September 1st Move-In: Guide For Your Sanity and Tenant's Safety

Tips for landlords and property managers to have a safe and smooth move marathon while avoiding common mishaps for tenants and HOA members.

It's almost September 1st and this means the time has come for many to pack up and move on to their new homes.  From our past experiences as landlords and property managers, we've combined a list of helpful tips for move-in day.

Tenants have hopefully avoided rental scams that we detailed in our article how to spot rental scams on the internet. If you're like us, you've probably accumulated a lot of things, and will be leaving your former residence with even more boxes than you came in with.  Start organizing your belongings and your moving day game plan in advance!

Possible Issues for Moving Day in Boston and Other Large Cities

Whether you are the landlord, property manager, a new tenant, or an existing tenant, your sanity and safety can be difficult to maintain - especially if you're living in a Boston condo management property or other large city with a high-turnover period at the start of September. 

If you are implementing official Rules and Regulations for moving, consider the unfamiliarity new residents will have with building facilities and policies.  Addressing them in advance may mitigate the stress and chaos of the day.

Nightmare examples of a chaotic move-in without rules and regulations!

• Belongings and valuables (or even your rented truck) being stolen while unsupervised. 
• Tenants getting stuck in the elevator while moving their heavy furniture. 
• Parking tickets and tow trucks removing double-parked vehicles. 
• Former tenants who left a mess - or have left themselves past their lease expiration.

Communication between the landlord or property manager with tenants is a great opportunity to build an open relationship for a successful tenancy. 

As a landlord, HOA board member, or property manager, you may run into these issues:

• Improper or overwhelming disposal of furniture, trash, personal belongings, etc. 
• Issuance of fines from the City as a result of excess garbage or noise complaints.
• BED BUGS – this is the number one time of year for infestations.
• Unwanted persons entering your building while doors are not closed or secured. 
• Tenants moving at all hours of the day. 
• Damage to walls and doors that are unprotected or propped open.
• Elevator wall and mechanism damage.
• Hostility or confrontations between residents. 

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What to Communicate to Tenants Before Move-In Day

To maintain order amongst the influx of heavy foot traffic, it is imperative to prepare by giving all of your staff and residents (current and incoming) information well before August 31st.  Think: "Happy Fourth!  Here are our moving rules."

• Communicate process and procedures in writing.
• Clearly state times and areas for staging and moving trucks. 
• Provide Move-In/Out Checklists to all of your tenants.
• Give information packets with Resident Handbooks and Renters Insurance brochures to your incoming tenants. 

Tips to Beat the Rush

The basic laws of supply and demand are tested over the Labor Day week.  If you wait until the last minute to find an available mover or janitorial company, you will end up finding yourself out of luck. 

• Suggest tenants reserve their moving trucks well before 9/1.
• Offer early move-in options when possible.
• Make sure dumpsters are empty.
• Book extra janitorial staffers to address trash overflow.
• Book early to lock in at lower rates before demand increases.

You will get fined for leaving trash in the street, and let's not even remind ourselves of the potential pest issues that could follow.  In the following weeks, it's hard for waste management companies to remove the debris and bulky items that are mixed and heaping over the top of a dumpster; some companies will refuse removal if they can't access the receptacle. Prepare early and expect the worst.

Safety & Regulations Move-In Checklist

To ensure the well-being of all parties involved during move-in, review your preparation memorandums for all residents and property management staff.

This should include information on:

• Responsibility for tenants, guests, and contractors
• Handbook/rules and regulation reminders 
• Requests for copies of leases and/or apartment condition statements
• Mailbox tag and intercom instruction
• Trash/recycling reminders 
• Elevator reminders 
• Your contact info

How to Handle High Turn-Over Locations

For high-turnover locations, post a specialized memo that is specific to the actual rules & regulations of that location. Remember, communication is key to maintain order on move-in day.

• Assign a monitor to the highest turnover locations, for example; a superintendent, maintenance tech, trustee, or occasionally a police officer. 
• Use signs to direct residents to which elevator or door they should use for moving. 
• All preferred access points for moves must be clearly marked. 
• Include signage for areas where tenants can not move through, for example the lobby or main entrance.

Elevator and Door Safety on Move-In Day

In many old brownstones, tenants are often surprised to find that the elevators are shut down on move-in day. The small passenger elevators cannot withstand the weight and frequency, and in order to avoid repairs due to improper overuse, landlords will often shut them down – even to top floor residents.

For elevators that are in use, repeatedly holding the door open or sticking your arm out to stop the closure is obviously dangerous to your body, but can easily throw the elevator out of alignment and break it. Trust us, the last thing you want is to get stuck in an elevator full of your belongings with a group of sweaty moving personnel.

Additional building safety tips include:

• Distribute moving rules and regulations to all residents and off site property owners or landlords.  Don't forget to include a clear fine schedule for rule infractions. 
• Adequately display notices posted around common areas and slide notices under doors. 
• Makes sure tenants do not block egresses during moving times.  
• Keep fire hydrants accessible at all times. 
• Propped doors require a security monitor to prevent unwanted guests or intruders. 
• Install or check that security systems/cameras are functional. 

Help Wanted: Clean up, Movers, & Extra Hired Help

The tenants can't do it all themselves, and that's okay. The convenience for additional help provided to the tenants moving in will help bring relief and start the tenant/manager relationship off right.

Tips on hiring extra help and cleaning up after move-in:

• Trash/janitorial contractors should sweep the properties repeatedly that weekend, in addition to their normal contractual obligations. 
• Depending on the amount of units you have turning over, you may want to rent an additional rack truck for trash removal of your own. 
• Hired movers are the responsibility of the tenants/owners, but you should consider requesting proof of the moving company's insurance policies. Make sure the certificate names the property additionally insured.  Some condominium buildings will actually require properly insured movers to facilitate a tenant's transition. 
• Incur the expense of hiring dedicated staff and do it early.  Hiring the same staff every year is ideal so they are familiar with the building and policies.

Final Thoughts on Move-In Day

Preparation is key for ensuring a successful move in for all parties. Investing in a clean up crew, in-house movers, and security will keep the process clean as well as moving smoothly. Did we forget a key tip for landlords and property managers to add to their checklist or guidelines for high turnover days like Sept. 1?

Tell us your thoughts or share your checklists!

How To Spot Rental Scams on the Internet

This article will help you find scams in rental property and apartment searches on the internet with sites like craigslist, roomster, apartments.com as well as the credit checks, application process, and countless emails with landlords.

How to Decide if it is a Legitimate or Shady Landlord During Your Apartment Search

As we approach the end of Summer 2014, that means one thing for many: starting anew by picking up all our belongings and moving to a new apartment, house, or condo. The transition of moving in itself can be quite tiring, but the process of searching for a new place can be just as exhausting.

Renters cite frustrations via online outlets like Craigslist, Roomster, Apartments.com, as well as going through the application process, credit checks, et cetera.

In the mind of a renter, the following criteria usually comes into question:

• What is the neighborhood like?
• Is the rental rate per month affordable?
• Is there a lease or is the living space rented on a month-to-month basis?
• If there are multiple living spaces in the apartment, what are the other roommates like personality-wise?
• What is the landlord/owner like in terms of personality and efficiency?
• Does the landlord use a property management company to promptly handle tenant inquiries?
• Is he/she reliable for future incidents within the living space that require their care? (i.e. running out of hot water, broken thermostat central air/heat during the warm/cold months)

During the search for a new living space, one must be aware of the scams where people pose as landlords looking to swindle would-be security deposit money from the potential renter. 

Keep reading to learn how to discern what makes a listing and landlord legitimate versus what makes them a scammer, and how to protect yourself. These online thieves prey on renters who look to fulfill this criteria for their new living situation.

A Listing Too Good To Be True? False!

We can't say "friend-or-foe" in theses types of cases because landlords are not there to be friends. Rather, these scenarios we can classify as “spend-or-faux” in making the right decision to invest on your next move without succumbing to shady scammer that poses as a landlord.

These are examples of scenarios in which you have likely come across a rental scam in your new home search online:

• E-mail Scamming While On A "Mission"
• Communication with an E.T. (Elusive Thief) & Your Inability to Phone Home (owner)
• Stealing Personal Information Through an Application
• A Fake Owner Showing A Home That is Not Theirs

Listing offers a great low price, for too many unimaginably nice amenities 

This is a case in which a renter can be duped by a scammer by being drawn in by the price of an apartment that has a workout facility, "superb" property management, brand new hardwood floors, a kids play area and other top-of-the-line amenities for a low monthly rate? It seems tempting, but you have to consider that in today's real estate market, what landlord or property manager would be so nice enough to charge their tenants with so many expensive items for a low monthly rate? That literally just does not add up.

E-mail Scamming While On A "Mission" 

So you found an ideal living space on a apartment search website that seems really afforable for your monthly budget, and has great amenities in an ideal location. Also, the home's supposed "owner" emails you with a long-winded message with details about the apartment being vacant due to reasons that make it seem either plausible or absolutely unconscionable based on the writing.

The lie could be about a real estate agent looking to broker the apartment to potential tenants for the landlord, giving you a ridiculously long questionnaire to fill out that is a makeshift application, and telling you that keys to the vacant home they are willing to send to your permanent homes address only after you send the deposit for the new apartment.

Communication with an E.T. (Elusive Thief) & Your Inability to Phone Home (owner)

Shady people thrive in hiding, but you know how they say that things in the dark will eventually come to light? If you have contact information from the owner on an apartment search listing site such as Craigslist, but you only have the multi-letter email as contact information with either no name and nor phone number of the owner listed. The email address is neither within the response email to continue the negotiation process or set up for a showing time. Many of times without being seen, they will text you without the willingness to call you direct nor see you in person for the showing.

Stealing Personal Information Through an Application 

If you see a questionnaire in an email response to you asking for your personal information (i.e. credit card information to debit a security deposit amount, social security number, then don't waste your time and money disclosing your identity and bank information. 

A Fake Owner Showing A Home That is Not Theirs 

Many faux-landlords understand that nobody wants to rent a site unseen. So they take advantage of a foreclosed house and somehow steal keys from homeowners or the property managers to copy in order to open the home's entrances and show you the place.

How To Protect Yourself From Scammers When Searching for an Apartment or Rental Property 

• Do your research on the local area and you will see how comparable the prices should be to discern what makes a legitimate listing from a real estate agent, landlord, or property manager.
• Only exchange information with the person showing the apartment after you agree to stay in it, and have had a conversation with a neighbor in the building. As they ask for references upon your application for the home, identify the landlord's or agent's name online, or check into the HOA or the agency they are a part of.
• Ask the neighbors of the home you are looking at about the landlord's reputation. Also, you can refer to the local county property records office for verification.
• The worst question is the one that you don't ask. Make sure you are as inquisitive as possible when assessing if this investment in a new rental home is right for you.
• Meet at a rental office if in the apartment complex.
• Make sure that the home for rent is not in foreclosure.
• Contact the FTC, to file a complaint for any suspicious behavior.

Final Thoughts on Rental Property or Apartment Scams

Do not give out contact information to a land lord or property management company unless you are sure it is a legitimate listing. Contact a reliable property management in the Greater Boston area for real property listings so you can avoid the negative experiences of internet searches through cragislist and other online rental property listing sites.

Have you experienced these types of scams? How did it make you feel when you came across these scams in your apartment search? Please talk about your good or bar rental property search experiences in the comments below. Thanks for reading and good luck in your apartment search!

Thinking Small: Can Boston's Micro-Apartments Work For Young Adults?

"Micro"- Managing The Housing Demand Of The 20-34 Year-Old Demographic

It's the summertime, which means that the city has been void of late night college parties from raucous undergrad newbies since graduations in May.  But the 20-to-34 year-old youth demographic still prevails in Boston proper, making up one-third of the city's population; the highest proportion of young adults for any major US city. 

Boston area real estate remains high in price; unaffected by the loss of graduation and move-outs as many college students have returned to their permanent residences out of town. Currently, there is a reported shortage of 25,000 affordable apartment units, and developers scrambling to meet demand. 

Less Is More (Than What You Bargained) For The City's Youth

Boston's current condo craze has left many young renters in the financial dust while they encounter a lack of affordable housing.  The micro-apartment was part of the Onein3 initiative implemented by the Menino adminstration in 2004 to provide resources that cater to the city's young population, including housing, professional development, financial health, entrepreneurship, and civic engagement.  A micro-apartment unit is approximately 250 to 500 square feet in size, with a minimalistic design equipped with the bare essentials to live.  Also, to attract young professionals toward the city, the initiative mandated that these micro-apartments be within one mile of public transportation.

So why should the mayor's office cater to young professionals?

• They comprise almost half of Boston's workforce at 48%
• 60% of them rent their homes
• Only 20% own their homes
• Most are single, and 82% have never married
• They add one billion dollars to the City Gross Product
• Their expenditures support 22,241 additional jobs to the city's economy
• 60% of them were born outside of Massachusetts
• 58% of these young adults either bike, walk, or take MBTA public transportation to work

I'm (Not) So Fancy: Trial Sizing Up Price for Millenials and Gen-Y Renters In Other U.S. Cities

Boston's economy relies on this segment of its population, and surely needs to have affordable housing for them to remain here.  This is a microcosm (excuse the pun) of the development trend across the US.  Developers are betting big on the lack of sufficient housing for recent college graduates and young upstart professionals.  Here is a list of cities that have tapped into the market of the 80 million Millenials and Generation Y-ers between the ages of 18 to 34 in the US:

• Cleveland 
• New York 
• Providence 
• Washington D.C.
• Seattle

But we need to breakdown the numbers:

• In Cleveland's University Circle District, a 300-square foot micro-apartment has a monthly rate of $600 per month.  Sure, $600 may seem reasonable until you consider the square footage you are(n't) getting.  
• These micro-units aren't exempt from location-based cost of living hikes - compare Cleveland's $600 to the price of a micro-apartment complex like Factory 63 in Fort Point, where the price range for a 337-square foot apartment is $1200 per month, and a 597-square foot apartment is $2450 per month.

These trendy apartments are going up in Cambridge, Fort Point near the "Innovative District", Charlestown, and the South End where young techies can live, work, play, live small, and think big.  Looks like developers are betting on tenants buying into a trend of living by necessity rather than luxury, and focusing on the inexpensive monthly cost rather than square footage. But it may be hard to maintain focus on just square footage when you are a renter paying a rate that is relatively high per the cost of living just enough to say you are living in the city.

Big Bucks for Small Spaces?

Do you believe that these micro-apartments can build small and sell high?  Or will developers find themselves with a micro-demand as small as the apartments they are renting? Will this eliminate the need for property management for these small-sized apartment units? Tell us your thoughts.

The Mobile Office: How "City Hall To Go" Will Help Boston This Summer

High Complaints and Low Morale For Greater Boston Residents

Citizens of the Greater Boston area have a strong solidarity - about their complaints living here in the Hub.  Just a few of our top morale adversaries:

• Unpredictable bad weather 
• Lack of a late night MBTA services
• Trigger-happy parking meter maids 
• Plights at the Registry of Motor Vehicles with unexpected trips to City Hall
• Late buses and slow trains
• Continual spikes in toll and T fares 
• The honking, ohh the honking

The odds certainly seem stacked against anyone trying to navigate through the center of the City.  (Never mind the increasingly standard MBTA crashes due to driver sneezing.)  At least we have our professional sports teams who have championed our faithful City over the past twelve years and piqued our morale, right?  But even in an athletic dynasty we need a Bostonian chip on our shoulder, and City Hall is making some serious efforts to help Boston area dwellers lighten up in Spring 2014. 

Mayor Marty Walsh shakes hands with a Boston resident while in the City Hall To Go truck

Public Access: How "City Hall To Go" Positively Rolls Local Municipalities in a New Direction for Boston  

Last winter, there were a series of spin-doctoring ideas from the mayor's and governor's office, including a green-lit project to launch the MBTA late night service for all trains and main bus routes on Friday and Saturday nights.  Most visibly, the City Hall To Go truck is mobilizing services to those who live outside of the downtown area.  During the pilot program for the truck last December, Menino stated to the Boston Globe: "City Hall To Go builds on our mission to shake up the status quo in municipal services and offer a new way for Boston residents to get information and engage with the city on a whole host of services we offer."  Menino's offering of this new benefit was one of his last stands, and has helped his incumbent Marty Walsh ride in on a white horse (or rather in a red and blue truck) earlier this January.  The truck is modeled after the popular food service and ice cream trucks that have recently taken over the Hub.

The nation's pioneer municipal mobile truck services include:

• Handling parking ticket payments and disputes 
• Ordering meter cards
• Requests for birth, death, and marriage certificates 
• Voter registration 
• Registration for residential parking permits and dog licenses
• Paying property and excise taxes 

Program organizer Katharine Lusk from former mayor Thomas Menino's office stated: "It's another way of connecting with the community."  The truck follows a schedule travelling Allston, Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Brighton, Charlestown, Chinatown, Dorchester, East Boston, Fenway, Hyde Park, Roxbury, South End, and South Boston anywhere between the hours of 9:00am and 7:30pm.  You can even follow the truck on Twitter for a direct connection with City Hall To Go. 

Mitigating the inconvenience of traveling downtown to City Hall during the work week, especially now that the Government Center T-stop is currently shut down until 2016, gives great relief to city commuters relying on the less than reliable public transit.  Hey, at least you don't have to use up a vacation day.  

Final Thoughts

The City Hall To Go truck adds to the growing new sense of city living: The current surge in condo development and sales across the Greater Boston area have been helping turn around the longtime stagnation of the local commercial and residential real estate markets. Boston tourists and residents can now share bicycles, stay out late (something the City's businesses have been pleased about too), and have coffee with the Mayor in the morning. The mobilization of municipalities in this truck could help add to the community's "Boston Strong" recovery sentiment from the bombings at the Boston Marathon in April 2013, as well as the Back Bay fire that took the lives of two firefighters this past March.

The truck also makes a great impact on residents who may not be Internet-savvy, have limited fluency in English, or may be clueless about going through the process to handle such issues that require a trip to City Hall.  So, what will we complain of next?

Do you think the City Hall To Go truck will be successful, or will have a short-term life rolling around town?

Living For The City: The 2014 Boston Condo Craze

The Boston real estate market is like seeing two-way traffic on a hill, with condo sales driving up and home sales precipitously going southbound.  The purpose of this article is to detail whether 2014 will have the condo bubble will burst, or will it only continue to float and rise for developers and condo owners. Home sales in the real estate market continue to lag in the Hub. With the rise of commercial real estate in the Seaport area, now being marketed as the Innovative District, developers and residents alike are looking to buy in.  But this is not an indicator of the demand for wanting to live in the city. 

This End Up, or Down?

Boston will always be one of the top apartment markets in the US. We can cite The Hub's unmatched college student population, the continuous influx of transient young professionals moving in and out of the city, and city dwellers who cannot afford to buy expensively priced homes within and outside the city limits. As prices continue to rise in the local real estate markets, first-time home-buyers are inevitably being bottlenecked into the condo market that developers are now attempting to make affordable to them.

Plus, as reviewed in our March 2014 PPS article discussing the quality of a condo versus home lifestyle, there are many conveniences offered to residents of condos that are not afforded to those who live in apartments or single family homes.

Moving into the Lap of Luxury 

Graph courtesy of www.housingviews.com

We have not yet even accounted for the booming luxury apartment market that is complimenting the local commercial real estate market, or the wealthy home-buyers who are willing to pay for living in prime locations like the Seaport. Veteran Boston architect Merrill Diamond of Diamond Sinacori LLC wrote on his company's website in 2011 predicting: "Yes, there will be a glut of apartments in Boston." 

Turns out, he was right, but his forecast was referring to condominium apartments; not rental apartments. He also mentioned "I never thought there would be enough wealthy people to fill up all these apartments on the waterfront." Diamond mentioned that 2014 would be the "tipping point" in which developers are going to switch their long-term hold strategies to condos from apartments. This is to bolster their short-term profits from the resurgence of condo demand, being that consumers now realize they can own a condo with the same price that they could be paying to rent an apartment in Boston. According to this Standard & Poors graph,  Boston condo prices have rivaled and outsold those in New York City since the mid-1990s, and continue to rise into this current decade.

Three hot spots for development are the South End, South Boston, and Charlestown, where prices continue to spike. In a recent article in the Boston Herald titled Boston Needs Condos In A Hurry construction has begun for two luxurious high-end condos in Fan Pier at 22 Liberty Drive, which will hold 118 condos, and 450 condos that will be in the Millennium Tower downtown to be completed in 2016. And it surely won't stop there. The former armory on  Bunker Hill Street in Charlestown is being converted, St. Augustine's Church in South Boston will have 29 new condos developed, Meridian Street in East Boston is slated to have 66 new condos, and even Parcel U next to the Forest Hills MBTA station on Hyde Park Avenue was recently approved to have a $14-million project for 50-60 market-rate townhouses. There are too many developments to list here, and local real estate agencies may find themselves with a surplus of listings as a result. 

Final Thoughts

We might ask ourselves "how long will this strategy work?" It is easier said than done for developers to meet middle class home-buyers halfway in covering their cost of the investment while lowering their price point per-square feet, as it is for these same home-buyers to step up outside their means with cash offerings that could be hard to follow up on with financing. If more development takes place, there will eventually be a "tipping point" for demand amongst those who can and cannot afford to buy a condo. 

Will developers and condo building owners find their backs against the wall and resort to sub-prime credit holders in earnest to fill these spaces as they continue to buy  and convert abandoned buildings (i.e. old schools, jails, office buildings)? Or will this continue to be a success for developers in their business initiatives? Tell us your thoughts...

Reflection on the Back Bay Fire Tragedy with an Important Message from the PPS Front Office

You Just Never Know: Fire Safety & Insurance Coverage to Top Your Checklist

Sometimes in our daily routines, we may lack deductive reasoning for possible causes of destruction in our homes. Or It could be natural disaster, totally out of our control from the start of the demolition. The Back Bay area of Boston received just that on Wednesday,  March 26th, with an inferno that blazed its path from the basement through the apex of the brownstone at 298 Beacon Street.

We previously reviewed “what-if” scenarios in our previous article Need For Fire Safety listed on the Premier Property Solutions blog, and where to start for fire prevention awareness. The causes for the fire in the Back Bay are still being investigated by authorities, but the what-if’s that became into a reality in this case also stem from that day's high winds  and the burnt building without a sprinkler system. According to the Boston Globe report, the attorney for the executor of the estate that owns the building stated the building was in good repair. But apparently, the building was old in its age and type that it did not require to have a sprinkler system installed.

When it comes to fires, always make sure you are covered and know the terms of your  insurance policy for your property if you are a tenant or owner of the building.  If you survive the ordeal, it is a privilege to be able to see your belongings again after a fire occurs. Please refer to our article Condo Insurance Explained

Premier Property Solutions Fire Prevention Message Alert

Make sure to review the Boston Fire Department's fire prevention safety guide, and the Premier Property Solutions Home Safety Checklist. Here is a message from the Premier Property Solutions front office management in light of the recent tragedy:

Dear Residents,

The fire that occurred at 298 Beacon Street which resulted in the loss of life for two firefighters is a tragic reminder of the importance of fire safety and fire prevention.

Fire prevention is a serious matter that affects all of us. There are time-tested ways to prevent and survive a fire; sometimes planning ahead is your best defense.

Premier Property Solutions urges you to review the attached Fire Prevention Handout and Home Safety Checklist with your family or roommates.

• Boston Fire Department Safety Information here
• Premier Property Solutions Home Safety Checklist here
• Change the batteries in your smoke and CO detectors twice a year.
• Never take a building alarm for granted - always assume there is a real fire and exit immediately.
• In the event of a life threatening emergency Call 9-1-1 first, then management.
• For additional information please contact your local Fire Department.

If you are interested in learning more, please contact your building manager to discuss available fire prevention resources. Premier Property Solutions contracts with numerous fire code engineers and life safety professionals throughout the Greater Boston Area.

Thank you for allowing Premier Property Solutions to continue to serve your community.

Laura M. Cardoos

Vice President | Premier Property Solutions, LLC

Premier Property Solutions Online Resources

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Quality of Condo vs House Lifestyles: You Get What You (Must) Pay For

This is a brief analysis of why tenants who demand repairs on their condo while withholding payments is a terrible idea not only for the maintenance of their condo unit, but also their relationship with their condo association. Surely, it is a pain to have to wait on someone else to do the work for you in your condo as opposed to a house, where the punctuality of the repairs is determined solely by the homeowner.

Withholding payments from condo fees from your HOA charged while waiting and complaining is just as ineffective to withholding payments for state taxes that fix potholes in the roads that you commute on daily.

The repercussions of payment refusal can land you with hefty fines for delinquent dues. In casino gaming terms, if tenants of the condo association are going to gamble in this way, just remember that the house, or HOA, always wins.

A Condo Tenant's Main Problem: Maintenance

For many homebuyers, the determining factor for their investment is the lifestyle choice. In the process of deciding your permanent residence to build home equity and a revocable trust, people may want to have a concierge and parking lot with security with a revocable trust that protects them in their investment. But as you know from our previous blog on condo costs involved in moving into a condo, make sure that you do your research because it may be more expensive for you than expected for things such as unexpected "special assessment" fees due to upgrades to the condo building.


Repairs in your home are a nuisance every time they change the way you live. The question is how long can the nuisance last? The owners of houses can pay on their own time when they want it upgraded. Condo owners are willing to pay for the convenience and risk in relying on property management  companies to handle the maintenance problems  in their home that require hard labor and hours that you find hard to spare to fix them yourself.

Most condo associations cover the maintenance of the common spaces, as well as the landscaping, trash, and snow removal. One of the main risks of the living in a condominium is reliance on property management company. They can schedule repairs, and can delay scheduled repairs as well. And you can't do anything about it, right? The frustrations may even make you want to withhold the condominium tax fees that you incur on from the homeowner association.

Courting Tenants

There is a lot of upkeep and time required that goes into living in a single-family home. But consider the fact that there is much more time required beyond one single condo unit owner's repairs needs. Living in a condo building among many neighbors above and below your respective place on a daily basis means there is a lot to account for time-wise for the property management company to tend to your maintenance. Refusing to pay affect other condo owners living, which could lead to costs on the HOA, which can land you a visit in court due to a lawsuit from the HOA. Withholding fees can also risk foreclosure on your home, even without protection from a revocable trust that you may have set up for your home.


So what is the best way to protect yourself in this situation? Make sure that you meeting the property managers to get on their good side. Also, check to see if the condo that you are buying does not have any outstanding liens or foreclosures in the building. If the rate is 15% of the units in a foreclosure status then that would be a bad place to place your bet or long-term investment. Lastly, it always helps to understand the HOA's by-laws or CC&Rs (covenants, conditions, and restrictions). You should hire a lawyer, or you can refer to another previous blog post of ours about condo insurance explained or how your condo is insured and policies of the HOA.

Final Thoughts

So how good has your property management company been to you? Have they made you want to refuse payments at any point? Or how well do you know your HOA by-laws and policies for refusing payments and monthly charge terms? Tell us your thoughts and we can give you some great input.

You can refer to the following links for reference of the statistics from this post

• http://www.oprah.com/money/Should-You-Buy-a-Condo-Condo-vs-House-Suze-Orman
• http://realestate.msn.com//article.aspx?cp-documentid=13107847
• http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/la-fi-associations-20131215,0,3366613.story#axzz2nds1FX7R