BDF Realty’s Blog

When you hear the term “paycheck to paycheck” you probably think of low-income households struggling to make ends meet. That’s even the title of a new HBO documentary highlighting the plight of America’s working poor. But a new paper released at the Brookings Institution’s BPEA conference Friday finds that a sizeable number of wealthy households are living...

“Don’t knock the weather. If it didn’t change once in a while, nine out of ten people couldn’t start a conversation.”  (Kim Hubbard) I sometimes feel that the same could be said of landlords about their rental tenants.  Landlords love to tell stories about how they outsmarted their tenants in their latest dispute.  And, conversely, renters love to do the same. Example:...

Everybody loves March Madness.  Even property managers!  Chances are the only repair calls will go to the cable television companies if their television screens start to flicker. But now the hard part starts; trying to predict who will win each game of the NCAA tournament.  Picking a perfect bracket is tough; no one did it last year after millions of entries.  The odds are seriously stacked...

Continuing with the theme from our last blog, below is another letter (this time from a tenant) entitled, “I’m Lonely, Please Send More Visitors.” Dear BDF Realty,   I was disappointed to give my 30-day notice to vacate the other day.  You guys are the greatest property managers (BDF side note: Wow!  Thanks!) and it will be depressing to leave the rental home.  I mean really depressing.   But...

As a property management company in Charlotte, we sometimes get the most touching letters from owner clients.  I’d like to share one of them entitled, “Pets in My Home Please!” Dear BDF Realty,   Thank you for agreeing to manage our property; we’ve worked really hard to make sure our property is upgraded and clean for the new renter.  The new paint and carpet really makes it show well!  We...

As a property management company in Charlotte, we’ve fielded many different questions from homeowners who are contemplating renting their homes out to the public for the first time.  Below are a few popular questions from them in our proverbial mailbag: What should I do to get my house ready for the rental market? Make it look good. Okay, that was the succinct answer for our busy clients;...

I was in a marriage communication class this past Sunday at my church.  And the leader began the class by loudly exhorting: Who wants to have a GREAT marriage??? Everyone enthusiastically cheered and nodded assent.  I quietly commented to my wife that a great marriage did, in fact, seem better than the alternative. As I felt a sharp elbow in my rib cage, the class leader seized the building...

From the mail bag… (aka a question I may have made up to write about) Q: I have a few occupied rental homes and wonder if I should sell one of them now that the market seems to be improving.  What are your thoughts? Oh, this is a surprising question from left field! And a great one!  Kudos to you, mighty thinker! It is a tough decision on whether to unload a rental property.  If you decide...

I got a call from a friend of mine from college, “Rich”, a few weeks ago.  After the prerequisite ribbing was completed (Do you have any hair left?  Is your Linked-In profile photo from your high school yearbook?  Are you still awful at basketball?), Rich got down to business: “I’m thinking of buying my first rental home for investment.  Got any advice?” Me:  “Ummm… have you looked at the...