Wallace S. Gibson CPM * GRI

The Charlottesville area of Central Virginia is used to being ranked HIGH in most Forbes "Places" surveys - Best Places to Live, Best Places to Retire, Best Place for Finding an EXCELLENT Property Manager and NOW we are ranked #11 in Best Small Places for Business and Careers According to their March 25, 2009 online issue. We are the ONLY city in the state of Virginia and while I disagree that we do not have any billionaires per se * we have Fox Sports Newscaster Howie Long and his son Chris of the St.Louis Rams, Arthor John Grisham, Sissy Spacek and her husband Jack Fisk, and many members of the Dave Matthews Band which got its start on our Downtown Mall. The Rolling Stones played in UVa's Scotts Stadium and U-2 will play here this year.

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2009/5/bizplaces09_Charlottesville-VA_2496.html

Many of the newer businesses are associated with the expansion of the University of Virginia Medical Center and the building of the new Emily Couric Cancer Center (named after Katie's sister who was a State Senator and died of cancer), the expansion of the private Martha Jefferson Hospital and the doubling in size of the NGIC * National Ground Intelligence Command * I'd tell you what they do but then I'd have to kill you.....yes, there are loads of opportunities for new, small businesses...it's where I started my business almost 12 years ago!!!

March 19th was "match day" for all medical school residents around the country. This is an IMPORTANT "Known" date in many real estate offices around the country where there is a teaching hospital in the area....sort of like the date the old Yellow Page ad listing sales closed used to be in commercial real estate (commercial tenants needed to rent their business address in order to be listed).

Luckily, the University of Virginia Medical School is in Charlottesville and whereas in past match situations, those incoming residents might have bought a home in the area, they are now RENTING because they will only be here 2 to 3 years and they do not want to be caught with an unsold home when they depart the area.

In viewing homes for sale in an area where I have a good inventory of desirable rental homes, I found residents who rented from me 4 years ago and then bought a home...they are leaving the area now after buying at the height of the sales market.....it is doubtful they will get the amount they paid for their home and they will be leaving in the summer - yes, I'll send them a flyer in case they would like to rent their home if they can not sell it....

Just as these incoming residents are a source of residents for my properties, departing Med Center residents are a source of property management clients and listings.....

Wallace S. Gibson, CPM * 45 years of property management experience at your service * Now renting Central Virginia rental homes for the summer, 2009 season.... http://UVAMedCenterRentalHomes.com

"What do you mean, I can't see the property?" I'm getting this question a lot more these days.

I have interior photos and floor plans of my available rental properties on my website. The photos are of the property when it is vacant. For properties that I am listing for rent this summer, I am getting calls wanting to view the property.

Some of these callers are sitting in front of the house and are calling me from my sign; some are calling in anticipating of coming into the area to search for rental housing in a few days. Unfortunately, many have failed to read the showing instructions on my website and many do not realize that these properties are actually OCCUPIED now.

I always try to accommodate showings if I have completed rental applications for all the adult applicants AND I have provided the current residents with notice; however, the days of me grabbing keys and jumping into my car are over.

I'm curious why callers expect me to drop everything I am doing, come to the property, disturb the current residents to show them a house they could have seen from the convenience of their current home several weeks ago.

If prospects only have a few days to select their new rental home, doing their "home search homework" would be in order so that they can investigate other aspects of the area - schools, shopping, etc - after narrowing down their home search by availability, rent and length of lease.

Wallace S. Gibson, CPM * 45 years of property management experience at your service * Now renting Central Virginia rental homes for the summer, 2009 season.... http://VAHomes4Rent.com

While showing property recently, my sister called me....since she hardly EVER calls me during the day, I asked to be excused, answered her call and walked into another room in the house and talked to her for 10 seconds. When I returned to the prospect couple, they were laughing at my cel phone ringtone....I explained that I have my business and personal contacts in my Centro phone and since my sister's cel # is listed, the ring tone was Pussy Cat Dolls - Don't Cha Wish Your Girlfriend was Hot Like Me? They found that ring tone amusing....WHAT?!?

I went on to explain that as long as I've had cel phones with different ring tone capabilies, I've had ELO's "Evil Woman" as my main ring tone and a different tone for my "contacts" and then a third one from calls from UNKNOWN or Blocked IDs....with my new phone, I just block these #s now and if they don't leave a VM message, I don't know they called....Nirvana - no not THAT rock group!?!

Sometimes it is difficult breaking the ice with prospects at the first meeting when you have only had e-mail contact or a short telephone call. If there is a boy in the group, I explain that he is moving to NASCAR country * since I usually wear a NASCAR ball cap on rainy days and weekends and that Virginia has 2 NASCAR tracks, 3 if you count Bristol which is on the TN/VA border. This is an easy conversation starter.

For girls in the group, I provide a blue plastic bracelet with LIFE IS A TEAM SPORT on it....recognizing NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick's bone marrow foundation.

Breaking the ice or actually having a conversation during the property showing makes the process more pleasant and informative for you, more interesting for the adults and more enjoyable for any children in the family.

Two property owner/clients I fired in the last 2 years now want to come back. I've never had this happen before that I can remember.

One client did not like the repair/rennovations I suggested for long-term holding of their property so I suggested they find another property manager. They elected to try to sell the property and had their Realtor handle the temporary leasing of the property. Well, it did not sell, the "faux" property manager failed to use the correct leasing forms and lead disclosure, the tenants are gone and the property owners have had no income since December. I'm going to have to think about this one as they may have other issues with the property.

The second set of clients were "new" and after an hour property presentation, 19 page management proposal and numerous e-mails, they wanted to choose the tenants, I said NO; they did not want to repaint children's rooms to a neurtal color and they did not want to include yard service as we originally discussed. Since I had very little time invested in setting up the property, I suggested they find another property manager who would agree to their conditions. Evidently, they made the same demands of other PMs in the area and got similar responses and they now feel that my management program and marketing efforts are superior to the other area property managers they talked to and still want me to handle their home. I'm leaning toward NO as I see similiar conflicts in our future relationship.

I now see why many property managers are electing to charge a set-up fee when taking on new management accounts * I charge a $400 fee if the 2 year management contract is cancelled within that time * I'm going to pay more attention to the time I invest in setting up a new property and consider it more seriously.