Tips For Renters

Fowl Play in the Backyard – Chickens Make a Come Back

July 14, 2010

I recently rented a cottage in Santa Cruz and was surprised to see the tenants had a chicken coop with 2 hens and they collected the eggs daily.  When I would show the cottage the hens would scurry around the yard – no bugs at this property was my first thought. As a property manager [...]

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Protect Your Belongings

July 7, 2010

On the news this morning was a report of a rash of arsons on vehicles near downtown Santa Cruz.  Whenever I see a fire situation or a flooding situation on the news my first thought is, “I hope they have insurance.” With every lease we have tenants sign we have a Renter’s Insurance Addendum where [...]

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Santa Cruz City Has Had It!

June 30, 2010

Last weeks post was about Party Houses well since then I attended a community meeting with the Mayor of Santa Cruz, Planning Dept heads at the Santa Cruz Association of Realtors office to discuss a new ordinance. To back up a bit an emergency ordinance was passed by the City stating that if property owners [...]

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Party Homes – What To Do?

June 23, 2010

In the June 9, 2010 Santa Cruz Sentinel Newspaper, www.santacruzsentinel.com page B3, there is an article by Shanna McCord about the crack down on party homes in Santa Cruz.  The City Council passed an emergency ordinance not allowing repeat offending property owners from making renovations to their properties that would increase the number of bedrooms [...]

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The Pain of Stains

May 26, 2010

I keep things that are of interest to my business and this posting is from the Santa Cruz Sentinel July 17, 2008.  I thought I would share with you some of the tips and tricks for stain removal. Grease – use cornstarch, cornmeal and talcum powder to soak up Dried blood, juice, felt-tip pen or [...]

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Georgiana Bruce Kirby – Senior Seminar – How to be a good tenant

April 30, 2010

 As part of the senior seminar series I was asked to speak to the students about how to get their first apartment, what owners and property managers look for in a tenant. The class was on April 22nd, from 1-2:15 at the school.  About 40-50 students were in the class and all were attentive except [...]

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Property Management from A-Z: X

April 12, 2010

Xerox and  X-check Xerox – copy documents, keep copies of all communication whether on your computer or printed and put into the file.  The main point here to document, document and document.  Have a filing system for your documents so you can find what you are looking for later.  Copies can always be sent to [...]

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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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