Charlotte Area Property Management Services

NC Entry Rights for Rental Properties

NC Entry Rights for Rental Properties

Entry rights can be a tricky topic. For the most part, paying tenants should be entitled to privacy, security, and a quiet place to make a living. There are times, however, when the landlord will have to exercise their right to enter the living space. After all, they own the property and everything on it. This does NOT mean that a landlord can come crashing through the door unannounced, any time of day, on any day of the week. There are laws in place that protect both parties, but each side has a few caveats and conditions. Let’s go over some of these laws now.

First, it’s important to note that we will be discussing the laws in North Carolina. Each state has set its own precedent, and the regulations may differ from state to state. If you’re outside of NC, be sure to double-check your local laws. Generally speaking, if your state does not have any statutes in place explicitly protecting the privacy of tenants, then it can be negotiated into the rental agreement paperwork. With that in mind, let’s look at some of the reasons a landlord might be permitted to enter a tenant’s private space:

Emergency Situations. Whether it’s a fire or a flood or a medical emergency, I’m sure we can all agree that these types of situations effectively nullify most agreements or regulations in place. Circumstances play a major role in entry laws. If lives are in immediate danger, swift action must be taken and the landlord may enter the living space to assist as needed.
Maintenance Operations. With proper notice, a tenant will be asked to allow the landlord to perform regular inspections on the property. During this time, the landlord will have free rein as they thoroughly check the living space, appliances, utilities, and overall structural integrity.
Potential Tenant Walkthrough. If a tenant is moving out, then the landlord may want to show the space to potential future clients, even while the current tenant is still living there. This is perfectly legal and acceptable as long as the landlord gives notice and receives permission from the tenant.
Although not a common occurrence, a landlord may have reason to believe that the space has been abandoned. Under these unusual circumstances, the landlord would be permitted entry to evaluate, clean, and prepare the space for re-leasing.

Many state laws also stipulate that landlords may only request entry during “reasonable hours.” This typically signifies normal business hours, and weekends are left to the digression of the tenant. Laws and regulations aside, both parties should communicate their needs clearly and treat one another with dignity and respect. That’s all there is to it!

Follow the Talley Properties blog for monthly articles, general information, and real estate tips.

When is a Rental Property Uninhabitable?

When is a Rental Property Uninhabitable?

As the landlord of a rental property, it is your duty to provide a safe and comfortable living space for your tenants. What your tenants do with the interior is up to them (as long as it abides by the terms of the contract). But your responsibility lies in the structural integrity of the building itself: Is it up to code? Are the utilities functioning in a safe and non-lethal way? Are there any hazardous substances present in the building? These are the types of questions you should be asking yourself before, during, and after a tenant moves in. Otherwise, your space may be deemed “uninhabitable” and you could find yourself caught up in a tangle of legal red tape.

So, let’s dive into the basics: What exactly makes a space “uninhabitable,” whether by law or common decency? Well, let’s take a look at some examples.

Building Codes. There are certain laws that dictate how large a space must be and what features must be present to be considered livable: windows, doors, fire exits, etc. But beyond architectural standards, the landlord must also maintain the integrity of the building. A living space may be deemed unsafe if the walls are in bad condition, the floors are overloaded with weight, there is rot or decay that threatens the structural integrity, or the electrical wiring or heating systems are faulty. Any of these issues could pose a threat to potential occupants and would render the space uninhabitable.
Appliances & Utilities. Faulty wiring and malfunctioning appliances can lead to an uninhabitable space. Not only are the occupants at risk of a potential electrical fire, but appliances and utilities can be dangerous when they cease to function at all. Consider the plumbing, which carries water to the kitchen and bathroom. Consider electricity, which powers our kitchen appliances and safety monitors. Without these, a living space is very much uninhabitable.
Health Hazards. Last, but certainly not least, landlords must complete a thorough evaluation of their home for any outbreaks or infestations. Mold, mildew, pests, and even water damage can have adverse health effects on any occupants. The health and safety of your tenants must be top priority, so it’s important that you have this done by a professional. If you do have one of the issues listed above, your space will be considered uninhabitable until it is resolved.

These may seem like basic necessities, and that’s true. Every landlord should strive to make their space as safe and comfortable as possible. But this isn’t a fix-it-and-forget-it situation. Maintenance is an ongoing job, one that will continue throughout a tenant’s residency. Be sure that you are keeping up with the needs of your tenant and conducting regular inspections to ensure their health and safety at all times!

What to Do If A Rental Check Bounces?

What to Do If A Rental Check Bounces?

One of the most difficult parts of managing a rental property is collecting rent each and every month. As a landlord, your income is entirely dependent on the reliability of your tenants. While most residents will be timely and responsible when it comes to paying rent, you may come across some people who are unreliable or downright uncooperative. Perhaps you have a tenant who is constantly asking for an extension or, even worse, someone who pays with a check that they can’t fulfill. What should you do in these situations? How do you handle a check that has been returned?

First things first, approach the tenant that gave you the check. More often than not, it is simply a mistake. Perhaps they had intended to transfer money to their account before issuing the check, or perhaps the bank is slow in processing their transfer request. Always assume the best before jumping to conclusions. If it was not a mistake, then the tenant cannot afford rent that month, and you must move forward according to the procedures outlined in your rental contract.

After you have cleared up any possibility of simple misunderstanding, you should officially notify the tenant that their check bounced. Depending on their track record and the terms of your agreement, you may issue a grace period of a set number of days. The tenant will have to produce the funds necessary to cover their rent, as well as any late fees that you may have accrued as a result of the inconvenience. Be sure to document all communication with the tenant so that the expectations are clear and there’s no room for misinterpretation.

For future payments, consider setting up an online collection program. Rent collection programs can be set up to make direct deposits from a linked debit or credit card to your own bank account. The transfer takes place automatically at the specified time every month. This way, you’ll always receive payments on time and you don’t have to hound your tenant for money.

So, to summarize, here’s what you should do if you receive a bounced check:

Approach the tenant to see if it was a mistake.
If not, issue an official notice and give them a set period of time to produce the funds.
Record any communication with the tenant, including dates, times, and binding agreements.
Consider online payments to protect the future of your business.

For more tips when it comes to real estate and rental properties, follow the Talley Properties blog.

4 Kinds of Rental Insurance

4 Kinds of Rental Insurance

As a residential property owner, you want to make sure that your investment is completely
secure in case of natural catastrophe, accident or damage. Standard homeowner insurance
policies do not cover long-term rental properties. You must have rental property insurance. If
you rent out your property for short-term or vacation stays on sites such as Airbnb or VRBO,
talk to your insurance company to see whether you need to add short-term rental coverage to
your homeowner’s policy. However, in today’s blog we seek to inform owners who will rent out
their property for months or years at a time.

Rental Property Insurance

This coverage, also called “landlord insurance”, can be purchased for all types of residential
properties including apartment complexes, houses, condos, or vacation homes. The owner
must not live on the premises if this type of coverage is to be issued. It offers protection for the
entire structure of the building itself, including roof, walls and foundation, as well as other
buildings such as a detached garage. Appliances, as well as the heat and air systems, can be
added as endorsements to the policy.

Renters Insurance

You must decide whether your tenants must carry renter’s insurance. It is not required by law,
but rather the decision of each individual landlord whether they will require it. This would cover
your tenant’s personal items in the residence. It would also add a component of liability
coverage should there be an incident on the property and the tenant was found liable in a
lawsuit.

Income Replacement Insurance

In the case of damage to the rental property, or total loss of the building, the tenant would no
longer be occupying it and you will receive no rental income. Rental property insurance, as
discussed above, will cover repairs and replacement. But if it would be a hardship to lose the
monthly rent coming in, you may want to consider adding income replacement insurance to
your policy. Be careful to check the conditions, however, as most insurance companies will pay
out what is called the “fair market value”, and may assess your income replacement lower that
what you are charging for rent.

Liability Insurance

A renter’s insurance policy may cover the liability involved in an accident or injury to the tenant,
their family, and their guests. You can add additional coverage to your own rental property
insurance for an extra layer of protection against lawsuits.

You can discuss all these options with your insurance provider to ensure that you have the best
coverage for your needs.

How To Screen Tenants

How To Screen Tenants

Your residential property is ready for occupancy. It’s time to start the process of selecting your first, or perhaps your next, renter. A property is an investment, so it is crucial that your tenant take care of your investment and pay their rent on schedule. A careful screening will help with the vetting process so that you can make an informed decision about a tenant who applies.

Before starting the screening process, it is important to be familiar with federal Fair Housing laws, as well as any additional laws that may vary by state. A landlord is prohibited from discriminating against 7 protected areas:

Religion
Race
Color
National origin
Disability
Sex
Family status

Prescreening Process

If you will be advertising your rental, it will help to be as forthcoming as possible in order to prevent wasted time on both sides. In advertising, describe your rental as realistically as you can. State any policies you intend to enforce, such as no smoking. Let prospective renters know if you intend to check criminal and credit records. Be clear about the amount of security deposit required as well as the monthly rental fee. If you are taking initial inquiries over the phone, have a list of questions ready that you would ask. Here are some ideas:

What move-in date are you seeking?
How many people will be moving in?
Do you have any pets? (Decide on your pet policy ahead of time!)
What is your monthly income?
Have you ever broken a rental agreement or been evicted?

Application and Info Gathering Process

Prepare a rental application. You will need information on anyone age 18 or older who will be living in the house, even if they all are not signing the lease, so that there are no surprises down the road involving your tenants. You will want to know about their previous addresses and get contact information for previous landlords. After you have obtained written consent, you can use outside services to gather the credit history, eviction history, and criminal history.

Call all the references they have listed on the application, and have a conversation with any past landlords as well. Equip yourself with as much information as possible, so that you can feel confident that your new tenant will both take care of your investment and pay the rent.

If you would prefer to let a property management company handle the tenant screenings and occupancy of your properties, you can have full confidence that Talley Properties has the expertise and experience to partner with you.

Charlotte fastest growing city over last 10 years

Charlotte fastest growing city over last 10 years

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte was the fastest growing city in the last decade. New numbers from the Census Bureau show the urban area grew 65 percent from 2000 to 2010. The next fastest growing urban area was Austin, Texas at 51 percent.Las Vegas came in third at 43 percent. To put that in perspective, the country’s entire urban population grew 12 percent during the same time. The state of North Carolina ranks second in the nation for largest rural populations with 3,233,727. Texas came in first with 3,847,522 people and Pennsylvania came in third with 2,711,092 residents.

See more @ http://www.wsoctv.com/news/news/local/charlotte-fastest-growing-city-over-last-10-years/nLfBM/

Talley Properties Announces Opening of New Facility

Talley Properties Announces Opening of New Facility

Charlotte—Talley Properties Inc., a property management firm serving the Charlotte area real estate market has announced their move to a new facility 2716 Westport Road. The move will be official March 23rd.
The brick, 2-story 7300 square foot building is situated on an acre plot and includes 5000 sq feet of office space and a 2300 sq. foot warehouse. It was built in 1998 and served as a corporate office for a local builder.

According to owner and President Tony Moore, "Talley Properties has experienced tremendous growth since 2004. We feel this new office will provide us with a stable location to continue to serve our existing clients while giving us room to continue to grow and expand our services." Moore received his BS in Management and Production Sciences from UNC Wilmington. A native of Lincolnton, he now resides in Gastonia with wife Cathy and their children, Melissa and MaKenzie.

Talley Properties has specialized in midrange to high end residential and commercial property management since 1980. Their mission is to provide full service management to a diverse group of investors. With the goal to achieve long-term relationships with their investors, they are on call 24-hours a day, and provide quick, efficient same day service. Visit Talley Properties at www.talleyproperties.com or call 704-332-2206.

In shaky economy, renting increasingly tops owning

In shaky economy, renting increasingly tops owning

It's an ideal time to buy a home, but many potential buyers in Sioux Falls are forgoing home ownership and the American dream.

Instead, despite historically low interest rates, a drop in home prices and an ample inventory of houses to chose from, many are opting for short-term rental agreements.

Some question whether there's still value in owning a home .

Others say the popularity of renting is a trend that will be a short-lived function of economic uncertainty. Many potential first-time homebuyers don't want to be tied down to a home. They don't know whether the future will bring a pay raise or a layoff. So they opt for an apartment or town home.

The trend of renting will turn around eventually, but it's going to be slow, said Michael Roach, assistant professor of economics at the University Center and Dakota State University.

"That's a short-lived phenomenon we're experiencing simply because of where the housing market has gone for a couple of years," he said. "(Homeownership) is still the American dream; people still want homes. People still want to own their own home, but they want to do it in an environment that makes economic sense."

As the local economy grows and adds jobs, and as new businesses pop up, Roach said home ownership will pick up.

"Especially for younger people, younger families, nobody likes uncertainty when they're dealing with that amount of money. It's the biggest investment most people will make in their lives," he said. "People are gun-shy still, and it's going to take a little while to get over that."

Fear is the No. 1 reason for the shift from home ownership to renting, said Tony Ratchford of the Ratchford Group with Hegg Realtors.

He said although home inventory has dropped in Sioux Falls, and business is better than last year, it's not as good as he had hoped. He's had clients who sold homes and moved into rental properties to get out from under some debt. He also owns five rental properties that he said he gets calls about weekly.

"It's just been absolute fear. ... They just don't have confidence in the economy," he said. "People were careful with their money. They realized the cost of gas, cost of food and have a fear of the economics of the world that brought them to the realization to pay off debt, pay off credit cards and just hunker down a little and make life cheaper."
Ratchford said he thinks Sioux Falls has hit bottom and predicts things will pick up by summer. At that time, he said the market will be more balanced, home values will increase, rentals will be mostly full and prices will be up. People will realize it's cheaper to buy than rent.

"The American dream of owning your own home, it's such a great investment, but the last three or four years we haven't seen that," he said. "Some people are questioning whether or not there's any value in owning a house anymore. I know there is, and long term it's going to be a big deal. It's part of the cycle of what happens when you have a down dip."

Kayla Pederson, 27, never has owned a home, and said financially, she can't buy a house now. This month, she moved into a two-bedroom apartment with her 4-year-old son after living with a friend and saving money.

"These days, it's more common. I'm hearing friends and acquaintances move in with friends or parents to catch up until they're ready to get out on their own," she said.

Pederson recently moved back to Sioux Falls from Colorado. Although she has a degree in business management, she was unemployed for more than two months before she was hired as an IT support technician in June. She plans to own a home someday but said renting is the best option now.

Pederson passed on buying a foreclosed home in the Denver area. She's glad she did.

"With the economy, you could get more bang for your buck, but when we had time to think about it, we decided renting was a better option," she said. "I knew eventually I was going to be moving back home."

Matt Larson, president of the Realtors Association of the Sioux Empire, said pending home sales were up 16 percent in October compared with last October. Pending sales this year are up 0.9 percent. New listings and inventory are down.

Larson said people remain cautious.

"It should start improving in 2012, and I think we're going to lead the country out of it in the Midwest, because we didn't have the terrible downside," he said. "I think we're going to outperform most markets."
Rental vacancies in Sioux Falls are at an all-time low of 4.58 percent, said Dan Siefken, executive director of the South Dakota Multi-Housing Association. That's the lowest the organization has seen since it began the vacancy survey in 1996, he said.

It's also down substantially from a record-high of 13.28 percent in January 2010.

"I think (apartment living) is back in vogue," he said. "People went through a period of time where they were sold on the fact that home ownership was for everybody and that you were throwing your money away if you rented. Now they're realizing that renting is a good bargain."

Siefken said the high vacancy rates of 2010 can be attributed largely to the first-time homebuyer tax credit perks. Now, he said, renters are finding a savings in renting when they don't have to pay property tax, maintenance, insurance, lawn care and snow removal and other costs.

Today's renters don't want homeowner costs, but they do want more than a couple bedrooms, a bathroom and a kitchen. They want units with dishwashers and a washer and dryer. They want complexes with heated garages or underground parking, fitness facilities, pools and Jacuzzis, Siefken said.

"They're pretty much must-haves," he said. "Those apartments are getting harder and harder to find; those complexes have almost zero vacancy."

Angie Stingley, manager for Boulder Creek and Boulder Pointe Townhomes, said she has 184 units and expects one vacancy this month. She said if there is a vacancy, it doesn't last long.

The Dunham Co. will start construction next spring on a 262-unit apartment complex on South Grange Avenue. CEO Don Dunham expects it to be ready for tenants next fall.

"The old days of Section 8 housing and 4-plexes, that's not good enough for young professionals today," he said. "If you make enough money, you want to live someplace nice, but that doesn't mean you want to buy a house."

That's why Dunham hasn't built any single-family homes in more than two years. There's no demand.

He said the company used to have 40 to 50 spec homes for sale at all times throughout the area that includes Sioux Falls, Dakota Dunes, Yankton and Elk Point. Dunham said the company has about 150 lots fully developed and ready for single-family homes, but there's no plans for buildings.

"We're just trying to liquidate what we still have," Dunham said. "There is no demand. People are seeing that a home is not the deal it used to be anyway."

Rental Prices Soaring as Home Values Stay Low

Rental Prices Soaring as Home Values Stay Low

Foreclosure Deals, a leading provider of foreclosure listings, news and information, has released new research on home prices and rent values across the nation. Drawn on data collected from regional and local real estate markets, the numbers demonstrate the relationship between the average cost of rent and the average cost of a home purchase in each state, which can help homebuyers choose the best markets in which to invest.

"Foreclosures have had a huge impact on home values," remarked John Evan Miller, a real estate analyst with Foreclosure Deals. "In almost every market, prices are well below their 2008 values, simply because there are so many homes available."

Foreclosure Deals presents the new data compared with values recorded in 2008 using an infographic available on their web site, and the impact of the foreclosure wave is clear. In many areas, home prices are extremely low, while rent prices are notably higher.

"Rents are up, and they're going to stay up," said Miller. "Even though it's the best market for homebuyers we've seen in over a decade, the recession made a lot of people reconsider spending at the time, so they rented. This drove up demand, and prices, for rental properties."

Despite the sluggish economy, Miller points out that this is the perfect market for real estate investment. He adds that mortgage interest rates are also at historic lows, creating other opportunities for value investing.

"Not only do you have rock bottom prices, you've got a terrific market to rent out your property while you wait for prices to rise. And they will rise. Home values will come back, but the days of 3.5% and 4% mortgages aren't going to be around forever. Once home values rise, those interest rates will rise too."

Experts currently predict average rental costs to be 4.5% higher than by the end of 2011 than their value last year, and up another 3% in 2012. In contrast, foreclosure homes currently offer savings of anywhere from 10% to 50% off market value. As buyers who put off buying a home during the recession look to start buying again once the economy improves, it will create the opportunity for big profits for foreclosure investors.

"In a great many cases, you're going to end up paying less on a monthly mortgage payment if you buy a home than you would in rent on the same property," said Miller. "Could there be a better reason to buy than that?"

top buttons

Logo

Search

Featured Properties

5450 Gwynne Avenue

413 West 8th Street, Unit P

1101 W 1st Street, Unit 408

Listings Locator

New Rental Properties

102 W 2nd Avenue - arms111, Unit 111

1101 W 1st Street, Unit 408

5450 Gwynne Avenue

Hot Properties

2184 Winthrop Chase Drive

3120 Anne Street

7306 Glenmont Drive