American Apartment Owners Association » Marketing Vacant Units

Is ‘Virtual’ Home Staging Catching On?

Kim — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:19:09 +0000

All the Perks of Home Staging Without the Heavy Lifting

You’ve heard of home staging – dressing up a vacant rental property with furnishings that give it that “Home Sweet Home” feel.

Now, there’s virtual staging, digitally enhancing the property photos rather than actually placing the furnishings in the unit. Click a button to add artwork, a dining table, and viola, traffic increases as prospects clamour to move into the unit.

Virtual staging offers all of the benefits of home staging, but without the need for actual furnishings. No money spent on rented furnishings, no time lost, and fewer trips to the chiropractor.

Although there are no formal statistics available, there is ample testimony from real estate professionals that staging does work to increase traffic from ads. Photos of a property with furnishings are simply more inviting than those of an empty room. Forget the “blank canvas” concept — most renters and buyers see a vacant property as an invitation to low-ball the owner/landlord.

But some real estate professionals are urging caution when virtual staging. A spokesman for the National Association of Realtors recently questioned the ethics of doctored photos for realtor ads, referring to some examples that probably crossed the line — light fixtures that don’t exist, or a view of trees from a window that actually overlooks a brick wall.

Whether renting a home or selling it, any misrepresentation in the negotiations can create a shaky foundation. Fake photos could provide a way for a tenant to invalidate a rental lease agreement.

While virtual staging may attract more prospects, nothing can substitute for an actual viewing before signing legal documents.

Virtual staging can work for advertising materials, but real staging can make property tours a snap. Setting up a real TV or dining table may be the only way to create a sense of flow in an otherwise generic room.

See our feature, Tricks of Home Staging for Rental Property Showings.

American Apartment Owners Association offers discounts on products and services for landlords related to your rental housing investment, including rental forms, tenant debt collection, tenant background checks, insurance and financing. Find out more at www.joinaaoa.org.

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What Tenants Look For In a Rental Property

Kim — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 15:52:02 +0000

Knowing what tenants are seeking in a rental propery offers landlords clues in deciding how their spruce-up dollars are best spent, and how to effectively advertise properties to attract the best applicants.

HomeRun Homes (www.Lease2Buy.com), a rent-to-own classifieds powerhouse, collects data from thousands of renters who are looking for long-term rentals, and follows trends to determine what tenants are looking for.

Here are the ten top amenities that qualified, long-term tenants were seeking over the past 60 days, in order of importance:

1. Double Garage/2 Car Garage
2. Some Land/Acreage
3. Must Allow Pets
4. Pool
5. School District
6. Basement – Nice Size & Finished Basement
7. Proximity to transportation (Bus/Subway, etc)
8. Backyard Would Be Nice. A Three Bedroom Would Also Work.
9. Fireplace.
10. Washer/Dryer Hook Up

HomeRun Homes is a highly-ranked online classifieds service exclusively for rent-to-own properties, and offers real estate investors information on rent-to-own transactions through its website and blog, a newsletter, and an e-book entitled, Secrets of Rent-to-Own.

See more on Rent To Own Transactions Move Into Mainstream.

American Apartment Owners Association offers discounts on products and services for landlords related to your commercial housing investment, including rental forms, tenant debt collection, tenant background checks, insurance and financing. Find out more at www.joinaaoa.org.

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Advertising and Fair Housing – Forget About Freedom of Speech

Kim — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 15:25:09 +0000

by Charles Brown

Your occupancy rates are down and you are competing with other apartment communities for residents.

You have a novel idea – Hey! Maybe some creative advertising would help!

You create a stunning brochure with pictures from your holiday party with everyone having a good time and a guy dressed like the Easter Bunny in the background. You put up some billboards with pictures of your smiling staff members posing around the swimming pool.

The next thing you know, you have a complaint filed against you claiming that your advertising violates the Fair Housing Act.

The complaint says that 7 out of the 10 people in the pictures on your billboards are Hispanic and that does not reasonably represent the majority and minority groups in your area. The complaint also says that the Easter Bunny in the brochure implies that you are discriminating against non-Christians.

Wait a minute. This is the U.S.A. What about freedom of speech? The First Amendment? You mean I cannot put anything I want to in my advertisements? That’s right.

An apartment owner in Virginia was fined a substantial amount of money for using all white models in their brochure because the models were not “clearly definable as reasonably representing the majority and minority groups in the metropolitan area.” Your billboard might be a problem because more of the residents in your community are members of racial groups other than what is shown in your billboard picture. However, you may take comfort in knowing that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) does not consider the use of the Easter Bunny to be discriminatory. So your brochure is probably okay.

The Fair Housing Act says that you may not publish advertisements which “indicate any preference, limitation, or discrimination or the intention to make a preference, limitation, or discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, or national origin.”

Obviously, your ads may not say something blatant such as “no children” or “no Catholics.” But what about the more subtle aspects of your ads? The general rule is to describe the property and not the people who live there and the ad will be acceptable. Phrases like “no wheel chairs allowed” or “independent living” discriminate against people with disabilities. But, it is acceptable to say that your property is “handicapped accessible” or has “wheelchair ramps” because these are descriptions of the facilities.

An ad stating that your property is “great for Jewish families” is unacceptable because it indicates a preference for renting to Jewish families. Describing your property as “near the new Catholic Community Center” may also show a preference for a particular type of resident. However, using terms like “desirable neighborhood” or “great location” is not discriminatory.

Here Are Some Tips to Avoid Problems with Advertising

1. Review your written materials and advertising materials. Get rid of anything that may give rise to a discrimination complaint. Your advertisements and community newsletter should portray a community that is accessible to the protected classes.

2. Add the Fair Housing Logo to all of your advertising materials.

3. If room provides, put a statement in your advertising that contains the following Fair Housing message:

WE DO BUSINESS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE FAIR HOUSING ACT IT IS ILLEGAL TO DISCRIMINATE AGAINST ANY PERSON BECAUSE OF RACE, COLOR, RELIGION, SEX, HANDICAP, FAMILIAL STATUS, OR NATIONAL ORIGIN

4. Describe the apartment and amenities. Do not describe who you think would be happy renting there.

5. The people in any pictures in your advertising should reflect the majority and minority members of your community. If your staff does not reflect the make-up of the community, do not use a picture of them in your advertisements. Likewise, using a photograph from one of your community events may be a bad idea if it does not represent the majority and minority members of your metropolitan area.

6. If you are not sure whether something in your advertisement is a Fair Housing violation, leave it out.
Copyright 2002-2010 All Rights Reserved

Charles Brown is an attorney who invests in real estate in the Austin, Texas area. He is Board Certified in Residential and Commercial Real Estate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He can be reached at 512-476-8942.

This article is provided courtesy of the REIClub, a club for people with an interest in Real Estate Investing. Whether you want to expand your investments, hold steady and monitor your current portfolio or you’re just curious about Real Estate, you are invited to subscribe to the REIClub monthly newsletter – for free, and become an Insider. You even get a few very nice bonuses. It takes less than a minute to subscribe, so do it now!

American Apartment Owners Association offers discounts on products and services for landlords related to your rental housing investment, including rental forms, tenant debt collection, tenant background checks, insurance and financing. Find out more at www.joinaaoa.org.

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New York’s New Rental Ban

Kim — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 18:52:35 +0000

New Yorkers have passed a law banning apartment rentals of less than 30 days.

The ban is aimed at short-term tourist rentals, as well as “transient” hotels in permanent residential buildings.

Lawmakers supporting the ban claim that short-term rentals place needed housing options out of reach of other New Yorkers at a time of a housing shortage.

Opponents, however, claim that the action was a concession to the powerful hotel industry that has been losing out to locals who seized the opportunity to cater to budget travelers by renting out apartments to tourists. New York boasts the highest hotel rates in the nation.

The law applies to short term sublets by tenants as well as property owners.

It exempts “bed and breakfast” arrangements, such as an elderly person who takes in a boarder, so long as the permanent resident remains at the property, and only applies to situations where money is exchanged.

Lawmakers believe this measure was needed because these short-term renters, most of them tourists, are noisy and disruptive, and pose a security risk in private buildings. One senator defended criticism by proclaiming that enforcement will be a “no harm, no foul” scenario, where authorities will be involved only when there is a complaint.

See City Targets Out of Town Landlords.

American Apartment Owners Association offers discounts on products and services for landlords related to your commercial housing investment, including rental forms, tenant debt collection, tenant background checks, insurance and financing. Find out more at www.joinaaoa.org.

To subscribe to our blog, click here.

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How to Punch up Your New Rental Listings: What Renters Look For

Kim — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 15:20:04 +0000

by Howard Bell

If you own to rent, know why renters move and what amenities they choose in their new digs.

If we can isolate the major needs of tenants we can begin of offer those amenities ourselves and we can punch up our new listings advertising by highlighting those amenities for ourselves.

Action Plan

1. Search Craigslist for units in your area with the same size and amenities. We like to use Craigslist as a MLS for rentals. Its been very effective for establishing a ball park number.
2. Drive your neighborhood and notice for rent signs. Call them and get a sense of your local market before you price your home or unit.
3. Notice the curb appeal of units in your area. There are many cosmetic upgrades that are inexpensive yet create interest.
a. Try some flowers or landscaping to make the front more attractive at little cost to you.
b. Try offering some high tech amenities such as DSL or wireless in the building.
c. Offer storage if you have under utilized space such as a basement area.
d. Consider installing a revenue sharing plan for either storage units or laundry room. There are companies that will provide the equipment on shared revenue basis.

Fair Housing

Be sure you are aware of fair housing laws as they relate to what and how you can describe a property or you can face a discrimination lawsuit.

Fair housing laws prohibit making, printing or publishing a notice, statement, or advertisement that indicates any preference, limitation, or discrimination based on a protected class. Advertising must show that all people and classes are being equally considered. Fair housing laws address all types of statements – newspaper, radio, magazines, and television. All of the above including vacancy signs are advertising and must prohibit making any statement indicating a preference or put limits on housing. There are some exemptions but it is advisable to be sure that you are among those exceptions before you advertise.

Images in Advertising: If you customarily use advertising with photographs or drawings of people, try to use men, women, children, people with disabilities, and people of all races, nationalities and ages in a way that reflects the population as a whole. A key is to be sure to use images that are representative of society in general.

Language: Avoid using words or phrases that show a preference or discourage anyone because of his or her protected class. If you describe the property itself and not the targeted audience, you are safer under fair housing laws. Make no assumptions about the needs or desire of a protected class that may seem to categorize them.

Marketing to a protected class: Be careful with your language. Do not make assumptions about the need of a group of people. It is best to objectively describe the property and allow the prospective applicant to determine their needs, but it can be mentioned that your unit has access for the disabled or that you are near schools and playgrounds and that families are welcome. There are other exceptions. It is advisable to always be careful and consult with your attorney or apartment association.

Howard Bell PFP CCRM is the founder/editor of Your Property Path.com, featuring over 450 articles on property management, Your Property Path SF, trade talk for the San Francisco real estate industry, Your Property Path News Brief, snap news updates and real estate market info, and Your Property Path Amazon Store. Howard is a property manager in San Francisco and holds a certification in financial planning.

See Howard Bell’s feature, Are the Stock Markets Telling Us Something?

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HUD produces a study every two years or so and polls tenants that have moved. Paying attention to our tenants is the best way to create strong interest in our available rentals and to assure good tenant retention. Keeping good tenants assures a stable cash flow. This allows us to plan with some assurance new business activities and helps us stay on a stable maintenance program.

The first question asked is “why do renters move”

According to the US Census Bureau about 1 in 3 move every year. With home sales slowing we see rentals gaining strength and in my market, San Francisco, we see apartment sales which are based on cash flow and bought for investment increasing in price.

The first reason given in the HUD study was to begin a family. This means to us that if your tenant has given you a thirty day notice to terminate and you have a larger unit coming up, you should consider an offer to move them to the larger unit.

Target Market: New families. If you have a large unit vacancy then you might consider new families as a target market. Please be careful of Federal fair housing laws, you can’t discriminate for or against children. Post flyers in laundromats, near family clinics, family birthing classes.

The second reason given for a move was job location.

Target Market: We think it would be good for an owner to be aware of transportation, location to highways and emphasize being close to any large companies or industrial parks in your area. The target market should certainly include employees in these locations and your listings should mention ease of travel or even travel time to large employees. Place flyers near work places with good access to your area, local community papers and internal company newspaper.

Another big reason when choosing units is price. The key take away here is know you market. Price you unit or home according to the area and your amenities. If you price too low you may wait years to get to market value for that unit, especially if its rent controlled. If you price too high, you may wait months for a rental causing a loss in the unit.

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The Key to Filling Vacancies: Specialize!

admin — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:09:55 +0000

Is Specialized Housing For You?

by Michael Monteiro

Particularly if you own a property in an urban area or near a university or center of business, many specialized tenant markets are just waiting to be captured.

Specialized property management may be just the solution you’ve been looking for to decrease vacancies and guarantee steady rental income.

When considering just a few of your options below, be sure that you take your property, location, property management style, and goals into consideration.

Section 8 and low-income housing

Essentially, the Section 8 program provides low-income individuals with government-assisted rent. Generally, tenants pay approximately 30 percent of a unit’s rent and the government pays the remaining balance directly to the tenant’s landlord.

In such a scenario, the Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) will determine the unit’s fair market rate (FMR) and the landlord is not allowed to charge the tenant anything over this amount. While it is up to you to choose whether or not to participate in Section 8, keep the following points in mind:

You will be subject to property inspection to ensure you meet HUD’s Housing Quality Standards.

You will not be able to charge a Section 8 tenant more than FMR.

Regardless of your state’s laws, you cannot evict a Section 8 tenant without judicial action for eviction.

While there may be some similarities, low-income housing is not the same as Section 8. Rather than receiving rental income from the government, property owners who run low-income properties are eligible for the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC).

But it’s important to bear in mind that these tax credits apply only if you adhere to the rules and regulations that determine who can live in your building and how much they can be charged. Not abiding by the rules that are set forth can result in a whole lot of headaches, not to mention economic loss.

Despite the red tape that can come with low-income housing property management, there is a large pool of renters in need of low-income housing. If your property is in an appropriate situation, low-income property management may be a good solution for you.

Student housing

College students can be a landlord’s best friend or worst enemy. The problems with renting to students are fairly straightforward. Generally speaking, you’re dealing with younger renters (many of whom may be living on their own for the first time).

With this in mind, you may be more likely to experience noise and upkeep issues. Because of the school schedule, you may also find yourself turning apartments over annually or having to deal with sub-lets during the summer months.

But there are some very real positives when it comes to renting to students as well, most of which are financial. If you are living in an area that houses a college or university, chances are you will have a more dense renting population than you would otherwise.

This means that—for at least nine months out of the year—students offer a very real way to keep your vacancy levels low. Also, while students may not inherently have a lot of income (or any at all), when a parent or guardian co-signs the lease, in most cases that monthly check is just as reliable as it would be under any other circumstances.

Sure, you may have to be a bit more hands-on than you would otherwise be when it comes to running student housing. But the bottom line is, they offer a nice steady flow of income.

Corporate housing

More likely than not, managing corporate housing is fairly different from any other kind of property management you’ve done to date. First of all, you’ll be dealing with a company rather than an individual tenant.

In most corporate housing situations, a company will rent out one or more rooms in a property, with the understanding that one or more of their employees or clients will occupy this space over the duration of the rental term.

The way this actually works out may vary from having one stable tenant for a year at a time to having a cast of different tenants in and out on as little as a daily or weekly basis.

The good news here is that signing a lease with a corporate entity allows property managers to feel relatively secure that payment issues will be avoided.

There are not necessarily downsides to this scenario, just things to consider that make this situation different from renting to an individual such as: assuming the responsibility for furnishing the unit; the potential inability to build a relationship with the tenant or screen for undesirable tenant behavior; and, in some cases, the knowledge that you will not necessarily have a tenant occupying the unit at all times to immediately alert you when repair and upkeep issues crop up.

If you are looking for ways to decrease vacancy rates and generate more income, remember: There are always ways to think outside of the box when it comes to property management. Before you undertake one of these (or any other) specialized property management endeavors, just make sure you have carefully thought out the pros and cons and are well versed on any specific tax considerations or rules and regulations that may apply.

Check out the Buildium Blog for more property management resources.

Michael Monteiro works for Buildium LLC, maker of online property management software and landlord software for professional property managers, condos and homeowner associations (HOAs) and is author of the The Buildium Property Management Blog.

See The Right Way to Handle Subletting.

American Apartment Owners Association offers discounts on products and services for landlords related to your real estate investment including REAL ESTATE FORMS, tenant debt collection, tenant background checks, insurance and financing. Find out more at joinaaoa.

To subscribe to our blog, click here.

Tags: rental+property+management, apartment+management, landlord+tips, landlord+help, landlord+associations, property+management+software, section+8+housing, student+housing, corporate+housing, rental+forms, rental+lease

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Your Rental Ad Goes Mobile

Thu, 07 May 2009 20:44:18 +0000

Put Your Rental Listing in the Palm of Their Hands

Apartment listing website MyNewPlace just announced that it has launched MyNewPlace for Mobile, a version of its website for mobile devices, allowing renters to search and review apartments and rental homes wherever they have a wireless connection.

Users no longer have to be in front of their computer at home or work in order to search for their next apartment.

According to comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, over 63 million Americans use a mobile device to access the Internet for news and information. Based on internal and third-party research, MyNewPlace estimates that well over 10 million renters are active mobile Internet users.

MyNewPlace for Mobile has all of the features consumers need to find their next apartment, including:

Complete search functionality of millions of properties based on location and amenities
Multimedia listing information with pricing, detailed descriptions and photos
Mapped property locations
Click-to-call functionality, allowing users to call a leasing office without dialing a number

“Up until now searching for an apartment meant being stuck in front of the computer,” said Mark Moran VP of Marketing at MyNewPlace, “Now with MyNewPlace for Mobile, consumers have all of the information they need to find a new apartment right in the palm of their hand.”

MyNewPlace features more than 6 million apartments for rent in the United States. Mobile users will be able to use rich apartment search filtering, including search by city, number of bedrooms, bathrooms, price, and even pet-friendliness. Additionally, MyNewPlace for Mobile will remember which properties a user has looked at, “MyNewPlace for Mobile takes the best of our award-winning website and lets users take it where they need it out on the road with them as they go apartment hunting,” Moran added.

MyNewPlace.com is the third largest apartment Internet Listing Service and is used by millions of people. The launch of MyNewPlace for Mobile is consistent with the company’s commitment to embracing new technologies and channels, as also evidenced by its recent integrations with FaceBook and Twitter.

The mobile version of MyNewPlace can be found at http://m.MyNewPlace.com.

See 26 Million To Use On Big Classified Ad.

Share your insights by commenting below. For questions about our blog, contact our editor at kim@joinaaoa.org.

American Apartment Owners Association offers discounts for landlords on products and services related to your rental investment, including real estate forms, tenant debt collection, tenant background checks, insurance and financing. Find out more at www.joinaaoa.org.

To subscribe to our blog, click here.

Tags: real+estate+forms, apartment+owners, landlords, landlord+associations, Internet+rental+ads, apartment+listings

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Would You Let This Tenant Break the Lease?

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:45:30 +0000

Employer Willing to Buy Out Tenant’s Lease

by Robert Griswold, Inman News

Q: I have a tenant who recently signed a two-year lease for my rental home. She just contacted me indicating that she has been approached by her employer about transferring to another city for a promotion with the company. She wanted me to voluntarily let her out of the lease, but I declined, as the rental market here is not that strong and it took me three months to rent the house.

I don’t want to be difficult, but I hate to lose a good tenant when I spent so much money upgrading the rental unit and marketing the property. She has now come back to me with the proposal that the employer will pay me a “reasonable” amount to break the lease. I don’t have any idea on what is an appropriate charge. Am I limited to a certain amount? What if I ask for three months’ rent and end up renting the house in two months?

A: Your tenant is approaching you about breaking the lease so you have the option of simply declining and holding her to the lease. Of course, in most states if the tenant does vacate your rental home you are obligated to re-rent the property and can’t just let it sit empty and expect the tenant to pay the rent for the balance of remaining months on the two-year lease. On the other hand, you could agree to unilaterally release your tenant from any further obligation under the lease for nothing.

I would recommend a middle-ground response that is calculated based on a conservative estimate of the most likely costs you will incur in re-leasing the property. That includes the cost of cleaning and preparing the home to be rented, the advertising, and the length of time you will not collect rent. Based on the soft rental market you may want to propose a lease cancellation fee that includes your out-of-pocket expenses plus four or five months of rent. The factor you want to keep in mind is how long it will take you to re-lease the unit and whether it would be at least at the rent level you were to receive under the lease if the tenant weren’t leaving. If it is likely that you will not be able to get the same rental rate as the current tenant is paying or if you will have to offer some concessions (like free rent), then you should include that as well.

So while you could play hard ball and demand the full remaining balance of all the lease payments to the end of the lease, the reality is that you and your tenant’s employer will probably reach a compromise. Once the amount has been mutually agreed, be sure to prepare a basic written agreement that indicates it is a full and final settlement and that you will not seek any further payments — but that you will not pay back any funds even if you are able to re-lease the property in less than the agreed time.

This column on issues confronting tenants and landlords is written by property manager Robert Griswold, author of “Property Management for Dummies” and co-author of “Real Estate Investing for Dummies.”

E-mail your questions to Rental Q&A at rgriswold.inman@retodayradio.com. Questions should be brief and cannot be answered individually.What’s your opinion? Leave your comments below or send a letter to the editor. To contact the writer, click the byline at the top of the story.

American Apartment Owners Association offers discounts on products and services related to your commercial housing investment including REAL ESTATE FORMS, tenant debt collection, tenant background checks, insurance and financing. Find out more at www.joinaaoa.org.

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Tags: when+tenant+moves+out+early, apartment+owners+associations, landlord+associations, landlords

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Transform Old Countertops for Less

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 16:01:18 +0000

by Julie Murphy

So, your renters are not interested in looking at those old coffee stains or lovely series of stripes from years of not using a cutting board on the formica countertops? Hmmm.

Why not consider an easy, cost effective solution - overlay countertops? Several types of materials can be used right on top of your old countertop with many advantages:

No messy demolition! If the layout of your property is just fine, there is no need to go through the expense of ripping out the countertops.

Formica, tile or any substrate can be overlaid.

Easy installation - certified personnel take exact measurements, then fabricate the material in the shop for a perfect fit. This means NO MESS in your property.

Overlay counter-tops are fitted and glued usually within 1 – 2 days, unlike a long drawn out process for many other types of counter-tops.

The Look of Granite Without the Hassle

A popular type of overlay is called Trend Stone, which has the look of granite without the bi-annual sealing process or the danger of staining or chipping. This material is a mixture of 95% natural stone (granite and quartz) and a polymer, which maintains the beauty of the natural look while adding extra benefits. It’s heat, stain and scratch resistant and has a lifetime guarantee.

Another type of overlay is FLEX-C-MENT -specially formed and produced to obtain many unique looks. Colors of “c-ment” can be mixed to match anything from tile to stone, with very interesting cost-effective results. Commercial grade epoxy is used to seal the surface for extra durability.

When counter-tops need a face-lift, and you want to avoid demolition and downtime, explore the options available with overlay counter-tops.

Your prospective renters will appreciate the modern touch of class!

You’ll appreciate the no-mess, budget friendly solution. Bye Bye eyesore counter-tops! Hello welcoming kitchens and impressive, profitable properties!

Check out our Green Pages for information on money saving tips that help the environment. Once there, click on the Green Forum.

American Apartment Owners Association offers discounts on products and services related to your commercial housing investment, including real estate forms, tenant debt collection, tenant background checks, insurance and financing. Find out more at www.joinaaoa.org.

To subscribe to our blog, click here.

Tags: landlords, landlord+associations, apartment+owners+associations, green+forum, veneer+countertops+save+money, don’t+replace+countertops,+resurface+them

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Want to Curb the Insanity of Move-Out Day?

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 21:54:43 +0000

Update Your Move-out Checklist

Maybe it’s the high carbs, the beers used as bribes, or sheer exhaustion, but move-out time for tenants breeds temporary insanity. It’s a time when the quest for friends with strong arms or a pickup truck makes strange bedfellows. Things get left behind, other tenants get annoyed, and the landlord may get caught prepping the unit for the next tenant with no time to spare.

A move out checklist is the key to maintaining harmony, and to getting your property back on time and in good condition. Make sure yours is up-to-date:

Move-out Information

A written checklist of procedures is the best bet to getting the results you want. Give the tenant the move-out checklist at lease signing, and go over it again when a tenant gives notice. Lay out the time lines. When, exactly, does the tenant have to be out? List the steps they need to accomplish to get their deposit back.

Forwarding Address

Don’t ever let the tenant get away without leaving a forwarding address. Be sure to note that address for future reference. That can make or break later attempts at debt collection.

Provide a Cleaning Checklist

As many landlords can attest, one person’s ‘clean’ is another’s nightmare. Supply a cleaning checklist for each room. If you are expecting the tenant to wash the windows, baseboards or clean underneath the refrigerator, you should say so. If you don’t want them plugging nail holes with toothpaste, especially the green and red minty kind, then say so.

Don’t have a cleaning checklist? Check out www.mrscleannw.com for room by room tasks and helpful cleaning tips: for example, dust before you vacuum, remove scuff marks on linoleum with a pencil eraser.

Modern Materials, Modern Solutions

Abrasive cleaners wreak havoc on granite. So can the popular citrus-y ones. Common grocery store wood floor cleaners can leave a waxy buildup. Some stain bamboo. Does the ceramic tile cleaner the tenant is using clean the grout in between? Your best bet for all of your floors may be diluted vinegar and warm water. But how much vinegar?

Tell your tenant how to protect your special finishes, or supply the cleaners, labeled with instructions when the tenant moves in.

Provide oven liners, a cheap way to avoid the hardest item to clean – the oven. The extra time savings can be applied to cleaning other areas.

Don’t Forget the Exterior

Mowing and weeding are easy to neglect, but untidy landscaping or a dirty front door are the first things the new tenant will see.

Provide Phone Numbers for Services

Don’t want the couch or eighty bags of trash left on the curbside? Leave the numbers to call for special trash pickup. Have a special relationship with a carpet cleaner? Your tenant is tired, stressed and buzzing from caffeine. Leave them the phone numbers of providers so they can get the job done on time.

Gone Keyless?

Update your checklist to reflect your upgrade to keyless entry. You’ll avoid the cost of re-keying the locks and the headache of having your keys delivered at 2:00 a.m. by installing a keyless sytem. But set up another way to assure your tenant will touch base with you before they leave.

Be a Help, Not a Hindrance

Encourage questions. Be available to help solve problems. Work together. Consider a small moving out gift. Good communication leads to a good relationship; the tenant will want to leave the place clean. Maybe they’ll even send you a referral or two!

We have Landlord Forms. Click here for more information.

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Tags: update+move-out+checklist, tenant+move-out+checklist, landlord+forms, landlord+associations, apartment+owners+associations

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