Blog Post

SETTING A PET POLICY ADVICE FROM A CHARLOTTE PROPERTY MANAGER

Aug 27, 2014
Our topic on today’s blog is pet policies. This is a subject property owners and landlords always want to talk about. They’re not sure what they should do about pets; whether or not to allow them, what kind of pets to allow and how to handle tenants who have dogs and cats.

What you need to realize is that most tenants have pets. Roughly 75 percent of the people who are looking at your property will have a pet, and those people are going to want to keep their pets when they move. You don’t want to have a strict no-pets policy when you’re renting out your home, because you will lose a very large pool of potential renters.

At Charlotte Homes and Rentals, we recommend that you make pets conditional. We think you can strike the right balance when you find out what kind of pet the tenant has, and you make sure the animal is a good fit for the property. For example, if you’re renting out a condo and your tenant wants to move in with a puppy that is going to grow to be a 100-pound Rottweiler, it’s probably not a pet you want to allow. However, a seven pound Yorkie that is seven years old will probably be okay.

When we make the decision to conditionally allow pets, we always find out what kind of animal the tenant has. Then, we discuss this with the property owner and make sure it’s okay. Once we get the go-ahead, we always charge a pet fee. It’s Cha Pet Policyimportant to understand the difference between a pet fee and a deposit. The pet fee doesn’t count towards any damage the animal may do to the property. It’s simply a fee that the tenant pays in order to bring the pet onto the property. We ask it to be paid along with the first month’s rent, and we pass that fee onto the owner. If the pet causes any damage to the property, we keep part of the security deposit to pay for that damage.

At the time that we consider pets, we also look at the entire application. The credit is important and the landlord references are especially important. Find out if there are pet damages in the tenant’s history. We also generally do not allow puppies and kittens because they don’t have a track record yet and we don’t know how they’ll behave. A five-year-old animal, on the other hand, can demonstrate a good record of reliable behavior.

Let us help you with pets and your property. If you have any questions, please contact us at Charlotte Homes and Rentals.

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09 Jul, 2017
Our topic today deals with a question I get asked all the time. The one thing investors are always asking is: Where should I buy? There is not necessarily a single answer to that question. A good property manager can show you different areas that are up and coming in the rental market, but more important is your overall investment strategy. We focus on the big picture. Think about your retirement plans. When you invest for retirement, you diversify your funds. You don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket. We approach your real estate investments with the same mindset. At Charlotte Homes and Rentals, where you buy your properties depends on what you want to do and how much you want to invest. We take a look at your whole portfolio before we begin making recommendations or showing you promising investments. We start by finding out how much property you currently own and how much you want to own. Then, we help to leverage your risk. For many of our investors, it’s not a good idea to buy only single family homes that you’ll turn into rentals. If you want to buy just one property, a single family home in south Charlotte might be the right answer. But if you want to diversify, you might want to add to that single family property and buy some multi-family units or condominiums that can be found all over the city. We advise you to spread it out and we show you how to maximize your investments. To help you buy the right properties, we take a look at what you want to achieve. We consider whether you want only short term returns or long term returns as well. We’ll ask you if you plan to hold onto your property indefinitely or if you will likely want to sell it in the next five to 10 years. All of that is taken into consideration when we sit down with you to plan out your real estate investments and determine how your properties will fit into your overall investment strategy. We’ll do this with you regardless of the amount of money you plan to invest and regardless of the types of plans you have for these properties. When you want to invest in residential property, please contact us at Charlotte Homes and Rentals. We look forward to helping you.
07 Jul, 2017
Today we are going to talk about why you should work with us, and we are going to give you five reasons to let Charlotte Homes and Rentals help you with your property. The first thing we want to tell you is that we are truly one stop shopping. We perform property management, we have expertise in real estate and we are also licensed general contractors. So, anything you need to do with your investment property, we can help you. We can help clients buy investment property, we can help you repair it, we can manage it for you while you’re renting it out, and when you’re ready to sell it, we can get it on the sales market for you. Second, we only work for property owners. Everything we do is centered on protecting the owners and their properties. Our leases are designed to focus on protecting our owners. We are going to treat your property as if it was our own. The third reason you should work with Charlotte Homes and Rentals is that our tenant screening is thorough and precise. We do a nationwide criminal background check, we run credit scores and credit reports, we check the sex offender list and we also look at nationwide eviction records. Because we are only working for owners, we have an interest in finding you the best tenants we can. Another good reason to work with us is that we have a full time maintenance staff. Again, we are licensed general contractors, so we know how to handle maintenance and repairs. We can also find you the best prices for your repairs. You can be sure the work is going to be done right and for an affordable price. We only work with vendors who are fully licensed and insured because our goal is to protect you and your property. Finally, our company can provide you with modern technology and old fashioned service. We have all the latest technology and we make it available to our clients. We advertise on the necessary websites and we keep all of our systems and processes up to date. This helps us do everything we need to do efficiently. At the same time, we are never more than a phone call away. Our 5 Reasons to Work with Charlotte Homes and Rentalsold fashioned service means you can reach us anytime you want in any way you want. We are willing to communicate in whatever way works best for you. If you have any questions about property management and why you should work with us, please contact us at Charlotte Homes and Rentals.
02 Sep, 2014
There are a lot of international and overseas investors buying property in the Charlotte market, and they come to a property management company with special needs since they are so far away. We work with a lot of overseas funds and we have good relationships with our investors. We thought we would take some time on today’s blog to explain the process so you know how we have done it at Charlotte Homes and Rentals. We have managed to be very successful with our international investors and those clients who are out of the country have been happy with our work. Being a licensed real estate company is important to these investors, because we can help people from overseas source the properties. We listen to what they are looking for and then we help them find what they want. Most international investors have specific criteria and need properties that will best fit their overall investment portfolios. In addition to helping them find and purchase properties, we are also able to help them fix those properties up. Most of the homes they buy are in various states of construction or repair, and since we are licensed contractors, we can do any work our investors need. We can do something as simple as a paint job or carpet installation, and we can do major rehab work and complete renovations. International investors are happy to work with a company that can do the buying, the managing and the fixing up. Once we’ve helped investors choose a property and get it fixed up, we prepare the home for rent. This requires cleaning, Property Managers Handles Financemarketing and preparing the home for the rental market. When the investor is thousands of miles away, a property manager really needs to be on point. You need to have feet on the ground and you need to give that property a lot of personal attention. Get it on the market, make sure it’s priced correctly and find the best possible tenant. We protect the investments of our overseas clients the same way we protect the homes belonging to our local landlords. International investors can expect detailed accounting from us on a regular basis. We provide spreadsheets and statements with narrative descriptions. We manage a lot of large portfolios and sometimes that requires us to Skype with overseas investors so they are up to speed on everything that’s happening with their properties. We’d be happy to partner with you if you’re an international or overseas investor interested in the Charlotte market. If you have any questions about the services we provide, please contact us at Charlotte Homes and Rentals.
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