{"id":470,"date":"2006-09-26T17:21:19","date_gmt":"2006-09-27T00:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=470"},"modified":"2006-09-26T19:25:44","modified_gmt":"2006-09-27T02:25:44","slug":"blogoff-post-93-a-few-tips-on-avoiding-unexpected-fees-penalties-on-rental-homes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/470\/blogoff-post-93-a-few-tips-on-avoiding-unexpected-fees-penalties-on-rental-homes\/","title":{"rendered":"Blogoff Post #93: A few tips on avoiding unexpected fees, penalties on rental homes . . ."},"content":{"rendered":"

This is from my Arizona Republic<\/i> column<\/a>:<\/p>\n

With regard to my recent advice to a young landlord, a reader phoned to leave this sage counsel:<\/p>\n

Don’t forget about the rental tax. The worst way to find out about unpaid taxes is by getting a bill for three years’ worth of arrears. If you’re aware of the issue, you can write the tax into your lease and have the tenant pay it.<\/p>\n

You should exercise a similar forethought when it comes to municipal and homeowners association fines. If you don’t specify in the lease that the tenant will pay for any infractions, then you will be left holding the bag.<\/p>\n

The same goes for utilities. You will need to restore the utility accounts to your name every time the property goes vacant. You should specify in the lease who pays the charges and deposits for restoration of interrupted service.<\/p>\n

If you should ever have to evict a tenant, pay particular attention to the utilities, because you could end up parking a big chunk of money as a deposit for your former tenant’s bad payment history.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There’s more to it than this, of course:<\/p>\n

Here’s a money-saving tip for a vacant house: Throw the main breaker so that anyone showing the property can’t turn the air-conditioning down to 60 degrees and then forget to turn it off. When you’re working on the property, you can turn on the power for the time you need it. The rest of the time, your bill is zero. (A refrigerator without power must have its doors propped open or the stench will be outrageous.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Good grief! Who needs Realtors? Everybody knows this stuff, right?<\/p>\n

Here’s my best advice for any landlord: Befriend the neighbors. Their fear is that your tenants will pull down their home values. Let them know that that’s your fear as well and that you need them to phone you when your tenants are over the line. You will have addressed their concerns and turned them into an informal espionage network.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And: If the neighbors come through for you in a big way, which can happen, buy ’em dinner. They’ve earned it…
\n<\/p>\n

Technorati Tags: arizona<\/a>, Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is from my Arizona Republic column: With regard to my recent advice to a young landlord, a reader phoned to leave this sage counsel: Don’t forget about the rental tax. The worst way to find out about unpaid taxes is by getting a bill for three years’ worth of arrears. If you’re aware of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-470","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-marketing","7":"category-real-estate","9":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7532,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/7532\/put-down-the-pipe-and-step-away-from-that-lease-agreement\/","url_meta":{"origin":470,"position":0},"title":"Put Down The Pipe – And Step Away From That Lease Agreement","author":"Doug Quance","date":"March 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday's Unrealistic Sellers Are Today's Unrealistic Landlords Just when we thought we had finally convinced all potential sellers that the real estate market was in a crisis - and that realistic pricing was the only way that a sale could be consummated - we now must deal with the unrealistic\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":465,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/465\/blogoff-post-88-rental-house-smart-opportunity-if-set-up-as-business\/","url_meta":{"origin":470,"position":1},"title":"Blogoff Post #88: Rental house smart opportunity if set up as business . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 26, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"This is one of my personal favorites from my Arizona Republic column:I'm helping a young friend buy his first home. I've known him since he was in high school. I admired his decision to defer college for an arduous tour of duty in Iraq. He's back in school now and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7472,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/7472\/show-me-yours-then-ill-show-you-mine\/","url_meta":{"origin":470,"position":2},"title":"Show Me Yours – Then I’ll Show You Mine","author":"Doug Quance","date":"March 13, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Looking At Rental Properties With A Whole Different Perspective The more things change... well, the more they change. In the past, when you represented a tenant in the lease of a property, it was understood that the tenant would provide authorization for the landlord to perform a credit check, if\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":255,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/255\/gregs-toothsome-lease-addendum\/","url_meta":{"origin":470,"position":3},"title":"Greg’s toothsome lease addendum . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"August 26, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I was out with investors today, and I mentioned this model lease addendum to them. I wrote this two summers ago. It is devised to permit out-of-state or arm's-length landlords to get along without a property manager, if they choose. Take note that this a model, an example for education\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":905,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/905\/shackpricescom-anything-but-ordinary\/","url_meta":{"origin":470,"position":4},"title":"ShackPrices.com: Anything but ORdinary . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"January 16, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Responding to my kvetching last night, ShackPrices.com today launched itself into a new ORbit among map-based real estate search pORtals -- with OR without MLS access. Not satisfied with ORdinary searching, the Seattle-based company yesterday added a loosely-structure keywORd search. The search suppORted the AND and NOT logical operatORs, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":907,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/907\/in-a-rent-vs-buy-bind-right-now\/","url_meta":{"origin":470,"position":5},"title":"In a Rent vs Buy Bind Right Now","author":"Russell Shaw","date":"January 16, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Eric writes: Hi Greg! I am writing because I really enjoy your blog. I'm licensed, but haven't worked with realty in years due to being back in IT (which you also seem to have a passion for), so I enjoy hearing from the experts. I'm in a rent vs buy\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ask the Broker"","block_context":{"text":"Ask the Broker","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/ask-the-broker\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}