tenants: Housing Wanted, Craigslist Edition - 02/24/15 07:01 AM
For those of you who write I know you can relate as you’ve all gotten writers block from time to time. When I get writers block I simply ask a good friend of mine from the gym for some ideas and he always delivers. In the past he’s given me the idea to write a blog on when and how to sell  and on aVeterans perspective on REI. Today when I asked him he said “well that’s easy, write a blog about the “housing wanted” section on Craigslist”. So, I promptly came home and got on Craigslist and oh my word, there are … (1 comments)

tenants: How Do You Spot A Trouble Making Tenant? - 05/26/14 07:00 AM

This easy to follow guide will show you how to spot a tenant who is likely to give you trouble. By doing your homework you should be able to form an informed decision on which prospective tenants to approve and which to decline.
Two of the most important traits a landlord looks for in a prospective tenant are 1. the ability to pay rent on time and 2. the ability to care for the property.  Absent either of these traits and a tenant can cost a landlord thousands of dollars in damages and lost rent.  Follow these steps for the best chances of finding a tenant who complies with … (0 comments)

tenants: Strategies For Tenant Retention - 05/08/14 05:50 AM
Tenant retention is obviously one of the key factors when analyzing profitability of a real estate rental business. As landlords and property managers we know that retaining our current tenants is far less costly than having to find new ones. A vacant property can have a myriad of costs associated with it including; sitting empty for months, marketing, cosmetic repairs, and other expenses aimed at attracting new tenants. So we have to ask ourselves "how can we keep our tenants from wanting to move out and move on"?  To stay competitive and encourage current tenants to renew there lease or to attract … (3 comments)

tenants: Easy 6 Step Guide For Screening Tenants - 03/20/14 10:35 AM
The process below will keep you on the right track and in the end will be much better than letting the first person who applies move in and keeping your fingers crossed and hope for the best! If you find a good tenant your job as a landlord or property manager will be so much easier, the time and effort you put in at the beginning will be well worth it.
As I gain experience as a landlord I am always learning ways to do things that make my life easier and how to be more efficient.  I also get a lot … (0 comments)

tenants: What to Do If Your Tenant Does Not Pay Their Rent - 02/20/14 04:33 AM
As a landlord if you find yourself in a situation where your tenant is not paying rent on time, immediately initiating legal action is a must. Legal action must be taken to avoid months of lost rental income.
It can really be frustrating if your tenants are not paying their rent on time. You may want to knock hard on their door or feel like shouting to pay their rent. But, this is not be the best scenario. There are ways that you can properly recover your lost income from your tenant and still remain a professional rental owner.
 
●       Record all your … (0 comments)

tenants: Effective Ways for Landlords to Avoid Lawsuits from Tenants - 02/18/14 12:25 PM
No landlord ever wants to get notice that they are being sued by one of there tenants. With that being said, landlords must take every precaution to ensure they are following all of the local and federal laws in place. There are general guidelines that rental property owners or landlords must follow to avoid possible lawsuits from tenants.
 
●       Screen your prospective tenants
If your prospective tenant seems too good to be true, then he or she may not be a trustworthy individual. It is amazing that in the screening process, a few simple questions can help you tremendously in assessing your tenants. You … (0 comments)

tenants: Analyzing Prospective Tenants Can Be Difficult, Let's Break it Down - 10/25/13 07:54 AM

So you’ve shown the rental property, collected applications, and completed your tenant screening reports now it’s time to choose the best tenant. When analyzing a pool of applicants for a rental property it helps to quickly sort them into categories based on criteria that you follow for all potential tenants. Following a set criterion will ensure that you are 100% compliant with the fair housing act regulations.
Not even on a good day category; These are the folks with very poor credit, collections, judgments, no verifiable income, criminal histories, evictions, etc.  These are easy decisions to make; we just take our losses with the … (2 comments)

tenants: My Tenants Are Growing Marijuana, What Should I Do? - 10/22/13 08:47 AM
I want to get your thoughts on allowing tenants to reside on your property who have a medical marijuana card. In property management, there is always something to consider. In Oregon, the voters passed the Medical Marijuana Act in 1998 authorizing the use of medical marijuana, and exempting such use from criminal liability under state law. Today, Oregon is home to 35,500 marijuana grow sites producing marijuana for nearly 55,000 medical marijuana patients. How to handle this law as a landlord or property manager has been a little hazy, pun intended.
Last year I performed an inspection on my duplex and during the inspection I noticed … (100 comments)

tenants: How To Get The Absolute Best Tenants With The Least Amount Of Hassle - 05/29/13 09:28 AM
No, the answer is not let the first person who applies move in and keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best! If you find a good tenant your job as a landlord or property manager will be so much easier, the time and effort you put in at the beginning will be well worth it.
As I gain experience as a landlord I am always learning ways to do things that make my life easier and how to be more efficient.  I also get a lot of great advice and tips from reading blog posts written by you folks on … (3 comments)

tenants: Oh, So You're A Slumlord!? - 05/20/13 11:22 PM
If you own and rent real estate as I do you have likely had a conversation with a friend, a colleague, or even a total stranger and once they hear you are a landlord they for some reason feel compelled to crack a joke or imply that you are a slumlord. When I get that kind of reaction I immediately feel a bit defensive and explain that all the homes I own and rent are all in very good condition.  In fact, three of the homes I now rent I lived in myself. It blows me away how many times I … (3 comments)

tenants: Should tenants check out the landlord before renting a house ? - 05/06/13 02:27 AM
 
This blog is a good reminder for anyone looking to rent a house.  With so many houses going into foreclosure you certainly wouldn't want to be forced out of a house.  It always pays to do your homework whether you're on the landlord or tenant side of the spectrum.
 
 
 
 
 
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Dulcey is a member of Rentec Direct who provides Property Management Software, Rentec EasyPay | tenant ach payment processing, tenant credit check, and criminal reports for property managers and landlords.
Should tenants check out the landlord before signing a lease
Absolutely.
I was checking rental listings in the mls as I had prospects looking to rent.
Some … (8 comments)

tenants: Six Ways We Celebrate Earth Day - 04/22/13 01:41 PM
Happy Earth Day! Over one billion people in 192 countries are participating from London to Sao Paolo, Seoul to Babylon City, New Delhi to New York, Rome to Cairo; people everywhere are taking action in their communities.  I have come up with six ways that our landlord software company celebrates Earth Day today April 22nd 2013 and everyday.
 
We go paperless to reduce our carbon footprint
1. Eliminate billing statements and allow tenants to pay rent through an automatic ACH payment from there bank account.
2. Allow tenants to access there account information through an online tenant portal without having to request paper copies from … (3 comments)

tenants: Should landlords be able to dictate whether tenants can have a gun? - 04/12/13 12:03 AM
Is prohibiting tenants from keeping guns on an owner's property considered discrimination or an infringement of there Second Amendment rights?  Survey says……No! With all of the news about gun control over the last few months and the current progress towards tightening up the background check requirements for purchasing guns in the Senate  I decided to do a little internet search. 
Please anyone correct me if I'm wrong on this topic but everything I read on the internet, which we all know is full of only factual information, said that it is within a landlords rights to keep there property free of … (9 comments)

tenants: Why are banks holding on to homes? - 04/02/13 01:13 AM
As a real estate investor I find it somewhat puzzling and quite frustrating that banks are holding on to homes.  As an investor my biggest pet peeve of this whole debacle is that I’ve put offers on multiple short sales and foreclosures over the last few years and had my offer rejected just to have it sell 6 months or a year later for less than what I offered! Now I know that is not completely the banks fault and that Realtors are dropping the ball on this as well. What about the response time…ever put an offer on a short … (5 comments)

tenants: Evict should be a four letter word - 03/22/13 12:48 AM
Tenants don't like eviction for the obvious reason, they are going to have to move. Plus, finding a willing landlord with an eviction on there record can be difficult. However, the truth is that eviction is a tough process for us landlords, too. For starters the eviction was probably originally caused by one or more of the following; not paying rent, damaging the property, not following rules, and/or doing or selling drugs.  In addition to these frustrations, the landlord has to deal with the eviction process which has even more deleterious effect on the landlord including but not limited to the … (4 comments)

tenants: To Screen or not to Screen, the answer is easy, SCREEN! - 03/20/13 12:03 PM
When you are renting properties it might seem easiest to allow the first person who applies rent the house or apartment. However, it is important to use tenant screening before you allow them to rent your properties. A tenant's history is going to tell you a lot about who they are and how they'll behave. If they've made messes out of properties, leave before their lease is up, or get the police called on them, you can be sure that they'll do the same thing at your rental property. When a person or family has done things in the past, they … (12 comments)