Blog

Welcome to the Logical Property Management Blog. Below you'll find blog posts specific to Property Owners or Tenants to learn more about how we work and what you should be looking for.

2017-07-03

How to Prepare Your Property for Summer

The summer months bring a lot of joy but can also bring some very serious challenges for the property owner as well. From paint-peeling hot weather to tornados and everything in between, there are many things that can cause thousands of dollars in damage, especially for the unprepared. While many of these things cannot be […]

2017-06-26

Rental Marketing Analysis: How to Crunch the Numbers

Holla if you played Number Crunchers in elementary school. In modern rental marketing, there are several distinct stages that a person passes through on the way from ‘person who has seen one of your ads’ to ‘signed tenant.’ In modern rental marketing analysis, each transition between those stages is something that can and should be […]

2017-06-19

Walkability: A Selling Point in Detroit’s Urban Sprawl

When you have to walk to get food and medicine, having food and medicine within walking distance becomes pretty important. In many of the real estate markets in big cities across the country, walkability is a crucial factor in the urban core. If you can’t get to your grocer, pharmacist, and a few hangouts without […]

2017-06-12

Calculating Rents Quickly (And for Free), DIY-Style

Step One: Don’t over-think it. One of the more sensitive issues of landlordery is how to calculate rent amoutns. The struggle between property investors’ desire to make money and tenants’ ability to pay money is constant, and the number of factors it’s possible to take into account is enormous. If you wanted to make the […]

2017-06-05

Broken Windows: A Theory on Tenant Respect for Property

Sorry, this is not the theory where defenestrating tenants makes them respect you more. In the late 60s, psychologist Phillip Zombardo did a fascinating experiment. He took a car and parked it on the side of the street in the Bronx, and an identical car in the same situation in Palo Alto. His goal was […]

2017-05-29

DIY Landlords & the Power of Formality II: Not Being a Jerk

It’s easy to be nervous about being a jerk to your friends — but they’re not just your friends, they’re also your tenants. The #1 reason why folks who are landlording their friends and family prefer informality in their dealings is simple: they don’t want to be seen as a jerk. It’s easy to become […]

2017-05-22

DIY Landlords & the Power of Formality, Part 1: Why Worry?

It’s OK to relax, isn’t it? They’re your friends, right? DIY landlords have to do everything that a property management company does, and that’s a pretty long list. (Check our last post for a good example!) The advantage that a DIY landlord has is that they frequently don’t have to be as formal as a […]

2017-05-15

What Does Your Flat-fee Property Manager Actually Manage?

There are a surprising number of different answers to this question. Be careful! Metro Detroit’s rental scene has exploded right along with the rest of the country, and as you might expect, the property management industry has exploded right along with it. We have all manner of property management companies, from the full-service mega-corporations that […]

2017-05-08

Pre-Move-Out Inspections (and Why You Should Care)

Yes, you still need to do a Move-Out Inspection as well. A lot can change between ‘someone’s home’ and ‘no one’s home!’ One of the more annoying aspects of property management is the need to perform inspections when the tenant is still living in the home. Sometimes, it’s easy — but more often than not, […]

2017-05-01

SEO for Property Managers: A Primer, Part V: Synergy

Synergy is the quality of many things coming together to create a total more powerful than the sum of its parts. Also makes fabulous earrings. Last Time: Social Media & SEO OK, we’ve spent four weeks now on a brief glance at all of the aspects that go into optimizing your website for maximum search […]

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