Managing rental properties can be a time-consuming and difficult task. When tenants have issues, being a landlord requires you to work overtime in order to get the job done, sometimes disrupts your sleep, cuts into family time and interferes with your social schedule. The degree of difficulty you face in this work depends largely on the tenants you rent to, as well as chance.

Thankfully, there’s something you can do to avoid some major hiccups, saving you time, money and frustration. By familiarizing yourself with the most common tenant complaints, you’re more likely to avoid encountering them—and should they come up despite your best efforts, you’ll be better equipped to resolve them quickly. Read on to learn how you can be a more prepared property manager and how to best handle these tenant complaints.

Common tenant complaints

While some tenants have unique expectations, there are many commonalities in the sort of complaints you can prepare yourself for:

• Noise: One of the most frequent complaints tenants have, especially those living in multi-unit environments that put people in close proximity to one another, is noise. While you can’t control the people in your properties, you can define acceptable noise levels, establish noise curfews in your lease and prepare an action plan to follow should noise violations arise.
• Maintenance issues: This type of complaint is generally time-sensitive and hard to prepare for. While taking excellent routine care of your property is an important part of managing rentals, you should also clearly outline in your lease agreement what your tenants can expect from you when they submit maintenance requests.
• Vermin and pests: Despite our best efforts to dissuade them, insects and vermin are a complaint many landlords deal with at some point. To ensure conditions do not invite unwelcome guests, talk with your tenants about how they can appropriately prevent them through cleanliness and keeping the building appropriately sealed. Consider including preventative inspections of the building by a professional exterminator in your routine maintenance to identify possible concerns before they become serious issues.
• Safety: Many safety complaints can be avoided through thorough inspections of a unit before tenants move in. Create a checklist to help you remember all the areas to check, and share it with the tenants when they move in so they know they’re moving into a safe home. Should any safety issues arise, respond to them as quickly as possible.
• Mold: Where there is humidity and poor ventilation, there is a high likelihood of mold growth. Do your part to prevent it by installing appropriate ventilation in bathrooms, quickly addressing leaks and controlling humidity in your property. Should mold grow anyway, hire a professional to address the problem right the first time.

Property management is somewhat unpredictable, but what you do have control of is your degree of preparedness. By following these guidelines, you’ll minimize tenant complaints by addressing issues before they come up—and if they do come up, you’ll know how to handle tenant complaints in a way that’s effective and keeps everyone happy. If you’re looking for help managing your rental property, contact Valley Executives Real Estate & Property Management LLC. Our property management and proactive maintenance services will save you time and unplanned expenses down the road.

If you’re just getting started in real estate, you may feel overwhelmed by how much there is to learn about this industry. Owning an income property, especially one you intend to rent out to tenants, is a lot of work—and much of it is likely unfamiliar to you. If things are feeling daunting, bringing on a property management company with the right traits to help could save you time and money as you learn the ropes.

But how do you decide who to hire, and what are the most important things to look out for? If you’ve never set about hiring a property manager before, you may not know where to start. Read on to learn everything you need to know about vetting a property manager to oversee your property.

Key property manager traits

Hiring a property manager is no small decision. You’ve invested valuable time, money and effort into this venture—you want to make sure you’re bringing on people who will take good care of it. So, what traits should you be looking for when evaluating property managers? Here are some key characteristics:

• Trust: This is paramount when deciding whether or not you want to work with a given property management company. Do you feel confident in their ability to do the job well, and up to your standards? If you’re on the fence, trust your gut and look elsewhere.
• Certifications and licenses: Make sure you’re considering professionals with the qualifications and expertise to appropriately oversee your property. What are their professional affiliations? Do they have certifications relevant to your property? Getting this information early will help ensure you hire the strongest candidate for the job.
• Experience: What types of properties have they managed in the past? Hiring someone who has prior experience working with properties like yours will enable them to not only maintain things, but also identify areas of opportunity in your property that newcomers may not see.
• Reputation: Check candidates out on the Better Business Bureau to make sure they have a solid rating, then look them up on other review sites to see what previous customers and employers have to say about their work. A management company with poor reviews may suggest your property would be mishandled under them, leaving you with vacancies when fed-up tenants leave to find greener pastures elsewhere.
• Transparency: Ask to see a contract from potential property managers to get a sense of what specifically this relationship would look like, and have your attorney review it to ensure it presents a good deal for both parties. Contracts should detail the services they provide, how repairs will be handled and paid for and owner responsibilities, so you don’t get blindsided later on.

Hiring a property manager is an exciting move that should make your overall experience better. If you’re struggling to find a property manager with the traits you need, visit Valley Executives Real Estate & Property Management LLC online to learn about our robust property management offerings.

Have you been considering purchasing a home? A home is the largest purchase a person is likely to ever make in their life, so before you spring forward into this investment, it’s important to consider whether it’s the right financial and logistical move at this stage of your life.

What are the benefits of renting vs. buying a house—and vice versa?

Here’s a quick look at the pros and cons of each to help you answer the question, “Should I rent or buy a house?”

Homeownership

Let’s start with the advantages of buying a home.

First, there’s the financial benefit. A home purchase is typically a good investment. Houses generally increase in value over time. You will also stabilize your housing costs year over year. By locking into a mortgage, you won’t have to worry about costs going up like you would with rent. With how fast rent costs tend to escalate, this is a big deal.

Most importantly: You get to build equity in a home that is all yours. With rentals, your money just goes into the pocket of a landlord. With homeownership, you get closer to fully owning the property and build equity with every payment you make.

There are tax incentives associated with homeownership. You’ll be able to write off various improvements, and, if you work from home, you can benefit from home office deductions. You can also deduct mortgage points and other costs associated with homeownership.

Other benefits to consider include the greater privacy associated with homeownership, the ability to do whatever you want with home improvements and the pride that comes with owning a home and having strong community ties.

There are, of course, drawbacks to consider.

Homeownership is a long-term commitment, which may not be for everyone. This long-term commitment means a lack of flexibility with your living situation.

The high, up-front costs, as well as the costs of ongoing maintenance and repairs, may scare you off before you get the long-term benefits of building equity. It’s often more expensive than renting, and you run the risk of foreclosure if you can’t make your payments.

Renting

There are several main benefits of renting to consider.

First, the costs tend to be lower. When you consider the costs of a mortgage plus property tax, homeownership is usually going to be more expensive—at least until you’ve paid off the mortgage, which will likely take decades. There are also very minimal maintenance costs, as the landlord is in charge of taking on repairs.

There is a shorter-term commitment with rentals, which allows you to get out faster and move on a whim.

However, there are no tax incentives or equity associated with renting, and your housing costs will increase with inflation, which can make it difficult to budget over a longer period of time.

Want to further explore the benefits of renting vs. buying a home with an expert? Contact us at Valley Executives Real Estate & Property Management LLC with any questions you have for us.

There is a prominent misconception that one must be wealthy to begin investing in real estate—but the truth is that even with a small down payment, you can become a real estate investor and benefit from owning property.

Real estate investing helps you grow your portfolio and enjoy a variety of financial benefits. Whether you’re looking to get started with investing, are already investing but want to diversify your portfolio or are simply looking for cash flow, there are a number of reasons why real estate investing may be a good move for you.

Here are just a few of the reasons why real estate investing is one of the best types of investing for people of all backgrounds:

• Appreciating value: If you stick it out with your investment, you will almost certainly see appreciating value. There have been housing crashes that have occurred, but these are few and far between, and most of the time, the market rebounds. By renovating or improving the property, you can also force some appreciation, which is one reason why many people purposefully look for undervalued properties to purchase as fixer-uppers.
• The power of equity: The more equity you build in a property, the more you can leverage it for additional investments. The equity in your home is the difference between the value of your home and what you owe on the mortgage. You may be able to take out up to 80 percent of a home’s value to invest in more real estate, which allows you to increase your portfolio without having to save up for a cash down payment.
• A tangible asset: Stocks, bonds and other types of investments aren’t tangible, which can make them difficult to grasp for some investors. A home is a tangible asset. You have a piece of property you can sell if you have to move on from the investment.
• Retirement savings: Real estate is a long-term investment, and once you’re in retirement or near it, you can sell the property and use the profits from the equity you built in your home to help fund your retirement. This is especially beneficial for rental properties. You can purchase them and rent them out for enough to cover the rent and other expenses and then sell the property and have a lot of money to pocket for your retirement.
• Tax deductions: Investment in real estate makes you eligible for certain tax deductions. Most homeowners do not itemize these deductions, so they aren’t able to take advantage of their real estate savings, but when you own a property and rent it out, this is considered business ownership, meaning you have more options to take out deductions to achieve some financial benefits.

These are just a few examples of some of the biggest benefits associated with investing in real estate. Want to learn more about real estate investing and why it’s a good time to get into the game? Contact us at Valley Executives Real Estate & Property Management LLC.

If you’re considering a move, you’re probably wondering, “When is the best time to sell my home.” You might be asking yourself, “Should I sell my house this fall?” You may wonder if it would be better to wait for the spring market.
While spring is typically a good time to sell, many homeowners don’t realize the many benefits of selling a house in the fall. As you weigh your selling options, consider these fall season advantages.

Less competition

In the spring and summer, there are more houses on the market than in the fall. That means you have greater competition for the buyers who are out shopping for new homes. With fewer options to choose from in the fall, buyers may be willing to pay more for your home.

Serious buyers

The people who are looking at homes in the fall are generally more serious buyers. In the spring and summer, you can get a lot of visitors who are simply looking at homes out of curiosity but aren’t seriously considering buying anything in the near future. In the fall, people are busy with jobs and school and are more likely to look at homes only if they are seriously considering a purchase.

New job season

Part of the reason fall buyers are more serious shoppers is due to job changes. January is the most popular month for hiring and new-job starts. This means people who are relocating for work often need to find a new home in time to start their new positions in January. This increases your chances of selling your home quickly and efficiently to a buyer who is ready to move and close on a new home.

Inviting décor

Selling your home in the fall gives you the opportunity to showcase your home during the holidays. A home that is spruced up with holiday décor is inviting and is likely to make buyers feel welcome and at-home in your surroundings. It provides an emotional engagement that is harder to achieve during other times of the year. This additional appeal can help your home sell more quickly and fetch a higher price.

Open calendar

Realtors and other professionals who are involved in a home sale are less busy in the fall. You’ll have less competition for their time, so you may be able to enjoy more personalized attention. You can schedule appointments at times that are the most convenient for you and feel less rushed through the process. This can help with scheduling inspections, showings, open houses, appraisals and more.

Reap the benefits

Are you considering the best time to sell your home? Valley Executives Real Estate & Property Management LLC can help. Our full-service company is ready to assist you. Our experienced experts can help you weigh your options and determine how to get the most out of your property in the fall, and all year round. Call us today to find out more about the benefits of fall sales or to get started on listing your property. Reach our team at 480-756-4291.

If you’re considering a move, you’re probably wondering when is the best time to buy a home. With the holidays around the corner, you might ask yourself, “Should I buy a home during the fall season? Would that be wise?”
The answer is a resounding yes. Fall is a great time to buy a home. Here’s why.

Less competition

Think about a crowded mall scene during a Christmas rush. Everyone is elbowing their way to get the last toy on the shelf. Retailers can raise the prices due to high demand. Then what happens by the middle of January? No one’s shopping.
The housing market experiences a similar trend in the fall. Spring and summer are the high season for putting homes on the market. Lots of buyers are out searching for homes, and the competition can be fierce to get the property you want.
By the fall season, things slow down. You’ll likely be one of only a handful of buyers searching the area for homes. This means you can take your time to consider properties. It also means you’ll probably get a better price for a home, since you won’t be trying to outbid several other potential buyers.

More accurate views

Homes tend to show best in the spring and summer. Everything is in bloom. The landscaping looks great. In the fall, you may be able to get a more accurate view of how the home looks year-round. With leaves and flowers gone, you can get a better view of the roof, the yard and other aspects of the property that may have been concealed in the summer.
Also, in the fall, people tend to be back to a normal routine that differs from the summer. This means you can get a better feel for the neighborhood and what things are like when people aren’t away on vacation and kids are in school.

Better personal attention

Because this season isn’t as busy as spring and summer, you can also enjoy more personal attention from the professionals involved with a home purchase. Realtors, appraisers, inspectors, attorneys and loan officers all typically have a little more breathing room on their calendars in the fall. This means they can take more time with each client and give you the personal attention you need. You may also have better luck scheduling appointments during times that are convenient for you.

Greater flexibility

In the spring and summer rush, sellers may not be very flexible with their moving dates. They want to be out before school starts, or they have vacations planned. In the fall, dates are usually more flexible. You aren’t competing with several other buyers who may offer a better closing date. You can typically negotiate more for a date that works well for you.

Find your dream home

When is the best time to buy a home? The real estate experts at Valley Executives Real Estate & Property Management LLC are ready to assist you year-round. Contact us today to take advantage of the many benefits of fall home shopping.

Being a landlord is more than just walking around to your rental properties to collect a rent check each month. Between dealing with emergency repairs, general maintenance and settling any disputes with tenants, you’ve got a lot on your plate! If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed, you may have considered partnering with a property management company to take some of that burden off your shoulders. 

This post will cover a few of the signs that it’s time to bring in a team of experts to help run your rentals.

When should you hire a property manager?

Having a property manager isn’t right for every landlord, but if any of the following scenarios apply to you, it might be worth the investment to team up with one:

• You’re not interested in hands-on management: The top reason to consider bringing in a property manager is if you’re just sick and tired of being hands-on. If you see your properties as investments and you’re satisfied with just collecting the income, find a property management team to take care of the day-to-day hassles that come with being a landlord.
• You have a large portfolio: Maybe you like being hands-on—but you might not have time to take care of all your rental properties if you own multiple, especially if they’re not near each other. A property manager can oversee one or all of the rentals in your portfolio that you can’t attend to. 
• You don’t live near your rentals: Owning rental properties gets infinitely harder and more time-consuming when you don’t live in the same town as your rentals. Instead of wasting time driving back and forth to your properties, just hire a local property management team. They’ll oversee everything while you kick back and relax. 
• Your time is limited: There’s only so much time in a week to accomplish all of the tasks on your to-do list. If you’re responsible for lawn care, showing properties to possible tenants and making some repairs, you could wind up working 80-hour weeks. If you’re crunched for time, let a property manager take over a few of those tasks. 
• You don’t want employees: Some landlords will just opt to hire handymen to take care of any day-to-day activities that they can’t get around to. While that’s a fine solution, it does come with its own challenges; for example, when you have a staff, you’re responsible for payroll and other legal requirements. With a property management team, you get all the perks of having a full-time staff but none of the associated headaches.

Let us be your property management team

If you’ve determined that it’s time to hire a property manager, then hire our pros at Valley Executives Real Estate & Property Management LLC. We’re a full-service team of property managers dedicated to relieving our clients’ stresses. Call us today to learn more about when you should hire a property manager or to get a quote for our services.

Buying or renting are the two primary housing options in the United States, but knowing if you should rent a home or buy a home isn’t always as easy as it seems. While homeownership is the goal for many people, it’s not the right choice for everyone. 

Continue reading to learn more about the two options to help you decide which situation is best for you. 

Should I rent a home?

Let’s start with the perks of renting. Here are a few of the benefits of renting your home instead of buying one:

• No maintenance: Homeownership comes with a ton of added chores to keep the house in tip-top shape. That’s not the case when you rent. As a renter, your landlord or property manager handles all necessary general maintenance and lawn care.
• No repairs: Even the most well-maintained houses need repairs every now and then. Whether it’s an electrical issue or a leaking pipe, you could have a big hassle on your hands as a homeowner. Again, your property manager can either make repairs themselves or pay to have a professional do it.
• More flexibility: When you buy a home, you’re locked into living in one place for quite a while unless you’re able to sell your house. That’s not the case for renters! After your lease is up, you’re free to move wherever you want without the hassle of finding someone to buy your house.
• Amenity access: Depending on your rental property, you may have access to a community pool, gym or clubhouse that you wouldn’t have if you owned a house. Those perks definitely play a factor when you’re choosing to rent or buy.

Should I buy a home? 

While renting certainly has its upsides, you can’t discount the benefits of buying your own home. These are a few of the top reasons to consider homeownership: 

• Equity: A rent check just goes into a landlord’s pocket each month, but when you pay your monthly mortgage, you’re building equity in your home. If you look at it that way, a home is just as much of an investment as it is a place to live.  
• Customization: Many people want to customize their living space to showcase their personality and make it more comfortable. Renters are often restricted with that, as landlords don’t often like when their renters make customizations. Homeowners, on the other hand, are free to do whatever they please. 
• Tax breaks: You don’t gain anything on taxes with rent payments—the money spent still counts as reportable income—but you can get tax breaks with your mortgage because a mortgage and property taxes are both deductible. You can get further tax breaks for things like home offices if you’re smart when filing your taxes.

What we can do for you

Whether you want to rent or buy a home, talk to our team at Valley Executives Real Estate & Property Management LLC. We’re committed to helping our clients find the perfect new home or rental property to meet their needs. Call today to speak to our team of experts.  

For most people, the main goal of selling their home is to get the best price. This can be hard in an area where there are plenty of great homes available. That’s why it’s important to make your home stand out from the crowd. There are many ways to make your home more enticing to buyers, including paying attention to staging and cleaning. You’ll also want to avoid making common seller mistakes, like charging too much or not hiring a real estate agent. Below, you’ll find many great tips on selling your home:

• Open the curtains: Homes look better when you let in plenty of natural light. That’s why it’s a good idea to keep your blinds and/or curtains open whenever you’re showing your home to potential buyers. Natural light can make the space look larger and allow buyers to envision where they would put furniture and other items.
• Keep it clean: Preparing to sell your home should always involve a good cleaning. Even one unclean room could turn off some buyers. That’s why many people consider having their home professionally cleaned before showing it. If you’d rather clean on your own, just be sure to watch out for corners and any other spots where dirt and dust may hide.
• Consider the smell: Your home should always smell nice when showing it to buyers. That means you should avoid cooking anything with a strong scent on the same day as your showings. This could include bacon, onions, spices and other fragrant ingredients. Also, consider investing in a good air freshener to spray your rooms with before potential buyers arrive.
• Repaint some of the walls: Repainting the walls can be a low-cost and easy way to make your home more enticing to buyers. Be sure to go with a neutral tone, as extreme colors can distract prospective buyers.
• Make small renovations: While some renovations can be expensive, there are inexpensive options for improving the look of your home. For example, consider replacing any hardware in your kitchen or bathrooms that look a little worse for wear. These could include faucets, doorknobs and more.
• Don’t forget the outside: Increasing the curb appeal of your home is just as important as improving the inside. Buyers want to be impressed as soon as they take their first look at your home. Be sure to trim the hedges, cut the grass and clear any debris from your yard.
• Hire a good real estate agent: It’s usually not a good idea to try and sell a home on your own. Real estate agents have plenty of experience in selling homes, and are thus better at negotiating prices. A good agent will even help you come up with the perfect listing price to attract interest and bids.

As you can see, there are plenty of ways to make your home more enticing to buyers. For more tips, or if you’re preparing to sell your house, contact the professionals at Valley Executives Real Estate & Property Management. We will pair you up with a good agent to handle your needs and get you the best price for your home.

Buying your first home can be an exciting, yet jarring process. There’s a lot the goes into the home buying process that most first-time home buyers aren’t prepared for. Learning about the home buying process can help you save plenty of time and avoid making costly mistakes. In our home buyer’s guide below, we cover some of the most important things to consider before deciding on a home.

Are you sure you’re ready?

Buying a home shouldn’t be a hasty or spur-of-the-moment decision. If you enter into a contract and are unable to pay your mortgage, you could end up losing a lot of money. It will also have a major negative impact on your credit score, meaning you’ll have a much harder time buying a home in the future.

Purchasing a home is a major commitment, as you’ll likely be making monthly mortgage payments for the next few decades. That said, if you have a stable income, good credit score and the desire to own a home, now’s a good time to start saving.

Create a budget

One of the first steps every home buyer should take is creating a budget they will stick to. This means getting all your finances in order and figuring out a good price range. Consider your income and debt to best determine how high of a mortgage payment you can afford each month. Be sure to also think about how much you want to put down for a down payment. Once you have a good budget, you can start looking for homes within that price range.

It’s important to consider all the expenses and extra fees that go along with purchasing a home. This can include closing costs, renovation expenses and much more. You don’t want to end up emptying your savings to purchase the home itself and have nothing left for other expenses.

Get pre-approved

One thing that will help speed up the process is getting a pre-approval letter from your lender. This will show sellers and real estate agents that you’re serious about purchasing a home. Pre-approval letters also show what you can afford and allow you to start figuring out closing costs.

The first step in getting a pre-approval letter is finding the right lender. There are likely plenty of lender options in your area, so it’s important to do your research. Find a lender that’s willing to work with your needs and wants.

Work with a good real estate agent

While it’s possible to find and purchase a home on your own, the process is daunting without a good real estate agent. Real estate agents have plenty of experience in finding homes and negotiating prices. They can usually get you a better price and save you a lot of time. One of the best things about working with a real estate agent is that they can take care of all the paperwork. Buying a home requires a lot of paperwork that most people find confusing and time-consuming. If you’re a first-time home buyer in the Mesa, AZ area, contact the experts at Valley Executives Real Estate & Property Management. This home buyer’s guide barely scratches the surface of what we can tell you about the process!