How can you resist such a sweet face?? So many people have pets and by restricting pets in your rental property, you reduce the number of prospective tenants that may be interested in renting your home.  Research has shown that households with pets tend to stay longer in a property, therefore decreasing your turnover expenses.  ...

Thank goodness most people are nice, cooperative and want to do the right thing.  Then, there are the rest…   Luckily through a thorough screening process we have been very fortunate to have our properties rented by wonderful people but sometimes, people change. There are a lot of definitions of “difficult&rdq...

I’ve often had property owners who have come to us say “Well, I really never did inspections or went to the property much because my tenant paid their rent on time so I figured everything was fine.” Scary, right?  No matter how good a tenant may seem, it’s critical that you do regular inspections during th...

Almost daily I come across situations that are worth writing about and lessons I learn that are important to pass along.  Recently, I was talking with one of our clients who manages his home himself and does a good job.  He just asks us to list it for rent every time a tenant leaves and we’re happy to do provide that servi...

Real estate is local and our Northern Virginia rental market is very resilient.  We are lucky to have the government and many large companies here that keep our economy strong.   Our market, however, is very transient so rentals are consistently in demand.  There are many tenants who can easily qualify to purchase a ho...

Why Being Cheap Can Be More Expensive in Property Management

As we come out of the holidays, I’m noticing the Northern Virginia rental market activity has already picked up.  It was very slow in the last quarter of 2015.  Many of the homes that were sitting on the market with no activity in December are now getting shown to prospective tenants and we are receiving applications. ...