Should I increase the rent or leave it the same?

In my opinion, if you have a tenant that pays rent on time and has the ability to maintain the general condition of your property, we wouldn’t suggest an increase as it’s important for you to keep valued tenants at your property. Often times, a rent increase is perceived the wrong way. And the tenants will almost always start to look for another rental and compare the pricing and features of your home. Our advice- stick to the good tenants, show them you value them, and leave their rent alone!

For the not-so-good tenants and we’ve all experienced those as well, go for the rent hike. The reasoning is that even if they move you can replace them with a better tenant at a market value rate which may or may not be more than their previous rent. Or the tenant will stay and you get to enjoy the higher rate for another year lease. Either way- it’ a win-win!

Although the volume of available rentals is steady in Orange County, they do fly off the market quickly. Here are some best practices for prospective tenants to help find and secure that must-have rental.

• Utilize the leasing agent you got a hold of. This means ask about other listings in the area, show you are interested and call back. Persistence is the key to success. And the leasing agents are always busy so if you don’t seem on top of it they will move on to the next call.

• Apply first and work out the details later. This doesn’t mean you should apply to everything you see. However, often the leasing agent is working with multiple applicants for the same property so if your application isn’t even in yet- you’re not even in the running. And when you apply trough Kennedy Group online, we don’t run your credit until you’ve agreed to apply for a specific property and are ready to go.

• Work with what the rentals offer. Renting is NOT owning. We have many tenants coming into renting again after owning a home for many years. You will give up some amenities. You need to decide within your budget which features are the most important to you and go with that.

Now that you’re armed with the “insider” knowledge- GO GET THAT RENTAL!

The Top 10 Reasons to Use Professional Property Management

As a homeowner, your priorities in renting your property are simple: keep the units rented and keep the maintenance issues and amount of time you spend managing your rentals to a minimum. There is one solution to both of those concerns- professional property management from Kennedy Group!

Here’s 1 Top 10 List Designed to Help You Make Money:

1. Hassle-free rent collection – we do all the work, you just enjoy the income
2. We lease and re-lease your property so you don’t have to worry about long vacancy terms
3. Top-notch screening procedures that include a complete credit, background, eviction and criminal check
4. Computerized bookkeeping and easy-to-access and easy-to-understand reporting- each and every month
5. On-call maintenance to handle all your tenant complaints and maintenance issues
6. Periodic property inspections so you don’t have to worry
7. Minimal vacancy time because of our proprietary multi-prong marketing approach
8. Expedited evictions if necessary
9. We negotiate the highest lease rates
10. To the Letter professional, legal management that you can trust

Call for a free property evaluation today and find out how to start making money and saving time on your real estate investments!

714.527.4500

Kennedy Group Property Management received multiple calls and emails today from parties interested in one of our rental properties in San Clemente, Orange County, California. It’s a beautiful 3 Bedroom, 3 Bath house in the Forester Highlands that rents for $3100.00 per month. You can view the property here http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/5750-Calle-Polvorosa_San-Clemente_CA_92673_M10534-09009 .

These interested parties found our listing fraudulently advertised on Craigslist at $1100.00 per month. The fraudulent ad in question is at the following address http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/apa/2096930981.html.

One of the interested parties had email communication with the fraudulent ‘owner’ and emailed me the following, “I thought you would like to know that there is a scam going on this property. Someone on Craigslist is listing the property for rent at $1100.00 per month. here is copy of email: Thanks for your response and interest in my house. The house is very much available and it is a large 3 bedrooms and 2 bathroom house. Which was formally occupied by me and my family before we left for Nigeria for a pastoral duty, we left for a volunteer mission together with other missionaries for a development program with the aim of developing the people of west Africa physically and spiritually as God as directed us. We wanted to sale the house initially but we later changed our mind after we discovered that we wouldn’t be spending more then 6 years here in Africa So as you know where the house is located at (5750 Calle Polvorosa, San Clemente CA 92673). Which my family and I have spent so much time and money to maintain it up till its standard. We have been trying our best to make the house as clean as possible, because am a clean person and we don’t like dirt around our surroundings and also the Bible says cleanliness is next to Godliness. So we are looking for a well-behaved, clean and honest tenant to rent out our house too. So will like you to give us your word and promise us that you will take good care of our house so that we will be happy when we come to visit you in the future… We accept short or long-term rent and month to month also…. All the utilities are included in the rent… Pets are allowed. So kindly get back to us with this information below. RENT APPLICATION FORM Full Name__________________________________________________ Home Phone ( )________________________ Date of Birth_________________________________ Other Phone ( )___________________ Current Address_________________Apt#________ City__________________ State______ Zip________ Reasons for Leaving____________________________Rent $__________Phone ( )____________ Are you married____________________________ How many people will be living in the house____________________________ Do you have a pet____________________________ Do you have a car____________________________ Occupation____________________________ Your Exact move in date____________________________ How soon can you make the deposit payment________________________ How soon do you want to receive the keys and documents of the house________________________ Looking forward to hear from you with all this details so that i can have it in my file in case of issuing the receipt for you and contacting you.Await your urgent reply so that we can discuss on how to get the document and the key to you,please we are giving you all this base on trust and again i will want you to stick to your words, you know that we do not see our self’s yet and only putting everything into Gods hand, so please do not let us down in this our property and God bless you more as you do this. Looking forward to hear from you. Best Regards Pastor Jay Avery Contact me at : +2348160809715″

First, Craigslist offers the following valuable bit of advice at the top of all their property listings: “Avoid scams and fraud by dealing locally! Beware any arrangement involving Western Union, Moneygram, wire transfer, or a landlord/owner who is out of the country or cannot meet you in person. More info”

Second, remember the Latin phrase Caveat Emptor, which means Let the Buyer (or Tenant in this case) beware. Do a little research and you’ll likely find a property that’s being advertised at a price that seems ‘too good to be true’ is listed elsewhere at it’s actual reality based price.

Third, if it sounds too good to be true 99.9 times out of 100 it’s too good to be true.

Fourth, if someone claims to be living in Nigeria on pastoral duty…….they’re 99.9% not. Have no doubt that they’re living in Nigeria but claiming to be a pastor is a lie to give you a false sense of security. These are the same people who still run the 419 scam. If you don’t know what that is think about the many emails you’ve received from Wumi Abdul addressed to the honorable sir with slightly off English asking for you to help them transfer the 31 million they’ve just inherited out of their bank account and into yours, if only you’ll provide them your bank account information. Both of these scams run on the same principle and target the same people.

Fifth, don’t ever send application or personal information via email. Email is an extremely insecure way to transmit your personal information. There are secure ways to apply online and a professional property management company will provide a secure way to transmit your application information not request it via email.

There are other real estate and rental property related scams out there so do a bit of research. It helps to deal with a professional property management company like Kennedy Group Property Management who operates in Orange County, California. You can easily identify our professional html ads on Craigslist and our advertising elsewhere on the internet with a minimum of research. Any professional property management company should have a physical office address and be listed with the California Department of Real Estate. If you ever have a question about scams that target owners, landlords and tenants feel free to email it to us at customerservice@kgpropertymanagement.com