I’ve released a video showing how to add an actual apartment listing to their site.  A couple days after that I hope to have a list of “marketing buzzwords” that you can use to spice up your ad.  But for now I want to discuss the meat of your ad.

Craig’s List offers you the ability to post the rent, the number of bedrooms, a subject, the specific location, and the body of the ad.  You can also fill in your email address and the address of the property so people who are interested can get a map to the location.  In addition you can specify if cats or dogs are allowed in the apartment.

The specific location is different from the address.  Generally for specific location, you would want to list the district of the city.  For instance, in Buffalo, you might use South Buffalo, University, Black Rock, or any of the other defined districts.  This will help people narrow down what they are looking for when they scroll through the listings.

You want to make your subject catchy, but also informative.  A subject such as, “3 Bedroom Upper on Main – NEW KITCHEN!” is informative because it tells you the pertinent information up front. The new kitchen will catch the attention of someone scrolling through the page.  You do not need to list the rent amount in the subject, because Craig’s List automatically adds that before your subject.

The body of the text is really where you can get into the specific details about the apartment.  Start off by talking about the apartment, then move on to amenities offered.  Round out the body by listing things near the apartment, such as restaurants, bus lines, parks, schools, etc.

Example Body:
Beautiful 3 bedroom upper apartment with newly renovated kitchen and open floor plan is great for entertaining.  Sliding glass door leads to balcony as well as allows tons of sunlight in.  Rent includes water, tenant pays gas and electric.  Amenities include on site laundry, free wireless internet access.

Enjoy the benefits of the area!  This apartment is within walking distance to several restaurants, bus lines to downtown, and the Boulevard Mall.  Conveniently located between University of Buffalo North and South campuses.

Please call us at (716) 555-1234 or email us at rentals@abcrentals.com for more information!

Keep in mind that a picture is worth 1,000 words.  Craig’s List gives you the ability to upload 4 photos of your apartment!  Why wouldn’t you take advantage of that feature?  Find 4 well lit rooms, or amenities that your apartment or complex offers (nice kitchen, pool, etc.) and be sure to attach them to your ad.

Marketing your apartments on Craig’s List is a smart move for anyone renting an apartment.  The response rates vary, but are generally very good.  Keep in mind that you can repost your ad every 3 days to keep your apartment near the top of the list.  The more active you are in your marketing, the more responses you will see on your apartment!

First, you should consider giving your outgoing message a facelift. It doesn’t have to be particularly long. Pause for 2 seconds before you begin to speak, then something simple such as, “Hi, this is Andrew Schultz with WNY Star Realty. I’m sorry I can’t take your call at the present time. Please leave me your name, phone number, and how I can help you. Messages are normally returned within 24 to 48 hours. Thank you!” This message gives all the essentials, and reminds people you need name AND number, as well as a reason for their call. It also gives a time line for when they can expect a return call, so that they don’t feel the need to call 3 or 4 times in one day.

Some people like to specify the current date in their message, and give you a run down on when they will be unavailable. I’m not a fan of this approach because it’s easy to forget to change it one day, or you may be unexpectedly out the following day. If you wanted to take this approach, I would suggest changing it on a weekly basis. A simple example of this would be, “Hi, you’ve reached Andrew Schultz with WNY Star Realty. For the week of November 16, 2008, I will be out of the office Monday and Tuesday mornings, and Friday afternoon, but expect to be in the office much of the rest of the week. Please leave me your name, number, and how I can help you. Messages are normally returned within 24 to 48 hours. Thanks!”

Leaving a message on a voicemail is a fairly simple task, but many people forget crucial parts which lead to calls going unreturned. Every time you leave a voicemail, leave your name, number, and reason for your call. Always leave your number TWICE. Often times, a phone will cut out for that split second when you are leaving a number, so your recipient gets (716) 650-4_43. Giving your number twice allows them to piece the number together, and return your call. Be specific with the reason for your call! “Give me a call,” doesn’t tell me what you need, and you’ll get bumped to the bottom of my call back list.

Hopefully this brings a little bit more of an understanding to the world of voicemail. These simple tips will help save you and your associates time, as well as make you more productive, because you no longer have to search for phone numbers or try to recall a reason that someone is calling you. In addition, leaving a good voice mail is more likely to get your call returned quickly.

There are a lot of programs out there currently that will allow investors to log, track expenses, and run fairly sophisticated reports on maintenance tasks, but in the early stages, it may be possible to get by with a simple spreadsheet.  Most spreadsheet software has the ability to add multiple sheets to one file (normally they look like tabs).  Prioritize using 4 different sheets, Emergency, General, Cosmetic, and Tenant Caused.  Each spreadsheet should have columns for address of property, tenant name, phone number, work requested, and work completed.  This allows the quick scheduling of work at a glance, the ability to track when it is completed, and have access to tenant information as necessary.  Now, when calls come in, they can logged and prioritized as necessary.

How do the calls come in?  My suggestion is having a separate phone line or voice mail box that tenants call with maintenance requests.  At first, this may be just an additional cell phone that the investor (or his maintenance guys) checks the voicemails on regularly.  Investors may want to give tenants one number for their general maintenance requests, and a second number to a live person for their emergencies.  However, some tenants will try to call all requests in to the live person.  Explain to them that if it isn’t an emergency, it needs to go through the request line so it can be logged appropriately.

How do calls get prioritized?  When broken down into 4 groups, Emergency calls would be handled first..  These are the calls such as flooded basements, hot water tank burst, fires, and other true emergencies.  These will be the calls that someone will need to tend to immediately.

General maintenance tasks would be things such as lock changes, broken windows (unless tenant caused), loose steps, and other requests that are important to keep the property functional, but not urgent.  These should generally be handled on a first come first serves basis, but eventually all systems find a way to sort things internally by importance.

Cosmetic tasks would be things that tenants request that really aren’t landlord responsibility, or things that while esthetically pleasing, aren’t necessary to keep the property functional.  Examples of this could be painting a wall in a tenants unit, gardening (and lawn mowing!), and upgrading light fixtures (such as an upgrade to a ceiling fan from a standard light).

Tenant caused repairs will sometimes start off in the general maintenance tasks list.  Once a task is inspected, it may be determined that the tenant caused the problem, such as a broken window, or a door that was damaged.  These tasks will generally fall into the tenant caused repairs.  Often times, the tenant will need to be charged for the repairs, and work may be held off until after the tenant has done so.

Scheduling maintenance tasks is not an exact science, and over time systems evolve as necessary to schedule and complete work in a timely fashion.  Having a system to prioritize and organize maintenance calls, however, will be the linchpin of the system.

Bird dogging can be seen as a way to get into real estate, without having to put a lot of money down to do so.  Bird doggers will investigate a market to find the best deals available, using resources such as foreclosure lists, auction lists, distressed property lists, and the MLS where available.  Using a variety of formulas, they will determine what properties would make a good investment based on their current value, cost of repairs, and estimated value after the repairs are completed.  They then forward these deals to real estate investors, and are paid.  Their pay may be based on the referral to the deal, or at the closing of a deal.  Normally they are paid more for “closed” deals than for referrals, but the pay day is usually a few hundred dollars on a closed deal.

Real estate wholesalers are similar to bird dogs, but there is more of an investment in both time and (sometimes) money.  The real estate wholesaler will find the deals, the same way a bird dog will.  The difference is in what happens next.  They will then put the property under contract.  At this point they then find an investor to buy the property from them for more than the price of their contract.  The difference between the contract price and the price the wholesaler sells the property for is considered their “consultation fee”, and can range from one to several thousand dollars!  There is a MUCH bigger payoff for wholesalers than bird dogs.

By leaving enough value in the property for the purchasing investor, wholesalers allow for rehabbers to purchase property (still at a deal), do the rehab work to bring the property to its true value, and resell it, thus turning a profit for themselves.

Many people will start off as bird doggers before moving to wholesalers, because of the amount of money involved in becoming a wholesaler.  Many wholesalers then move in to real estate investing themselves.  This stepping stone effect is common, and there is a lot of money that can be made in wholesaling!

Cook time: 8 agonizing hours of mouthwatering aroma.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 lb. beef stew chunks, cut small (bite-size) (we used thin cut steaks for brazing)
• 1 can red kidney beans
• 1 can chili beans
• 1 large can stewed or cooked tomatoes (we used 2 small cans)
• 1 can condensed tomato soup
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (hot)
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 packet hot chili seasoning

Preparation:
Brown the steaks, no need for seasoning.  Since we used the thin cut steaks, we got away with doing them for a couple minutes on each side in a frying pan.  Set aside for a few minutes.  Brown ground beef, add entirety of hot chili seasoning packet.  This may look very thick.  If this is the case, add a couple tablespoons of water.  You won’t need much more than that to even it out.  While beef si browning, cut steaks into strips (going along grain) and then cross cut into small pieces.  Set all meat aside.

Drain liquid out of both cans of beans and tomatoes.  Dump into crock pot.  Add can of condensed soup.  Dice up your green pepper and set aside.  At this point, you’ll want to add your spices into the crock pot.  We don’t really like measuring things exactly, so we guestimated to an extent, but fairly accurately.  That’s what makes cooking fun!  Give the beans, tomatoes, and spices a stir, then add your meat and stir again.  If your chili looks really thick, add some water.  We filled the condensed soup can and added that, but felt it was a bit too much.  Add the green pepper at this point, but only a little at a time, stirring in between.  Green pepper is a strong flavor, and adding too much can throw off the chaotic balance.  We used a large green pepper, and only about half of it went in.

Throw your crock pot on, and let it sit!  We made a cornbread to accompany the dish, which turned out fantastic.  We used a Penguin brand bagged corn bread, just add oil, milk, and egg.  Not bad for pre-packaged!

You’ve found the tenant you want to place in your property, collected a security deposit, and now it’s time to sign a lease.  What is a lease?  What makes one lease better or worse than any other?  What can your lease do to protect you as a landlord or investor?  This article will answer all these questions, and more.

Simply put, a lease is a legally binding agreement between tenant and landlord, which states that the landlord agrees to allow the tenant to use the property for an amount of time, and in return the landlord will be compensated in whatever fashion has been negotiated between the parties, usually in the form of money.  A lease is typically written for a specific term, commonly 1 year.  Other terms are sometimes offered, such as 9 months (or a student lease), and 6 months (half a year).  This differs from a rental agreement, which is usually a month to month contract between the parties.  There are other significant differences, which will not be covered in this article.

Leases can be obtained in a number of ways.  Many real estate agents, investors, property managers, and lawyers have leases that they will be willing to give you a copy of.  You can also find leases in many office supply stores.  In addition, there are many websites which offer leases online, for free or at a cost.  Keep in mind that you will often get what you pay for.  At the time of this writing, my preferred lease is written by an organization called The Landlord Protection Agency.  The leases, and other forms they provide, can help make managing your property infinitely easier.  The reason I like their lease is the built in protection for the landlord.  It is very comprehensive, yet very simply spoken, and easy for both tenant and landlord to understand.  This becomes important when the tenant needs to know their responsibility, or the landlord needs to enforce a portion of the lease.  You should always have your lawyer review your leases before enacting them, to protect yourself further.

A good lease will spell out the terms and conditions of the lease, and detail who is responsible for what.  Some things that are particularly important to spell out are:

• Utility Responsibility – who pays for what utilities?
• Maintenance Responsibility – who will make or pay for repairs when something breaks?
• Subletting and Assignment – can the tenant sublet or assign the rental unit to another individual?
• Pets – Are pets allowed? Is there an additional fee?
• Appliances – What appliances, if any, are included?  Be sure to record make, model, and serial numbers.
• When is the rent due?
• What happens if rent is not paid? (late fees, eviction, etc)

This is most certainly not a comprehensive list, and there are requirements and restrictions that vary from state to state, which is why I suggest consulting your lawyer once you have determined what you will be using for a lease.

Having a lease that protects you and your property is a key to your success as a landlord or real estate investor.  Your lease, along with proper documentation, will help you and your tenants enjoy your investments for years to come.

You’ve done your homework and purchased a property or two that can provide you with positive cash flow.  The broken has been fixed, the old has been renewed, and it’s time to place some tenants!  After screening your tenants and drawing your lease, you’ll want to collect rent and security deposit prior to move in.  But what exactly is a security deposit, and why is it important?

A security deposit is money given to you by a tenant (usually prior to move in) that acts as an insurance policy of sorts.  This money can be used to pay for damages caused to the unit by the tenant during the term of their tenancy, and is a vital portion of the tenancy arrangement.  Such items could include broken windows, holes in walls and carpets, and failure to completely clean the unit at the termination of tenancy.  Keep in mind that security deposits should not be used to cover normal “wear and tear” items such as repainting, as this is pretty standard tenant turn over.

Security deposit amounts are usually based on the cost of the rental.  For instance, many people choose to charge an equivalent amount of money for security deposit as they would for one month’s rent (ie: $500/month for rent = $500 security deposit).  However, this amount could be more, perhaps the equivalent of two months rent.  This is something that you will determine based on local market trends, and possibly quality of tenant.  You should also write the amount of the security deposit into the lease, and if allowable in your area, state that the security deposit is not to be used as rent.

Security deposits have to be handled differently, and it varies from state to state.  In some cases, you may have to handle a security deposit differently depending on how many units you have in a building.  Your local board of Realtors, investor’s club, accountant, or a real estate lawyer can help you determine how exactly to handle security deposits.  In many instances, security deposits will need to be held in a separate account (often interest bearing).  In some states, you will be required to pay your tenants interest on the security deposit account.

There are also regulations regarding the time frame in which a security deposit needs to be returned to a tenant after they move out, if one is due.  A good suggestion for any move out is to walk through with the tenant and mark damages / deficiencies on a standardized form.  When the tenant hands you the keys, have them review and sign the form.  Later you can deduct for the damages and send the tenant a statement showing deductions from their security deposit, along with a check for the remainder, or a request for payment on additional damages.

This primer on security deposits should give you some form of idea on how to collect, hold, and return security deposits.  For more information, you can contact myself or any of the suggested resources in the article.

Polling places are open from 6AM to 9PM in many areas.  Keep in mind that you may experience a wait.  You’ll need your voter registration card, as well as photo ID.  Get out and do your part!