landlordwhisperer: Forget Distance to Trader Joe's * Distance to AMAZON
- 12/05/15 06:39 AM
I recently read where homes close to Trader Joe's are more desirable and sell FASTER and for HIGHER prices.....good for them!
IMHO * the REAL value relative to distance is from an AMAZON Fullfillment Center.
While reading an article on how Amazon is going to start delivering their own goods with their own AMAZON branded trucks between their warehouses, I checked the actual number of Amazon Fullfillment Centers around the country and an interesting pop-up appeared when I checked out Virginia. I knew we had at least 1 fulfillment center only to find that we have 3 and on the page for recruiting … (8 comments)
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landlordwhisperer: I UNDERSTAND You Found My Listing on Zillow*Trulia*HotPads, etc....
- 04/23/14 04:10 AM
...I did not put it there.
Somehow, I am now the EDUCATOR of rental prospects using migration sites to find their new rental home.
These sites RARELY provide a link to my website but they do provide my phone # which is why my outgoing voicemail message directs them to my web site....I also have a MightyText app that I can use to send text messages to cel phones providing information on how to access my listings on my web site.
Many of these sites also do not indicate when the property will be AVAILABLE....SHAME on them....Unlike a home for … (14 comments)
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landlordwhisperer: AGENTS! Stop Telling Me Your Rental Prospect Would be GREAT Tenants!
- 04/20/14 10:40 AM
Unless your prospects have rented from you for 5 years, never had a complaint AND paid their rent on time....you probably can not make the statement that your rental prospects would be GREAT TENANTS!
A few months ago, I received a phone call from a local real estate agent who thought that the couple that his friend referred to him to find them a rental would be the PERFECT tenants for a country property I manage....he never MET them; he only KNEW of them from his friend; he did not know why they were having to MOVE; AND he did not know … (9 comments)
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landlordwhisperer: SmartyPhone Property Manager (Landlord)#3 * TEXTING*It's the NEW Black
- 04/03/14 01:56 AM
I have found the ♥ of TEXTING....even before Craigslist allowed responses to their postings via TEXT....I found TEXTING as a viable alternative to voicemail a few years ago.
contact info
email wallace@landlordwhisperer.com CL mail relay (recommended) [?] show my real email address no replies to this email
users can also contact me: by phone by text phone number contact name My smartyphone allowes for me to put a "signature" in my texts so I have my name and an active link to my website at the bottom of my texts AUTOMATICALLY.
I can keep track of our texting conversations because if my correspondant is already … (6 comments)
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landlordwhisperer: SmartyPhone Property Manager (Landlord)#2 * You can use it with iPhone
- 04/01/14 11:36 PM
There seems to be confusion with which type of smartyphone to use....♥ Android ♥ iPhone ♥ Windows ♥.....any one will do with the RIGHT applications.
Just like teenage boys of my generation wanted to know what was under the hood of their parents' cars, I want to know what applications other real estate professionals are using in their business.
Our local realtor association has scheduled lunchtime classes for use of Google...first one was Google Voice (I have my # do you have your's? It's FREE), then Google Docs, etc. ALL CAN BE USED ON ANY SMARTYPHONE!
One of the first apps I used with my … (3 comments)
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landlordwhisperer: SmartyPhone Property Manager (Landlord) #1 * It's NOT Expensive
- 03/31/14 10:23 PM
As someone who NEVER wants to be ahead of the curve, I'm on my 3rd smartyphone - ALL Google/Android - all through Sprint PCS.
Somehow I came to the realization that I did not want to be stuck with iTunes/Apple platform and I went ALL Google/Android and ALL Samsung which has made life a lot easier....I don't get to buy my phone cases from Vera Bradley OR Kate Spade; however, I have lots of apps AND my Google Contacts/Email/+, etc.
As a sole operator of my property management business, I can keep almost everything except my property … (12 comments)
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landlordwhisperer: Great! They GAVE YOU a Guarantee...How does that help ME & your SECURITY DEPOSIT?
- 07/31/13 08:42 AM
Over my years in property management, I have found that having departing residents leave the property in good and clean condition is a matter of education and instruction.
I actually have a 2-page check out letter that expounds on cleaning instructions that are contained in the resident handbook that they got when they signed their lease.
In my check-out letter, I provide the names of my PREFERRED vendors for house cleaners, carpet cleaners and yard services.
....so when a resident of 2 years tells me that he 1) cleaned the carpet himself; and 2) that he used "a more affordable cleaning … (33 comments)
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landlordwhisperer: Dan Brown Fans! INFERNO is a Great Read & You Do Not Need Your SCUBA gear
- 06/29/13 08:34 PM
If you are a fan of Dan Brown and plan on reading his newest * INFERNO * you won't be able to get Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon out of your head when you read of his LATEST what-am-I-doing-here tale.
I stopped reading Clive Cussler books because Dirk kept getting in wet, in TIGHT places with NO AIR * well Robert is TRAVELING and GETTING WET with a BEAUTIFUL WOMAN....and it is the AIR that may kill him.
The DaVinci Code took us from Paris to London and back to Paris: Angles & Deamons took us from Switzerland to … (5 comments)
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landlordwhisperer: LEASE VIOLATION is SOMETIMES an OPPORTUNITY NOT to OVERREACT!
- 06/25/13 08:43 PM
I did a PRE-move-out property inspection in April to see what needed to be done to RErent the property and when I gave entry notice to my current residents, they advised me that 1) they would be on vacation; and that they 2) had a camera system in their rental home with the recording feed viewable by the next door neighbor.
WHEW! I've experienced cameras on the OUTSIDE of a rental home; however setting one up on the inside a la NANNY CAM is a first for me.
Now that these residents have vacated the home they rent from … (9 comments)
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landlordwhisperer: Having done 12 Tenant VACATE Check-Outs in 3 days * My Mantra is DIRT IS NOT NORMAL WEAR & TEAR
- 06/24/13 08:54 AM
If my departing tenants follow my check-out instructions, use the CLEANING service vendors I suggest then they will most probably get all of their deposit back.
One issue that STILL seems to remain a bone of contention is DIRT. A departing resident wanted to ARGUE with me that the WEAR/DIRT trail in front of where their couch was was NORMAL WEAR AND TEAR. When I suggested he NOT pay the carpet cleaner if they could not remove the DIRT TRAIL, he wanted to argue 6-Years-As-A-Tenant and Normal-Wear-and-Tear.
A one, and a two, and a three....DIRT IS NOT NORMAL WEAR … (12 comments)
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landlordwhisperer: Rental Prospects DISAPPEAR...Was it SOMETHING I ASKED?
- 06/11/13 10:36 PM
I'm in FULL RENTING MODE...not too many properties vacant NOW; however, I will have a few in July and August so I am PREscreening as much as possible so as not to waste these prospects time FALLING IN L♥VE with my HOMES.
I respond to most e-mail, texts and voice inquires with 3 questions....
HOW MANY IN YOUR FAMILY?
DO YOU HAVE PETS?
HOW MANY CARS DO YOU HAVE?
The FIRST question is important because of occupancy, extended families, # of ADULTS and the # of AUTHORIZED residents that need to be considered.
The SECOND question is important because many people … (9 comments)
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landlordwhisperer: TENANT IMPROVEMENT is a MISNOMER when it is not a LANDLORD IMPROVEMENT
- 05/23/13 09:53 PM
From WikiPedia.....A misnomer is a word or term that suggests a meaning that is known to be wrong. Misnomers often arise because the thing named received its name long before its true nature was known. A misnomer may also be simply a word that is used incorrectly or misleadingly.[1] "Misnomer" does not mean "misunderstanding" or "popular misconception".[1]
I received an envelope from a resident that enclose a request for MY permission for her to install a 8' privacy fence to the back of her condo townhouse...she had obtained the approval signatures of the 2 neighboring residents and had scheduled an appearance in front … (10 comments)
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landlordwhisperer: Rental Prospet is UPSET WITH ME! SHE SAYS You Don't Have That Many Homes for Rent
- 05/20/13 04:37 PM
I've been getting calls from a PA area code for several days, no voicemail left and I have responded via TEXT with a link to my website.
NOW...at 1AM, I am getting an e-mail from the PA rental prospect who has driven to our area to "check out the neighborhood" of a rental home I have on my web site.
In her e-mail, she is FRUSTRATED that she drove for 5 hours only to be turned away because the home is located IN A GATED COMMUNITY.
I'd LIKE to respond that she should have followed my TEXT instructions and viewed the … (11 comments)
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landlordwhisperer: MORE Rental Applicants MOVING with their ADULT Children * I need to SCREEN Them ALSO
- 05/19/13 08:16 PM
For years, I have PREscreened applicants prior to scheduling viewings of my OCCUPIED rental homes.
While properties appear VACANT on my website, they are actually OCCUPIED by current residents who are leaving at the end of their current lease term.
To view an occupied property, the rental prospects must complete our one page rental application. No further screening is done and no application fee is required at this point; however, all ADULT applicants must have application form.
As more ADULT children move back home after graduation or because of the HIGH UNemployment numbers where they currently live, prospects may … (24 comments)
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landlordwhisperer: Who Put Those CRIMINALS in Your Rental Home? OH! You Did?
- 05/15/13 10:56 PM
Our local media is buzzing about a raid local authorities made on an UPscale home in an established neighborhood adjacet to the University of Virginia.
On the heels of the Boston Marathon Bombings * seeing SWAT teams in this quiet area was chilling for local residents.
What is even more chilling is that the rental residents of the home - several single/UNrelated males with multiple vehicles with differet state license plates - were making FAKE IDs and that the authorities had had them on their RADAR for almost 6 months based on a sting of faux IDs being mailed from a … (49 comments)
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landlordwhisperer: YES! You are a PROFESSIONAL - however your SERVICE is often the Quality of your NEWEST employee
- 05/05/13 08:40 PM
I have a recently departed resident (left her rental home I manage) who forgot to organize for the unit keys and entry for her house and carpet cleaners.
The unit has a gang key box on it; however, since I did not know the cleaner staff member who contacted me to arrange for a unit key, I did not give him the keybox code. I have organized for a unit key to be in the drop box outside of my office door for him to pick up.
He needs to return it to the same place this afternoon so that the … (13 comments)
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landlordwhisperer: Lake Monticello Home * One Level w/2-Car Garage * $1,395 * Available July 1
- 04/20/13 09:26 PM
… (3 comments)
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landlordwhisperer: One-Level Lake Monticello Homew/Fenced Yd * 1 Block from Main Beach * $1,275
- 04/20/13 09:20 PM
… (1 comments)
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landlordwhisperer: Cinderella Chronicles * Part 25 * OH! By the way......This should have been mentioned EARLIER
- 04/17/13 08:09 PM
I am in the process of amending and adding to my SPRING HVAC service list. It will go with new property keys to my HVAC service firm on Friday.
This AM, I received a call from one of my new clients that she has a service contract for her HVAC and that her firm needs to arrange entry.
When I was searching for a new HVAC service firm several years ago, I called HER HVAC maintenance vendor about bidding my clients' properties - 85 to 100 properties serviced 2x annually....AND I NEVER RECEIVED A CALL BACK.
I even had my attorney … (16 comments)
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landlordwhisperer: Cinderella Chronicles * Part 23 * DIY Landlord AD says SERIOUS INQUIRIES ONLY!
- 04/15/13 08:06 PM
During my aggressive Craigslist posting marketing routine, I click on the DIY listings that frequently appear and as they return over and over * usually on Monday because they forgot to post on the weekend * more are featuring SERIOUS INQUIRIES ONLY!
Now...in my CINDERELLA Chronicles series, this makes sense - DIY landlords only NEED one SERIOUS RENTAL PROSPECT to rent their home whereas I and other property managers want A LOT of SERIOUS INQUIRIES so that we can PUT A LOT OF FEET in our GLASS SLIPPER.
By putting SERIOUS RENTAL PROSPECTS ONLY in their ads, DIY landlords are saying … (22 comments)
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I recently read where homes close to Trader Joe's are more desirable and sell FASTER and for HIGHER prices.....good for them!
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