Property Management News

Rental Application Mistakes Eat Profits

by Bill Gray Financially, many landlords are shooting themselves in the foot. The application process is normally the first place they do so. Incomplete and inaccurate rental applications cost landlords much needed profit. Nearly 50% of the applications I review are either missing information or are illegible.Sloppy applications speak negatively about the prospects filling them out, but they say even more about the landlord or property manager who accepts them. When a landlord accepts an incomplete or illegible application, he or she is telling the applicant, I dont care. Think about what seeds an I dont care attitude plants in the applicants head.If the landlord is not serious about... Read more

by Bill Gray Our country current economy has had a severe impact on the real estate and housing market. The nightly news covers the blight of communities impacted by a...

Some Landlords Choosing Surety Bonds Over Security Deposits: But Will It Work for You? by Bill Gray As with all of my articles, this one is from the perspective of...

by Bill Gray Some of my most uncomfortable moments have come when talking to landlords about considering settlement offers. Often, the landlord is so emotional about...

Are you certain your old tenant wont pay his or her bill? Landlords tell me several times a week there is no way their previous tenant will ever pay what they owe. As...

Wait Before You Hand Over Keys to New Tenant

by Bill Gray Often after a tenant signs the lease, the landlord immediately hands over the keys. At this point, many landlords miss a critical opportunity to gain profit and minimize the risk that the tenant will eventually leave owing money. In 30-40% of the tenant debt files I review, either the move-in inspection was done poorly, or not done at all. This makes it difficult to accurately document any damages the tenant may cause while he or she lives in your rental. In turn, this makes recovering the repair costs all the more difficult. Often a landlord will simply hand the tenant a move-in checklist and say, Let me know if you find anything wrong. After the lease is signed,... Read more

by Bill Gray With over 10 years experience in the apartment collection business, I can tell you the best ways for a deadbeat tenant to rip you off. Do you keep a...

Collecting delinquent rent and damages against a tenant is the least appealing part of being a landlord. Yet, the burgeoning eviction numbers reported by courts around...

Tenant debt collection expert Bill Gray is seeing a disturbing trend: "We are getting more and more collection requests from owners who inherited the...

It's tough when you get ripped off by your tenant. But it adds insult to injury when you turn to a collection agency for help collecting the debt, only to learn...