Our property management company currently manages about 8 duplexes located on a small dead-in street. The challenge develops because of people cutting through our property, walking behind the buildings into a vacate lot that ends at the next street over. There is a steady stream of undesirable people using this route as a way to save time getting to the next street. Obviously they are trespassing on our property and the vacate lot adjacent to the next street.

The neighborhood is not the best and is predominately working class/Section 8 residents. We are having problems with people dealing drugs in our cul-de-sac, fights, and even stabbings. This of course makes it very difficult to rent our vacate units not to mention causes most of our current tenants to want to move out.

This no-win situation is an opportunity if we can just find a way to eliminate this unwanted traffic. The owners purchased the property at a phenomenal price.

We decided to install 6 foot privacy fences between three buildings. The fence connects all three buildings and eliminate any walk way to the back of the property which leads to the vacate lot and the next street. We are hoping this will encourage people to cut throw the adjacent dead-in streets on either side of us. These types of people are inherently lazy and this should work.

Long-term we will install fences around the entire property and in each yard. This will give additional security to each resident’s home as well as provide a sense of privacy.

There are always possible solutions in property management even in the most impossible situations.

The author, David Lowrey, owns and operates a successful property management company in Tampa, FL. He also is a very successful real estate investor purchasing more than 60 rental properties over the last 12 years. In 2004 and 2005, one of David’s companies made Inc Magazine’s Inc 500 List for the 500 fastest growing privately held companies in America.

Please feel free to visit his website and http://www.NoVacancyNow.com

By David Lowrey

Three or four times a year, a property management company or manager should be prepared to quit working with a rental property owner. Usually, the dispute revolves around paying for expensive repairs to the rental property during the first year of the relationship.

I believe a good property manager must occasionally be willing to fire a rental property owner or at least threaten to quit. A property management company quickly damages their reputation by telling tenants they are unable to fix an AC unit or repair a leaking roof until next month. Tenants will not put up with this answer for long. Usually, the tenant will complain to Code Enforcement, Section 8 Housing, or the City. Not to mention, the tenant will tell every one of their friends about their awful landlord.

Now, your property management company is being painted by the tenant as the bad guy. Other tenants decide to go elsewhere for their housing and Code Enforcement is breathing down your neck. All because the rental property owner refuses or is unable to pay for the needed repairs.

You have two choices in this situation: pay for the repair yourself or quit. Stress Free Property Management uses both techniques every couple of months. If the repair can be paid for out of the rent collected out of the rent for the month, we will complete the repair immediately. Our management agreement gives us the right to perform emergency repairs as we see fit. We then call the owner and quit. Life is too short to deal with irresponsible rental property owners or cheap ones.

If the repair costs exceeds the rent collected for the month or we haven’t collected any rent yet, we simply quit on the spot. We inform the tenant and owner why we are quitting. I would assume the tenant simply breaks the lease, and the owner is now stuck with a vacate property. In any case, a good property management company or manager must protect their reputation in these rare cases.

The author, David Lowrey, owns and operates a successful property management company in Tampa, FL. He also is a very successful real estate investor purchasing more than 60 rental properties over the last 12 years. In 2004 and 2005, one of David’s companies made Inc Magazine’s Inc 500 List for the 500 fastest growing privately held companies in America.

Please feel free to visit his website and http://www.NoVacancyNow.com

By David Lowrey