September 2, 2010
Having noisy, disruptive, or otherwise disrespectful neighbors can be a major hassle, both for property owners/managers and tenants alike. Worst of all, a bad neighbor scenario could drive down your rent and retention rates. So what can you do? Check out these links to help you better avoid problematic neighbors and more effectively resolve disputes.
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Cost Saving Tips, Property Management, Property investment, Tenant's Perspective | Tagged: property management software, real estate, Buildium, dealing with bad neighbors, neighbor relations, dealing with nuisance neighbors, conflict resolution, involving the authorities | 
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Posted by Buildium
August 30, 2010
Dealing with bad tenants can be tricky enough—though such scenarios are not ideal, at least you have a contract on your side to dictate 
certain rules and behaviors that ensure the comfort of all your tenants. But what happens in a case involving bad neighbors, when you don’t have the benefit of a pre-existing agreement on your side? Depending on the set-up of your property, a bad neighbor can potentially be just as disruptive (or perhaps even more so) than uncourteous tenants in your own property. Following are some suggestions to help mitigate this sort of scenario.
Consider neighbors when property hunting.
Time and time again in this blog, we’ve highlighted the importance of doing extremely thorough research when seeking out an investment property. And guess what? We’re about to dole that same information out once again. With so many other factors to take into consideration when selecting a property, evaluating potential neighbors is one of those things that all to often falls by the wayside. But on a day-to-day basis, your property’s neighbor can have a considerable impact on your tenants’ quality of living. And if that impact is a negative one, you may very well find yourself with high turnover or an undesirable vacancy rate. So, with this in mind, taking neighbors into account is a consideration when purchasing a property.Visit your potential property at various times of the day to see if there are any red flags (be sure to do this at times when neighbors are likely to be home, such as weeknights or on weekends). If you pick up on any noise or behavioral issues, you may want to consider what sort of impact this might have down the line.
Meet your neighbors.
This sounds simple, but neighbors are much more likely to make more conscientious decisions when they are taking a specific person into consideration as opposed to an anonymous “neighbor.” As soon as you purchase your property, take a few minutes to introduce yourself to your neighbors—this doesn’t take much, just a five-minute chat will do.
Have a calm and rational conversation should an issue arise.
While “pre-screening” neighbors will certainly help you avoid problems down the line, it’s not fail-safe. After all, properties change ownership and if you have a neighboring rental property, you could find yourself dealing with someone else’s bad tenant.
If you become aware of problematic behavior either from your own observations or tenant complaints, have a polite but frank chat with the neighboring property owner, whether that’s the house occupant or a fellow landlord. This simple step may be all it takes; sometimes people are unaware of the effect their actions are having on others and may simply need a bit of enlightenment. Should you have this sort of conversation and find that the issue persists, try one more conversation, preferably at the time the issue is actually occurring.
Involve the authorities.
Although it’s not ideal and can be uncomfortable because it inherently involves a party that you will presumably deal with in the future due to proximity, if the offending behavior is chronic and involves some sort of legal violation (such as noise past a certain hour or reckless public behavior) call the non-emergency number of your local police force and put the matter into a third-party’s hands.
Remember, as with most things, the best way to avoid dealing with problematic tenants is to prevent the problems from happening in the first place. Hopefully, by executing the first three recommendations, you will never reach the point where you have to act on the fourth.
2 Comments | Cost Saving Tips, Property Management, Property investment, Tenant's Perspective | Tagged: Property Management, property management software, real estate, Buildium, online property management, dealing with neighbors, dealing with bad neighbors, neighbor relations, meet your neighbors, involving the police | Permalink
Posted by Buildium
August 23, 2010
The Fair Housing Act (FHA) exists to ensure that all potential tenants are given an equal opportunity to obtain residency. This anti-discrimination 
policy means that, as a landlord, you are not allowed to base tenancy at your property upon any of the following factors, including: age, race, color, religion, familial status, or handicap. This law is straightforward enough; however, there are certain common instances in which landlords find themselves inadvertently in violation of this act. A common slip-up that can potentially lead to legal troubles down the line is searching for a certain “type” of tenant based upon your property’s location, amenities, or general pre-existing demographic. Consider the following scenario.
As clearly stated in the FHA, you cannot base your decision upon whether or not to accept a tenant on their situation or life circumstances. For example, even if you prefer to rent to students, you absolutely cannot refuse to rent an available unit to a family of three simply because they are a family rather than a single student. Remember, though, the average tenant wants to find a living situation that is comfortable for them.
In the above scenario, for example, if you have a ten-unit complex that is primarily occupied by students, chances are other students (as opposed to families or young professionals) are going to be most enticed by your property. To achieve maximum visibility among this target demographic, you should place advertisements in outlets that cater to the university population in your area—school-affiliated publications, websites and bulletin boards at local college hang outs, for example. Explain in your advertisement that the unit is perfect for college students based on its proximity to the university. As prospective tenants want to find a situation that is most conducive to their lifestyle, chances are a self-selection process will occur. Bear in mind, however, that your advertising may in no way, shape, or form indicate that your unit is only available for students—that is in violation of the FHA.
If, for example, a family of three (as opposed to a student) is interested in the unit and meets all of the necessary qualifications (including reference, credit, and criminal checks) and the apartment is available, you are obligated to rent to them. No matter how strongly you feel that your complex may be unsuitable for families rather than students, under the FHA denying them tenancy will count as discrimination in a case where that decision is based solely upon their status and situation.
No matter how pure your intentions are, if your practices are not in line with the FHA, you can find yourself in a significant predicament. Local and state laws may provide additional stipulations. If ever you are in doubt of how FHA laws apply to you and your property, immediately seek legal counsel or clarification from an association or other in-the-know professional agency—this is one of those cases where ignorance can have severe repercussions.
6 Comments | Property Management, Tenant's Perspective | Tagged: Property Management, property management software, real estate, landlord, tenant, Buildium, fha, Fair Housing Act, Tenant's rights, landlord's rights, equal opportunity housing | Permalink
Posted by Buildium
August 19, 2010
If you are managing property in an area with frequent criminal activity, taking the necessary precautions to protect your tenants and your property is a worthwhile investment. There are several steps that you can take that will both raise your property value and keep your retention rates from plummeting. Check out these links to help secure your property and the surrounding neighborhood.
- Installing a home security system may be the most effective method of protecting your individual properties from criminal activity. Check out ADT’s website for more information on their award-winning security systems.
- The National Neighborhood Watch Institute provides inexpensive reflective signs to let potential criminals know that your neighborhood has a plan in place.
- If your property is in a high-crime area, it’s possible that theft and criminal activity are taking place on your property. Make sure that you and your tenants know their duties and risks.
- State Farm provides a fantastic guide to protecting yourself against home burglary — by heeding their advice, you’ll greatly diminish your chances of being burglarized.
Leave a Comment » | Cost Saving Tips, Property investment, Tenant's Perspective | Tagged: Property Management, property management software, real estate, criminal activity, Buildium, crime, Neighborhood watch, protecting your property, brinks, protect your property, adt, neighborhood watch programs | Permalink
Posted by Buildium
August 16, 2010
It’s a fact: Some neighborhoods are more safe than others. It’s also true that while a neighborhood may be quite safe at the time you purchase an investment property, things can go downhill at any time (happily, this phenomenon can work in the opposite direction as well). To make things even trickier, high crime rates aren’t necessarily limited to “bad” areas. Sometimes crime can trickle into nicer areas from surrounding neighborhoods, which is why it’s important to really do your homework before investing in a property—some hazards are simply not immediately obvious.
If, for any of these reasons (or completely different ones), you find yourself with a property in an area that is suffering from regular criminal activity, there are steps you can take to help make your property a safer place for tenants to reside.
Form a Neighborhood Watch Program
This is one of our favorite options, because it goes beyond just protecting your property and tackles the larger issue—making your entire neighborhood a safer, more enticing place to live. The results of accomplishing this are huge for you and include increasing property value and potentially lowering vacancy rates.
If your neighborhood does not already have a Neighborhood Watch Program, it does take some effort to start up but, again, the payoff is big. Begin by advertising the group to neighbors through fliers and notices in local publications (such as alternative weekly newspapers and online publications), and through social networking services. Once you have interest, set up a meeting and devise a plan, which includes safety patrols in the area during nighttime hours. It’s also worth having neighbors post signs on their properties advertising the fact that a neighborhood watch exists as this, in and of itself, can be a deterrent to crime. Contact your local sheriff and have them send a representative to the meeting to help provide tips and guidelines for creating a plan of action and the most safe, effective program possible.
The National Sherriffs’ Association has a number of great tips and tools for starting up and registering an official program in your area. You can also search USAonWatch.org to find out about any existing programs in your area.
Communicate with Your Tenants
There is a tendency to avoid advertising criminal activity in your surrounding area so as not to harm the reputation of your property or alarm existing tenants. However, if you are aware of crime in your neighborhood, it’s actually very important to inform tenants and to provide them with tips for safeguarding themselves and their property.
Much like a neighborhood watch program, having actively involved and alert residents can go a long way toward preventing crime. Just make sure that your communication is not alarmist—information should be provided in a straight-forward, factual manner and tips for protecting and safeguarding property should also be included in the same memo. (Also be sure to include contact information for local police and Neighborhood Watch Programs so that suspicious activity can be reported.)
Safeguard Your Property
Criminals often look for signs of neglect according to James Wilson and George Welling’s “broken window” theory. The gist of this theory is that if would-be criminals see signs of neglect, they are more likely to commit acts of vandalism or crime. Keep your property in good order and make it clear at just a glance that it is a carefully protected area. Install outside lighting (including motion detector lights), put up alarm system signs in conspicuous areas, and secure all doors and windows. Be sure to check out our previous blog post for more tips on safeguarding your property against crime.
There’s no quick fix for ridding an area of crime. But a concerted and consistent effort can definitely make a significant impact over time. Do what you can to make your property as safe as possible and recruit community members and tenants to do their part in keeping their eyes open, making your neighborhood a safer place for everyone.
Leave a Comment » | Cost Saving Tips, Property Management, Property investment, Tenant's Perspective | Tagged: Property Management, property management software, real estate, tenants, Buildium, crime, Neighborhood watch, protecting against crime, protecting your property, brinks, home security | Permalink
Posted by Buildium
June 1, 2010
Sure, your mom always told you that it isn’t nice to judge. But the truth of the matter is that in the professional world, we’re all judged. Don’t fret, though—being judged can actually be
a good thing.
In this day and age customer service reviews move at the speed of light—or at least at the speed of the average internet connection. As if you need any more reason to improve customer service, here’s another one: Good customer service may very well work as a powerful PR and marketing tool for your business.
Online sites like Yelp and Angie’s List are quickly becoming some of the go-to-sources upon which the public bases its selection of service providers. On these open forums past customers rate and review your business, allowing potential customers to see how you rank against your competitors. Here’s how you can make the jury of public opinion work on your behalf.
Yelp
Since its inception in 2004, Yelp has grown exponentially — the site now gets up to 31 million visits per month (as of March 2010). In other words, Yelp reviews are serious business. Over the course of the past few years, Yelp has come to be regarded as a reliable, accurate source for business and service referals. Don’t underestimate the power of Yelp reviews or their importance to the success of your business.
While you can’t control content on Yelp, you can encourage happy customers to rate and review your business. It’s also important that you monitor your Yelp business page. If you see an unhappy customer post a review, turn it into a positive. Contact that person to address their issue and improve their experience with your company. Many Yelpers are quite conscientious about updating and editing reviews to document such resolutions. Also remember that Yelp’s rating system works on averages. In other words, if one or two disgruntled customers give you an unfair low rating, rest assured that more even-keeled ratings will average this out.
Business owners can get in on the Yelp scene too. Special business accounts can be set up for free. Once this account is initiated, you can post things like special offers and discounts to Yelpers, which will appear under your business listing. From here you can also update basic business information, track traffic to your Yelp business page, interact with reviewers, and receive notifications when your business is reviewed.
Angie’s List
In business since 1995, Angie’s List is a bit more targeted than Yelp. You won’t find listings for things like restaurants and shops here—it’s limited to service providers and is especially targeted to homeowners and home repair issues. More than one million consumers actually pay a subscription fee to join Angie’s List and, for that fee, they rely on the customer-generated reports and reviews provided by the web site. Along with ratings (which appear as a “grade”) and reviews, customers also receive information on service providers’ prices, professionalism, and timeliness.
Business owners can click here to add their company information to the Angie’s List directory. This free account will also allow you to monitor and respond to your customer reports. As with Yelp, property managers can offer Angie’s List members discounts and special offers, but cannot affect their own business’ rating. On the Angie’s List Company Connect page you can actually find a link to a form specifically designed for business owners to distribute to customers so that you can encourage satisfied customers to share their experience.
Customer review sites like Angie’s List and Yelp can be your best friend. Not only do they spread the good word about your business, but they also provide your property management company with a very visible online presence, word-of-mouth referrals, potentially good marketing, and that extra little nudge to keep your customer service as satisfactory as possible.
5 Comments | Property Management, Real Estate Technology, Tenant's Perspective | Tagged: Property Management, business, service, software, contractors, homeowners, yelp, angie's list, customer service, online property management, service providers | Permalink
Posted by Buildium
May 10, 2010
First impressions can either take you a long 
way or stop you before you’ve even passed go. And when it comes to clients (both potential business associates and potential tenants), their first impression of you may very well involve your office. While it’s not necessary to spend a ton of money creating a luxurious office setting, it is important that everything is functional and presentable. Following are some low-maintenance tips that will help you and your office put a professional first foot forward.
1. Clear signage.
Your client’s first impression of your office may well begin before he even sets foot through your front door. Make sure that your office space is clearly marked from the exterior so that customers can easily identify it and start things off on the right note.
2. Showcase yourself.
Your office is a great place to do some self-promotion. Lining your walls with professional looking photographs of some of your most appealing properties and any awards or certificates you have sends great visual cues to potential clients.
3. Make space.
Even if your office is a small space that is occupied only by you, be sure that you have some sort of seating option for clients. This can be as simple as a single, comfortable chair on the opposite side of your desk. But it is important that there is a place—whether it be just a chair or a conference table—where your client can sit down and make herself comfortable.
4. Points for hospitality.
Putting potential clients at ease and making them as comfortable as possible can only benefit business negotiations. While you don’t have to offer a fully-stocked bar and appetizers, be sure that you do keep the basics on-hand. Have coffee, tea, and water available and up for offer when clients pay a visit to the office.
5. Organization is key.
No matter how nice your office is, too much visible clutter pretty much guarantees that you won’t start off with your best foot forward. Cluttered surroundings send out the impression that you are disorganized and perhaps over-worked (certainly not the impression you want to convey while attempting to obtain new business).
In an ideal world, we would all be organized all the time (and your business will certainly run more smoothly if you do remain as organized), however this is simply not always possible. So if it’s a chaotic day and you simply don’t have time to de-clutter before clients arrive, be sure that you do at least disguise your clutter. Providing each staff member with storage drawers, shelving, and file systems means that you will always have somewhere to stash the chaos away, even if it’s not exactly filed in the most detailed manner possible.
Clearly, it’s your properties and business experience that will really woo potential clients and tenants. But when it comes to obtaining new business, it’s always best to have all factors on your side. These simple tips will have potential clients impressed from the moment they walk through your office door.
1 Comment | Property Management, Tenant's Perspective | Tagged: apartment, associates, award, business, certificates, conference, hospitality, impresssions, management, manager, multifamily, organization, promotion, property, Property Management, real estate, showcase, signage, storage | Permalink
Posted by Buildium
June 15, 2009
Summertime means it’s time to head outside and enjoy all the activities the season has to offer. And if your property provides amenities like a pool or grills, chances are your tenants are particularly happy at this time of the
year. However, with these amenities come additional risks and hazards, many of which can be easily prevented with clear policies and a little bit of enforcement. Read on to find out about some simple measures that will help keep your tenants happy and safe during the summer months.
Pool Policies
Chances are at one point or another in our childhood, all of us were sternly told to “slow down” or “don’t run” by the pool. And, sure, it may have cramped our style a little bit but it also kept us safe. As a landlord, it’s your job to remind tenants about smart poolside practices—and to protect yourself from litigation that may result from pool-related injuries.
Make sure that rules and regulations for pool use are highly visible and that all your tenants know what is expected of them. Along with posting pool rules around the swimming area, you can also include the policy as a lease addendum to ensure that all tenants sign off on your property’s rules and regulations from day one. This addendum can include everything from basic rules to (if applicable) expectations on how tenants are expected to maintain the pool and surrounding area. A sample of this addendum can be downloaded here. In terms of pool signage, you can either make your own or visit a local hardwood store, most of which carry standard pool rule signage, particularly in the summer months. Common rules include:
• Shower before entering pool
• No food, drink, or glass in pool or on pool deck
• No animals in pool or on pool deck
• Pool capacity: _____ persons
• Pool hours : ________ – ________
• No running near pool
• No diving or jumping
• No children under ______ years of age without parent
• No diapers allowed in pool
It’s not your job to play full-time lifeguard, but if you do see tenants violating rules and regulations by running or behaving recklessly in any sort of way, take it upon yourself to bring an end to the behavior. Pools can be a lot of fun, but they also present many potential hazards that no landlord wants to be held liable for.
Grill Guidelines
Aside from swimming, nothing else says summer quite like grilling. Unfortunately for landlords, grilling brings with it a significant fire hazard. As with pools, it’s imperative that tenants know—and abide by—a strict set of grilling policies.
You will want to ensure that the grill is not within a certain distance of your property’s building in order to prevent potential catastrophe at the hands of flying sparks or an out of control flame. It should also be made clear that only adults are allowed to operate a grill. If you see any questionable behavior, don’t hesitate to take grilling privileges away from tenants. Clearly, a fire hazard is nothing to mess around with.
Noise Notice
With the days lasting longer and lots of outdoor fun to be had, more than any other time of year, it’s easy for tenants to get carried away during the summer, inadvertently disturbing other building occupants. Again, setting forth expectations or a noise policy in the lease is a good way to ensure that all tenants understand your rules and regulations. The early summer months are the perfect time to send tenants a reminder about building noise policies and expectations in terms of quiet times and noise levels.
Offering summertime amenities like swimming pools and grills is a great way to keep tenants happy and feeling good about their residency in your rental unit. Just be sure to guard against potential liability by making sure relevant rules and expectations are clearly communicated to and followed by your tenants.
2 Comments | Property Management, Tenant's Perspective | Tagged: activities, addendum, communicate, communication, complaint, fire hazard, grill, grilling, happy tenant, hazard, hazards, injury, landlord, lease, lease addendum, lifeguard, management, noise, policy, pool, pool capacity, pool policies, pool policy, pool running, pool safety, pool use, poolside, property, Property Management, real estate, regulations, safety, summer, summertime, swimming, swimming pool, tenant, tenants | Permalink
Posted by Buildium
