T'ALLEY PROPERTIES, LLC
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA

Talley Properties, Inc. is a property management firm serving the Charlotte real estate market. Talley Properties has specialized in midrange to high end residential and commercial property management since 1980. Since our founding we strive to provide full service management to investors of all types. Whether you are new to the property management market or a seasoned investor, we can assist you with ALL aspects of property management from property purchase to day to day management operations. We are on-call 24 hours a day, via voice mail, and are swift to provide same day service to emergencies. While most requests consist of simple repairs, we have also overseen gas emergencies, busted water mains and carbon monoxide issues. In our current series of articles, we are offering some simple tips for landlords to either implement or even just consider when it comes to different subjects. So far, we have covered rent and pets, so if you are interested in maybe trying something new with either of those be sure to check them out. In this article, we will be talking about actual financial and investment choices that you may run into. Hopefully these will help you optimize your rental property for the best return. . While we are obviously bias on this subject, we cannot stress enough just how important it is to have the proper property management company. Getting someone on your side who knows what they are doing can mean the difference between just scraping by and pulling your hair out and feeling confident as a landlord. Although it may seem a little collegiate, having something like "quiet hours" or "courtesy hours" are not particularly uncommon in a complex. These are times when people should pay extra attention to how much volume they are making and generally take place at night. For example, asking people to be extra quiet from midnight until nine in the morning during the weekend but from nine pm to nine am during the rest of the week may be perfectly acceptable. The rest of the time, especially if you are having noise complaints, maybe just remind your residents that people can sometimes hear each other and keep an eye on how loud they are being. Another thing that you may want to put up hours for is the laundry if you have some on sight. For example, my current apartment sits right on top of my building's laundry room and as a result I can always hear when someone is doing a load of wash. Although I understand that doing wash at two in the morning is sometimes a necessity, I certainly don't like being woken up by a machine kicking on. There are some people who sleep very lightly and it can be a cause of contention if they are woken up like this. Post hours of use in your on-site laundry room and hopefully your residents will follow them. Although no one really likes to have schedules placed on them in regards to their housing, many of these things are rather small and are based off of common courtesy. As a result, most people will not mind small things like this but it certainly doesn't hurt to remind your residents that they may be doing something that can disturb others around them. Try having small schedules for those who live in your apartment buildings and complexes and see what everyone things about it. Having someone move into your rental property can be a scary thing. After all, you are trusting someone you don't even really know to not trash something you have put a lot of time, effort, and money into. Most of the time this isn't an issue, but sometimes it can end up biting you. I know I've certainly gone into apartments that had just been moved out of only to find a horrid mess that took ages to clean up again in order to show the space to new people. Sometimes, entire carpets or sheetrock need to be replaced due to the negligence of a previous resident. One thing that I have heard of some landlords doing to help prevent this issue is to host inspections. Of course, in most states it is illegal for a landlord to come over unannounced without due cause. However, asking to show up a week ahead of time just to check in on the residents and the state of the apartment are fully within your rights. This gives them enough time to clean up any excess mess that comes from living in an area while it means that you can still see any damage that may have occurred at the hands of your tenants. Pets, children, and even clumsy or possibly drunk adults can cause a good amount of damage in a short period of time and sometimes it can help to put your mind at ease just to see that your apartment isn't torn to shreds.