4 Pros (and Just a Few Cons) of Pet-Friendly Property Management
There are a lot of things to take into consideration when you’re renting out to tenants. As a landlord, you want the widest and deepest pool of possible renters. Usually tenants love their fur babies. Therefore, reaching out to pet owners can yield more interest in your rental property. Pet owners are looking for rental properties, and though they’re a large percentage of the market, pet owners rarely experience acknowledgment or targeted advertising. Taking the time to do so will ensure your property stands out from the rest.
Battling Winter’s Wrath: How to Manage Dry Air Indoors
If you are living where it can be very cold, you’ll know that winter conditions aren’t kind to anyone. Humidity is the key to keeping a home warm, but not dry. In short, humidity is the amount of water content in the air surrounding us. High humidity means the air is saturated with water, while low humidity means that the air is nearly devoid of water. Temperature and location affect humidity as well, so during the colder months, the air has a low humidity level, resulting in dry air.
Low humidity in winter causes our skin to dry out, making it cracked and broken. It chaps our lips, wreaks havoc on our hair, and can make it painful to breathe. This dreaded winter skin can be postponed with lotions and moisturizers, but what can you do about it other than use beauty products? Dry air is behind this discomfort, but more concerning than discomfort is our increased susceptibility to illness.
Skin is the body’s largest organ and it serves vital and rather amazing functions. Healthy skin protects us from getting sick because it insulates our internal body from all the nasty germs, bacteria and allergens floating around. Ever wonder why people seem to get sick more frequently during the colder months? A big contributor to this is lowered immunity due to dry air.
Marketing a Studio Apartment: How to Make Small Spaces Appealing
Why would someone want to live in a studio apartment? One of the big misconceptions about studio apartments is that there’s a lack of basic appliances or that the living space is lost to appliances. Small appliances that appeal to the world market have existed for many years. But they have only recently shown up in common retail chapters, with more American consumers looking to reduce energy costs and due to space concerns. Even washers and dryers exist in small room units, which might speak to renters who don’t want to lug their dirty clothes to a laundromat or a basement laundry room. Upgrading these appliances to energy-efficient models is a worthy investment that will continue to save you money on energy costs for years, and it provides a great selling point when marketing your property.
Making the best use of space is one of the biggest ways to upgrade a studio apartment. Renters still need ways to store their stuff. Offering solutions right off the bat means they don’t have to head out to Ikea or build their own options. A studio with built-in bookshelves will get college students and booklovers to take a second look. Do-it-yourself shelves inspire ways to make a solution that works for the space whether its books, food or anything tenants need to store. Well-deployed storage units open up living space and make things seem bigger on the inside.
The Pros & Cons of a Paperless Property Management Business
The truth is that many companies still rely heavily on paper. We are living in a time of major transition, finally giving way to more modern solutions. It’s not like you have to go paperless right away. There is still a lot of practicality to paper. Receipts for credit card transactions and employee and customer information are just a few aspects of everyday business that still work just fine.
Why Would Anyone Rent a Water Heater?
Commercial water equipment is pricey! It can be much more so than the residential heaters found at hardware stores. Renting can be a wonderful solution to this. Renting alleviates the upfront cost of equipment and often install too—and replacement is included when the equipment fails.
But renting also includes ongoing service coverage on that equipment. And for businesses that depend on hot water to stay in operation, that ongoing service coverage is crucial, because their livelihood depends on having hot water available exactly when they need it. Unfortunately, a water heater will typically break down at the worst time: when it’s in high demand and stressed from constant use.
Best Flooring for Apartments: The Benefits of Installing Vinyl Plank Flooring in Rentals
Why should you be considering vinyl flooring? Landlords often use time between renters to spruce up the space. Apartment walls get painted, bathrooms get new fixtures and nearly everything else gets cleaned up. Flooring is often overlooked in these refreshes because of the idea that it’s a project that will take far too much time and money. Well, there are more options available to property owners that are cheaper, easier to maintain and can revitalize a unit better than a new roll of carpet.
Landlords who want the look of hardwood without the cost (and the noise) should consider laminate floors for their units. Well-done laminates can be indistinguishable from hardwood floors to the naked eye. They are more scratch-resistant than hardwoods and friendlier to pets than carpets. Cleanup is easy, though laminates can be vulnerable to standing water. Laminate floors are difficult to refinish. It’s usually just easier to replace them completely if they get damaged.
How to Handle Bad Tenants: 5 Pieces of Advice for Landlords
Managing the regular needs of renters is demanding enough and bad tenants only add extra stress. Building ownership means you’re on the clock 24/7. When a tenant needs something, you must answer the call. Bad tenants only contribute extra chaos and negativity into your jam-packed schedule. Spot the warning signs of bad tenants and learn […]
How To Winterize Outdoor Machines & Equipment
It’s that time of year again. Autumn is the right time to get your outdoor machines ready for winter hibernation. Landscaping becomes less of a priority as winter approaches and it’s time to take a break from yard work. When you’re ready to store your machines, don’t just dump them and forget about them. You need to prepare them to be stored.
Image “Mower” courtesy of Flickr user Phil Roeder licensed under CC by 2.0.
If you neglect your lawn equipment, it can break down, rust, corrode or deteriorate over winter. Repairs and restoration are costly. Often, people end up buying brand new equipment to replace worn out machines because the cost of repairs and replacement parts can be as much or more than a new machine! This practice is neither sustainable nor cost-effective.
Furnished Apartments: Good Idea or Bad Idea?
Furnished apartments appeal to a range of tenants, however the most common types of people are either students, people traveling or those looking for a temporary housing situation until they settle into their new home.
Furnished apartments are appealing to anyone who plans to stay in town long enough to want more than a hotel room, but may not stay more than a year and are not immediately interested in owning property. This could be anyone from a relative who doesn’t want to impose on their family to a businessperson managing projects over a few months, or a student who is fresh out of the dorms with very little furniture, or one who has travelled far to attend school and didn’t want to bring a U-Haul full of belongings. The last thing these students need is to go into debt from having to furnish an apartment all at once.
Proactive Plumbing Maintenance Tips To Prevent Common Commercial Plumbing Issues
Modern plumbing is awesome. It’s just one of those things that pretty much everyone takes for granted. It’s also one of those things we immediately realize we cannot live without once it’s not working properly.
Being proactive about your plumbing is essential to the success of your business. Plumbing problems must be addressed immediately. Water damage is far more costly than proactively hiring a plumber to fix the problem immediately.
