What’s your market like?

If you are located in one of the hot areas around the country, you might be wondering where all the good deals have gone to. Are the hedge funds really buying up everything and causing prices to skyrocket to unmanageable levels everywhere? Not according to a new study released today by RealtyTrac that looks at the top 20 markets to buy single family homes in today, based on cap rates and cashflow. In fact, there are some areas where significant cashflow is still achievable.

In a statement released by RealtyTrac, VP Daren Blomquist discussed the problem and what they’ve found:

“Buying single family homes as rentals that actually generate good monthly cash flow has become more difficult over the past year as institutional investors crowded into the market, snapping up tens of thousands of properties in 2012 alone,” said Daren Blomquist vice president at RealtyTrac. “But there are still opportunities for the more conservative, individual investor to buy rental homes that generate a healthy return on investment — it often just takes persistence and willingness to pass on bad deals. The top 20 markets we selected represent the best chance to buy rental homes that generate good cash flow, but opportunities are available in most markets across the country given the combination of relatively low prices, low interest rates and a strong rental market.”

The 20 Best Markets for Single Family Homes

According to their findings, Memphis, TN leads the pack with a “cash-purchase cap rate” averaging 10.38%, followed closely by Saginaw, MI and Toledo, OH. The following charts offer more details into the study:

For more information on the study by RealtyTrac, click here.

Blog originally created by Brandon Turner at www.biggerpockets.com

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If you own a rental property and already have renters in the property and are finding yourself unable to find the time, energy, or expertise in managing the rental property, there are options for you to keep the current renters in the property, but no longer manage it.

Franchise property managers and franchise professional landlords typically offer a service called a takeover which means they will take over managing your rental property for you even if you have current tenants in the property. Effective from an agreed upon date, the real estate franchise property manager will begin collecting rent, handling maintenance requests for you in exchange for their monthly management fee. Typically these companies will charge a set-up fee to set up your property in their management software.
The process to have a franchise real estate property management company or franchise professional landlord takeover managing your rental property can be quite easy if you work with the right company. This service allows rental property owners a way to keep their rental property that they thought they could manage to spend time handling other things in their lives, and have an expert handle the management of their rental property.

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This means if you rent your single family home it should be easier to get a long term lease right away, or at least more likely to renew the lease term at the end of the lease. Long-term tenants are one of the most beneficial things to a property owner. So if you are an investor looking for properties to buy you should consider you will have less turn over cost on a single family property as you should not have to find a new tenant as often. Long-term tenants also tend to be very good tenants in terms or payments and care for the property. A franchise property management company or real estate franchise property management company can help you greatly in managing your longer-term lease property.

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Renting a property that is part of a homeowner’s association does present a couple of additional items that need to be addressed to ensure everything goes smoothly. Most associations have rules and regulations that need to be followed by whomever is occupying the property whether that is the owner or a tenant. It is imperative that any tenant you rent your property to be presented with a full copy of the association rules and regulations. They need to be informed that the must comply with all of these rules in addition to the terms already set forth in their lease. Full disclosure of this information will make it easier to enforce the provisions of the lease and association rules later on down the road if an issue arises.

In the event a tenant violates any association rules, most associations will send a notice to the homeowner asking them to correct the issue. The homeowner must then notify the tenant of this issue and ask that it be corrected. If the tenant fails to correct the violation or it occurs again, the association may send a second notice or they may issue a fine to the homeowner for failure to comply with association rules and regulations. This is where it becomes important that the homeowner provided a copy of the rules and regulations to the tenant upon move in. If that was done, the owner can then pass that fine on to the tenant, provided the lease allows the owner to do so.

It is also common for associations to require that the tenant sign a document stating they have read the rules and regulations and agree to abide by all of its terms. This will provide additional security to the homeowner that they can pass along to the tenant, any fines that they may incur due to the tenant violating association rules.

While it may seem more difficult to manage a property in an association, following the steps outlined above will lead to fewer violations and allow for any issues that do arise to be mitigated quickly. A franchise property management company or real estate property management franchise can help you manage properties even when they have HOAs.

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If you own a rental property and manage it on your own, one thing you are probably well aware of is the time and energy it takes to properly manage a rental property. You have to be the landlord, maintenance company, accountant, and lawyer. Combine all of these jobs that an everyday landlord has to take on for a rental property and you are looking at a lot of time, energy, and money.

This is where a franchise professional landlord or franchise property manager can help save you not only time, but likely a lot money by having them manage the property for you. Most professional landlords or property management companies will charge around 8-10 % of the rent amount, or flat fee anywhere from $80-$100 per month for managing your rental property.

This cost is actually very low when you look at all of the work and hats that a property manager handles. The will handle the maintenance requests, enforce the lease, provide monthly and year end accounting, and answer questions for you so, you do not have to answer calls early in the morning. When you think about what $80-100 gets you today, the monthly fee charged by property management franchise companies to ensure your rental property is taken care is a small cost compared to the time you may have to put into your rental property if you are managing on your own.

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Renters rent from everyday landlords frequently, many never having any bad experiences, however there are many tenants who have had bad experiences with everyday landlords. Some tenants have had problems with getting their security deposits back, having maintenance requests handled timely, as well as many other issues.

This is where a professional landlord or property management franchise company can help out greatly. These types of companies are looked at by renters with much more trust. Renters who deal with a property management franchise company or professional landlord know that these types of companies specialize in renting and can handle all types of issues that may arise. Renters who rent from a property manager can rest assured their security deposit funds will be there at the end of their tenancy.

If you own a rental property and do not have experience in renting, you may want to hire a professional landlord or property manager franchisee as they can help you find renters much faster, as well as provide your renters the added trust that they know they are working with a trusted property management company and not someone they do not know.

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What precautionary can be taken to evade tenant and landlord disputes?

There will come a time during the tenancy when the tenant and landlord may have a difference in opinion. These disagreements can tend to arise from the beginning of the lease all the way to the end of the lease, these issues can be brought up for all sorts of reasons, from paying rent on time to waving late fees and even maintenance requests that are performed in a timely manner. Nevertheless, in some situations attorneys and court may be the final decision for resolving these concerns.

There are many informative tips that tenants and landlords can follow that will help side step legal action:

1. Get to know the lease, read over it carefully and also make sure you are extremely knowledgeable on
all of the state, federal and local laws.

2. If there is an issue in regards to the tenant or the homeowner, be sure to have the utmost communication between one another, we personally find that when there is a lack communication, things seem to fall apart.

3. Always make sure you communicate with email because then there will always be a paper trail or if you communicate over the phone be sure to make notes with all issues regarding tenants and property owners.

Is it beneficial by settling a tenant landlord dispute out of the courts?

It is disheartening that not all tenant and landlord disagreements can be settled by and easy talk between both parties to the lease. Then again, when interactions break down, there are still steps that can be taken before attorneys are attained and court starts. for instance, third-party mediators are a great route to go down to bypass taking the issue at hand to court, Or you could simply use a franchise property management company or customer service manager to be your third-party mediator. Mediators are extremely cheap and affordable through all sorts of different programs.

What type of court should I go to if we cannot settle our disputes outside of court?

Generally I would suggest going to small claims court or conciliation court. Most small claims court can typically be limited to certain types of cases, The case always will need to have some sort of money involved, most the time it would be in regards to past due rent money that is still owed or a security deposit dispute.

All small claims court fees are generally affordable and in some cases can be waived for certain instances. Also, you will not need to obtain a lawyer in small claims court, as you can represent yourself.

Conciliation court can be a last resort for tenant and landlord disagreements, they are built to provide and solve the issue at hand. I do suggest that you check with your local courts to find out what the requirements are forsmall claims court. In most instances, the court will only hear cases where the issue does not exceed a certain amount of money, in general the range between $2000 and $15,000. If your court case exceeds this amount of money, you will most likely need to file your lawsuit in the suitable law court.

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Open in mid October, Todd Barton heads up the newest franchise to Renters Warehouse located in Atlanta, Georgia.

Renters Warehouse’s sixth and most recent franchise was purchased by Todd Barton who opened in mid-October, 2012. Todd is a successful businessman with extensive experience in business management and development.   With a Juris Doctorate law degree from the University of Georgia, he has experience as an attorney with McCullough Sherrill and he has held top positions at corporations like Aegis Mortgage and HRJ Capital.

Real estate property management is a $28.5 billion dollar industry – a $9.7 billion increase over five years (up from $18.8 billion in 2002), according to the 2007 U.S. Census Bureau of Economic Analysis.  By making the decision to open a Renters Warehouse property management franchise, Mr. Barton receives a franchise with a proven business model and process as well as a piece of a company that has an excellent niche in the current and future real estate market.

“I am thrilled with how the Atlanta market has responded to Renters Warehouse and its great tenant placement and professional landlord services. We look forward to providing exceptional services for the Atlanta market”, said Barton.  The Atlanta franchise joins the list of Renters Warehouse franchises around the country in Arizona, California, Colorado and Maryland; with its corporate office located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. “We are excited about the addition of the Atlanta location. With his business development experience, I expect to see good things from Todd in the property management business”, states Brenton Hayden, Renters Warehouse CEO.

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Getting rent on time each month is likely very important for you. You likely have a mortgage to pay on the house which may be due at the beginning of the month which means on time rent payments are needed for you to pay your mortgage. Most leases will be written so that rent is due on the 1^st of each month, however renters have until the 5^th of the month before their rent payment is considered late. With a late payment likely comes a late fee or penalty. Providing rewards for on time rent can help you get the rent paid on time. Rather than focusing on late fees, maybe try offering the below ideas to see if helps you receive your rent payments on time or even early.

Lower your rent for consistent on-time rent payments.Set a period of time such as if your tenants pay on time for 6 months, you will lower the rent $50 per month thereafter. Not only do on time rent payments benefit you, they now benefit your renters as a decrease in rent of $50 a month is something that is very important to your renters.

Provide a discount for early rent.If you really want to rent your home for $1,000 per month, instead say rent is $1,050 per month, and you will offer $50 off of rent each month for rent that is paid before the due date. You are still getting the same rent you need; however you are providing your renters motivation to pay their rent early.

Give out rewards for on-time payments.Try offering your renters a $10 gift card for each month that they pay their rent on time. Maybe get a gift card to a restaurant or movie theatre close to your renters. They will be excited for the bonus of paying rent on time.

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From June to July of 2012 both home values and rent prices rose, however rent prices increased more than the nation median in several markets. Rents prices rose 0.2 percent month-over-month and 5.4 percent year-over-year to a Zillow Rent Index of $1,278. Nationally, rents have increased in 6 out of the past 12 months, with most metros (70 percent) experiencing rent increases from June to July.

Summer months are notorious for the time when renters are usually moving or looking to move into a new rental property. For rental property owners, listing your home during summer months is a must. As the survey by Zillow stated, rent prices have increase in 6 out of the past 12 months which is a good sign for rental property owners.

With more foreclosures happening every day, the renter pool continues to grow. A bigger pool also means more available renters who can afford a wide range of rent prices. There are many people who were paying a very high mortgage, who now can afford high rent prices. With each month that goes by and rent prices increasing, it means more rental income for rental property owners. Combine the increase of rent prices with the help of the services of a property manager, your rental property can lead to very high returns on investment.

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