Realty World – Franklin Real Estate Group – Ed Favinger

 It’s Amazing How Much We’ve Evolved isn’t it…?

Because every day it seems I’m checking out the Fry’s and Best Buy ads in the paper.   I’m amazed at the prices for digital cameras and video “camcorders”.   I can’t believe how little they cost anymore.

I purchased my first Sony Digital Camera back in 2000 for almost $500 that used floppy discs to store the images.   I could only get about 15 or so high quality pictures on a disc and sometimes the disc would be defective.   Which meant that I’d have to go back out to the site and get new pictures.

Now…?   I’m almost afraid to purchase anything because if I wait a couple of weeks I can get it much cheaper because the next “big thing” was just put on the market.

Video - What We Do With It.

• Advertising – We’ve been using video in our Real Estate Sales business for about a year now and Digital stills in our rental ads.   That changed about a month ago and we are now using Digital Video in our Rental Ads
• At Move in & Move Out  -   In addition to the “move in-move out” sheet that the new tenant would ordinarily fill out, we now do a video and “hi-lite” the areas that have “dings” or “stains”.   We then keep this in the tenants file and send them a copy too. 
• Annual inspection – If you are an out of town owner, wouldn’t it be nice for your property manager to do an annual inspection so you the owner can see how your investment has been maintained ?    I did one just a few days ago over in Granite Bay.  And…as a side note,  when I’m in the area of a rental we manage I’ll drive by and just take a still with my Palm Pilot.
• Emergencies & Repairs that come up  – Recently we made some repairs to a roof and gutter system in an apartment complex so I got a video of the work for an out of town owner.    We’ve also used videos of fallen trees and sent them over the Internet to out of town owners to keep them up to speed.

Bottom LIne…?

Keep in mind that you don’t have to have commercial radio quality “Voice Over Tonality” to do these videos.   It’s the pictures that do most of the talking.   So just narrate enough to describe what you are shooting and remember that “Youtube” is your friend.

I hope this helps…

Make it a Great Day…!

Ed Favinger, Broker CRS, GRI         916-203-1260 Mobile         favinger@rwnetwork.com

So you’ve got a Long Term Tenant that wants to “work a deal” with you… ?

Should you be flexible in these “hard times”… 

I know times are difficult now, but you as the landlord are not part of the Welfare System, so please don’t feel guilty that you are owed the rent.    

If you find yourself in this situation, let me give you some advice before it’s too late.

In California as you may know the rental contracts specify rent is due on the 1st and late on the 2nd. However you can’t not charge a “late fee” until after the 5th of the month.

Here’s the correct way to handle this situation.

Let’s say a tenant comes to you with a situation that they are unable to pay the rent and I mean they can’t pay any rent. If they have been decent tenants and have not been consistently late and have maintained the property, here’s what you should do so you don’t get burned and left without rent for a long period of time.

Your first step is to give the tenant a “3 day notice to pay or quit”.   If at the end of that time you don’t have a response your next step is to turn this over to an “Eviction Attorney” and let them handle it from that point.

However, let’s say you have given the 3 day notice to pay or quit and the tenant comes to you with a “partial” payment.  It’s ok to take that in, but then, you turn right around and issue another 3 day notice to pay or quit for the remainder until it’s paid.   The reason I recommend this strategy is that you must keep up the pressure on the tenant to get their rent in and continually issuing 3 day notices after a partial payment does that.

Why You Should Not Be Too Flexible.

Let’s say the 1st of the month comes around and a tenant tells you he can’t afford this month’s rent for what ever reason.  You’ve had a decent relationship with this person so you decide to give them the benefit of the doubt, take their word and do not issue a 3 day notice.

Two or three weeks later they still haven’t paid the rent,  they tell you they are “working on it”  but,  still haven’t given you any money towards the rent.

All of a sudden you realize it’s in the 3rd week of the month and the next month’s rent is due within a week or so.  Keep in mind you haven’t  started the “eviction” process.

In Sacramento County you have to figure it will be about a 9 to maybe 10 week  process from the day you give the 3 day notice to the tenant  to the day you get into court.  When a judge finally orders the tenant out of the property and the Sheriff does the “lock out” a lot of time has passed with no rent.

Failure to act quickly and timely because you are “working” with a tenant that is in arrears will,  ”in most cases”,  cost you time and therefore income if you had a “paying tenant”.

So… in the case above you’ve waited 3 weeks or so.. then you finally give them a 3 day notice to pay or quit.  Another month will pass before you finally get them into court and regain possession if they don’t answer the complaint.   If the tenant does answer the complaint, it will take longer.

And since they are so far behind, the chances of them catching  up are very slim. 

Bottom Line is you should run your property by the book.   You can be compassionate, but don’t let someone else’s problem become yours.   I’ve had experience trusting tenants in arrears only to be burned later when they decide it’s cheaper for them to move out than to pay the back rent and the current rent in a “deal”.

I hope this helps…

Make it a Great Day..!

Ed Favinger, Broker CRS, GRI         916.203.1260 Mobile          favinger@rwnetwork.com

On the market for just a day or so…I walked inside and saw an Agent writing up an offer.

Click here to view what I saw and let me know what you think.

Make it a great day

Ed Favinger, Broker CRS, GRI      favinger@rwnetwork.com  916-203-1260

Rental Market Update  –  Is it picking up or not ?   Phone Traffic is the Clue !

As a whole our phone traffic has been a little better this week.   Prospective tenants have been searching new places to move to and we’ve noticed they ask a lot more questions regarding amenities and rental terms such as who is responsible for water, sewer and garbage fees. 

We’ve had calls on a condo that’s been vacant for about 45 days that was finally shown today for only the 2^nd time.    We’ve had several new inquiries on a duplex in Roseville that’s also been vacant about 45 days or so and we’ll be showing this weekend to a couple of potential tenants.  We’ve had a decent amount of showings for a Town House Apartment in an 8 unit complex in Cameron Park… one gal has looked at it 3 times now.  We’ve rented up 2 of them in the last 2 weeks after we lowered the rent schedule.

We took a Holding Deposit on a Town House apartment in a small 13 unit complex in Roseville the day after the other tenant moved out.    We’re now in the process of getting it “rent ready”.    On this complex, we had to lower the rents to a new “price point” that finally worked.   Since then, we have rented up 3 units in this complex that were vacant for over 45 days.

A small amount of calls have come in on some  2 bedroom 1 bath flats in Citrus Heights that have been vacant for 2 months…but no applications to rent.    The reason for this in their case is because of a lack of “amenities”, in my opinion.   So when you couple that with a “tenants market”, you’ll find that good prospective tenants are looking for more value and utility for their money..

The only way to compete is to offer a “rent special” at move in, or perhaps lowering rents if you have an extended vacancy period.

Make it a great day….

Ed Favinger, Broker, CRS, GRI

favinger@rwnetwork.com    916-203-1260