BDF Realty’s Blog

“Wow! How disingenuous! Could you think that because you create rent-to-sell transactions for living? Isn’t that like asking a barber if you need a haircut?” At least that’s what I’d be asking as a reader. We live in a skeptical age, and that’s okay. Let’s start with a story: An average man meets a beautiful, energetic woman. He is taken. “If I could spend the rest of my life with her,” he...

There are many sayings that become axioms as their wisdom becomes evident over time: “Don’t throw good money after bad” “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend” In real estate, the wisdom for real estate agents was “list to last”; this means that the agents who want to last in the business should take a lot of sales listings (aka put houses on the...

Most of the calls for our rent-to-sell program (rent-to-own tenant placement into vacant homes for sale) are about addressing one primary need; unfortunately, that need is not for our rent-to-sell program (per se)! The need they are addressing is selling their home as quickly (and for as much money) as possible. If a company existed that could do this consistently, they would be inundated...

I was asked recently if our property management company provided monthly rental home inspections for houses under management. I assume what was meant was the kind of inspection where we go into the property, check everything out, eat dinner with the tenants, and then help any young children with their homework. Then we’d set a time to visit again the next month before hugging goodbye. Smiles...

Everyone knows that for a home to sell (especially in a challenging economy) it needs to look its best. Now does that logic apply to rental homes in terms of leasing them out? Not from what property managers sometimes hear from rental home owners: “It looks fine. It’s just a rental.” “I’d live here with the place looking ‘as-is.’ I don’t think I’d want a prissy renter who couldn’t deal with a...

A fact of life is that sometimes people are not happy with what they buy. Sometimes they buy fruit and it is not as sweet as they like. They buy bread and it is not fresh enough. They buy Charlotte Bobcats basketball tickets (prior to them trading away their best player for basically nothing) and the team is not good enough. And so it occasionally goes for rental homes. People sign a lease,...

I was signing a lease with a Charlotte Section 8 tenant (the government subsidized rental program) a year or two ago and asked her if she liked the Section 8 program. She smiled and said, “Yeah, it’s a pretty good deal.” I laughed; when the government is willing to pay some (or all) of your rent, I guess it would be tough to answer any other way! So, it’s a good deal for tenants. But is it a...

Everyone knows the biblical story of David versus Goliath. David, a young shepherd, takes his slingshot and takes out the menacing giant, Goliath, with one shot. Then he picks up Goliath’s sword and cuts off Goliath’s head with it, saving Israel from the Philistines as a result. Pretty good work for an amateur! In the world of property management, “David”, the prospective tenant, is often...

“If you have to ask how much it costs, you can’t afford it.”  Maxim of the Wealthy “If you have to ask for a payment plan for the home’s security deposit, you can’t afford it.”  Maxim of the Intelligent We are approached by potential renters a few times a month with something like the following: “We love this house!  We want to take it!  We would call our lives “complete” if we could inhabit...

It’s not how much you charge, but how you ask. “Even in this ‘new economy’?  Everyone is so price conscious!” A friend of mine was going to Mexico and I wanted to surprise her by giving her some Mexican pesos for the trip.  Being that Charlotte (drum roll, please) is the 2nd largest banking city in the country, I didn’t think it would be a big deal; I only planned on getting 20 dollars worth...