Property Management Blog
Understanding Zoning Rules for Massachusetts 40B Affordable Housing
Affordable housing has become an increasingly pressing issue in Massachusetts, with high housing costs and limited availability making it difficult for many residents to find a home they can afford. In response, the state has implemented a number of policies designed to promote the development of affordable housing, including the 40B program. The 40B program ...
How Rental Property Management Software Makes Your Duties as a Landlord Easier
Rental property management software has become more popular over the years because it has allowed landlords a degree of flexibility. They no longer need to be on their toes, constantly looking after their property. Instead, this software makes things simpler and easier for them. Curious how some software can make such a huge task easy? ...
A Basic Accounting Guide Every Landlord Must Read
Property management is not an easy task and it becomes even more difficult when you have to take care of accounting and money management. That is why it is important for every landlord to learn some basics of accounting. This will help them take control of their finances. Here are 4 accounting basics that a ...
Why Use Excel Worksheets When You Can Use Tenant Ledger
TENANT LEDGER: DECREASING HASSLE IN YOUR LIFE When it comes to rental payments or maintaining a ledger either on the books or on an excel worksheet, then it is a tedious task at best. But first what is a tenant ledger in the first place? It is a document that generally reflects various transactions ...
The A-B-C of Rental Home Investment
Investor interest in single-family rental homes is high, and many who have money in stocks and bonds have considered moving some of their assets to real estate rentals. Of that undecided group, many still gather info, attend seminars, and buy courses to learn more before making an investment decision. There is nothing wrong with ...
Property Management Tips For Making the Rental Turnover Process Smoother
Whether a landlord owns one rental property or several, they undoubtedly have a certain level of tenant turnover. The process of managing those outgoing tenants can be time-consuming, frustrating, and stressful, especially if the lines of communication are not clear. Not only does it affect the property owner and manager, but it also has a ...
Top 5 Tips for Buying a Currently Active Rental Property
By currently active, the rental home is in service with the tenant(s) in the home and a history of being rented for a reasonable period. If the home has only been a rental for a few months, there could be things about which you would want to be very careful. However, a home that’s been ...
What are the Maintenance Responsibilities for a Landlord in Residential Management?
If you are considering buying a property to rent out and act as a landlord for a second income, it is essential that you know what your responsibilities are while managing that property. Rental properties can be a successful business, but they also come with obligations. You have to balance making money with providing the ...
FOUR STEPS TO BEING A GREAT LANDLORD
Investing in a rental property is a huge step. Purchasing and updating the property can feel like a major accomplishment, yet the real work is still to come. There is no point in owning a rental property when you can exhale because owning and managing a rental property will be something you have to consistently ...
WINNING AT RENTING: HOW SMALL-SCALE LANDLORDS CAN EARN BIG MONEY
More Americans than ever are choosing to rent rather than buy a property. This means you can earn big money as a small-time landlord if you know what you're doing. Here's everything you need to know to attract great tenants and increase your overall profits. Minimize TurnoverYou lose money every day a rental unit sits empty. ...
HOW LONG-TERM TENANTS INCREASE PROFITS
To be a success in the real estate industry, building equity in your properties is important. Property management firms can help you achieve this with low vacancy rates in your properties. Getting and keeping long-term residents takes some effort, but it's doable. According to a recent post on Multifamily Insiders, there are a number of ...
FINDING MONEY FOR REAL ESTATE INVESTING
Interest in real estate investing has been growing steadily over the past five years or so. It is in part due to the reality TV shows about flipping houses, but there are other reasons. The stock market is pretty volatile, so many investors are looking for lower risk. There are a number of different ways to ...
5 FEATURES MILLENNIALS LOOK FOR IN AN APARTMENT
Millennials, whose ages range from about 22 to 35, are the most significant population of renters in the US today. Due to rising debt, lack of jobs, and lifestyle choices, they're more likely to delay settling down than previous generations. If you're a landlord, this is your target market, but millennials demand much more out ...
TENANT LEDGER FOR QUICKBOOKS ONLINE
We are happy to announce our new product Tenant Ledger for QuickBooks Online. Easily manage your properties, tenants, and leases in Tenant Ledger while using QuickBooks. New QuickBooks users can easily sign up and get started and existing QuickBooks customers can sync all of their data into Tenant Ledger in seconds. Tenant Ledger works seamlessly ...
OPEN SPACES CAN MEAN BIG BUCKS: AN INTRODUCTION TO COMMERCIAL PARKING LOTS
If you've ever been to a concert, sporting event, or even to a downtown area in the middle of the day, you understand how frustrating parking can be. You have to pay through the nose just to get a chance to park your vehicle in the same zip code as your destination, but for commercial ...
KNOW BEFORE YOU BID – WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN AN ONLINE REAL ESTATE AUCTION
With property values falling and interest rates at historic lows, more and more investors are looking at real estate as a way to build their wealth and secure their financial futures. At first blush, those super low prices at real estate auctions can seem like a great deal, but the truth is often much more ...
TIPS FOR SCREENING TENANTS
So you have a piece of real estate you would like to rent? You probably have some apprehension about allowing strangers to use and/or live on your property. Will they destroy the place? Can you count on them to be consistent with rental payments? There are no guarantees, but there are some steps you can ...
ZONING VS. USE: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
It's a common scenario: The zoning of the property being financed does not match the property's use. It may seem minor, but if you don't know the basics about zoning, you may soon see a major roadblock on the path to financing a property. What is zoning? Zoning promotes compatible land use within a city's limits. Generally, ...
SECURITY SYSTEMS FOR PROPERTY MANAGERS
One of the major responsibilities that comes with being a property manager is security. A major way to gain trust from your customers is to have some sort of security system in place to ensure their property is in good hands and protected from acts of theft and vandalism. Every property is unique, so it ...
HOW TO EVICT A TENANT
If you find yourself stuck with a terrible tenant, you might want to dump them out on the street on the spot. However, landlords and tenants are considered to be equal parties to a lease, and both have rights. Be sure to follow the proper procedures if you find yourself needing to evict a tenant. Don't ...
ALL IN ONE DASHBOARD
Managing multiple properties with different owners can be very difficult. With Tenant Ledger, we made this simple. When you log into your account the main dashboard will display with a high-level overview of your company statistics. This overview includes information about your properties, leases, delinquencies, bills and day to day operations. What happens when you ...
START COLLECTING RENT ONLINE
Start Collecting Rent Payments Online If you haven't done so already you will need to connect allow online payments in your company settings. The tenant will log into their tenant portal: The tenant can select the lease and see that they have charged owed. If they want to pay their rent or any charges online ...
LANDLORD TIPS: FIVE POSITIVE THINGS TO LOOK FOR IN A POTENTIAL TENANT
Renting out your home for the first time can be scary. What if the renter likes to make homemade bombs? What if he paints the walls a disgusting color? What if the world's dirtiest couple moves into the master bedroom? These are all legitimate concerns that homeowners might have when thinking about getting a renter ...
TENANT SCREENING CHECKLIST: 9 QUESTIONS TO QUALIFY A TENANT
Property managers and landlords often struggle with finding a balance between vacant apartments and qualified tenants. The first step to finding qualified tenants is in the marketing of the property. Strong advertisements will highlight the features of the property and entice qualified candidates to submit rental applications. Once a landlord has multiple parties interested in ...
LANDLORDS: DON’T MISS THESE COMMONLY OVERLOOKED ITEMS WHEN DRAFTING YOUR LEASE
You wouldn't give someone the keys to your own home unless you greatly trusted them, so why would you turn over the keys to one of your biggest investments without the same trust? While you won't have the same kind of personal trust with a tenant, a well-drafted lease agreement can leave you assured that ...