Staging a home can help secure renters

Most home sellers these days have at least heard of staging. It's the process whereby homeowners clean up their homes and make them more appealing to potential buyers. But why talk about staging a home on a blog for a Property Management Company? Well, if an owner is having a hard time securing tenants for a home, staging may be the answer.

Staging has several areas of focus. To start, highlight key features. If the home has a nice fireplace or built-in bookshelves, capitalize on those features. Staging doesn't have to include the entire home. The owner can decorate just enough to draw attention to the key features of the home. Placing a few items in a built-in bookcase can highlight how much storage space a tenant would have for their own items. Accessories can also help highlight a fireplace. Try hanging a mirror or painting over the fireplace to draw attention, or paint the wall an accent color.

Another focus in staging is clearing the space and emphasizing how large the space is. By removing clutter and unnecessary furniture, the space appears larger and more inviting to the tenant. Some may be tempted to fully empty the home, thinking it will be most inviting that way. However, if the home has any unusual design features or oddly shaped rooms, potential tenants may have a hard time imagining their belongings in the space. By suggesting a layout with carefully chosen pieces of furniture, the owner can highlight the potential use of the space for the tenant.

An important aspect in most homes is the kitchen. Despite the size of the kitchen, emphasizing the layout is crucial to seal the deal. Counters should be cleared, but a carefully chosen accessory or two will help draw attention to the size also. Highlighting a center island or adding one with a portable counter can increase interest in the home. A clean kitchen is also a more inviting kitchen, so focusing on cleaning the kitchen thoroughly will also help.

These tips work for both home sellers and investors looking to rent their homes. While we don't offer staging services to our owners, Provident Management Company does offer many services and features that set us apart from the rest. We want to be your management company, and we will do all we can to secure tenants for your units. Contact us for more information.

Being a good neighbor

Whether you are renting or own a home, being a good neighbor is an important part of bolstering the community. Unfortunately, people who rent their homes are sometimes seen as lower class than people who own their homes, regardless of the reason they choose to rent. As a tenant, being a good neighbor goes a long way to dispelling any prejudices the surrounding neighborhood may feel towards a home being a rental unit, rather than owner-occupied. The following tips are applicable to both apartment dwellers and single-family renters.

One way to be a good tenant is to respect the terms of the lease. A lease should spell out clearly what the tenant's responsibilities are towards the unit. Parking, smoking, and pets are often covered in the terms of the lease. By respecting the terms in an apartment setting, the tenant shows respect for those who live in the complex with them. Smoking in one apartment often leads to the surrounding apartments smelling of smoke as well. Tenants protect themselves and their security deposits by respecting the terms, but they also protect those around them that may specifically need smoke-free or pet-free areas for health reasons. In a detached rental home, respecting the terms of the lease are less important for having good relations with the neighbors, but just as important for protecting the security deposit.

A tenant who respects the terms of their lease is also better able to create a friendly atmosphere with their neighbors. To create a friendly atmosphere, it is important to say hello and smile when greeting neighbors. It is also important to respect general policies such as noise control. In an apartment building, noises can carry to other apartments or from the common areas, creating tension among neighbors. In a detached home, playing loud music at midnight is likely to earn you a visit from the local police department. Having had a neighbor with a garage band, I can tell you from experience that neighbors only take kindly to listening to your band for so many nights in a row. We don't have to be best friends with all of our neighbors, but a kind word and a smile can go a long way to easing tensions that might otherwise erupt when people live near each other.

A third way to be a good tenant and a good neighbor is to pay attention to what's going on around you. Keep an eye out for your neighbors. We had one neighbor who was away from his home for an extended period. We kept an eye on the property for them. One day, a car showed up. It didn't move for days. We called the police. The car was stolen and would have continued to sit in our neighbor's driveway if we had not called the police. We had neighbors who would escort our dogs back to the yard when they occasionally went for unsupervised walks. We had other neighbors who would bring treats over for holidays or just because. All these actions led to a sense of belonging and acceptance in our neighborhood.

Being a good neighbor, whether the tenant or the owner, is important. A strong community leads to a stronger society in general. Society seems to need all the help it can get these days. Provident is committed to being a good neighbor. We hope that our tenants are good neighbors and do all we can to ensure that they are. As a property management company, we want to improve the neighborhoods our units are located in. We want to be your property management company. Please contact us today.

Why improve your credit score?

Ahh that wonderful FICO score. It follows us everywhere and it only seems to become more important as time passes. Potential employers, landlords, and of course banks all want to know your score. If you have less than great credit, the credit repair companies may sound like a good deal. They promise to improve your credit score for a sometimes outrageous fee. The really crazy part- you can do it all by yourself! But why bother? Having a higher FICO score means that you get better deals on loans sure, but it also makes you look better in the eyes of landlords and potential employers. While neither can discriminate on the basis of race, sex, religion etc., you can be disqualified from a job or a potential housing situation if your credit isn't good. So how do you fix it?

The easiest way to improve your credit score is to pay your bills on time. Depending on your lending institution, they may not report a late payment every now and then, but if you are chronically late on your obligations, they can and will put it on your credit report. Those little dings add up. If you are late on several bills a month, your score can go down significantly. Utilities, credit cards, and car loans can all report late payments.

The second easiest thing to do is check your credit history. The safest way to do it is to go to www.annualcreditreport.com. You can request a report from all three major credit reporting companies. These reports are FREE once a year from each company. You can certainly pull all three at the same time, but savvy consumers pull them every 4 months from one company in a rotating fashion. This way you can check your credit more often. You do NOT have to pay for these reports. If you want to know your specific score, you will have to pay for that, but it really is not necessary unless you are expecting a big financial hurdle like trying to get a mortgage. If you pull your free report and find no negative marks, you are probably in pretty good standing. You can dispute any negative marks that you believe are incorrect or older than 7 years. Most negative items should be removed automatically as time passes, but they aren't always. Also, sometimes institutions report items inaccurately. A bank may state that your account was closed for delinquency, when you closed it yourself. That item may hurt your credit score and disputing it may get it off your record or at least changed so it doesn't reflect negatively anymore.

One of the hardest things to do in this economy is also the best for your credit score- pay down your debts. If you have outstanding revolving accounts- credit cards, store accounts, accounts that accept a monthly payment- you should work to pay those off as quickly as possible. Keeping an empty credit card will increase your usage ratio- how much debt you have versus how much you could have- which will up your score.
These are just three ways to increase your score easily and for free. There are lots of other tips out there. You can check out this article for more information.

It's important for potential tenants and clients alike to know that we run credit checks and call references for potential tenants at Provident Property Management. We believe this helps protect our clients and their assets, as well as other tenants in a multi-unit dwelling. If your current management company doesn't offer these services, ask them why. Then call us so we can help you!

A new tenant checklist

There comes a time in everyone's lives where they need to move out and find a place of their own. The first time living alone can be scary, especially if you aren't really sure what to expect. It can be especially unnerving if you are leaving the safety of the parental nest to find your own apartment. So how can we be ready or how can we help our kids be ready to make that big step? There are a few areas you should focus on when leasing an apartment or house for the first time.

1) Be financially ready. Leasing a new home will require money. Most (if not all) landlords require some sort of security deposit so the tenant doesn't trash the place. Some require an additional month's rent or application fees as well. Some apartments include utilities in the rent; some don't. These are all situations that new tenants should be aware of and ready for. Whenever possible, new tenants should have a few months' worth of rent saved, just in case. The total move-in cost as well as monthly responsibilities should be discussed with the landlord to avoid any miscommunication and surprise bills.

2) Check over the apartment. This about.com article has some helpful tips for what to look at when inspecting your new place A landlord's job is to provide clean, healthy, safe housing. If it doesn't meet your specifications, ask if things can be fixed or find another place to live. In general, you should check to make sure everything works in the apartment or house- appliances, plumbing, doors, windows, utilities, etc. If it's broken when you move in, and you don't mention it, the landlord may think you broke it, and charge you to fix it.

3) Be comfortable with the property's manager. Whether it's a landlord with a single rental property or a management company with hundreds of units, the property manager's job is to care about you and where you live. If maintenance requests go unheeded for months, chances are the manager is falling down on the job. Here at Provident Management, we are committed to taking care of our owners AND their tenants. We are committed to providing prompt maintenance and addressing issues tenants may have with the unit or other tenants. We want happy tenants, because happy tenants pay on time and care for the units they live in. This benefits us and our clients. It's a win-win situation. We hope you will contact us for more information. We want to provide you with a win-win situation.

Childproofing- smart for you, smart for baby

Childproofing is one of those things that parents don't think of until it's almost too late. Especially with a first baby, it's easy to think "oh, I can do it later." But before you know it, the newborn is crawling around, putting things in their mouths and generally making mischief. So how can you protect your child in a rental home or temporary housing situation? Luckily, most childproofing items are removable and leave no lasting damage or marks. Here are three important areas to consider when childproofing. For more information, check out this article.

1) Get on baby's level. It's easy to think things are safe when you only examine them from an adult perspective. We might bust our shins on the coffee table from time to time, but baby can bust her head. After examining the room from baby's level, remove or make safe any potentially dangerous items- coffee tables, low entertainment centers with heavy television sets, fireplace hearths. Get some outlet covers and use them all the time.

2) Protect baby from falls. Obviously, falling is part of learning how to walk. But there are some falls that baby shouldn't be allowed to learn from- down the stairs for example. If you have a staircase, buy a baby gate for the top and bottom of the stairs. Make sure it is for stair use. These usually anchor to the walls, which shouldn't be a problem with the landlord, but you should always check to be sure. The damage to the walls of a few holes that need to be filled with spackle before move-out is definitely easier to repair than anything that may happen to the baby if she tumbles down. A gate at the bottom is also important, as babies usually learn to climb up before they can figure out how to get down.

3) Keep the floors clean. This can be an ongoing battle, especially if you have pets or older children. But it's important to keep any items smaller than a toilet paper tube out of baby's reach. They can potentially choke. Also, remember that babies mouth everything they come in contact with. If you wouldn't lick your floors, would you let your baby?

Unfortunately, childproofing is not a service we offer at Provident Management. But it is an important part of having children and keeping them safe and happy. If you have any questions or would like more information about services we do offer, contact us.