Archive for February, 2010

Landlords: Have You Read Your Lease Lately?

If you are a landlord you probably view your lease as just a piece of paper. I want to challenge you and ask: When is the last time you read your standard lease from start to finish? For most it has probably been a long time. I bet that some of you have never read it. Your lease is not just a piece of paper. It is your legal contract with your tenants. Most investors will spend a considerable amount of time working on a purchase agreement or other contract. Why are you now just cruising along with a lease you haven’t looked at in possibly years?

Maybe you found your lease on the Internet and print it off your computer or maybe you buy your leases at an office supply store or maybe you buy them from your rental housing association regardless of where you get them here are some clauses to put in your leases to make them stronger and to protect yourself:

1. Confirm your lease reads that rent is due on the 1st but late on the 6th. Most tenants look at that as the rent is due on the 5th. Make sure they understand it is due on the 1st.

2. Consider raising your late fee. A large enough amount may make a tenant think twice about being late confirm your state’s limits on late fees.

3. Even at the end of the lease require at least 60 days written notice for the tenant to vacate the premises. Additionally this 60 days notice should start at the beginning of the following month; so you should get a minimum of 2 months notice.

4. If you own investment property in colder climates do not allow any moveouts during November to March as these are the most difficult times to lease properties.

5. To protect yourself from repeated NSF checks from a tenant you should include the following language: Payment of rent will be accepted by personal check until first check is returned unpaid. Thereafter tenant will be required to pay using a money order certified funds or cash.

6. Your lease must have the following restriction: Use of property for business is strictly prohibited. This is to prevent your tenant from using the house as a beauty salon day care or auto repair business.

7. Add the following clause: “All waste pipes drains and plumbing are accepted as working and clear by the resident at the time of occupancy. Any blockage after occupancy shall be repaired by the tenant except blockages caused by roots or backups from the streets.” Hopefully this puts an end to late night blocked toilet calls. Supplying a 6 plunger can be a cheap insurance policy to alleviate any potential problems!

8. When signing the lease specify the number of adults children pets and automobiles directly on the lease document and set requirements for notification if the number increases.

9. If you accept pets make sure to have an extra pet deposit and some of it should be nonrefundable for additional wear tear on the house and/or carpet cleaning. Make sure to include on the lease the type and/or size of the pet I have seen a tenant start with 3 approved dogs 10 pounds each and then after a year upgrade to three 50 pound dogs. Yet they were still in compliance with the lease!

10. Some landlords require the tenants to make any repairs under a certain dollar amount. You can also make them responsible for some or all pest control costs depending upon the building type.

Here are some additional clauses that can be used in the right market and circumstance:

1. Require all tenants to sign a Nonviolence and Drug Free living document with the possibility of eviction if violated.

2. Designate the apartment or entire building as smokefree. Have the tenants sign a smoke free addendum.

3. If the tenants get locked out or lose their keys require them to call a locksmith at their expense. If you chose to unlock the door for them at least set a comparable price 5075 for your time.

Adding some or all of these clauses will make your leases and your position stronger when working to alleviate problems with tenants. They should also save you money and frustration in the long run.

About the writer:  Scott Ficek is a Minnesota Real Estate Agent with RE/MAX Advantage Plus in Minneapolis and helps new and seasoned investors buy and own Minnesota Investment Property. Find his website full of useful information atMinnesota Investment Real Estate or use it to search the Minnesota MLS for Investment Properties.

Inspecting Your Home Inspector

You hire a home inspector to find the stuff you didn’t on your first walk through. Stuff hidden behind walls or on the roof… or the roof itself. Things that as a home buyer you aren’t necessarily trained to see. Plus there’s the advantage of having a neutral party say in writing “See! The roof really is going to collapse in the next twelve days!”

Since a house purchase is not something you can return for a refund in most cases you are depending on this person to tell you what is wrong with the house and what might go wrong in the future. Unfortunately the current situation in both the US and Canada is that home inspectors are not required by law to have recognized certification. This means that you have to be extra careful that the person you’re considering handing roughly 500 to actually has the knowledge and experience to inspect your potential home thoroughly and properly.

Home inspection associations can be a good place to start looking for a competent home inspector. One thing is that you want to know whether the piece of paper an inspector proudly points to is actually a certificate from a recognized home inspection course and/or a legitimate home inspection society. Since there are a few societies associations alliances and other home inspector groups it is wise to research the reputation of the society or institution where your inspector got his or her vellum.

A dash over to the Better Business Bureau would not go amiss either. Everybody encounters people who do not care for them in business sooner or later but if the complaints are extremely serious in nature or if there are a lot of them it may be time to interview your next inspector choice.

References are another thing you should check out. It’s not enough for a reference to mumble “Um yeah… she was great” over the phone. You want to know what the inspector did for them whether there was anything that s/he missed and how they felt about using him/her. If you found the inspector through a reference do some digging and ask some questions about that person’s experience with the process.

The next thing to ask for is a sample report. It should not be written out on a napkin or be a list of rooms with “OK/Not OK” appended to them. Your inspector should provide a clear detailed overview of the overall structure ventilation plumbing electrical system appliances and any attached structures such as a garage. Your inspector should also provide you with information relating to any problems they might find indicating the general extent of repairs needed. A sample report will indicate what they look for and how they go about noting problems potential problems and estimated repairs needed.

A home inspector should be happy to have you tag along while they inspect the house. A good inspector will point out important parts of the house to you such as where the breakers are and the points where you can shut down water access to the house. They can educate you as they inspect the house on what to look for and be aware of. Since you are paying a few hundred dollars for this inspection it makes sense for you to get the most for your money and a good inspector will be happy to work with you.

Home inspectors are not psychic nor are they always qualified to determine everything that might affect your home Many are not able to detect the presence of all toxic substances that may be present in your home like formaldehyde or asbestos. They may recommend that you get certain other inspections done such as pest inspections and roof inspections. While their inspection may reveal problems in these areas many inspectors simply do not have the training to do a thorough inspection focusing on these things. Find out what the home inspection does not include and allow for that if you are in an area that makes certain additional inspections strongly recommended.

A home inspection can be expensive and time consuming but is ultimately worth paying for. However the careful research and interviewing of the people you propose to hire will result in you getting the most for your money.

About the writer:  Illustrated Properties is a Jupiter FL real estate company with professional effective services to help you succeed in the local market. Visit TedSoldIt.com for information on local neighborhoods like North Palm Beach real estate and to see listings of homes for sale.

New Solar Tech For 2008

Our planet is warming and we are helping make it happen by adding more heattrapping gases primarily carbon dioxide CO2 to the atmosphere. The burning of fossil fuel oil coal and natural gas alone accounts for about 75 percent of annual CO2 emissions from human activities. Deforestationthe cutting and burning of forests that trap and store carbonaccounts for about another 20 percent.

The United States currently produces 70 percent of its electricity from fossil fuels such as coal natural gas and oil but only two percent from renewable sources. Since the burning of fossil fuels releases large amounts of carbon dioxidethe leading cause of global warmingbut renewable energy does not increasing the share of our electricity generated from renewable resources is one of the most effective ways to reduce global warming emissions.

There is a new wave in solar power tech. We are at the forefront of new innovations. However these new designs will not be available until the beginning of 2008. REnU Polycrystalline or multicrystalline solar cells in its core technology has already been proven to last in the field of over 25 years. It is on a par with current locked rates and fixed price guarantees.

Vertical integration of this system will produce clean power during peak sun hours. Interconnecting this solar system with electricity grids will offer excellent net metering in excess of generation.

There is no system purchase no installation cost no maintenance fees no permit hassles no performance worries rate increases and MUCH MUCH MORE advantages and benefits.

Rethink renewable energy and become part of the solution by installing a more environmentally friendly electricitygenerating asset. Check out the short video on my website at http://jointhesolution.com/microcosm upper right portion of the page.

Make your reservation today before our unique source of solar grade silicon manufacturing plants become active. You lock in the current rates of your electrical bill or the lowest rate. When the manufacturing plant reaches maximum production solar systems could be installed on up to 100000 homes per year. If you wait until the plants are completed there will be tens and possibly hundreds of thousands of customers who will get their system before you.

Installation on select residential customer homes will be available as soon as panels are available. The wait could be much longer depending on when your local franchise is established and the distance of their location. 1 year minimum contract To be a part of the solution to bring solar power to homeowners please visit http://powur.com/microcosm.

Scientists agree that if we wait 10 20 or 50 years the problem will be much more difficult to address and the consequences for us will be that much more serious. Our atmosphere has limits too. CO2 remains in the atmosphere for about 100 years. The longer we keep polluting the longer it will take to recover and the more irreversible damage will be done.

By investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency and increasing the efficiency of the cars we drive we can take essential steps toward reducing our dependence on oil and other fossil fuels that cause global warming. Using energy more efficiently and moving to renewable energy wind solar geothermal and bioenergy would significantly reduce our emissions of heattrapping gases.

For years we have heard so much about the causes of climate change that weve missed the fact that there are simple practical solutions that can slow this growing problem. Technologies exist today that can cut emissions of heattrapping gases and make a real difference in the health of our planet. And these solutions will be good for our economy reduce our dependence on foreign oil and enhance our energy security. Kini at http://microcosm.ws

About the writer:  Kini has been a paralegal at the state federal and international levels in the courts of justice for America. She is currently at the international level submitting voices for human trafficking while training wild horses. Kini advocates the preservation of wild horses and recommends using them as a form of medical therapy. Equine therapeutic strategies were first known for treating persons with developmentally acquired handicaps but are becoming more well known for persons combating alcoholism and drug abuse. For more information on these subjects please review http://kinispolarbear.bravehost.com