A Pair Should Beat a Full House? Reassessing Security Deposit Wear Guidelines
“Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean…”
(Proverbs 14:4)
I remember several years back we had a couple come in and apply to rent a home from us. They had eight children and seemed abnormally well-rested and together. I was an admirer of these parents who were gracefully taking care of business with almost three times the youth constituency I’m currently trying to navigate. Warriors!
This was going to be a full house! Fair housing laws prohibit any type of discrimination based on family size, so the sheer number of inhabitants wasn’t a factor on their application decision. But common sense dictated that a house with ten people was going to have more wear than a house with two. And wear on a house costs landlords money.
In rental home poker math, a pair should beat a full house. Less occupants means there is less potential for things to break and be worn down. Avoiding and accounting for wear has come more to the forefront as repair and renovation costs have skyrocketed post-COVID.
I started to think about the wear assumption while I was out in the field doing interior home inspections earlier this month. I hadn’t done this many personally since pre-COVID and things were different this time around! I visited around 25 rental homes during business hours and was shocked that 85% of the homes had people present. Schools were in session and it was not a holiday of any sort. I thought most people would be working outside of the home. This was not the case.
The last time I was out doing inspections, almost all of the homes were vacant when I stopped in; the process was sort of robotic and boring. This time it was nice to be able to see some of our tenants and talk. But it was unexpected. And it made me think of how much more foot traffic these houses take now than then.
Wear is probably less of a function of how many people are in a house, but how many hours people are in a house actively using it. So if ten people are living in a house but travel for work and school most of the week, there is not going to be much wear. But if these ten people never leave the house, the wear rate would be very high.
When calculating wear expenses for deduction from a tenant security deposit, property managers will use general guidelines for the life of new carpet or paint (typically 7-10 years); these guidelines have been around for a long time. But if adult tenants are not leaving their homes during work hours, should these numbers be adjusted downward (6-9 years)? Rental homes are incurring a higher rate of wear after COVID jolted the work system and it’s not cheap to renovate.
Wear rate will never be an exact science! I remember doing the walk-through after the aforementioned ten-person family vacated after several years of occupancy. The home looked better than it did when they moved in. Go figure.
But, generally-speaking, wear has increased in rental houses post-COVID. Smart landlords will reassess their security deposit deduction guidelines periodically as wear has become an even larger expense driver.
Happy Landlording!
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A Thanksgiving Rental Home Vendor Question: “What Do You Even Do???”
Property managers have a lot of things under their purview. Different types of things break or need to be serviced on a rental home. Most are handled by specialists in some regard who know how to work within the confines of what landlords require (no gold-plated toilets, please). And sometimes it can be tough to find specialists who are a good fit.
One of the vendors that has historically been a difficult find for BDF Realty is a good, reliable lawn company. When the service area is as large as the Charlotte-Metro area, it’s understandable that not every company works everywhere we have rental homes; it’s tough to justify driving 20 minutes to mow one stray lawn! Then properties are constantly in flux (vacant ones need to be mowed and rented ones don’t, and this changes constantly); this can be administratively difficult to keep straight as their weekly routes need to be constantly updated due to our needs. Not being able to work due to rainy days adds another wrinkle of difficulty to keeping yards look consistently good. Finding one, let alone several, companies that can accommodate us has been challenging. Then they need to be reasonably priced, reliable, friendly, have sound accounting to boot!
In my quest I stumbled on to a lawn company and met with the owner. He was a nice guy, easy to talk to. He ran a smaller shop and thought he could help us out. We started to send him our properties.
Shortly after, I noticed that I stopped hearing from him except when he acknowledged he received our house changes and sent us invoices. Occasionally, he would let me know he saw something askew at a house that we might want to check out. But for the most part, he went dark on BDF Realty.
But the yards were always mowed! We stopped getting calls from tenants and agents complaining about overgrown lawns that hadn’t been cut for weeks. The bills showed up on time and accurately. We weren’t paying for lawns that were still on the schedule when they had previously been taken off the master list. The landscaping part of the business seemed to be quietly humming along.
If I hadn’t been in the business of trying to find good lawn companies for so long, I might have thought something was wrong. “Why don’t I hear from this guy? Why do we pay him so much money? Should I be pitting another lawn company against him? What does he even do that’s so special?” But experience and age gave me appreciation on what a gift this peace of mind was. He really kept us clean from a lawn service perspective. I appreciated it!
From a Charlotte property management perspective, this is what we aim for. We want to be like our lawn service provider, keeping all of our clients clean. The question of “What do you even do?” is one I hope every client has. That usually means that the rent comes in every month, tenant leases are regularly extended, house turns are smooth, tenants are calm and satisfied, and the property management side of the business is quietly humming along. When it looks easy from the outside, it’s running as designed.
Speaking of… A special “Thanksgiving” shoutout to our vendors who do such tireless, great work every day for our tenants, clients, and us. I could ask the question, but I know what you do!
And a thank you, as always, to our clients- if it weren’t for you, there would be no BDF Realty.
Happy Thanksgiving & Happy Landlording!
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Carolina Panthers Quarterbacks & Landlords: Can You Make Good Decisions Under Pressure?
“Wisdom gives a man patience…”
Proverbs 19:11
I was watching the Carolina Panthers play the Buffalo Bills yesterday and it was not pretty for us Charlotte folk. The football game turned into an old-fashioned whooping, 40-9.
The Carolina Panthers quarterback, Andy Dalton, had a bad game. He was intercepted once, fumbled twice, and took seven sacks. One of the reasons for his poor play was that he held on to the ball for too long. The Buffalo’s pass rush was coming furiously each down and he needed to make a quick decision on where he was going to pass the ball. Instead, he was indecisive; he held on to it and his team suffered the consequences of all the lost yardage from the sacks he took.
However, the biggest detriment to the team were the turnovers he created. When Dalton tried to be decisive and go for the big play, he had an interception and two fumbles. Lost yardage from sacks is certainly bad, but turning the ball over to the other team is much more of a killer. A general truth in football is that the team that turns the ball over more usually loses. In fact, statistically, if a team turns it over 3 or more times, they win less than 10% of the time.
This reminded me of general truths that I’ve learned as a Charlotte property manager. They are “general truths” (and not “truths”) because they do not happen 100% of the time, but they definitely get my attention when I see them. For example, in my experience, it is common to receive below-average rental applications from prospective tenants who are:
- Overly-complimentary of a rental house
- Really nicely dressed and/or wearing a suit when we meet
- In a big rush to get approved and move-in
The focus of this blog is on #3.
After BDF Realty gets a rental application, we communicate to the prospective tenants that we’ll try to have an answer on their approval in 2-3 business days. The actual length of time usually depends on things outside our control like when past landlords return our calls, how well the rental application is filled out, when we receive proof of income, and how busy we are. Most tenants understand that running rental applications takes a certain amount of time.
However, sometimes certain tenants begin a drip campaign of pressuring us for an early decision on Day 1. We’ll get e-mails about how they need an answer right away in order to give proper notice to their current landlord, how their last (approved) rental house had fallen through which put them in a bind, they’re approved for another house and are going to go with that one if we can’t give an answer soon, and they need a signed lease to immediately submit to school/aid/jobs/etc.. These jabs begin on Day 1 of submitting the application and start to crescendo on Day 2. Now we’re receiving phone calls and e-mails every hour or two wondering what the hold up is and when we can give them an answer.
At this point, we’re feeling like Andy Dalton. The prospective tenant pass rush is mounting and we are feeling the heat. The tenant is pushing us for a decision and our owner clients sure would like to have an approved tenant for their empty rental home. The only party that is holding things up is the property manager, us. Why are we taking so long?
Dalton drops back to pass and doesn’t see anyone open. Does he force it to a covered receiver and hope he can come up with the contested ball? Or wait a little longer to see if another receiver is able to run himself into enough open space so he can fire in a pass but risk taking the sack? Or does he throw the ball away to avoid a sack, interception, or fumble?
It can be a tough call. We all want to be the hero and make the big play!
I believe smart landlords need to hang tough. To extend the analogy, sacks (losing tenants who demand a quick answer before getting all the data back) and throwing the ball away (losing tenants who do not provide all the required applicant information) can be good plays to avoid turnovers (bad tenants). Turnovers lose games. Bad tenants are really costly: missed rents, home damages, attorney fees, sleepless nights, stress, and wasted energy. The cost of missing on a risky tenant in exchange for extra vacant days on the market pales in comparison.
Andy Dalton is successful if he can make quick decisions and avoid turnovers. Smart landlords want to avoid turnovers (bad tenants) as well, but can afford to be less quick to come to a decision. However, both need to make good decisions under pressure regardless!
Happy Landlording!
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Are Savannah Banana Tix & Great Rental Applicants Worth the Fuss?
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.”
(Matthew 13:44)
I was completely caught off-guard by the Savannah Bananas. More accurately, I didn’t understand the frenzy around their tickets.
It all started around 6 months ago when my wife casually asked me to enter the “Savannah Bananas Ticket Lottery”. I had no idea what she was talking about, but dutifully complied. I clicked on the website link and inputted my contact information. Done.
I ignored the marketing jargon at first:
“These aren’t your typical tickets”
“It’s the most fun you’ll ever have at a baseball game”
“You name it, we have it. Just be mentally prepared.”
From what I could ascertain, the Savannah Bananas were like the Harlem Globetrotters, except for baseball. Which is fine, but they didn’t look overly enticing to me.
However, the inputting of my information set off a 6-month e-mail marketing firework show about how wrong I was:
“You will only have one opportunity to buy tickets to the game of a lifetime- don’t miss out!”
“Confirm your contact information and double-check your log-in to make sure you can get into the website when ticket sales go live!!” (received 4 months prior to the actual lottery)
“Make sure your credit card information is preloaded so you don’t blow the chance of a lifetime!” (received 2 months before the lottery- I guess I need to make sure the card I put in there isn’t expired by then…)
Things got more intense as lottery day approached. “Reconfirm your log-in info!” “You’ll receive an e-mail 5 days from now that you will need to click on to keep in the lottery!” It seemed like these e-mails kept showing up requiring me to do
(and re-do) more work for the right to buy these tickets. Though annoying, on a certain level I was amazed at their potent marketing acumen that turned an apathetic ticket buyer into a pup willing to do whatever they asked.
The day approached and I was told I needed to be ready to buy them at exactly 12:30 PM on the day of my youngest son’s preschool picnic lunch. Of course, I succumbed and checked the time frequently during the event; I’d be ready to click on their website link at exactly the right time. When the time came, the link was slow to respond making me second-guess my log-in credentials (I know I should have reconfirmed them for the 5th time like recommended- dumb!!). But it finally went through and my credit card information was true as well. Four Savannah Banana upper deck tickets were now mine! The website congratulated me and culminated their storyline with the fact that I was now one of the luckiest 150,000 people in the Charlotte-Metro area.
Hooray? Whew!
Besides the cathartic value of getting this experience off of my chest, it made me think of what else is worth the effort that it took to secure these Savannah Banana tickets.
From a residential property management perspective, great rental tenants is the first thing that came to mind. This is the #1 goal of being a successful landlord. Great tenants pay on time, take care of the property, and make working with them a pleasure (I’m picturing a few of them right now!). And they are a gift that keeps on giving. Once they are secured, the benefits accrue for a year and usually much longer!
So when we see great rental applications come through (high credit scores, low debt, glowing landlord references, etc.), the next step is to make sure they don’t get away. Calling them, texting them, e-mailing, following-up, having after-hour conversations if necessary. We need them. The biggest difference between a good and bad property manager is tenant quality.
We’ll find out if the Savannah Bananas experience was worth the fuss of securing these tickets when we attend the game on June 6th. But smart landlords know that securing great rental tenants is always worth it!
Happy Landlording!
And the postscript courtesy Axios Charlotte:
Savannah Bananas tickets sold out in Charlotte in roughly five hours when they went on sale last week, a team spokesperson tells Axios.
Why it matters: Tickets sold for up to $65 originally, but resale prices start at $113 on StubHub, at $171 on Vivid Seats and $156 on SeatGeek.
Catch up quick: Ticket access was based on the Banana Ball Ticket Lottery, which closed last fall. If you were selected, you were assigned a time to have a chance to purchase tickets.
- Before tickets went on sale, the Bananas added a second night to their World Tour stop at Bank of America Stadium to respond to “overwhelming demand,” according to organizers.
My thought bubble: Even with the added night and assigned ticket purchase time, I still wasn’t able to grab tickets. 😔
(Axios Charlotte By Laura Barrero · Apr 16, 2025)
Learn MoreWhy You May Want to Reject Cam Newton as Your Next Rental Tenant
“I could be wrong on him (Lamar Jackson), and I hope I am. I hope he succeeds as a quarterback. But I also go back to, if he’s going to miss, why is he going to miss. You don’t make a living as a quarterback running in the National Football League,” Polian said. “Cam [Newton] is the exception. You try to take exceptions and say they’re the rule: they’re not. Bill Parcells taught me that a long time ago. Parcells often said, if you have one or two exceptions on your team, you’ll end up with a team full of exceptions. You can’t make a living with those guys. You get one every now and then but it’s hard to do it.”
(Former Indianapolis Colts General Manager Bill Polian on ex-Louisville quarterback and current 2018 NFL draft prospect, Lamar Jackson)
Predicting the success rate of college football players coming into the National Football League is hard. It’s so hard, in fact, that talent evaluators who do this for a living at the highest level are frequently wrong; and they don’t get fired because everyone expects them to be wrong! The key in their profession is to be right more often than they are wrong, especially on the most important and expensive positions, like quarterback.
Bill Polian, quoted above recently, is in the NFL Hall of Fame largely because he evaluated talent better than his peers. He makes the point that Lamar Jackson is extremely talented; he won the Heisman Trophy 2 years ago as the best player in college football! But much of his productivity was based on his electric running of the football. His passing, however, is not overly accurate and great accuracy is typically what makes quarterbacks successful in the NFL.
Now the Carolina Panthers quarterback, Cam Newton, is an exception. He is an awesome quarterback (2015 NFL MVP- go Panthers!) but is not an overly accurate passer. But his ability to run is what gives him the edge over other more accurate quarterbacks.
Polian just doesn’t believe that exceptions are a solid way to build a football team.
I believe it is the same way with rental tenants. We screen prospective tenants on credit scores, criminal background, income, and past landlord reports. Sometimes tenants have some poor results in one or more of these areas. This can be understandable; sometimes bad things happen to normally reliable people and an argument can be made that they shouldn’t be unacceptable to landlords based on an unfortunate life occurrence (job loss, illness, divorce, etc.).
However, should a prior eviction or bankruptcy be ignored? How about bad credit or a non-positive landlord report? Isn’t it possible that the prospective tenant is an exception and will actually be a great tenant going forward?
Yes, it is possible. And we’ve had many tenants who fit this mold over the years.
But it is also true that the tenants we’ve had that had great credit scores and landlord reports almost always are great tenants for us. And the ones that we’ve had issues with seem to have had some areas that they were less than stellar in when we’ve ran their applications.
Property management can be really easy when the houses are filled with great tenants who care for the homes and pay their rent on time. Conversely, it can be really difficult when they don’t.
Cam Newton is an exception that worked out well for the Panthers (and hopefully Lamar Jackson will be one too in the NFL). But counting on exceptions to work out well to fill the entire team is a tall bill (so says another Hall-of-Famer, Coach Bill Parcells).
Be careful on how many exceptions are approved as tenants in your rental homes. Cam worked out well, but no one was positive he would when he first got drafted. We all want to give exceptions the benefit of the doubt, but it is a far riskier play than sticking with safer, traditional candidates.
Happy Landlording!
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