How to Renew your Lease...

So your lease is up, but you'd love to stay on another year or more.  

Here's how to renew...

But 1st... Would you trust this guy?

Instructions

1. Check the terms of your current lease to see whether the document includes renewal provisions.

2. Inform your landlord in writing that you would like to renew the lease under the same terms for a definite period of time, such as one year.  (Do this before your current lease expires.)

3. Realize that you have the right to negotiate a new lease with different terms or switch to a month to month rental agreement instead of renewing your current lease on the same terms.

4. Understand the terms of your lease before signing any documents; seek legal counsel if necessary, especially in states with rent control laws. 

Tips & Warnings

Renewing your current lease could help you avoid any increase in your monthly rent in the near future, especially if your satisfied with your lease terms and plan to occupy the premises for an extended period (usually one year).

Your landlord may readily agree to renew your lease under the same terms as your current lease if your a responsible, trouble free tenant.

Landlord-Tenant laws vary from State to State, so always protect yourself by checking with community housing authorities or a real estate attorney about the specific rental laws in your area. 

BCG Real Estate & Property Management

Maximize your $

Maximizing Investment Property ROI

When it comes to reaping maximum gains from your investment property, choosing the right property in the right area---and pricing the rent correctly---are only half the battle. Once you've purchased a rental property with excellent profit potential, you can help ensure you actually realize that profit by taking certain steps used by veteran landlords.

Give Tenants the Amenities They Want

Prospective renters on the hunt for the right apartment look for a number of things in an apartment, including location, neighborhood character, crime rate and attractions nearby. Once they've identified the general area where they'd like to live, amenities are often a key criteria when it comes to evaluating individual properties.

With renting in high demand nationwide---and expected to increase in the next few years---the American Apartment Owners Association advises landlords to take a long look at what they can do to make their units more appealing to renters. Whether it's replacing worn carpet with hardwood flooring, modernizing counter tops and cabinets, adding more storage, or letting tenants choose paint for an "accent wall," upgrades will allow you to keep vacancies low while marketing your property to an affluent demographic.

Choose and Retain the Right Tenants

Once you've renovated your rental, you can expect to have a larger-than-average pool of interested applicants to choose from when it comes to selecting a tenant. Taking care to properly interview and screen each potential renter is the next step in maximizing your property's ROI.

When you add up the cost of rent lost during a vacancy, plus cleaning fees, advertising expenses, and the time it takes to show a rental and select a tenant, you quickly realize that minimizing turnover is key to maintaining your profits. Finding a tenant who you can envision renting to long-term is the best case scenario.

Beyond meeting your basic income and credit score criteria, look for a tenant history of stability, whether in the form of multiple years at the same job or long-term stays at former residences.

Be Sure to Keep Up with Maintenance

Keeping your property in good shape not only inspires renters to want to stay put, it ultimately saves you money in the form of preventing major maintenance disasters. Many landlords choose to use property management companies to handle routine upkeep, which can range from performing regular inspections of major household systems, to replacing furnace filters, to winterizing pipes and outside spigots, to responding to tenants' service requests.

BCG Real Estate & Property Management

Tenant Retention

How to Keep Tenants Happy: 10 Tips

Turnover is expensive. Getting your property ready to rent, advertising the vacancy, showing the property, and screening tenants are some of the most costly and labor-intensive tasks involved in owning and profiting from rental property. Once you've found an ideal tenant, retention of that renter will become an important aspect of your business. Here are some tips on how to do just that: 

1. Establish a good relationship with a clear agreement: Nothing sets the stage for a trouble-free landlord/tenant relationship like a clear rental agreement. Beyond the monthly rent and utilities, your agreement should spell out who's responsible for what in the event that repairs are needed. If the property you're renting includes a yard, be clear about who will maintain it.
2. Be professional: You want to deal with a tenant who is reliable, respectful, and responsive---and your tenant wants the same thing from you. Be friendly and flexible and your tenants will likely return the favor.
3. Answer the phone: Most tenants prefer to deal with professional property managers for the simple reason that they know it's someones job to quickly help them resolve any issues that may arise. Regardless of what your other obligations are, make it a priority to take your tenants phone calls, or to return their calls within 12-24 hours.
4. Take care of repairs in a timely manner: In addition to answering the phone, let your tenant know that they're important to you by taking care of any needed repairs without delay.
5. Make cosmetic improvements on a reasonable schedule: If you've been fortunate enough to acquire the Holy Grail that is the long-term tenant, be sure to offer her fresh paint and a professional carpet cleaning every two or three years.
6. Deal with disruptive tenants promptly: If you're managing a multi-family residence, dealing with tenants who are undermining the group's ability to live together peacefully is crucial to your business. Nothing will drive ideal tenants away from your building more quickly than having to deal with obnoxious neighbors.
7. Respect your renter's privacy: Unless your tenant has a problem, they don't want to hear from you. Respect that. You'll occasionally need to gain access to the property for one reason or another, but when you do, be sure to give proper notice, and try not do so more than twice a year.
8. Go easy when raising rents: If you rent your property in a weak rental market and find your tenant's lease ending in a stronger market, it can be tempting to raise rents by the maximum legal amount. However, offering good tenants a rent that is slightly below market rates can be a powerful retention tool, potentially saving you hundreds or even thousands of dollars in turnover costs.
9. Offer incentives for tenants to help you fill vacancies: Not only will this aid you in your search for additional tenants, you'll increase your chances of retaining the ones you already have if you end up placing their friends in the same building.
10. Give small tokens of appreciation: If you have renters you particularly appreciate, let them know. A Christmas card with a personal note and small gift certificate is a great example of a thoughtful, unexpected gesture that can go a long way toward encouraging tenant loyalty to you and your business.

BCG Real Estate & Property Management

Spring Time To Do's

11 Spring Time To do Home Maintenance Check List Items

Spring is here and it is time to plan picnics, ballgames and other fun activities. It is also a perfect time to perform a complete inspection of the house and do all the necessary repairs. You can take steps now to save money on energy bills and avoid paying huge repair bills later. Follow these 11 steps and give your house a checkup.

1. Inspect the AC Drains
2. Put the Thermostat on Autopilot
3. Caulk the Cracks
4. Clean out the Gutters
5. Repair your Roof
6. Keep your Basement Dry
7. Deal with your Deck
8. Call a Chimney Sweep
9. Don’t Over Water
10. Lose the Lint

BCG Real Estate & Property Management

Choosing the Right Property Manager

Choosing the Right Property Manager

Choosing the right property management company from among the dozens in your area can seem like a daunting task. But with some careful planning and good interviewing techniques, you'll be well on your way to turning the complex, time-consuming job of managing your rental property into a passive (for you) revenue stream.

Before deciding which companies to put on your short list, sit down and identify your needs and goals for the property in question. Do you need full property management services, or do you want help with only certain aspects of your business, such as leasing? Do you need a manager to live on-site? Would you prefer to work with a large company that has multiple locations and lots of resources, or would you rather work with a more boutique business, where you'll likely receive more personal attention?

Once you've decided on your criteria and narrowed your search, take a close look at the following aspects of any property management companies who make your final cut:

Company focus: While many property management companies are willing to take on a variety of property types, it's also not uncommon for a company to have an area of particular expertise, or to heavily preference managing certain property types. It's also not uncommon for a property management company to focus heavily on a particular skill set, such as marketing properties, providing regular inspections, or handling the administrative aspects of running an income property. When you're evaluating a property management company, you'll want to make sure that your interests and those of the company are aligned.

Management systems: Regardless of how long they've been in business, a good property manager will be able to easily describe her proven methods for securing rental payments, performing routine maintenance, complying with regulations, handling emergencies, resolving disputes, and other critical tasks.

Cost structure: Good property management companies will make it easy for you to understand what the total monthly cost of their services will be. When you're reviewing the contract, make sure you understand what tasks are included in the stated monthly, hourly, or project-based fee, and look out for excessive potential additional charges.

Availability: Like it or not, property management is a 24/7 undertaking. The company you're looking at should have plans in place for handling any emergencies that arise outside of standard office hours.

Customer service: Keep in mind that your property management team will not only be servicing you, they'll be representing you when dealing with your customers, the tenants of your property. If they lack professionalism or attentiveness in this area, it will cost you money in the end. If you can, observe the company you're interviewing in action, and be sure to get familiar with their customer service policies.

BCG Real Estate and Property Management

10 Reasons to Hire a Property Manager

10 Reasons to Hire a Property Manager

If you've owned income property for any length of time, you know that managing a rental can be financially rewarding. At the same time, you've also likely discovered that property management requires a large commitment of time and effort.

While it may make sense to take the do-it-yourself approach if you're a handy person, live close to your property, and don't mind devoting several hours per month to the task, in many cases this just isn't practical---especially if you hope to expand your business. With this in mind, here are some critical tasks a property manager can help you with:

Setting the right rental rates: While looking through the classifieds to see what other landlords are charging for similar properties is a fine way to ballpark your rent price, a good property management company will conduct a thorough market study in order to set a rental price for your property, ensuring that you achieve the perfect balance between maximizing monthly income and maintaining a low vacancy rate.

Collecting and depositing monthly rent payments on time: If you've ever worked in a billing department, you know that securing payment from clients can be difficult, not to mention awkward. Property management companies have efficient, tried-and-true systems in place to effectively collect rent and maintain on-time payments. You'll find this particularly important if you have a limited number of properties, and collecting payments on time is crucial to maintaining your cash flow.

Marketing and advertising your property: Through long experience, a property manager will know exactly where to market your property and how to craft compelling advertising materials---a significant advantage when it comes to filling your properties quickly and avoiding long vacancies.

Finding the right tenants: Experienced property managers are experts at finding good tenants, and will take care of all the details, including the securing all criminal background and security checks, running credit reports, verifying employment, and collecting previous landlord references.

Managing tenants: In addition to finding good tenants, a property management company will manage all aspects of the tenant-landlord relationship. The property manager will handle both routine and emergency maintenance, take care of routine inspections, and manage any situations where conflict resolution is required.

Managing vendor relationships: Property management companies have relationships with maintenance workers, tradesmen, contractors, suppliers, and vendors that it's almost impossible for an independent landlord to duplicate. Not only will your property manager get you the best work for the best price, they'll oversee any necessary maintenance projects.

Ensuring that you're in compliance with housing regulations and property laws: There is a multitude of applicable laws and regulations to abide by when renting and maintaining your rental property. These include local, state and federal regulations, as well as fair housing regulations (such as the ADA). A property manager can help you avoid lawsuits by keeping your property up-to-date and in compliance with these regulations.

Enabling you to invest in geographically distant properties: If you manage your own properties, you're pretty much limited to investment opportunities within a tight radius of your own home. By hiring a property manager, you can take advantage of investment deals in any location you wish.

Maximizing the profitablity of your time: By having a property manager take care of the day-to-day aspects of running your income property, your free to spend your time identifying further investment opportunities or otherwise furthering your career.

Maximizing the profitablity of your money: Most property managers charge a percentage of your property's monthly rental rate in exchange for their services. The rate typically runs anywhere from 6-10%, which is generally less than the money you save by hiring a professional to take care of your property.

BCG Real Estate & Property Management