http://www.wingspanla.com/blog en Wing Span Copyright 2011 2011-12-31T05:43:50+00:00 http://www.wingspanla.com/blog/article/criminal-background-checks http://www.wingspanla.com/blog/article/criminal-background-checks#When:05:43:50Z Although it can be very lucrative, buying rental properties as real estate investments carries a number of risks. Not only do you have to worry about collecting rental payments, you also have to be concerned about damage to your rental properties, as well as the actions of your tenants toward other renters and guests. For these reasons, it is crucial that you conduct criminal background checks on applicants before allowing them to move into your rental units. A criminal background check will let you know about any criminal convictions that a potential renter has incurred, including arson, battery, and other serious offenses. In addition, it will tell you about any minor criminal charges. Knowing this information will help you make educated choices regarding the applicants you select for your rental units. One of the most important aspects of conducting criminal background checks is that it will alert you of sex offenders that may be seeking residence in one of your properties. While sex offenders are required to update their residences with governmental agencies in most states, they do not always do this. If you choose to rent a unit to a registered sex offender, you will be required to notify your state government within 30 days of completing the contract. If the sex offender has not complied with his or her notification requirements, he or she may end up in jail, which means that you will be unable to earn rent from a unit until you find suitable tenants. Keep in mind that while you can refuse to rent a unit to a prospective tenant on the basis of a criminal conviction, you must be careful not to base the refusal on the applicant’s status as a protected class. This means that if you allow a convict to rent a unit, you cannot deny another similar person the right to rent a unit, regardless of that person’s race, creed, religion, sexual orientation, or gender. For this reason, it is best not to provide housing for anyone with a criminal record, to avoid the possibility of having a future applicant claim that you refused to rent a unit based on a protected characteristic. John Rental 2011-12-31T05:43:50+00:00 http://www.wingspanla.com/blog/article/5-ways-a http://www.wingspanla.com/blog/article/5-ways-a#When:05:44:33Z Property Management Saves Time and Money; 5 Ways a Property Management Company Can Save Time and Money for an Owner In this article, I will show you how property management can save the owner more than just the cost of the management fee. Let’s say we have a property that rents for $1500/month. As a Los Angeles Property Management company our average fee in our area is 5-10%. So, let’s use 8% of $1500 which is $120/month. I’ll show you how a property manager can save over $1200/year by using a professional in the business. 1. The first way a property management company can save you money is by maximizing rents. Property managers understand rental prices and what a tenant is willing to pay for a unit. Property managers also have an edge on advertising and showing. They know all the right places to advertise and are available immediately to show properties to get them rented for the best possible price. On average, a property management company can save at least $50/month over 1 year which is already $600 2. The second way a property management company can save you money is by minimizing vacancies. Your average owner takes about 60 days to fill a vacancy depending on the market. With a property manager, they average 30 days or less. Again, with an average rent of $1500, the professional saves you over 1 year $1500. 3. The third area a property management company can save you money is by advertising. Property managers have discounted rates with websites and newspapers. They can usually save at least $150 in advertising over 1 year versus an individual owner. 4. The fourth area a property management company can save you money is through maintenance and repairs. Most property management companies have access to vendors at discounted rates. WingSpan saves as much as 40% the regular cost to an individual owner. For an average single family house the cost of maintenance and repairs over 1 year averages about $1200. With a 40% savings this saves the owner $480 over 1 year. 5. The fifth way a property management company can save you money is by finding a good qualified tenant through our screening techniques. Most property management companies have less than a 1% eviction rate because of the thorough screening procedures that they have implemented. The “bad apples” know that they can’t pass a property management company’s screening process so they rent from the individual owners and sell them on how good of a tenant they will be even though they have no credit, or no rental references, or no ID, or a lot of other excuses they use. This alone saves the owner the cost of eviction which in our area averages about $1,000, the cost of loss rent of about 1 month of $1,500, and the cost of repairs of about $1,500. This thorough screening process alone can save the owner $4,000! Most owners only think about the management fee that they’re losing and not about these 5 areas that a property management company can save them money. With these average estimates above, a professional property management company can save them owner over $7,450 in year. And what was the cost of that property management company? Only $1,200 for the year. This would have saved the owner $6,250 by using a professional.   WingSpan Property Management Los Angeles Property Management John Rental 2011-12-27T05:44:33+00:00 http://www.wingspanla.com/blog/article/easy-energy-efficient-homes http://www.wingspanla.com/blog/article/easy-energy-efficient-homes#When:07:03:49Z In today's market, consumers are increasingly aware of their own environmental impact. Those that are not are still certainly aware of the savings an energy efficient home enables. However, traditional energy efficient techniques, such as solar panels and personal wind turbines, have not gained widespread support. This could be because people view both solar panels and wind turbines as items that are difficult to install and expensive to maintain. However, if someone is building a new home, or planning a remodel, they should definitely consider passive solar energy. The idea behind passive solar energy is that a house's walls, floor, and windows can absorb, store, and circulate the heat from sunlight in the winter. During the summer, the same technology allows the house to deny heat. A completely passive solar energy system would not have any electronics, such as fans or thermostats, to assist it, but many houses use them as backup or auxiliary systems. This impressive effect utilizes five design elements that consumers can incorporate into almost any house. The first, and most important, is having large south-facing windows that will let in the sunlight. The sunlight then falls on some dark material that absorbs the heat. The material can be either the floor or a wall. The heat transfers from the wall or floor to the thermal mass, which is either stone or brick. The thermal mass stores the heat, like bricks by a fireplace, and distributes warmth throughout the house. Most systems use one of the three natural distribution methods (convection, conduction, or radiation) or fans and ducts. Finally, a control, such as awnings and low-emissivity blinds, helps to keep the house cool in the summer. Together these measures create a home that has a self-regulating climate system, which can save people money and help save the planet, as well.   Los Angeles Property Management Hollywood Property Management WingSpan Property Managment and Development John Tips 2011-05-09T07:03:49+00:00 http://www.wingspanla.com/blog/article/vacation-rentals-need-property-management http://www.wingspanla.com/blog/article/vacation-rentals-need-property-management#When:22:29:29Z If you have a place that you only live in part of the year, you may want to consider renting it out the rest of the time. That way you can get some income to make your house payment, and you won’t have your home just sitting empty. Even if you don’t still owe on your home, renting it out for the extra money can be a great way to get cash that you don’t need to work for. A word of caution, though, in that you want to be careful who you rent to. Some people are much more careless with other people’s things, and you don’t want them destroying your home. A great way to find good renters is to use WingSpan  property management company. Because of a tight economy, a lot of people who have vacation homes can’t sell them, so they are renting them out. By getting a company to handle that for you, you don’t have to worry about where you are or what you’re doing. All you have to worry about is collecting the money that the property management company sends you and spending it however you like. Having a company manage your property isn’t free, of course, but the cost of it is generally worth paying for, since you avoid all of the hassle of trying to manage the property yourself. It can be particularly difficult to manage property if you don’t live nearby. You can also have repairs scheduled and taken care of, and you can avoid the worries and problems that come with allowing a piece of property to sit empty and vacant while you’re living somewhere else. There’s too much chance of your vacation home being broken into and/or otherwise vandalized if you leave it empty for months and no one is around to check up on it.   WingSpan Property Management & Development Los Angeles Property Management Vacation Rentals John Rental 2011-03-25T22:29:29+00:00 http://www.wingspanla.com/blog/article/it-is-cheaper-to-rent-in-many-places http://www.wingspanla.com/blog/article/it-is-cheaper-to-rent-in-many-places#When:01:11:50Z Most people have been told throughout their lives that it’s much better to buy a home than it is to rent. The reason behind this is the equity that a person gets when he or she buys a home. When you rent, you don’t get any equity or any ownership in a house – you just get to live there and you often can’t make specific changes. There are rules and restrictions that you have to abide by, but you have someone to fix problems and address other issues when they come up. Later, when you move, you don’t get anything for your time there. However, even though renting doesn’t always sound like such a good deal it can be a very good choice right now. That’s because the rental prices in some areas are far less than they used to be. This depends on where you live, of course, or where you’re moving to. Take the time to check out all of the options you have available, so you don’t make a mistake. In some places, housing prices are so low that the payments on many of them come in at 10% or more below the rental prices. In many other places, that’s not at all the case. Depending on where you choose to move to, you may find that you can rent much more cheaply than you can buy, especially when you factor in things like property taxes, property insurance, and maintenance. A lot of people forget about those kinds of factors when they choose to buy, and then they get into trouble because their budget doesn’t allow for those extra expenses. Taxes and insurance aren’t always factored into the payment, and when they’re not they cause a lot of trouble for homeowners. The maintenance is never factored in, and should have a separate budget. When renting, that’s not a need or worry. WingSpan Property Management Los Angeles John Rental 2011-02-08T01:11:50+00:00 http://www.wingspanla.com/blog/article/keeping-tenants-happy http://www.wingspanla.com/blog/article/keeping-tenants-happy#When:02:56:14Z Keeping tenants is much more profitable than finding new tenants so the key to being a prosperous landlord who doesn’t have added troubles and work is to keep your tenants happy. The following four tips can help you keep your tenants in your property and insure everyone’s happiness. Business Attitude Treat your tenants with professional respect. Don’t gossip with tenants or become their buddy but treat them with respect, a polite demeanor and take them seriously. Let them know that you will listen to their complaints in an even and fair manner and treat no one with favoritism. Be Available Whether it’s you, a manager, or a property management company, someone always needs to be available to deal with tenant issues. Some of these issues will be emergencies and others can be handled later, but no matter what your tenant will want to be heard. Taking initiative and routinely contacting your tenants through a phone call, email, letter, or in person will go even further to let them know they matter. Safety First Always put your tenants’ safety first and don’t be afraid to let them know this. Let them know when safety related repairs are being made or if you’re taking steps to prevent break ins and theft. Additional Conveniences Whenever possible, give your tenants those little extras. Bus tickets, group discounts, a picnic table, new landscaping or any little thing that you can provide that will be appreciated by most of your tenants. If they feel respected and like you care they’re more likely to treat you with respect and hold up their end of the agreement. John Rental 2010-12-23T02:56:14+00:00