All Forum Posts by: Debbie C.

@Adam Sherwood

I have properties just north of you and I have seen some recent changes with higher inventory in your area and price reductions to get the property rented. I agree with what has already been posted above. If you have not already, then look at Zillow and pictures of some of your competition in 85281.  

The picture of the front of the house looks nice. Inside I would show pictures of it empty and clean and ready to go, unless as said above the furniture looks really good and house is not cluttered. 

I would remove picture #31. Backyard looks messy, overgrown grass etc. and needs to be cleaned up. If you do not have showings resulting in application/s coming in this week, I would consider lowering the rent to 1750.00. If you do not want to make the backyard look nicer, or you do not have any applications come in the following week, then consider lowering the rent to 1695.00. 

@Bill Alpert

I looked at your listing, pictures & description on MLS. I also looked at some homes close in location to yours and similar in size and 2 story. If you have not already, I suggest you look at 3044 W. Los Gatos Dr., Phx. 85027, nice house, close to yours, stainless appliances, very nice backyard, and they accept pets, read the description the realtor wrote about that house and pets.

Also look at the others on Zillow in that area. As Michael pointed out many have been sitting 60 - 90 days. 

Bottom line: If you are willing to allow pets, then have your agent put that in the description, many renters have pets. you can still say "Lessor Approval". Ask your agent how many showings you have had, and when. Any applications ? Consider lowering the rent. Have agent post the rental on Zillow.

@Bill Alpert

Approx. where is your rental located ? I have sfh on the east side of town, but I also on the west side. I am seeing some differences between them in time to get them rented.

We do post the rentals on Zillow, and get good results.

You also may want to consider only offering a 12 month lease to your next tenant. What if you were only a few months into a 24 month lease and you were having these same types of issues, and the tenant did not want to move out even if you offered to let them break the lease or do a cash for keys. If everything is working out with a tenant, you can always renew the lease. Just something to think about.

@Hunter McNeill

Here is a different perspective to think about. I am a property owner that employees a management company that I have been with for a number of years. About 2 years ago they requested all the owners add them onto the owners policy as " additional insured". After an in depth conversation with my insurance agent, I decided not to add them on as I was made aware by my agent that would add additional liability to my policy. They did not have an issue with that, however, at some point they may require it & that would be a deal breaker for me. I am very well insured and I have no problem with providing my management company with whatever proof of insurance they require.

I am very pro-active about my insurance coverage on my sfh's and I am always watching out for any liability issues. We do require rental insurance from the tenants with a minimum of 100,000 in liability coverage and the management company is listed as "additional interest" so that they are notified in case of non-renewal or cancellation. Also @Michael Norris made an excellent point about dog bite/dog breed exclusions.

I might add that when I asked my management company how many owners signed the form they sent out, I was told almost all the owners did without any questions or phone calls, so I am in the minority. 

@Eric George Also contact your Insurance Agent before buying regarding costs & liability (As in an Umbrella Policy) or you may decide to title as an llc. So many things are changing in the Insurance Industry, its something to really pay attention to.

@Sunny Rajvansh

I am in Arizona, we are allowed to charge up to one and a half times the monthly rent for a security deposit and/or fees. I charge an amount equal to 1 months rent for a returnable security deposit and then also the non-refundable cleaning fee. 

@Sunny Rajvansh

We have SFH's and kept running into the same issues with cleaning not being acceptable when tenants moved out and then having to deduct from the security deposit, or pay out to have it cleaned. We changed to charging an upfront non-refundable cleaning fee. On our smaller house its 250.00, bigger houses 300.00. The cleaning company comes in after a tenant moves out and cleans from top to bottom. The houses look great, the tenants are excited when they are moving in, and I have not had complaints about the fee yet. ( We made the change about 4 years ago, and have had a number of tenants moving in or out).

Just seems like the tenants pay the up front fees to move in without complaining, but when they move out, how clean they leave the house was many times an issue, and they didn't like deductions from the security deposit for cleaning, especially if they think they did an ok/good job.

@Autumn G.I do inspections every 6 months, it is written into the lease. Yes, part of the inspection is to look for lease violations, however, we bring the tenant supplies for 6 months, such as A/C filters and in some of the houses Refrigerator water filters. We ask if they have any unreported repairs or issues to discuss. And we are also looking for things that are causing or could cause damage that would be charged to the tenant now or at move out.

I will give you one example. At one of our sfh properties, with a newer re-modeled kitchen, the tenants had put in an a large above sink dish drainer that went all the way up to almost touching the top and sides of the cabinets, and as they would hand wash dishes and put them up in this rack, water was getting all over the sides of the cabinets. I could see the damage this was beginning to cause, so we discussed it with the tenants, and agreed on a solution, which was they did not have to take it down, we scheduled a day to return, and wrapped/attached a single piece of thick soft plastic around the rack so that splashed water just runs back into the sink. Problem solved, and I didn't end up with a big issue at move out. This also saved the tenants from losing maybe a large amount of their security deposit (Who knows how much damage the water would cause). 

I have found other issues like small leaks under a sink that the tenant didn't notice & I was able to catch it early on. 

I have not had issues with my tenants doing the inspections, and this is required before a lease renewal.

@Sam Faas

I have SFH in South Scottsdale and we have an alley behind the house. I did go around to the neighbors and talk to them about the alley, I found them interested in keeping the alley picked up. I let them have my contact info, and they know my house is a rental. If they have any issues with my tenants, they can contact me. We discussed everyone doing their fair share to try to keep the alley clean,we all have a lot on the line because in the past our part of town had roof rats. When we do property inspections it includes the alley. If there are any issues that are not the fault of the tenant, we take care of it.

Also my lease has a clause about the tenants must follow the City of Scottsdale rules about the alley. If they don't, (meaning they are dumping items/trash improperly) I can send someone over to do clean up and charge the tenant. So far so good.