The Successful Landlord Blog

So this past week I had a sales representative from Sears (of all places) call me to ask my permission to come out to one of my rental properties to give the tenant an estimate to replace the central air-conditioning system in her unit.

Now, lets just pause a moment to think about this……

Ok, now. What in TARNATION is this tenant thinking?! I know she must obviously want a new air-conditioning system  but I don’t know how many tenants have a spare $2500 just lying around to pay for it. Well, it turns out that she wanted ME to pay for the replacement of course.  W-H-A-T-E-V-E-R  lady. Read the rest of this entry »

Well, it’s been a whole month since these people moved in to one of my rentals and they have called me no less than 8 times to complain about things, great and small, that are wrong with the unit.

Granted, some of the complaints were valid and I fixed them promptly. The other things consisted of  a dead battery in the garage opener remote, minuscule cracks in the bathroom tile and non-working light bulbs.

What’s probably going on here is that they probably don’t want to be charged for things that are wrong with the unit when they move out, which is understandable but that’s what the move-in/move-out inspection is for. Before a tenant moves into a unit, I require them to walk through the unit with a checklist and note the condition of major things such as cracked tile, non-working appliances, etc. Read the rest of this entry »

On April 22, 2010 a new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule went into effect that could potentially affect landlords who own or manage properties built before 1978. Below is a quick summary of the new rule:

1. Certification and Training Requirements

Beginning in April 2010, firms working in homes built before 1978 are required to be certified. Certification requires the submittal of this application including a fee of $300 to the EPA. Along with firm certification, an employee of the firm will be required to be certified as a Certified Renovator. The certified employee will be responsible for ensuring that other employees adhere to guidelines for lead-safe work practices and cleaning. The training consists of an eight-hour class with two hours of pratical training. An EPA approved training facility can be found here. Read the rest of this entry »