by Suzanne Rodoni-Silverberg | Mar 8, 2014 | Our Blog
Why is Capitola’s Jewel Box one of Santa Cruz County’s most desired neighborhoods?
We are going to give you our top five reasons in our first edition of our new monthly blog featuring neighborhoods in the 831. Capitola and the Jewel Box are a natural place to start as the Real Estate Eight Three One office is nestled right in the middle of it all, making us uniquely qualified to list, rent, and manage in the area. (more…)
by Suzanne Rodoni-Silverberg | Aug 28, 2013 | Santa Cruz Property Management Education
Today we are talking about how to handle repairs and maintenance on your rental property in Santa Cruz. Property maintenance is very important for your rental home, and not just because it reduces your liability. It’s also important to keep your investment in good shape. You have a lot of money invested in your rental home, so keeping it in the best condition possible is beneficial to you and your bottom line. With this in mind, we take the maintenance of our properties very seriously.
When a tenant needs a minor repair or a maintenance issue taken care of, we ask that they put their request in writing and forward that request to us. If they would prefer to, they can also go online and make a maintenance request that way. It works well for both the property manager and the tenants when requests are documented this way. (more…)
by Suzanne Rodoni-Silverberg | Aug 21, 2013 | Santa Cruz Property Management Education
Today, we are offering a bit of security deposit advice for both owners and tenants. If you put a group of property managers together in one room, they are all going to tell you that this is one of the toughest areas they deal with on a regular basis. Security deposits and how much gets refunded and withheld are really hard because normal wear and tear is very much a subjective topic. What is “normal” will really depend on the length of the tenancy in a rental property. If someone has been in the property for one year, wear and tear is going to be a lot less than it would be for people who have been in a property for 10 years. (more…)
by Suzanne Rodoni-Silverberg | Aug 14, 2013 | Santa Cruz Property Management Education
Owners and landlords often ask the question: how often should property managers inspect properties? The really short answer to that question is – as often as possible. Any opportunity that we have to go look at the inside of a residence should be taken. This might mean taking a look around when a minor repair is needed. We always ask for feedback from our repair people and contractors anytime they go inside to maintain, repair or replace something. They can tell us how things look inside, and if there is anything we might want to investigate or talk to the tenant about. Our vendors are very good about staying in touch with us whenever they go into a house to do some work. Inspections should be part of their work. (more…)
by Suzanne Rodoni-Silverberg | Aug 7, 2013 | Santa Cruz Property Management Education
Today we are talking about what qualifications you should look for in a property manager. I have been thinking about this a lot recently because I just came back from a convention in Las Vegas held by the National Association of Residential Property Managers. This is a group of property managers from all across the United States. We share information, talk about the latest trends and developing technology as well as what we can offer in terms of cutting edge services. I think that’s a really important part of being a top notch property manager. Being involved in a group like that, where information is shared freely with other professionals from all over the place is a major resource. You should definitely look for a property manager who belongs to this group or other professional associations. (more…)
by Suzanne Rodoni-Silverberg | Jul 31, 2013 | Santa Cruz Property Management Education
As a landlord, you might be wondering if you require lease up services only, or a full property management service. Sometimes, we have landlords who live in our local area, and they are okay with the idea of taking care of the ongoing management of their property, but they don’t have any idea of how to properly interview tenants or screen applicants, and they certainly don’t know how to fill out all the proper paperwork to make sure they have a good tenancy moving forward. (more…)
by Suzanne Rodoni-Silverberg | Jul 24, 2013 | Santa Cruz Property Management Education
It’s important to know how to shop for a property manager. When you sit down with somebody and you are interviewing them, what do you really need to find out? What is important to know about this person who you are turning over your valuable asset to manage? I think it’s important to start out with recommendations from people you trust. That’s not always possible, however, so if you don’t have someone in that particular area who you know and trust, the next place I would go is Yelp. (more…)
by Suzanne Rodoni-Silverberg | Jul 17, 2013 | Santa Cruz Property Management Education
Landlords often want to know what it really costs to have somebody professionally manage their properties. In a previous blog, we discussed the two major types of fees involved in property management. Those are the lease up fee, which is typically either a flat fee or a percentage of the first month’s rent, as well as the ongoing management fee which is also a percentage of the rent that is collected. That should cover all the costs of professional property management, but some companies will charge additional fees for different things. (more…)
by Suzanne Rodoni-Silverberg | Jul 10, 2013 | Santa Cruz Property Management Education
Today, everybody is using Craigslist to advertise their properties. Lots of people are going online to list and access rentals. The days of advertising in the local newspaper seem to be over. People are starting their rental search online, and the first place most people go is Craigslist. So, let’s talk about Craigslist for a minute and how you can use it to advertise your rental property. (more…)
by Suzanne Rodoni-Silverberg | Jul 2, 2013 | Santa Cruz Property Management Education
Sometimes, in spite of your best efforts, you may wind up in a situation where you have to evict a tenant. Today we are going to talk about what to do if you are faced with that situation, and whether there might be a way out. When a tenant stops paying rent, you need to find out why. Maybe they lost their job, or they’ve had a recent illness or injury that has affected their ability to pay the rent. When you find yourself in that uncomfortable situation that you have to make the decision to move forward with an eviction, prepare yourself to pay costs upwards of $1,500 in the Santa Cruz area. Plus, you will have the lost rent during the eviction process to include in the total expenses involved in an eviction. You might want to consider a negotiation of some sort in lieu of the eviction. (more…)
