PropertyManagementMaven: Wallace S. Gibson CPM * GRI (Gibson Management Group, Ltd.)

How many Realtors have gone into homes that are now bank-owned with disgust and amazement at the condition of the property? The former borrowers do get grumpy and start pulling fixtures out and bashing in the walls, right?  Some of the houses are just plain disgusting after the former owner moves out. You know the ones....let the animals soil the carpet or the house looked like it had not been cleaned in years. 

Someday, somewhere these former owners will need to be renters. Will anyone care what condition you left your home?  One of the key factors in determining who to rent one of the properties I manage is how the tenants will treat the home. Since public records are..well, public one of the tools to investigate the applicant is the public record to see if the applicant has ever owned a home in the area. You had better believe that I will remember the condition the home was in when the owner left it.  Afterall, if the tenant did not care about his/her own home it is not really likely that they will care about someone else's as a renter. 

 

If your hot water tank is nearing the end of its life span, give serious consideration to having a tank less hot water heater installed.  The upside is the long range energy usage.  The downside is that it takes a smidgen longer for hot water to arrive at your tap.  New home builders install these as a builder's feature. 

Why get dunked by the competition?

 

 

A few years ago clients of mine wanted to find homes with tank less water heaters.  I think I tried to find information in the web (just so I would recognized on if I saw it) but came up empty.  Less than three years later, a Buyer of mine bought a new build with a tank less heater.  Finally all my studying paid off when I described how it worked and how lucky she was to have this unit.  I commented on a blog by Charles Buell http://activerain.com/blogs/cbuell about insufficient hot water and wondered if this type of heater solved the problem.  Charles thought it might but that the expense would far outweigh the benefits of continuous water.  If a Seller is considering one, there is a niche market of Buyers who will drool over this unit and others would will just be happy that they did not have to pay for it directly themselves.  With recent reports of substantial energy cost increases in Ontario, the market for energy efficient heaters may be increasing. 

 

The Federal Reserve has made some changes to the time that a gift card has before it expires.  Currently the time limit is one year.  The new rule is that the card cannot lose value until five years after date the card is paid for. Starting on Aug 22nd service fees, including the ones tacked on for balance inquires and if you wanted to add more money to the card, are limited to one fee per month. Also a full year has to go by before they tack on an inactivity fee (about $2.00 a month).  As of now that fee is nowhere to be found on the card so it might come as a surprise and you will have less to spend.  BUT starting Jan 31, 2011 the fee amount must be printed on the back of the gift card.

Most gift cards are not redeemed so the merchant makes more money when people realize that the date has come and gone.  With the five year rule this should eliminate the waste.

Chris and Patty Clark-

ABR, CRS, GRI, MRE, CNE, SFR

If you would like for me to send you properties on a daily or weekly basis just call or email me and let me know your criteria that you want in your home patty@morningsidehomes.com   cell: 720-231-5200

www.morningsidehomes.com

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Losing valuable data due to an electrical surge or spike can ruin more than just your day, and most of us try to protect our sensitive electronics and computers with surge protectors. However, the surge protectors most of us purchase are inexpensive and subject to failure. Many are surprised to learn that most surge protectors wear out, and that they may give no indication that the protection is no longer available. Not only do the devices wear out, once they do so they may generate heat, which in some cases can pose a fire hazard.

 

And, since the inexpensive, plug-in type protectors are only grounded through the circuit’s ground wire, they are unable to handle a direct lightening strike which can generate thousands of amps. The ones offering the best protection are those installed in the circuit breaker panel and connected directly to ground, thereby protecting all the circuits in the home.

 

According to experts in both electronics as well as fire prevention, replacing inexpensive surge protectors every 3-5 years is a good idea. The few dollars spent can be well worth the added protection and safety.

 

The Housing Guru: The expert source for all your housing questions

Would you show property to someone you've never met before?

If the prospective buyer whom you've never met refuses to give critical information or to meet with you, would you consider this a serious inquiry? Would you show them property by meeting them there?

We get all kinds of leads...by phone, by email from people who want us to show them our listings. If they are not referred by anyone we know, and if we've never met them, we ask the usual questions....

• Are you represented by an agent?
• Are you already preapproved for a loan?
• Then we recommend that they come to our office to meet with us first before we see the property --- we justify this by telling them that based on what we find out that they're looking for, we could upload other properties they may be interested in and we can schedule more showings
• Before they come, we ask for their full name, email address, best number to call them.
• And...or...we ask them to fax a copy of their drivers license to us.

I've had some prospects who try to make me feel guilty by telling me "Well...if you don't want to show me this property, then I'll find someone else...."  Or some think they're getting the third degree...

It's a risky business!

It seems that the best explanation I can give them, and one that most legitimate prospects would respect is that it's a safety issue and precautionary measure....

...that the sellers requested that the home is shown only to preapproved buyers

...that realtors are committed to caring for our clients' property (and ourselves!)

What works for you?