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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
In No Particular Order
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| WHAT
SORT OF RESTRICTIONS CAN I IMPOSE ON A TENANT?
- Usually when we get this question, an owner is really asking
who can I keep out. We follow all government laws and guidelines.
If you are going to be in the rental business you can not afford
to biased. It isn't worth it. Every demographic group, rich
or otherwise, has it's percentage of problem tenants. However,
if you are referring to unprotected classes such as pets, smokers,
drug dealers etc., then yes you have a choice. You can always
impose any restriction you like that deals directly with the
property and not the tenant. Restrictions on alterations to
the property, number of vehicles, size and type of vehicles
(no planes or tanks), landscaping, wallpaper, painting etc.
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| HOW
CAN I BE SURE THE TENANT WILL MAINTAIN MY PROPERTY?
- Being a landlord and having rentals is a 'business'. With
any business or investment there comes with it a certain amount
of risk. The most realistic answer to the question is that you
"can't be sure" of anything. However, you can take
the necessary steps to reduce your risk by using a property
manager that checks a tenants background, makes them sign a
solid lease agreement, and checks on the tenant periodically.
Always prepare for the worst and hope for the best. It's only
a small percentage of people that do major amounts of harm to
a property. On the other hand, there is also a small percentage
of tenants that will go out of their way to improve the property
like putting in landscaping, footing the bill for painting,
or putting in a patio or driveway. Most people fall in the middle.
There are no guarantees in life....other than death and taxes.
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| WHAT DO YOU CHARGE
WHEN THE PROPERTY IS VACANT? - We only charge
a Management Fee on collected rents. Soooo, if a property is
vacant there normally isn't any charge. However, that is not
to say that you may elect to spend money regarding your rental
on making repairs or advertising. But that is up to you. |
| HOW DO I GET STARTED
WITH YOU. WHAT'S THE FIRST STEP? - It's easy.
You can dowload the necessary forms right here from this site
(download).
You can also give us a call, or email
us with the particulars of the subject property (rental), and
your address where you would like us to send your packet containing
the necessary forms and paperwork. That's it. It will take us
a few minutes to put your packet in the mail. When you get the
packet, answer the questions regarding the property and fill
in the other highlighted areas and send the paperwork back.
We'll get started right away. |
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| WHAT ARE YOUR FEELINGS
ABOUT PETS AND SMOKERS ? - They exist and make
up large paying demographic groups. Let's take pets. Tenants
know that only a small percentage
of owners 'allow' pets. Consequently, many pet owners feel they
must deceive a landlord about having a pet. They justify it
in their mind because they don't see their pet as being a problem.
This means that on occasion you will rent to a person without
pets only to find later on that they have a pet. At this point
you have a decision to make. Remember, the property is an investment.
The question you need to ask yourself is..if the pet has caused
damage, and you evict the tenant because of the pet, will you
be better off? You will get as much of the deposit as possible
to make the repairs and you will have a vacancy.... no income.
If you let the pet stay (assuming no more damages),
you will still have to make the repairs when the tenant decides
to leave, but you will have the income while the tenant is in
the property. If the pet isn't causing any harm, it's always
better to let them stay. The same goes for smokers. We have
had properties where all the carpet had to be replaced, and
the unit painted twice, just to get rid of the smoke stains
and odors. The choice, from a risk standpoint would be to avoid
all smokers and pet owners. The reality is, they're not always
going to tell you the truth and you will end up with them anyway.
So, maybe it would be better to allow both groups but put up
restrictions. It's not an easy question to answer. For the most
part it depends on you. It's your property. The more people
you exclude, potentially the longer it will take to rent....
and on average the vacancy will always cost more than making
the repairs. |
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