property management

Charlotte 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.

Charlotte Property Management Weekly: Are You Practicing Insanity with your Home for Sale?

The definition of insanity is to do the same things over and over again and expect a different result. Is this what is happening with all the vacant homes still being listed for sale (that shouldn’t be)?

Charlotte Property Management Weekly: What’s the Difference Between “Rent-To-Own” and “Rent-To-Sell”?

Another popular question I hear from prospective clients is:

PC: “What’s the difference between rent-to-own and rent-to-sell?”

Us: “There is none!”

Charlotte 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.”

Charlotte 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?

Charlotte Property Management Weekly: Better to Rent or List Your Home for Sale? 3 Question Litmus Test

This seems to be a FAQ these days. As a property manager in Charlotte, we get many calls from people asking themselves this question.

I didn’t think there was a one-size-fits-all answer to this, but I was corrected. It just seems to come down to who you ask.

Charlotte Property Management Weekly: Importance of Getting Paid from Rentals in the Next 5 Years

According to an article in Barron’s this month, the future of the real estate market is in rentals for the next five years. Most real estate agents are hoping this news is akin to the Bush White House claiming the existence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD); hopefully, it is just another example of faulty American intelligence.

Charlotte Property Management Weekly: Wouldn’t You Want the Market to Know Your Rental is For Sale?

However, in an increasingly illiquid market, most wanna-be sellers are turning to the rental market to decrease the short-term pain of monthly payments on their vacant homes. What they really want to do is sell (and not of the short variety).

Charlotte 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.”

Charlotte Property Management Weekly: When Will Rental Rates Rise?

Which leads to the question we really care about: When can we raise the rents to my properties? In short, soon. Why is that?