BDF Realty’s Blog

    The media is abuzz with news of springtime in the housing market!  Headlines trumpet:   Sales And Average Home Prices Are On The Rise Again!   Bidding Wars Are Back!    Good times appear to be back in real estate land and you will soon see your local Realtors rolling around in the hottest and newest automobiles again (we don’t use the lowly term “cars”- that’s recession...

I saw an ad for a Section 8 speaker touting their government-sponsored rental assistance program as “Free Rent” for landlords.  I had to laugh.  As we’ve been told our whole lives, nothing worthwhile is free.  And the Section 8 program is not an exception to the rule.   For the uninitiated, the Section 8 housing program allows people who earn under a certain income to receive a housing...

I’m a big believer in setting expectations in relationships; it seems to make things go more smoothly.  If you know clearly what you’re supposed to do and I know what I’m supposed to do, there is less opportunity for hurt feelings and animosity.  A beautiful, life-long relationship can blossom!  (Cue the romantic music…)    This is why many married couples say the first year of marriage is...

There’s been a lot of good news of rising home prices coming from the Charlotte housing market, as well as the rest of the country.  For real estate investors, this news is a mixed bag.  There are less great buying opportunities for them, but their net worth is increasing.  It also presents a good opportunity to turn their home assets into cash. Making money on selling rental homes is a nice...

  As a Charlotte property manager, I am a big proponent of returning as much of the tenant’s security deposit to them as possible.  If the tenant took time to care for the property, did what they were supposed to do during their lease period, and paid all of their rent, they certainly deserve it back!  There is a reason property managers are required to put the security deposit into an...

  As a Charlotte real estate investor and property manager for almost a decade, I’ve spoken to a lot of clients about buying Charlotte investment homes.  Many different clients have many different goals, but the goals typically fall into three camps (all cash flow, cash flow and equity, all equity).  Below are these 3 types of investment strategies and the residential houses used to...

    Wow!  Has it already been over five years already since the real estate market tanked?  TARP, the “new normal”, bailouts, CDO’s, and toxic assets were all the rage back then.  Home buyers disappeared, home sellers were really unhappy, and real estate prices dropped like a rock.  Renters were deemed the smart folks, and landlords, not so much.   It was a tough time for most...

    A property manager’s most important task is to maximize their client’s cash flow.  This includes looking at most of the inflows (good!) and outflows (bad!) of the property.   Cash Inflows: Rent from the tenants (typically the biggest or only inflow)   Cash Outflows: Repairs, management fees, & vendor fees   What is out of the property manager’s control,...

    “Oh, did you see Fluffy.  He’s so cute!  He’s practically part of the family.” (Most pet owners)   “Pets in my house?  Never!” (Most landlords)   Almost everyone loves pets.  Some people are dog people.  Some are cat people.  And some like the more interesting kinds, like birds and snakes.  Pet enthusiasts are a multi-billion dollar business segment; and those billions...

  As a Charlotte property manager for a good nine years now, I’ve seen a lot of rental homes come and go; some rented quickly and some didn’t.  Most of the houses weren’t perfect, but almost all of the houses that rented quickly had one thing in common- they were really clean.  And you may be surprised on how many really dirty homes are on the rental market!   “Cleanliness is next to...