Check out this sample of our newsletter! Each week you will receive a landlord tips, early access to our new blogs, links to our podcast episodes, landlord specific articles written by other industry leaders, special products and promotions for your rental property business.
5 Essential Property Management Bookkeeping Tips
Tip of the Week If there is ONE thing that we want to drill into a landlord’s head, it’s that creating criteria and then procedures on how to maintain those criteria is crucial to the success of your rental property business. They may have lost their job or had a severe decline in income. Think about this. Let's say you're the tenant and six weeks before your lease is due to renew, you get laid off. The employer gave you an eight week severance package though, so that should be enough time to find a new job. You know nothing about this but they're a good tenant so you automatically offer a renewal. Without asking them to verify their income, you offer up a renewal. They agree to your new terms and sign the new lease. Likely, with confidence they will find a new job soon. Landlords, it takes barely any time at all to request a tenant provide current paycheck stubs or proof of income! This Week On The Podcast! Renter's Insurance: Why Landlords Should Require ItFirst and foremost, let us clarify that this is not YOUR landlord property insurance. Renters insurance is taken out by the tenant to cover their personal possessions. A few years ago, we only "suggested" that our tenants take out a policy, but we now REQUIRE it from all tenants because it covers way more than just the tenant’s personal property. In this episode we are discussing what renters’ insurance is, why you should make it mandatory for all tenants to have a policy, and how their policy (at no cost to you), also covers you. Click HERE to listen to the podcast and view show notes with links to special offers and promotions. Listen to Our Podcast:
Favorite Landlord ProductsProducts we use to make our rental property business more efficient and safe. They make our life easier so we are sharing them with our readers to help you too!LED Recessed Downlight RetrofitOk Landlords, Listen up. These recessed retrofits are THE BEST! They are super easy to install to replace those old 65W BR30 or 75W BR40 bulbs that use a ton of electricity and cost a upwards of $8 to replace. Please don't tell me you throw a standard light bulb or fluorescent screw in to replace the bulbs in your 5" or 6" recessed cans! 🤦♀️ In a matter of minutes these can replace the old, yellowed baffle of either a 5" or 6" recessed can. The color is bright, yet soft and can be dimmed with an LED dimmer. It's as simple as removing the old trim, leaving the recessed can housing in place. Screw in the retrofit adapter where the bulb would go then connect the adapter to the LED light. Now all you need to do is pinch the mounting arms on the recessed can housing to snap into the brackets on the can and push into place. The whole process takes under 5 minutes. Reviews come in at 4.5 Stars and most all express how simple and easy they are to install. They also love how soft and bright they are with a VERY long life. We installed these over 10 years ago and they are going strong in ALL of our units. With a price of less than $8.10 per downlight, these fixtures are less expensive than the bulbs that need to be replaced every year or so. Available in 4" retrofit as well.
This post contains an affiliate link. We may earn a very small commission (at no additional cost to you) if you purchase from here. These small commissions are to benefit our business so thank you for your support. What's News?FBI Searches Property Management Company in Rent Price-Fixing InvestigationThe FBI searched property management company Cortland Management’s headquarters in Atlanta in an unannounced search on Wednesday, May 22, according to several reports, as part of a multifamily rent price-fixing investigation. National apartment developer Cortland Management’s Atlanta office was searched by the FBI under a limited search warrant, a representative for Cortland confirmed. The warrant was connected to an investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) into potential antitrust violations in the multifamily housing industry, according to a statement from Cortland. The FBI property management search is part of a criminal antitrust investigation by the DOJ into allegations that Cortland and other property management companies have been involved in a conspiracy to artificially inflate apartment rents.
5 Essential Property Management Bookkeeping Tips For landlords, property management bookkeeping is one of those ugly little jobs that must be completed day in and day out. As rent payments come in, expenses go out, and stacks of receipts pile up, it’s easy for landlords to lose sight of their financial pictures. Imagine facing tax season with disorganized records, struggling to understand your true profitability, or missing out on potential tax deductions because of a misplaced receipt. Solid bookkeeping can help you eliminate these concerns. That’s why we compiled a list of the five most essential property management bookkeeping tips to help you stay organized throughout the year. If you put in the work upfront, recording your finances and preparing for tax time gets much easier in the long term.
Good Landlord Reads Big Changes for Real Estate Industry: Complete Guide to the Real Estate Commission LawsuitOn March 15, 2024, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reached a landmark settlement in a pending lawsuit over real estate commissions. The lawsuit was brought by a group of home sellers who challenged how NAR and real estate brokerages set commission rates. Here’s an overview of the lawsuit, details about the settlement, and a look at the shifts expected from this industry-changing litigation.
Your Landlord Resource: Blogs You Might Have Missed When it comes to residential income property, there are many criteria that can lead to very expensive mistakes if you do not handle your decisions properly. Let’s start out by stating this: security deposits are not the landlord’s money until after the tenant has moved out and the landlord has proven what damages they need the funds for. Security Deposits are the tenant’s funds which they are allowing you to hold for them. Most states require security deposits be held in a separate bank account; Not the primary bank account used for income and expenses. You may not commingle these funds with other money not designated as a security deposit. It should come as no surprise that security deposits are in the top three incidents that landlords and tenants find themselves fighting over in small claims court, so here’s our top 5 tips every residential landlords should know...
Being that many of our relatives are firefighters, we thought we would honor their employment by offering up tips to keep them from having to work too hard! But seriously, for landlords, this guide to fire safety is essential to follow ANYTIME when managing their rental properties.
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Hi! We are Stacie & Kevin of Your Landlord Resource!
Check out this sample of our newsletter! Each week you will receive a landlord tips, early access to our new blogs, links to our podcast episodes, landlord specific articles written by other industry leaders, special products and promotions for your rental property business.
Tip of the Week Some call this hand holding, we call it communication. Our preference is to make everything clear from the get-go. Since we started doing this, our "I have a question" calls have pretty much diminished. We also find this sets a precedent for what you expect from them and what they can expect from you. If you handle your leases remotely, email the lease to them for their review, asking them to read each page. Here's why: we set up our leases to be signed or initialed on every...