BDF Realty’s Blog

    As much as I hate to admit it (being a UNC guy), Duke University is a worthy rival on the basketball court.  A big part of that is their ability to recruit great high school players.  They go after the best of them and have been very successful in landing them in Durham.  Many of them were so good that they only played one year at Duke and then left early to play in the NBA for...

    Wesley Snipes is a great actor.  Watching him in White Men Can’t Jump, Major League, and other films is some good theater. But Wesley got some bad advice at tax time in the late 90’s.  His accountants told him there was a loophole that would allow him to avoid $7M in taxes; in fact, he didn’t even have to file tax returns.  He thought that sounded pretty good.  And besides,...

  On New Years Day 2004, Britney Spears’s management team was just waking up to a wonderful, wonderful, and more superbly wonderful morning.  They had one of the hottest singers on the planet, she was making them tons of money, and her momentum was strong.   Everyone was happy and content.   Or should I say everyone with the exception of Britney, but she had enacted a quick...

  Americans demand to have their food made-to-order.  We no longer live in a culture where you eat what’s put in front of you; rather if you don’t like an ingredient and would prefer to have other ingredients instead, it is deemed socially acceptable to make the food preparer bend to your individual whims.  Burger King based a multi-million dollar advertising campaign on (and trademarked...

If you knew you were running for president someday, you’d probably do many things differently.  You may rethink all your controversial letters to the Charlotte Observer loudly demeaning the local politicians (those idiots!!); you may need their help someday campaigning on your behalf.  That Election Day when you were in the throes of a “House of Cards” marathon, scarfing down Jet’s Pizza, and...

    No one really liked Janie.  And there were a lot of reasons why.  For a teenager, she was pretty much a know-at-all.  Stubbornly obnoxious.  She would not let you get a word in edgewise.  Always right.  Rude.  Cocky.  Maladjusted.  And that was just her award-losing personality.  And physically?  Her scrawny frame, big glasses, and overflowing braces (often full of food scraps)...

  Years ago, there was a small, remote island that was relatively non-descript and unnoteworthy.  Then two multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical companies decided their business’s future hinged on acquiring it.   Why?  Its climate and soil composition was ideal to grow a certain tree that had revolutionary medicinal value.  The pharmaceutical companies needed to harvest and grow and...

    “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Theodore Roosevelt   “We have met the enemy and he is us.” Walt Kelly (Pogo)   When you’re in the property management business, many different things in houses will break.  It’s a sad reality, but it is also the reality that keeps property managers in business (so we keep our complaints to a...

    The Situation: The tenant (Mitch) has received higher-than-average water bills for the past two months.  He calls his Charlotte property manager who sends out a plumber to investigate.  The plumber says there is a pipe cracked underneath the driveway that will cost $2,500.00 to fix.   Mitch’s take on the situation: “I just rent here.  My water bill is usually $60.00/month....

    There is a potential danger lurking in your rental home.  It may seem innocuous, but it can bring lots of shady characters and dangerous ideas into your tenants’ lives.  It never sleeps, relentlessly pushing its own agenda and standards on to its unsuspecting victims.   It’s satellite TV.  And the same moral danger exists to all of us.   But, alas, we live in a...