

homes for rent: HELP! I think MY TENANTS are going to BREAK THEIR LEASE! - 11/02/12 10:51 PM
One of the reasons to HAVE A LEASE is to have a fixed term knowing that there will be a tenant in the property; however, twice over the last month, I have gotten word INDIRECTLY - not from the tenants - that they were going to exit EARLY from their lease.

One of my vendors reported a discussion he had with a resident who indicates they will be leaving the property they rent from me in February rather than next June and that they will use their "military" lease end option.  This option is very restrictive and since SHE is … (49 comments)

homes for rent: Special Shout-Out to HomeRentals.net * Keeping me INFORMED & in BUSINESS - 11/01/12 03:09 AM
I received a phone call yesterday from an out-of-area phone area code and because I could not hear the caller on my cel phone, I had to ask her to repeate her name.
She was Heather Anderson of HERO * HomeRentals.net * calling me from Arizona to tell me that my website was down.
Heather is not a rental prospect, she is a customer service representative with HERO and was calling me to tell me what they were doing BECAUSE MY WEBSITE WAS DOWN....and I DID NOT EVEN KNOW IT.
I have continued to get e-mail communications from prospects and I … (0 comments)

homes for rent: VACANT Properties * Time to WINTERIZE * Then they will RENT! - 11/01/12 02:37 AM
I have very few vacant and available rental homes at this time of the year so I hope I won't have this problem this winter; however, in the past, I have "winterized" country properties that were vacant because if the power went out and the heat stopped, pipes would freeze and break.
Thankfully, I have been installing programable thermostats when properties are being serviced by my HVAC service firm for spring and fall system checks so setting them to maintain ABOVE FREEZING temps during the colder night time hours is fairly simple
 


THEN...the last two times I winterized homes, … (0 comments)

homes for rent: One-Level Home w/Garage * Available NOW * Lake Monticello $1,145 - 10/31/12 12:25 AM
 
(3 comments)

homes for rent: Observations from Spending Half of the last 2 weeks in Property Management Courses - 10/27/12 06:41 AM
In 2000 and 2001, I was one of the first to chair the VAR (Virginia Association of Realtors) Property Management Council - I served for 2 years and one of the  events we started during my term was the Property Management Coalition *   a joint conference on property management issues by VAR, NARPM, IREM, CAI and VAMA * Virginia Apartment Management Association of NAA.
Our first conference was held at a hotel near the Richmond airport and we had 50 attendees.  The recent one was held in my 'hood and we had over 5X that many attendees which is an … (8 comments)

homes for rent: State and Local Building Codes May NOW Govern Occupancy in Rental Properties - 10/26/12 11:41 PM
I spent the last 3 days at the VAR Property Management Coalition Conference and one of the DISCOURAGING topics that was discussed was by attorney Chip Dicks who is representing 2 property owners who have had fair housing complaints filed against them when they were only following the Keating Memo of the late 90s.
The Keating memo is a HUD document that has been the guideline for occupancy standards where fair housing agencies have gotten occupancy complaints.  2 persons per bedroom has been the guideline for almost 15 years.
http://www.fairhousingrights.org/Resources/HUD_Guidance/keating_memo.PDF
A VA fair housing agency * HOME * Housing Opportunity Made … (13 comments)

homes for rent: Lake Monticello * One-Level Home w/Garage * Available for Lease $1,145 - 10/25/12 08:33 PM
 
Rental Home - Lake Monticello, VA Single family rental,
(1 comments)

homes for rent: Gently Used 3-Level Townhouse * 2-Car Garage * $1,445 * Available NOW - 10/25/12 08:22 PM
 
Rental Home - Charlottesville, VA Townhouse rental,
(2 comments)

 
Wallace S. Gibson, CPM, LandlordWhisperer  (Gibson Management Group, Ltd.)

Wallace S. Gibson, CPM

LandlordWhisperer

Charlottesville, VA

More about me…

Gibson Management Group, Ltd.

Office: (434) 825-1933





Listings

Links

Archives

RSS 2.0 Feed for this blog