Property Management Maven

Although my properties appear VACANT on my website, they are actually occupied and the current residents have given their notice so that the property will be available for re-renting on the date specified in our listing.

If a prospect needs an area rental home in July, they should be looking at those homes that will be vacant and available in that timeframe.  Wasting time looking at a property that is available NOW  - 3 or 4 months BEFORE their planned move-in date and then asking if I can hold the property shows a certain lack of logic as applied to the landlord-tenant relationship.  I have actually asked a prospect “nicely” why I would hold a property for them for 3 months in order to loose $5,000 in rental income……I saw the “eye roll” over the phone.

Likewise, if the listing photos and floor plan show 3 bedrooms, why ask me if there is a 4th bedroom?

When there is no photo of a garage, no garage shown in the floor plan, no garage checked in the listing information, trust me, there is no garage….I’m sure.

I love it when they ask if I have seen the property….DU-AH!!!  Maybe it is because I answer the phone or respond promptly to their e-mail inquiry that they think I am “the help”….their treatment of me thinking I am “the office help” is very telling.  Some insist on speaking with Mr. Gibson.  It used to be fun saying….”I’m HE”…now, I just say ”I’m Mrs. Gibson”…..further along in our relationship they should figure out I am female.

When they don’t get the responses they want and tell me they are a would-be client, I advise them that my property owners are my clients, my residents are my customers and I start screening for my customers “at first contact”….sometime they get it, most of the time they don’t.

How a prospective tenant treats me in our phone conversation; in their e-mail inquiry; the questions they ask; the information they have already gotten from my website ALL show not only how interested they are in my property listing but how good they will be as residents during our 12+ month relationship.

Moving is VERY STRESSFUL and some new residents want to BLAME someone for all of the stress and hard work when stuff happens and it often comes back to the “nearest warm body” which is usually the landlord….certainly not their spouse, pet, parents or friends who helped them move. 

Of my last 5 move-ins, 1 has gone PERFECTLY and I suspect it is because they have not fully moved into the home.

….One couple failed to return their property move in inspection report within the 5 days per the lease terms and 3 weeks after move in reported spiders in the garage and MOLD in the master bath shower….I explained in numerous e-mails NOT to leave their garage door open AND that there was no MOLD at the property (they signed a lease so stating this), and that the problem was mildew as the shower enclosure needed to have ventilation after use to evaporate the excess moisture.  When this couple did return the move in inspection - 25 days late, I wrote them and acknowledged receipt; however, my condition report, photos and their lease would govern condition at their move-out.

….Another couple also failed to return their property move-in inspection report as stipulated and reported that the washer drain line was broken and the washer flooded the laundry area….since this was a newly purchased home with a home inspection less than 30 days old, I suspected that there was a “bubble” in the main drain line or that the incorrect washer setting was used.  I advised the residents that I would send a drain service to clear the line; however, if the service found no “break” or obstruction, I would charge them per their lease….I did not hear from them again.

Unfortunately, this list will get longer as more and rental residents for single family homes are coming from the “homeowner” section of society and their only experience with landlords is in the distant past in a multi-unit building where the landlord/on-site manager does EVERYTHING….