The CompleteLandlord.com Ultimate Property Management Handbook E-Book

William A. Lederer

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 322

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2009

Beschreibung

This book covers the entire cycle of becoming a successful real estate property manager. Written in an accessible format , this book provides valuable information for investors who are now landlords and property managers. This book is not about the day-to-day of landlording, rather it focuses on the strategies for managing the assets of your property. Readers will find information on: ? The benefits of managing property ? Assembling your core team (attorneys, accountants and insurers) ? Legal documents ? And office help (including the right systems and software, how and when to maintain and repair, and the finances of managing your properties)

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Acknowledgements

LIST OF ICONS

Introduction

About the Product

SECTION ONE - Introduction to Property Management

CHAPTER 1 - The Benefits of Managing Properties

Taking the Plunge

Do It Yourself or Hire Someone?

You Can Do It Yourself

Before You Go

CHAPTER 2 - The Skills, Aptitude, and Attitudes of Successful Property Managers

From the Beginning

What Does It Take?

For the Non-Do-It-Yourself Types

CHAPTER 3 - Build a Winning Strategy, Plan, and Team

Taking Stock

Building a Team

SECTION TWO - Operations

CHAPTER 4 - Beyond Record Keeping: The Importance of Systems

Why You Need a System

Don’t Overlook These

Start Now

CHAPTER 5 - Property Maintenance, Repairs, and Construction

General Maintenance

Who Handles What?

Preventing Problems

Open Lines of Communication

Procurement

Green Property Management

CHAPTER 6 - Achieving Scale: Hiring, Training, Retaining, and Compensating ...

Help Wanted

Basic Training

From the Top Down

CHAPTER 7 - Outsourcing Property Management

First Things First

Where to Look for a Management Company

Signing a Contract

Weighing It Out

SECTION THREE - Tenants

CHAPTER 8 - Marketing Vacancies/Setting Rents and Terms

Word of Mouth

Classified Ads

Signs on Property

Flyers and Handouts

Notices on Bulletin Boards

Rental Listing Booklets

List with a Rental Agent

Target Good Tenants

Show the Property

Man the Phones

At Your Fingertips

Full-Time Worker, Part-Time Landlord

Schedule the Showings

CHAPTER 9 - Setting Rents and Structuring Leases

High Rent versus Low Rent

Calculating How Much Rent to Charge

Increasing the Value of Your Rental

When, Why, and How to Lower Rent

Structuring Leases

Signing the Lease

CHAPTER 10 - Screening Tenants: The War Is Won before It Is Ever Fought

The Long and Short of It

Performing the Checks

What to Do with the Data

Who Pays for the Background Check?

Acting as a Reference

Making the Selection

When You Inherit Tenants

CHAPTER 11 - The Mechanics of Rent Billing, Collection, and Reporting

Security Deposits

Rent Receipts

Setting and Enforcing Due Dates

When, Why, and How to Increase Rent

When, Why, and How to Lower Rent

CHAPTER 12 - Tenant Relations, Communications, and Problems

Definition of a Good Tenant

Definition of a Difficult Tenant

Handling Evictions

How to Legally Evict Someone

When Eviction Is Necessary

The Eviction Process

SECTION FOUR - Getting Down to Business

CHAPTER 13 - Entity Formation and Asset Protection

Step by Step

Taking Responsibility

CHAPTER 14 - Understanding Landlord-Tenant Law including Discrimination

Knowing Your Rights

The Law and Advertising

CHAPTER 15 - Rental Property Finance

Maintaining Records

Taxing Matters

CHAPTER 16 - Insurance

Property and Casualty Insurance

General Liability Insurance

Flood or Water Damage Insurance

Umbrella Liability Insurance

Best Investment

SECTION FIVE - Special Topics

CHAPTER 17 - Specialized Housing Markets

Joining the Fray

Workforce Housing

Disabled Access

Student Units

Expanding Your Horizons

CHAPTER 18 - Affordable Housing, Section 8, and Discrimination

Don’t Discriminate

Fair Housing Act

Play by the Rules

CHAPTER 19 - Continuing Your Property Management Education

Ongoing Resources

The End

Appendixes

INDEX

CLL CATALOG

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Copyright © 2009 by Minotaur Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. Published simultaneously in Canada.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone], or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, [phone], fax [phone], or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lederer, William A., 1961-

The CompleteLandlord.com ultimate property management handbook/by William A. Lederer. p. cm.

Includes index.

eISBN : 978-0-470-46690-2

1. Real estate management. 2. Rental housing—Management. 3. Landlord and tenant. 4. Real estate investment. I. Title.

HD1394.L.33’8068—dc22 2008045570

.

In honor of my family: Renda, Adam, Eric, and Muriel Lederer;

To Jill, John, Robert, Sarah, and Edward Doherty; Peggy, Marc (one of America’s great real estate investors and landlords), Josh, Davis, and Chloe Blum;

And in memory of Frederick Lederer, Beverly and Irwin Lippmann, and Stella Natenberg, anyone’s idea of a great real estate asset and team member

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am pleased to acknowledge those without whose help and guidance neither this series nor my landlording odyssey would be complete:

• My copy, editorial, graphics, and marketing team of Bridget McCrea, Shannon Vargo, Linda Indig, Mohammed Ejaz Ali, Brian Neill, Beth Zipko, and Kim Dayman, who really pulled through for me and to whom I am much indebted. A big thank you and recommendation to the best non-fiction literary agent in America and my great friend, Cynthia Zigmund.

• My inspirations: the courageous, selfless and impactful John Wood of Room to Read, business leader and good friend Dean Debiase, and real estate entrepreneur/attorney/friend Dr. Arnold S. Goldstein, Esq.

• My wife Renda and mother Muriel deserve much credit for this ultimate series, our education in landlording, and the staying force to persist. Too seldom do family members get their due in these endeavors. I have been blessed beyond belief.

• My long-time colleagues Enid Becker, Jonas Hedsund, and Jay Rawlings; accountant and lawyers Harry Kramer, Stewart Schechter, Peter Lieberman, and Todd Mazur; and my former colleagues Bruce Masterson, Cindy Fitzgerald, and Paul Barrett.

• Mona Hellinga as my favorite and utterly professional residential real estate agent.

• My friends and business partners at Buildium property management software, including Michael Monteiro and Dimitri Georgakopoulos.

LIST OF ICONS

Money Savers

These sections are designed to save you money. Use the information in them to make frugal decisions regarding your cash outlay when investing in and running your properties.

Money Makers

Here’s where you’ll learn how to make money in real estate. Ferret out the best possible tips and advice from these sections of the book and you’ll be well braced to earn a living and more from your real estate investments.

Time Savers

We know there are only so many hours in a day, so use these areas of the book to shave precious time from your schedule and maximize the time spent on your landlording and real estate investment business.

INTRODUCTION

Whether you came into the property management field intentionally or by accident, you’ve picked up the right book to help guide you through the ups and downs of your new position.

This book, combined with the real estate investment and landlording books that complete this series, will equip you to take on just about anything that comes your way as a property manager.

This book is designed to serve you, the reader, in several ways. You can read it from cover to cover, stick to those sections that are most applicable to your situation, and/or supplement it with the knowledge that you’ll find in the other two volumes. Regardless of how you tackle it, the key is for you to come away with a broad knowledge of exactly what it means to be a successful property manager.

In this book, you’ll be on the inside track of property management circles. You’ll learn about the skills, aptitude, and attitude of successful property managers; you’ll get the best information in achieving scale and setting up systems; and you’ll learn the pros and cons of outsourcing the property management function to one or more third parties.

The editorial team at CompleteLandlord.com, publisher of the Landlord Profit Letter and numerous special reports, books, and monitors of the CompleteLandlord Forum, has more than 25 years of landlord, property investment, rental management, and overall real estate experience. We also have a dedicated staff of attorneys and advisors who review our articles and forms library to ensure accuracy and compliance with all federal, state, and local real estate laws.

CompleteLandlord.com is for people like you: landlords and property investors. It’s the online destination that thousands of savvy landlords and real estate investors go to for real-world advice on managing properties and tenants, as well as to pick up products, services, and essential forms. All our efforts are aimed at helping people run a more profitable and successful real estate business.

We’ve also assembled an advisory team of more than a dozen landlords from diverse places such as Ohio, Texas, Georgia, and Illinois (just to name a few). This team is not afraid to mix it up and share the real scoop on what it’s like to be a landlord. They review and comment on (and sometimes argue about) our product in order to share insights with us (and you) on money and time-saving strategies and tips to help build real wealth with investment properties. The advisory team includes landlords who own, manage, and have sold both large and small multi-and single-family properties, as well as other investment real estate.

Now it’s time to start on your own road to successful property management. We’ll be here to help, every step of the way, both through the book that you hold in your hands and via our online home, CompleteLandlord.com. We wish you the best of luck with your new business!

About the Product

The CompleteLandlord.com Property Management Solution helps eliminate the excessive burden of paperwork associated with managing rental properties. In contrast to most property management software on the market, Property Management Solution is easy to use, simple to navigate, and it is appropriate for rental property owners with one to one thousand units due to its unique, scalable design. And, since it is an online platform, you can access your rental property information from any Internet location, thereby providing the optimum flexibility for all landlords’ needs.

Property Management Solution organizes and tracks tenant information, rental income and expenses, maintenance activities, and vacancy listings and generates important reports to paint a full financial picture of your rental properties. In addition, it provides the following benefits:

• Streamlines time consuming property management tasks

• Provides free web page template and hosting for use with prospective and current tenants

• Captures all key property, unit, lease, and tenant information for easy retrieval

• Increases tenant satisfaction by providing convenient web statements, requests, notices, and more

• Offers improved control over service and maintenance requests with real-time feedback to tenants

• Saves time by tracking income and expenses using IRS recognized categories reported on Tax Schedule E

• Gives tenants access to their account information online, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

Our research at CompleteLandlord.com shows the vast majority of landlords want a simple and easy-to-use system to help them reduce the headaches and paperwork associated with the day-to-day operations of rental property. Who wouldn’t agree? The problem is, before now, many existing property management systems that were on the market fell short because they were either too expensive for most landlords or too complicated to use without a property management team to offer support.

Christine Matson, a CompleteLandlord.com editor explains, “In response to numerous requests from our site’s more than 70,000 members, our team of landlords has developed what we believe to be a breakthrough property management tool that we, ourselves, are excited to use.”

The CompleteLandlord.com Property Management Solution is included free for all Premium Members as part of their annual membership.

SECTION ONE

Introduction to Property Management

CHAPTER 1

The Benefits of Managing Properties

Once you start buying and renting out property, it won’t take long to figure out that there is definitely a “third leg” of the stool that you’re sitting on: the one that handles the repair, maintenance, upkeep, and tenant relations on those properties. It’s not enough to simply buy a property, fill it with warm bodies, and expect it to run itself. In fact, one of the most important elements is the actual property management that goes into being a landlord.

As a landlord, you have a few choices when it comes to property management: you can handle it all yourself, you can outsource some of it to capable companies/individuals, or you can offload the majority of the work (in exchange for a fee) to a property management firm. Which route you take is highly personal in nature and depends on how much time you have on your hands and just how good you are with a hammer and a plunger.