Blog

2012-08-20

True Cost of DIY Rent-Ready Work after Tenant Move-Out

How much does it really cost you to get your property Rent-Ready when a tenant moves out? We know a property owner that had tenants move out of a rental property in November and the property still isn’t ready to rent out 7 months later.  He insists he’s “saving money” by doing most of the […]

2012-08-04

Tenants & Yard Work

Many Tenants want the benefits of renting a house versus an apartment or condo, but then fail to properly maintain the yard. We just received a citation warning from a local municipality about an overgrown lawn. Just another example of a tenant not taking care of the lawn as per their lease agreement. Now we […]

2012-07-11

Detroit Area Investing – The City versus the Suburbs

Either can make you money, but have you really considered everything when evaluating the risk versus reward of each? It seems almost every day someone’s asking us about buying investment properties in the City of Detroit. While there’s nothing wrong with investing in Detroit properties, we’re amazed at the general naiveté of those asking us […]

2012-06-25

Tenants – You Break It, You Pay to Fix It!

When it comes to maintenance & repairs, tenants should understand their responsibilities when leasing a home are no different than when leasing a car. Last week we received a call from a tenant regarding a broken screen door. We sent a maintenance person to check it out and they reported back that it appeared the […]

2012-06-12

It’s Buyer Beware with Out-of-State & Out-of-Country Real Estate Transactions

Here’s a great example of the multitude of issues most real estate investors rarely consider when doing business away from home! We’ve recently been hired by a property owner that, in our opinion, was taken advantage of by a so-called “real estate guru” they trusted. Interestingly, both the guru and our new client reside in […]

2012-06-05

Charging Tenants for Maintenance Bills

Tenants rarely take responsibility for repair issues, so landlords need strong language in lease agreements to legally charge tenants for problems they cause. We just had another experience that reminded us why our lease has so many clauses. A Tenant contacted us because their kitchen drain was clogged. We asked what caused the problem and […]

2012-05-31

Avoiding Risky Property Management Companies

We’ve just heard about another two local property management companies “having difficulties” meeting the needs and expectations of their rental property owner clients. First, let’s make sure everyone reading this understands we’re not perfect and make no claim to be.  But, we do like to think we’re better than most, if not all, our competitors.  […]

2012-05-12

The Real State of Real Estate…

If you’re involved with the residential rental market, you’ve probably already heard that rental rates have been going up the last couple of years.  The dramatic increase in foreclosures has left a lot of families looking for a home that’s not an apartment, leading to increased demand, which has led to increases in prices. Most […]

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