Raking leaves on property

[Bienes Raices]

Without getting into the details, I've been having a problem with very unqualified applicants for my new rental.

Because there's limited room for the tenant to keep a lawnmower on the property, I've been toying with the idea of including lawn service to get better applicants. I would like to get a service that will mow for $75 or less per month. I don't know if this is possible without hiring a kid. I will have to call around.

The problem is the house also has several large oak trees around it that shed a lot of leaves. I literally filled 30 bags of leaves the other day. I've been told these trees shed leaves year round, too. I assume it's going to be exorbitant to pay a service to do this raking in addition to mowing. Should I get a leafblower and do the leaves myself, or try to get the tenant to do the raking and hire a service just to mow the lawn? My concern is that if the tenant neglects the raking and the service person arrives they won't be able to mow. Thanks.

[Matt Devincenzo]

Bienes Raices I grew up in Orlando in a house with 4 Oaks on the property and the leaves do kind of fall all year but it is minimal except for about 2 months a year when the new leaves push out. The worst times of year are right about now when the new leaves are starting to come out and I think it's usually around Aug when the acorns fall.

But I've never heard of anyone really charging for those. Usually just mowing the leaves is enough to break them up and allow them to keep composting, about 8 months out of the year(Spring summer early fall) it is warm and wet enough that they never build up. And if it is too heavy of a leaf fall what works better/cheaper is to just mow and have the clippings bagged and the leaves get sucked up with them, doing that every week when you mow keeps them from ever getting too thick that you even need to rake.

I know alot of the guys don't bag but some do so you might ask when you're calling around.