A Tough Economy & the “Hard-To-Rent” Property
You would have to be a hermit holed up in the back-of-beyond not to have been impacted by the challenging national economy this past year. Many areas have seen mammoth numbers of foreclosures. My area (Denver, Colorado) has been one of the cities that has fared the best. Still [...]
Update on Carbon Monoxide & Smoke Detectors
Since Colorado made carbon monoxide detectors a law for rental properties July 1, 2009, it appears that more equipment options have hit the market. It is likely that more states will follow suit. Frankly, even if it isn’t law in your state, installing carbon monoxide detectors and smoke detectors [...]
Eliminating Pet Odors in Carpet & Various Other Surfaces
When the tenant, who hadn’t asked permission to have a cat, moved recently the cat urine odor in the one-year-old carpet was overwhelming. After getting over being totally ticked, the “how-to-proceed mode” kicked into gear.
After shampooing the carpet twice with a product from my favorite big box [...]
Investments in Rental Property Neighborhoods Pay Off
If you watch wealthy people, the most successful one have a definite pattern of giving… giving of their time and their resources. The ones I have had the privilege to know, who are the happiest, give from the heart and do for others just because they want to and [...]
Do You Do a Final Walk-Through With Tenants
This topic has been a thorn in my side for many years, but I suppose there are two sides to this coin. If you walk through the unit with tenants before they move in and as they are moving out, a written record of each walk-through could be [...]
Techniques For Picture Hanging Without Destroying Walls
My very first tenant, in my very first rental property, taught me valuable lessons about not being nice when it comes to hanging things on the walls. She had this really ugly woven wall hanging that weighed a ton. My husband finally helped her hang it, but we had [...]
Marketing is “Brown vs. Cinnamon”
I woke up this morning from a dream about a color swatch of Cinnamon. Yes, I dream about work in full techno-color as only a true workaholic could do. So, why Cinnamon?
The difference between Brown and Cinnamon is a drop of red to heat up the hue. That is exactly what [...]
Tired Kitchens Are Hard to Rent – part two
Back to your kitchen that needs some lipstick and rouge. Look at your budget and available cash. Don’t charge a major kitchen remodel if you have no way to pay for it. Look for a few basic things that will give the kitchen a spark and get [...]
Do You Make Record Keeping & Filing a Priority?
This is a blog I have put off writing because it is not a strong suit for me personally. As mentioned in former blogs, I am the big picture and Idea Person… filing annoys me. When I first started my business, a good friend (who happens to [...]
Tired Kitchens Are Hard To Rent- part one
A variety of scenarios could leave you with a dated kitchen that makes the unit hard to rent… you just bought a bank-owned property that hasn’t been updated in 35 years, you had long term tenants who were fine with the status quo, you had tenants who trashed [...]