Hi,

This month’s corner evolved from the cool breeze morning on my front porch office 😉 as most do… This morning it’s clear I’m enjoying some of the last cool mornings of this season. Soon it’ll be hot and humid first thing in the morning. So I’ll definitely enjoy it while it lasts.

The real estate market has been ever increasingly active. We’ve had a lot of properties enter the sales market this season.  Some to test it and see if they can get their price, others deciding they have come to an end of their landlording times 😉

We’ve helped investors buying more properties to rent, new people becoming investors and trying out the landlord life, parents buying homes and condos for their kids for their time in Gainesville, and of course those parents that have kids that decide to (OMG) transfer away or leave UF (some unexpectedly. Ouch… ) and current owners renovating properties to increase both rental and sales value.  This is definitely prime time in Gainesville!

Last month’s tax time was time to review how your investment property is performing and determine if it is working to its best ability or if it’s time to make needed changes. This usually comes in the form of evaluating current management and/or needed improvements and often both.

Sometimes it’s as easy as evaluating current management practices and hiring or changing your current property manager (maybe finally firing your-untrained-self). It can also be a time to listen to your professional Realtor and property manager on what changes you can make to increase the value of your property to allow it to sell quicker and at a higher price or allowing it to rent to a better quality tenant and usually for more money.

Improving your property’s overall condition not only saves you money but it saves you time and stress. If your property needs work you will attract less quality buyers and tenants.  Communications in this realm can also be of less desirable content causing emotional stress and wasting precious time, money and energy.

If you’re also trying to manage or sell the property yourself and you’re not a professional with all the resources available to us today or you’re not experienced in our local market, it can be a real downer and a very expensive lesson.

Nothing makes me love my job more than being able to turn a property’s performance around. It is one of the primary reasons I have chosen to specialize in real estate management all of my adult life and some of my teen years. Whether I’m looking at the property to sell it or to rent it, my first step is to evaluate the property’s current maintenance needs as well as any improvement opportunities.

The main areas that make the biggest difference is exterior condition, paint, flooring, appliances, countertops, and light plumbing and bath fixtures (tubs/caulk/tile). Sounds like everything doesn’t it? Often only some of it is needed. Most commonly paint, flooring and appliances. These three things should always be in good condition, clean and updated, without stains or defects. If it is a single-family home, a major lawn cleanup is needed and re-freshening with flowers, bushes, and mulch if needed.

It’s not only important to have these items be in good condition but to pick updated styles and colors are equally important. In the past couple of months we have successfully turned around properties by making recommendations, selecting desirable materials and hiring and supervising quality vendors. Then sitting back and watching the rewards of these efforts evolve through quality tenants moving in and taking good care of the property resulting in very happy owners! Ahhh the manifold rewards of success.

These days it seems I’ve been a bit video crazy.  It’s just so much easier to express and relay information quickly this way. For this month’s newsletter we’ve put together a renovation video with before and after clips. I hope you enjoy. Let us know if we can work our magic on your property 😉

Work hard and play harder right? This past month I attended a tactical shooting class and also took a bike ride to Virginia to white water raft some class five Rapids on the New River. It’s was an amazing trip!

The gun class made me a lot more comfortable with my lil 9mm. I hope you enjoy the videos I put together of these adventures.

Of course my favorite is the one of my little Alicia climbing in my beach chairs back pack. She lights up my heart like nothing else!