Embezzling or theft by a manager or employer is a topic most owners never consider. But many owners are losing money right now and don’t know it. It can happen in the best of buildings and in the best of management situations. If a manager wants to take money it can be done. In my […]
Another Great Idea Heard From A Student Instead of charging a larger deposit (that is tough for some people to pay) tell the renter the normal rent for two people is $2,000. Since you have a dog, we will charge no pet deposit, but the rent would be $2,050 per month. In most cases most […]
Security Deposits Are Misunderstood The maximum amount a Landlord can receive as a security deposit, however designated, cannot exceed two months’ rent for unfurnished units or three months’ rent for furnished units. If the money will be placed in your regular account instead of a trust fund this might be required to be mentioned. You […]
Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, I was a court appointed receiver handling apartment houses during the foreclosure period. I would get my official court order, go take over the building, and run it as a professional property manager. Great job and then the foreclosures quit coming. One time late on a […]
Settle or Not Settle? When you complete an eviction, you get a judgement and then a writ of execution. The judgements are normally worthless. You could paper your garage with them and get more value. However, there were times when other actions might be feasible. The evictee might be a person who would have a […]
Maintenance There was a 132 unit building in Torrance that we had syndicated. Cliff Dietrich and I were the General Partners. I was the Property Manager. One Saturday evening we received an emergency call that our garbage pumps were not working. The sewage from the 132 family units was sent to a big underground tank. […]
Volatile Tenant Another property was one of my very first purchases in Milwaukee when I saved money from working in Europe, officiating basketball games and teaching at the Air Base for the University of Maryland. This was a three-unit in an older area of this older city. A tenant was rather strange. She would yell […]
Rude Tenants In a building in Studio City we had a very bad tenant. Noisy, rude, narcissistic, racist, and other points North. However, he did pay his rent (one time using a racist slur and throwing Pesos at my manager). The tenants wanted him out and the manager wanted him out and I wanted him […]
Trade Tips Somebody asked me for any ideas on how to grow a Property Management company. The answer I wrote might be of interest to other readers, so it follows: Join Apartment Associations and attend their meetings.Get your CPM designation through NAR as soon as possible. Start on the courses so you can state that […]
Questions Can a person without a real estate license sign on a broker’s trust fund?According to DRE which is a more serious violation in a trust fund? Conversion or Commingling?Many people have paid off their California houses. What percentage do you think have mortgages on their homes now?A person leases a furnished apartment for one […]
