This morning, something in particular (not sure what exactly, probably a skink or maybe a chipmunk) had crawled in a hole under the sidewalk in the backyard. I had gone out to check on her and her brother Mason and heard a really strange sound. I found her with her snout all the way under the sidewalk and she was creating a blow horn noise to scare whatever it was out of hiding. I thought she was choking only to find that she was fine as her tail was just going a mile a minute in her pursuit of a conquest.

Summer is a busy time for property management companies. Most tenants relocate this time of year due to school being out. So we find ourselves very busy with move in and move out evaluations, scheduling contractors for work, coordinating HVAC repairs due to the hot weather, coordinating pool access for tenants, evaluating lawn maintenance, advising owners & tenants of potential issues in regards to lawn, and many more things as well. We are BUSY and at times feel a little crazy.

It is easy to get carried away with all the tasks and responsibilities, but here is what I learned this morning from my dog.

1. Have a laser focus. Don’t try to do too much all at one time & don’t allow another person or dog sway you from your goal. Lexie completely ignores me in her pursuit.
2. Enjoy each task as you are working on it.
3. Be persistent. If you run across a stumbling block, go to the other side of the sidewalk and try from another angle.
4. Know that there will be time for fun later.
5. Don’t allow others to tell you that you shouldn’t pursue your goals.

So live life all out and don’t forget to enjoy the process!

It has gotten to the point that we have to spend so much time policing our ads rather than finding people actually interested in renting our homes. It is such a shame that people take a good thing and use it destructively to the point that it ruins it for others. 

If you are not aware of how the scam works, we have explained it below. In addition, we are going to share tips for tenants who are looking for quality rentals and how to avoid the scams. 

THE SCAM: 

We post a legitimate advertisement on Craigslist. We make it nice with pictures, showing instructions, our brokerage information, and information about how to apply. 

The scammer takes our ad and copies the whole thing. They change the price and place their contact information in place of ours. Sometimes they add in additional incentives like all utilities included, second month free rent, etc. Typically there is only an e-mail address and no phone number. 

A prospective tenant finds the ad and is amazed at the great price that it is listed for and also the nice owners have decided to include all the utilities. How awesome is that? 

Since the tenant can’t call to find out more details, they e-mail the “owner” and the “owner responds. Great love to have you rent it, send me $XX.00 to apply for the property. Believe it or not there are people who because it is a great deal, will send the money. Of course they never hear from them again and the money is now gone. 

VARIATIONS: 

We have seen where scammers are also taking vacant homes/ bank foreclosures and doing a similar scam. 

RED FLAGS: 

Don’t Proceed if – 

• There is not a number to speak with someone.
• The number that they give you is out of the country.
• You can’t find out information about the person or company.
• They ask for money before you even view the property. 

MYTHS: 

There are a lot of people who share with you to never send money before you meet someone. At SSPM, we don’t meet our tenants at the property. We don’t meet tenants to collect applications/ application fees. We require money to be in the form of a money order or cashier’s check. We are a legitimate property management company. We have established these policies in order to maximize our time and resources. 

So, what can you do to make sure that you are dealing with a reputable firm? 

TIPS:

In today’s information age, there are plenty of ways to verify information: 

Search Craigslist for the address of the property to see if there are multiple ads. If there is one with a higher rent amount – it is a scam. 

Google the address of the property. Are there other ads for the same address for more money? Is there another contact listed? If so, you may want to contact those people and ask about the rental. 

Google the contact phone number of the advertiser. What comes up? If it is a legitimate business, you will see other ads or information about the company. 

In Georgia, there are real estate license laws that need to be followed. If a company manages more than 1 owner’s rentals, they need to be licensed by the real estate commission. Go to the site for the real estate commission and look for the firm – http://www.grec.state.ga.us/clsweb/company.aspx 

If a company, is there are professional website with information about the company and the company executives? 

Most experienced landlords have written applications process and guidelines. Ask for a copy of them before your apply. 

First and foremost, trust your instincts. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

In the movie there is a scene where Leigh Ann Tuohy (Michaels’ adoptive mother) is watching Michael learn to play football. You see even though Michael was over 6 feet and more than 300 pounds, no one had really taught him how to play football and he was against any type of violence since he saw that all his life. 

Michael has afraid to block and really didn’t understand how to play the game and do what the coach wanted him to do. Seeing that the coach wasn’t able to get through to Michael, Leigh Ann goes onto the field takes Michael aside and tells him – “protect him”, dragging the quarterback in front of Michael, “as if he were me. Don’t let anyone get near him or hurt him.” She then pulled another player in front of Michael and said, “this is Collins (Leigh Ann’s daughter) protect him as you would Collins.” 

The point Leigh Ann was making was to do well in the game, you had to protect those in your family, your team.  You protect the quaterback’s blind side which is where the name of the movie came from. 

So what does this have to do with real estate and property management? Glad you asked. As a property manager, we are your Michael Oher. We are there to protect you against things you don’t even know are coming. When I speak with an owner about what a property manager does, I share with the owner that we do all kinds of tasks – over 100 of them to take care of the day to day, but I also talk about protection. 

Protection comes into play in the form of insurance, HOA disclosures, legal documents, how to interact with the tenant, forms, etc. 

Sometimes that means protecting the owner from themselves. You see we know more about the possibilities and pitfalls of owning rental properties than most owners.  When we advise an owner about something, it is usually from the experience of a decade of experience. In addition to having managed hundreds of homes over a long period of time. 

So when you are considering a property management firm, ask them – Do you personally own rental properties & how many? Have you ever used a property management firm for any of your rentals? Are you a member of NARPM to gain insight from other property managers across the country so that you can learn from their experiences? At Solid Source Property Management, we can answer YES to all of these questions.

First, you will be responsible for marketing your properties to locate tenants for your properties. While this might seem like an easy task, the challenge is to find tenants who are qualified to rent from you – that is, who have sufficient credit and incomes as well as have a positive rental history. By adequately screening tenants up front, you will help minimize the time you spend collecting rent and making repairs to units damaged by irresponsible renters.

In addition to finding tenants, you will be responsible for managing your renters. You will need to collect deposits and rental payments, respond to service requests, and deal with tenants who cause disruption in your properties. These disruptions can come in many forms, from domestic arguments, to all night parties, to HOA violations, not caring for the lawn, etc.

You will also need to manage repairs and upgrades to your rental properties. Your property management duties may include interior repairs, building upgrades, and maintenance of lawns and landscaping, among many others.

It is easy for real estate investors to spend the majority of their time on property management tasks, rather than on activities that are direct money makers. You might find that hiring a property management company to handle these tasks will allow you to be more productive, and to make more money with your real estate investing ventures. When you are looking for investment properties, it is a good idea to consult with an experienced REALTOR who owns and manages their own rental properties. Then that can help you navigate the process of either assisting you or can provide assistance in locating and hiring a reputable property management company.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here are the things to consider. 

Most tenants are not planners. I can’t tell you how many times we move people days after they apply for a property. They want immediate move in times. Rarely do we have a tenant who looks at a property and is able to wait more than 2 weeks. Most owners don’t want to move that fast. So that actually reduces our chances of being able to place tenants. So we end up wasting our marketing dollars and then the owner isn’t happy because the tenant won’t work on their time schedule. 

Most tenants in Atlanta want to view a property on their own time schedule and have the freedom to visit without an agent. We accommodate them with a lockbox and have a system in place for them to self show. If an owner has personal property in the home, we can only show via an agent. While there are more agents now showing rental property, it is because we are in a down market. Once the market turns, agents won’t want to spend their time showing rentals when they can be working with buyers for commissions that pay 10 times the amount of commission. This significantly reduces the number of people who can see the property and therefore, significantly reduces the chances that it will be rented. 

There isn’t enough time to make repairs in between the owner’s vacating the property and when a tenant needs to move in. While most owners believe that their homes are rent ready, inevitably, there are items that need to be done prior to occupancy. Cleaning and carpet cleaning are among the typical, but it might also require some touch up paint and other minor repairs. A tenant is not going to overlook minor items. They have high expectations especially in a down market. 

So when you add all of those factors together, we have made the decision that it is best for everyone to only market vacant properties. This will allow us to quickly find a suitable tenant, protect the interests of the owner, all the while being able to provide the tenant with a guaranteed date of occupancy.

In Atlanta recently, there have been a couple of dog attacks which raises the question again – should owners allow pets. My answer has not changed. We have a strict policy about dogs who are known to be vicious. Our insurance won’t cover any incidents with the following breeds:

• Alaskan Malamutes
• Akitas
• Chow Chows
• Doberman Pinschers
• German Shepherds
• Pit Bulls
• Rottweilers
• Staffordshire Bull Terrier
• Siberian Huskies

As of today, we are adding Presa Canarios. I have never been asked about one, but we are adding to the list to be proactive. I just read in the local newspaper on-line – The Atlanta Journal & Constitution in an article written by Alexis Stevens which stated that:

“According to the Clifton study, pit bulls, Rottweilers, Presa Canarios and their mixes are responsible for 74 percent of attacks and 68 percent of the attacks upon children. In more than two-thirds of the cases included in the study, the life-threatening or fatal attack was apparently the first known dangerous behavior by the animal in question.”

I am still amazed at the number of people who try to convince me that we should allow these dangerous dogs in our rental properties. To which I reply, “I love dogs and am a true dog lover. I understand that there are exceptions, but we have to manage for the rule.” With the statistic above, I can now clearly state that there is a first time for everything and I can’t risk my livelihood on the basis that your dog might be the exception.

This happened to be the day of the infamous Atlanta snowstorm, but we still made it to New York. When we arrived at the airport, we waited in a nice long line and then went to check a bag. Another $15.00. We finally got on the plane. They had wireless internet – pretty awesome – $9.95. We did get a free soda each, but were not offered any headphones for the XM radio. By the time we arrived at our destination, I felt like I had been nickled and dimed to death. When I added up all the additional costs for the services that I would have thought to be standard, I actually ended up spending more than I would have if I would have chosen the next level priced option.

So what does this have to do with you or property management? We are getting ready to celebrate 5 years in April. I am blessed to have clients that have been with me since the beginning. When we started we made a decision that we would provide full service property management all inclusive for a fair price. I am so glad that we did that.

I certainly don’t want our clients to feel like the have to pay extra for the basic services and yet a lot of  property management companies are going to a deconstructed pricing structure – charging low monthly fees and then adding additional costs for things that we believe should be included. They charge more for sending a check or for direct deposit. They don’t mail invoices to the tenants nor provide monthly reports via e-mail never-the-less have a 24/7 web portal. They charge for advertising on the best sites like rentals.com and others. So in the end, the owner ends up paying more for the basics just like we did on our trip.

So when you are comparing property management companies, make sure that you get all the facts. Understand the charges and what they include. Ask how many times they visit the property while vacant. Make sure that they are actually managing the property even when it is not occupied.

If you are looking for a new management company, we would love the opportunity to speak with you. Call us at 770-416-1444 x 310. Also, you can watch this short video that we prepared to educate owners about selecting a property management company.

Last week, we received some very disturbing information that translates into even longer time frames for evictions. With all the budget constraints, the county has shared that they are no longer allowing eviction companies to reserve a sheriff for a day per week to handle their clients’ eviction. This was significantly decreasing the already lengthy process as we were able to take advantage of the eviction company planning the most effective route for their clients to get the job done.

With this new development, we will be in line with everyone else meaning that there will be less efficient routes and a first come first serve basis which will result in longer eviction timeframes. We are supporting the eviction company’s stance that this is not a good thing and will only hurt more than help.

In the past year and a half, evictions have increased dramatically. The foreclosure evictions are lumped in with our non-paying tenant evictions. With foreclosures rising to astronomical numbers, this is only crowding an already stretched sheriff service. With Gwinnett County running out of budget, we have been told that there will be no overtime that can be spent. So what does that mean for us as landlords? We are stuck waiting for the process.

At Solid Source Property Management, we are considering a wide variety of options to shorten this process. We are guiding our clients through the eviction process with the best information possible available at the time. While we statistically have very few evictions due to proactive screening, there is little we can do to foresee the loss of a job, a medical issue, or death. We work very hard to maintain a professional working relationship with the tenant throughout the whole process.   

To read some good news – read Mark’s remarks about New Construction sited in Forsyth County.

This month, we are transitioning to new property management software. This transition has allowed us to examine our base of business and to help us better serve our clients and tenants. What I found as part of our analysis was that 30% of our tenant base has at least one pet. Some actually have multiple pets. 

So what does that mean to you? First, if you are an owner of investment property and don’t want to accept pets, you are significantly reducing the number of tenants that will want to rent your place which will result in longer vacancies. 

So what is a landlord to do? We encourage all of our owners to accept pets with conditions. It has been our experience that if you do not allow pets, the responsible pet owners will go elsewhere and you will still end up with unauthorized pets for those tenants who are dishonest. Unauthorized pets create more damage and are a bigger liability. 

There are certain pets that due to insurance requirements, we cannot accept. Those are the vicious breeds – Alaskan Malamutes, Akitas, Chow Chows, Doberman Pinschers, German Shepherds, Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, or Siberian Huskies. The interesting thing is that people who have these breeds are appalled that we don’t accept them. While we are sure that there are many dogs in those breeds that are fine, there are a greater number that have caused problems and our insurance would not cover us should a problem arise. 

Responsible pet owners are happy to pay a pet deposit. We recommend charging a non-refundable portion for the privilege of having a pet and returning the rest provided that the lease was honored and there were no damages. 

We have all our residents sign a pet policy even if they don’t have a pet, so that everyone knows exactly what our pet terms are. It also shares with them the consequences of having an unauthorized pet. We find this comes in handy from time to time. 

We charge based on the weight of the animal the heavier the breed, the more the deposit. Also, we take into consideration the type of dog as some dogs are notorious chewers while others are just helping keep their owner’s lap warm. 

We love our pets and understand that others do too. I hope that this has helped take the fear out of accepting pets in your rental property. 

Merry Christmas from SSPM