BDF Realty’s Blog

As a Charlotte-area property manager, we get contacted (usually via e-mail) by prospective tenants asking us if the owner is willing to accept less than the listed rental rate. This question gets asked before the tenant even looks at the rental home. I guess with the “new normal”, Group-On world we are living in, some might assume that consumers are not willing to look at something that isn’t...

“There are only two directions; you’re either growing or you’re dying. There ain’t no third direction.” (Tommy Callaghan, Sr. in “Tommy Boy”) Business is a funny thing; one is never allowed to be satisfied. If you start a company, grow it, and begin to cash flow it, then that’s good, right? Isn’t that the idea? I thought it was, at least. However, it really isn’t if you read the news, watch...

Question from client: “How long will it take for you to fill my home with a tenant?” Answer from property manager: “It should be in the next month or two, but I obviously can’t guarantee that.” Comment from client: “Okay, I completely understand. I wouldn’t want you to speculate about the result of an action that you do for a living and your company has executed repeatedly well for the past...

“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...