Investing

Santa Cruz Rental Market

June 9, 2010

As we enter the summer months I thought I would give a quick assessment of the local rental market as of end of May 2010.  Well, things have really picked up. In the last week we rented everything but 2 properties and as of today we only have 4 properties available to rent.  There are [...]

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Santa Cruz County Housing Expo 2010

June 2, 2010

I was invited to speak at the Santa Cruz Housing Expo on May 8th, which was sponsored by the Santa Cruz Association of Realtors.  My topic was Investment Properties.  Here is a brief outline of workshop. Investment Opportunities:  What is your goal – rental income, appreciation and sell, pass on to heirs? Location – this [...]

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Property Management from A-Z: Z

April 16, 2010

Well I am on Z and covered all topics related to Property Management through the alphabet and then some.  Hope you have found the topics timely and of interest.  Zero Sum Gain (break even), Zap Your Energy, Zombie, Zen, Zest for Life Zero-Sum-Gain – break even is at least where you want to be with [...]

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Property Management from A-Z: Y

April 14, 2010

Yearly Planning, Year-End Planning Yearly Planning – this should be done before the new year begins.  It should also be reviewed quarterly.  Again, this is your business, your investment.  What should be part of your yearly-planning?  Any turnovers coming up, what maintenance needs to be done this year?  Have a budget?  Taxes, Insurance, Mortgage, Utilities [...]

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Property Management from A-Z: W

April 7, 2010

Wealth, Waste (time & money), Wear & Tear, Web Wealth – Owning investment property is an excellent way to build long term wealth.  As long as you manage your property as an investment and business your chances of building wealth will be good.  Many people don’t treat their rentals as an investment and therefore actually [...]

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Property Management from A-Z: U

March 31, 2010

Utilities Utilities can be tricky if the tenant doesn’t pay all.  Many multi-family properties have shared meters.  The dilema for property owners is if you include utilities in the rent tenants tend to abuse them and leave the heater going 24/7 – they aren’t seeing the bills so they don’t know the expense.  I am [...]

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Property Management from A-Z: R

March 22, 2010

Reserves, Roommates, Rental Rate, Red Flags, Relationship Reserves – this is very important for investors, and property owners.  You never know when the roof will leak, the water heater will go out or some other unexpected maintenance item will pop up.  I keep saying this again and again but you need to treat your rentals [...]

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Property Management from A-Z: Q

March 17, 2010

Question & Qualifying Applicant Question – You as Owner always want to question and get more info not just from tenant when they call with maintenance emergency – ask lots of questions to understand situation but question your insurance agent annually to make sure your investment is property insured.  Be pro-active in staying on top [...]

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