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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Don’t Be Scammed This Summer

June 16, 2010

It is summer time and that means scams.  In the June 4th, issue of the Santa Cruz Sentinel Newspaper, www.santacruzsentinel.com there was a short article about Vacation Homes Should Be Watched and the article referenced a couple homes where people were squatting in them.  I don’t do vacation rentals as part of my business but [...]

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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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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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