Charlotte Property Management Weekly: The Options Available to Owners of Vacant Homes
As a Charlotte property manager specializing in lease options (rent-to-own and rent-to-sell), we get many calls from home sellers “exploring their options” about their vacant properties (unlike Obama, my puns are typically not intended). So, as a public service, I’ll run through the available options:
- Strategic default (I think this is what it is being called): Stop paying the mortgage and taking the credit score beating like a man
- Put the property on the market for sale: If the home is special and priced well, it will sell in some period of time. If not, eat the mortgage every month until the banks start lending again.
- Rent the property out: Get most of the mortgage paid every month by the tenant. Keep a tenant in the property until the market comes back and then place the home up for sale.
- Rent-to-sell the property: Put a rent-to-own tenant into the property who will pay the mortgage and potentially buy the home during their lease period.
- Rent out the property and then put it on the market: In my experience, this leads to disappointed sellers and upset tenants.
- Arson: Not recommended. And, no, this is not a service we offer!
All of these approaches obviously have pros and cons (like jail time). Depending on each respective person’s needs and tolerance for risk, each approach could be the appropriate one.
And to conclude the public service announcement, please contact your local property manager for further details.
Brett Furniss is the President & Owner of BDF Realty (“Charlotte’s Most Innovative Property Management & Investment Company”), and Rent-To-Sell Realty (“When You Need a New Solution to Sell Your Home”) which specialize in rent-to-own (lease options) and rent-to-sell homes. His newest book, A Real Estate Agent’s Complete Guide to Representing Rent-To-Own (Lease Option) Tenants (Delight Clients, Fill Vacant Homes, and Earn $2,250* Upfront! (*Minimum!)
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Charlotte Property Management Weekly: Delayed Rental Walk-Throughs Cost Everyone Money
Unfortunately, I’m yawning as I’m writing the title of this article. I’m not sure how to jazz it up a little (maybe “Lindsey Lohan falls for property manager during rental walk-through! Then she heads back to rehab.” I’m intrigued at least.
Learn MoreCharlotte Property Management Weekly: Another Ploy in Rental Home Fraud
Perhaps the next “big thing” in rental fraud is high-jacked rental house ads. We just started managing a property and were surprised when potential tenants started contacting us about a different Craig’s List ad on the same house (at a much lower rental rate); they were wondering which of the Craig’s List ads for this rental house was legitimate.
Learn MoreCharlotte Property Management Weekly: Reaction to Proposed FHA Loan Changes for Those in Lease Option Contracts: “No Sweat”
It reminds me of one of my high school friend’s patented lines when he would see one of us wearing an ugly shirt or some God-awful hat, “I didn’t think there was a possible way for you to get even less girls, but you may have found it.”
To extend this wisdom to the real estate industry, if real estate agents didn’t think there was a possible way to do even less brokerage business, FHA may have found a way.
Learn MoreCharlotte Property Management Weekly: Lessons from the Banking Crisis for Properly Structuring Incentives for Rent-To-Sell
Potential clients of ours ask, “Why do you charge a “Realtor Fee” of 5% or 6% when a rent-to-own tenant buys our home (rent-to-sell)? Some of your competitors provide the tenant, keep the upfront option fee, and then let us manage the property. We then only pay the attorney fees when the tenant buys.”
We answer, “So you don’t experience something akin to the banking crisis.”
Learn MoreCharlotte Property Management Weekly: Maybe You Shouldn’t Fix Up your Rental Home?
Unfortunately, trophy rental homes with bells and whistles don’t make money; average homes do. So the key is to keep your rental home average and undifferentiated? That doesn’t sound like good marketing, does it?
Learn MoreCharlotte Property Management Weekly: 700+ Credit Score Tenants Not the Best Option for your Rental Home?
He wanted to make sure that we placed a rental tenant into his home that had 700+ credit scores. That was it.
I told him I didn’t think that was a good idea; it would reject a lot of better suited applicants. He told me I was crazy (in so many words).
Learn MoreCharlotte Property Management Weekly: Rent-To-Own- Just like Burger King for Buyers and Sellers
A lot of banks don’t like Burger King. Why do I say that? It’s simply because they don’t want you to “Have it Your Way.”
Learn MoreCharlotte Property Management Weekly: “Cash for Clunkers” Predicts a Cloudy 2010 Housing Market
“Can’t Believe You Still Have a Job” Award of 2009: Obama’s “Cash for Clunkers” sales forecasting team. As they projected a total 7-week program amount of $1B, they ran out of money before the first week was out and had to go begging Congress for $2B more.
If “prognosticatin’” is your game, and you’re off by that much, you probably need to find a new job- you just ain’t that good at it.
Learn MoreCharlotte Property Management Weekly: Innovate Quickly or Die! In Real Estate?
“Financial Crisis
Stalled too many customers
CEO no more”
(Haiku twitter message posted by just fired CEO of Sun Microsystems, Jonathan Schwartz, 2/4/10)