kathleen richards

Electronic Signature – Is it for you?

January 25, 2012

We finally made the move to signing all leases and management contracts electronically.  I was worried that something would be lost by not sitting down with the tenant and going over the lease with them. What I realized is that they are so preoccupied with their move that they don’t really read the lease.  We [...]

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True Story – My Tenant is Taking Me To Small Claims

January 19, 2012

As many of you know I am the State of California rep for the blog: www.CaliforniaLandlordSolutions.com and I often get calls from people who found out website and want advice on how to handle a situation. Last week I was called by a lady who was shocked that her former tenant was taking her to [...]

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Portola Property Management, Inc Has Moved

January 17, 2012

I know in the Cloud there isn’t the necessity to have a physical location and yes we are moving to conducting more and more business in the Cloud these days but in Property Management we still have a physical location. I like having a place to call home.  I like having our residents and owners [...]

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Tips & Tricks for Renting Your Personal Home

October 26, 2011

I often get owners that decide to rent their personal home either through job change or kids are gone and they can downsize.  The following tips are important to consider: 1.  This is the only time I recommend that you hire a professional property manager for at least one year to manage the property.  The [...]

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Class is over – What did we learn?

October 19, 2011

I teach classes at Cabrillo College in Aptos, CA a couple times per year.  It is always great to touch base with consumers to see what is really on their minds.   The take away from the class is that as an Owner you need to know the laws and fair housing.  Take a great [...]

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Annual Preventative Maintenance

October 14, 2011
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9/11 how does it relate to managing rentals?

September 21, 2011

We just observed the 10 year anniversary of 9/11. The take away for me was the reminder of how precious life is and the fact that our lives as we know it can be turned upside down in an instant.  So how does that impact owning rentals? We need to be prepared.  Once you own real [...]

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Know Your FICO Score

July 29, 2011

This month a new law was passed that stipulates if you apply for rental housing and you are denied because of your credit the property mgmt firm must give you your FICO score.  The State of California requires that if an applicant asks for their credit report you must provide it to them. If you [...]

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