In all three cases, the tenants were referred to me for advice. First PLEASE understand: I am not an attorney. I did not give these tenants advice on how to fight to stay in the home and I do not know if a successful fight can be mounted. At the end of the day, in my opinion as a property manager, these people have no choice but to find a new home and bear the cost of the move along new security deposits. The tenants asked if they fight to remain, but without a valid lease in place, I do not see the magistrate ruling in the tenant’s favor at an eviction hearing. Based on my experience, the tenant would not only lose the eviction hearing and have to move anyway, but with an eviction on their record, many property managers, including myself, would be disinclined to sign a lease with them in the future.

My advice for anyone who lease has expired is the same. If you are a tenant and you like the property it is in your best interest to sign a new lease to secure your right to remain in the home for another year. Even if the landlord asks for a modest increase in the monthly rent the lease gives the tenant to right to occupy the home for a year or more. I actually have tenants who appreciate their current rented homes so much they are signing two-year commitments for properties.

Are you currently residing a in a property that you like and can afford, but the lease has lapsed and you are operating month to month? Do yourself a favor, contact your landlord and see if you can renew the lease for a year. Being the slow time of the year, you should be able to renew with no rent increase.

As I was exploring OneNote I learned that I could collect information on a contemplated post in OneNote. After I finished collecting info, the content is sent to Word 2010 which I previously set up to automatically send to my broker-in-charge blog.

This test entry took moments.

In OneNote, I have a tab for Vacant Properties. Each vacant rental property has its own page for details and then sub-pages as we process credit applications. As is the case with any thorough property manager, I like to regularly follow-up with my client property owners regarding showings and maintenance issues. As the week transpires I make notes on the corresponding page about information that I want to share with the owner or approval for changes such as price adjustments or approval for maintenance. I really like to use the “Ctrl+1″ key combination as this puts a check box in front of action items. When time comes to make the call, I open the OneNote page and quickly review BEFORE dialing the call. Once I have the owner on the phone I date and time stamp the conversation from the OneNote ribbon menu. I work my way through the list and note requests or observations from the owner. This builds a detailed log for each rental property.

OneNote, used in conjunction with MS Outlook, is a powerful time management and journaling tool.

Perhaps the best kept secret with Microsoft Office 2010 is OneNote. This MS Office component ships with Home and Student, Home and Office and Professional. OneNote is a free form organizer of ideas that interfaces with the other Office  such as Excel and Word, but once the user understands how OneNote works, it really takes Outlook to a whole new level of increase productivity.

OneNote organizes your ideas into Notebooks with major ideas grouped by tabs then divided into pages and sub-pages.

One current example I can share with you is how I manage rental properties around Asheville for Castle Keepers. My OneNote process takes me from analyzing a property and determining pricing, sign the property management agreement with the owner, marketing the property and tracking showings, negotiating the lease and finally having the tenant move in.

Template Designed In OneNote for Castle Keepers Property Management

OneNote is designed to quickly create forms that can later be replicated and used quickly on the fly. The sample shows how standard features of a home can be checked and unchecked for a quick inventory of the property’s feature. This info can then quickly be analyzed when we calculate what the property will demand in the Asheville rental market. 

Once the owners agree on a price, this page is easily moved within OneNote to our “Vacant Property” tab. This make recalling info on the home a breeze when prospects call.

Look for more blog entries on how OneNote can make your handing of information with rental properties or homes for sale easier than any system you have ever used.

Let’s be realistic. Most Realtors can get by with a 28mm equivalent and Canon’s new A1200 Powershot not only fills the bill, it costs about $110!

The Canon A1200 Is Roughly the Size of a Blackberry Curve

This little camera is also a marvel. As you can see, it is roughly the size of a smart phone. The zoom lens is the equivalent of a 28mm to 112mm on a 35mm camera. Set at its widest angle the Realtor will be able to photograph all but the smallest rooms. The camera has 12.1 megapixel resolution, which is more than adequate for most of our needs.

This little camera is packed for of lots and lots of features that I will NEVER use. I typically shoot with Canon’s M2 image size. This make for a nice jpeg that usually can be uploaded directly to the Asheville property management websites I use such as www.CastleKeepers.net. For the most part, I leave the camera in its full auto settings so flash fires when needed and white balance is auto-adjusted.

One key feature is the camera uses two double A batteries. This means I do not need to buy expensive specialty batteries or worry about dead batteries on a shoot. I always have a couple extra AA’s in my briefcase. The camera also uses dirt cheap SD memory cards to capture images.

The convenience is incredible. The A1200 is so small, I just keep it in the breast pocket of my sport coat. This way I always have a camera. When I get to a property showing a few minutes ahead of potential renters, I can quickly get some shots to take update with spring colors. When I get to the office, I can upload the images to the web.

The Canon A1200 is inexpensive and does the job. If you are a working Realtor who takes their own pictures, but want to do it well, quickly and inexpensively, this camera is for you.

While demand is up, prices have been pressed down slightly. There are some marvelous homes in the rental pool. In many cases these homes have amenities that a few years ago were rare commodities in rental properties. This is forcing down the market rent for traditional “income” rentals.

The hot rental property right now in greater Asheville or Buncombe County is the three bedroom, two and a half bath home that rents for between $1000 to $1300 per month. These usually lease for a year with the security deposit being equal to a month’s rent. Most will accept pets with an additional $300 deposit or perhaps an increased month rent.

For Castle Keepers’ rental properties currently available across WNC, please visit www.CastleKeepers.net

We are also in the process of adding our commercial properties that are available for lease  to www.CastleKeepers.net. We manage several properties in ther heart of downtown that are leased as storefronts, art galleries, offices and restaurants.

Visit our site and let us know what you think.

The article can be read in its entirety here: http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20100822/NEWS/308220052/Home-sales-suffer-in-July-

The Absorption Rates are calculated by dividing the inventory by recent sales to give us the number of months it would take to liquidate the inventory if no additional properties came on the market.

The first section of the reports deals with inventories and sales of lots up to ten acres. The report includes the entire MLS and breakouts for Buncombe, Henderson and Haywood Counties. Inventory across the MLS, Buncombe County and Haywood County increased from June to March. Henderson County’s inventory is holding steady. What is exciting is to see is that the average list and sold price are up in July compared to June. This is in part due to the fact that larger lots were purchase in July. Average sold price per acre for the entire MLS is $35,426. Buncombe County is home of the highest average per acre price at $70,827. Buyer’s looking for bargains should look in Haywood County where the average per acre price in July was $18,213.

The list versus sold ratio did drop from June to July. In June, lots sold for 82.87% of list price compared to 70.72% for July. The gap was even bigger in Buncombe County with lots selling for 63% of list price! Bargain hunters are out there and sellers should expect to see low ball offers. 

For all practical purposes inventory of existing homes is holding steady. Homeowners who “do not have to sell” are remaining on the sidelines. July did see a dramatic decline in sales compared to June. With inventory holding steady and sales down, our Absorption Rates are up.

Due to the lack of construction, inventory of new homes continues to decline. With our slow sales in July the absorption rate for new homes is up. I remain optimistic, however, that construction of new homes will HAVE to increase as the selection dwindles. This will trigger what our economy needs most: jobs.

For buyers it remains an excellent opportunity to buy. Mortgage rates are at the lowest in our lifetime! IT makes incredible for sense for cash buyers and those with good credit to purchase now.

Included in the report is a county-by-county break home of home sales activity, average prices, national and regional home sales activity, statistics on Western North Carolina’s unemployment rates by county and major industry employment for the Asheville metro area.

As Mike Kasey states in his introduction to the report, homes sold in Buncombe County are up nearly 40%, but average prices are down. With inventory holding prices in check and interest rates remaining amazingly low, now is a great time to buy.

For a copy of the report, call our duty agent at (828) 684-4339 and they will happily email you a copy of this information packed report.