Springtime is a time for renewal. It's a visible, tangible reality in nature and a time that inspires spring cleaning and starting afresh. Are you ready to embrace all that spring offers? Or are you feeling like you're stuck in a rut, burned out, and generally just rolling one season into the next.
Remember the old adage, "You can't go to a dry well for water." It's so important to take the time to replenish your stores of energy, inspiration and creative thinking. Most of us have lives filled with many pressures and responsibilities, deadlines to meet and families to care for. It's all too easy to keep our noses to the grindstone and not take a breath to check in with ourselves to make sure we have something to give in the first place. This can be especially true in the real estate profession, where many of us pride ourselves on being available "24/7" for our clients.
The current economy is making it less possible for many people to take true vacations, but it's still possible, and necessary, to take some time out. A change of routine will do you a world of wonders if you find yourself stuck in a rut. Take a day off! Be a tourist in your own town. Visit a local museum, take a walking tour of some great architecture, stroll through a botanical garden, take a hike...whatever is available to you, seek it out and enjoy. We all need to stimulate our senses to feel refreshed, replenished and inspired.
It's spring, and you might feel it's time to spiff up your property this time of year. A landlord can save a lot of money by doing minor repairs and maintenance on their properties. But what is considered "minor" by some may be a very big deal for others. Here is a list from George Sheldon's book "The 250 Questions Every Landlord Should Ask" of some of the smaller items you can do on your own:
If anything feels out of your scope of capability, it's always best to hire a professional. No need to make a small problem a big one by getting into something you're not equipped to handle.
If you employ the services of a property management company they will be able to handle all repair and maintenance issues for you. Our company, Golden Estate Management has a reliable team of handymen and contractors to handle any job, big or small. To see a comprehensive description of all our services, go to www.GoldenEstateManagement.com.
As a landlord, it's a very good idea to ask your tenants to acquire renters' or tenants' insurance. Many auto insurance policies offer renter's insurance as a "rider" on their policies for very little additional cost. For a small monthly or yearly cost, renters' insurance will protect your tenants property against loss due to fire, theft, vandalism, and other causes.
How is it in your best interest as a property owner to require your tenants get this coverage? In the event of loss or damage to personal property, a tenant with an insurance policy is much less likely to make a claim with their landlord if they can be reimbursed from their renters' insurance.
Renters' insurance also protects the landlord and tenant against claims of injury or personal property damage in the case of negligence. For instance, if a tenant's dog bites a guest, or if they should slip and fall on a flight of stairs and injur themselves, the insurance would protect against a liability lawsuit.
You'll need to check with local laws to ensure whether or not it's legal for you to require renters' insurance.
Doing my 2008 Taxes, I realized one thing and one thing only, the amount of money I have wasted on conventional print advertising. For the X amount of dollars I have spent on print advertising my return in 2008 has been 0 (zero). The dominant figures of our markets print advertising LA Times and some magazines have yielded 0 (zero) leads.
It is a good time to sit down and plan for 2009 and analyze new media and see what may work into our business model. The problem with Digital Media vs print is, Print cost money but less time and Digital Media (blogging, videos, websites,etc) they take a lot of time. So you need to be quite sure of the results before you jump into any one of these websites, blogs, tweets or whatever else is out there, as you are taking from your most prescious commodity, Time.
It is certainly interesting and very trying times, getting adjusted to these new market conditions and rules. This is not the old market with a twist, we are in a brand new Real Estate market that will determine the success or failure of future real estate agents for generations to come. I have founf AR to be one of worthy platforms to follow to find out from other fellow agents experiences. It saves a lot of time and a lot od resources for those of us who already are in 25 hour a day schedules. I wish all my fellow agents and vendors all the luck in the world in enduring these trying times
James M Engel
Keller Williams Beverly Hills
It is a landlord's responsibility to maintain all common access areas in a multi-family dwelling. These include such areas as yards, walkways, laundry rooms or areas, stairs, driveways and common garages. This can include repairs and maintenance, or cleaning of these areas. Common areas must be kept clean, safe and in good repair. You can either take care of these duties yourself, or hire a maintenance or management company to do them. It may require daily, weekly or monthly attention.
The only case in which it's acceptable for a tenant to assume these responsibilities is if you have a contractual agreement with them to do so. This agreement should be drawn up separate from their lease agreement. Often there is compensation involved such as a reduction in rent. Just make sure your tenant is taking adequate care while working under this agreement.
Contact us at www.GoldenEstateManagement.com to discuss all of your maintenance and property management needs. We serve the greater Los Angeles, Fort Worth and Oklahoma City areas.
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Out of Keller Williams Beverly Hills, serving the residential and commercial community, with years of experience, and a relentless passion for Real Estate. Always holding clients interest first.
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