Landlord Update
Hello fellow landlords! May is now being dubbed the new December, minus the wrapping of Christmas gifts! Whoa…has it been BUSY! And we don’t have any kids in school or graduations to celebrate this year!
It’s all good stuff though. The week before Mother's Day, Kevin and I flew out to Idaho with my parents so we could help Kid #2 finish up work on his duplex.
There was a large hole in the concrete right at the bottom of the steps and my dad, being pretty handy, was able to grab a couple sacks of Quikrete (fast setting concrete mix) from Home Depot and fill that gaping hole in to get rid of the trip hazard. My parents are very hands-on and have taught us a lot of DIY tips on how to care for and maintain property.
Kid #3 flew out a couple days later and helped by power washing the front of the building so that Kevin could take the marketing photos and videos.
My point? It takes a village…or at least a good team behind you as a build your rental property business. Don’t be afraid to seek out help when you have a big project. Often, friends and family don’t mind giving you some labor in exchange for a meal or your help on their project. Don’t think for a second that we will hold back on asking Kid #2 for help when we need it!
Because you’ve been patiently waiting, here are some before and after photos:
Kitchen Before (March 21, 2025)
OLD: Linoleum flooring, antique brass twisted knot cabinet hardware, white appliances, unfinished recessed strip light in the ceiling.
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Kitchen After (May 10, 2025)
NEW: Natural wood colored luxury plank flooring, black flat/rounded cabinet hardware, stainless steel appliances, and new adjustable brightness LED lighting. Also installed a 2X4 acrylic lens to enclose LED recessed light and cleaned and touched up kitchen cabinets.
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Living Room Before (March 21, 2025)
OLD: Carpeted flooring, popcorn ceilings, ceiling fan with no light source, horizontal blinds across both glass slider and side window.
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Living Room After (May 10, 2025)
NEW: Natural wood colored luxury plank flooring, removed popcorn ceiling (contained asbestos) and had ceiling retextured to match walls. Installed a new adjustable brightness LED lighting, cleaned and conditioned real wood paneled feature wall, added draperies to slider, and horizontal blinds to side window.
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As you can see, the units are not outrageously improved, but they have been updated and modernized enough for tenants to notice and appreciate the enhancements made. Most units only need a nice facelift to make a difference.
Now, let it be known that when these projects were all said and done, we were able to visit a nice wine tasting room on the greenbelt along the Boise River to relax and toast our hard work! For Mother's Day, we enjoyed a nice barbeque at my son's home. It was simple, low-key, and we had our family there which is all we could ask for.
When we headed back, we had a VERY busy week working in and on our Sacramento 6-plex. I'll discuss those updates in the next newsletter.
Until next time,
You've Got This Landlords!
New On The Podcast!
🔍 What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- How treating your rentals like a hobby instead of a business costs you money
- The importance of record-keeping, financial systems, and digital files
- Why missing lease renewal dates can lead to vacancies or legal risk
- How outdated lease agreements can open you up to legal trouble
- What your tenant files should include—and when to purge or update them
- Tools and services that can help you stay organized and protect your business
- Mid-year tips to keep your business clean, compliant, and profitable
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5 Oversights That Drain Landlord Profits
In this episode, Kevin and I are digging into five common oversights we see landlords make all the time (plus a few extra ones)—and trust me, they can quietly eat away at your profits if you're not careful. We’re talking about the kinds of things that seem small but lead to big issues later, like outdated leases, messy tenant files, or treating your rental like a side gig instead of the business it really is.
We’ll walk you through real examples, give you actionable tips you can use right now, and share some of our favorite tools to help you stay on top of it all. If you're ready to clean up your systems and stop letting things fall through the cracks, this one's for you.
Let’s tighten things up, protect your investment, and keep your rental business running like the well-oiled machine it should be.
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Click HERE to view show notes with links to special offers and promotions. |
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Listen to Our Podcast:
Favorite Landlord Products
Products 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!
As California Realtors, we have access to all state specific leases and addendums. Unfortunately, for our Idaho rentals, we do not have this same luxury.
We have done extensive research on leases offered by Zillow, NOLO, and many property management software companies (even our favorite,TurboTenant) and found A LOT of gaps and lack of personalization when creating leases with addendums.
This is why we 100% recommend EZLandlord Forms if you do not have a reliable source for a lease to legally cover your ass-ets. Their state specific leases are very detailed and when you have a need to add or change the verbiage to a clause, you can.
We just had our son create an account for his new duplex and when we were done walking him through creating his lease, it was over 50 pages long. It's unfortunate and it may sound insane, but all those pages and all that verbiage is to PROTECT you and your rental property/assets. Good luck finding that comprehensive of a lease and proper addendums anywhere other than through a professional property manager or realtor.
No need to purchase until you are ready. You can evaluate all leases, addendums, and documents just by creating a FREE account.
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When you are ready to purchase, remember to use code STACIE15 for 15% all first time purchases. This includes signing up for a Pro Member account or one time purchases!
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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.
Good Landlord Reads
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Know how to maintain smoke detectors and who is responsible for smoke detector maintenance
Regarding fire safety, properly operating smoke detectors is one of the most essential tools for alerting property owners and firefighters of dangerous home and apartment fires before they happen.
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The Landlord’s Checklist for High Tenant Retention and Demand
If you have good tenants who look after your property well, pay the rent on time, and don’t receive any complaints from the neighbors, you’ve won the jackpot! Great tenants make your life easy, but they can be hard to come by. So, it’s no surprise that you want to retain them long-term.
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Get on the waitlist today!
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Upcoming Course: Place Your Ideal Tenant, A Comprehensive Guide from Marketing to Move In
This is a detailed course on the best practices for
- Marketing your vacancy to attract the best tenants
- The process of unit showings and accepting applications
- Vetting the applicant and background checks
- Accepting/denying applications
- A Lease & Addendum Blueprint
- Onboarding your new tenant and the move in walkthrough
Have you ever worried that you could be doing more to ensure the tenants you place are ideal for your rental property?
There are specific steps landlords must take to feel confident they have done everything possible to prevent a nightmare tenant from living in their unit. We are sharing our tenant screening strategy, giving you those steps and more to help you build a professional, organized, and communicative landlord tenant relationship that hopefully, will last for many renewals.
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Your Landlord Resource: Blogs You Might Have Missed
Landlording Is a Team Sport
Back when I started as a landlord, I had no idea what I was doing. My brother was my partner and was a general contractor so, he handled all of the maintenance responsibilities. I had to learn how to market our vacancies, process applications, price the rents, account for the income and expenses, and most importantly, have good customer service to our clients, the tenants. When my brother became injured and could no longer work in the family business, I needed to learn the importance of an excellent team to call upon when needed. I quickly learned that landlording is similar to a team sport.
For clarification, a team member does not necessarily mean an employee. These are tradesmen, legal counsel, bank/loan companies, real estate professionals, CPAs, cleaning companies, appliance repairpersons, landscapers, etc. Essentially, a team member is ANYONE who can make your life easier by completing the tasks they know and do best...
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How Much Cash Reserves is Enough?
Business cash reserves are a basically an emergency savings account. If you treat your rental property as a business, you should be putting a little aside each month for the unknown. You know, like a pandemic. So how much cash reserves are enough for your rental property? We’ll get to that in a moment.
Why Do Landlords Need Cash Reserves?
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Your Landlord Resource: Free Downloads
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Your Landlord Resource Periodic Inspection Form: Single Family Home
Inspections are important! This is how you know if your tenant is following lease terms and if any unreported... Read more |
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$9.99
Property Manager Questionnaire
We created a 14-Page questionnaire for landlords to use when vetting a property manager!
Why are asking these questions... Read more |
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