“As long as you have you own apartment and can pretty much make rent for the next year, you’re golden.” Ari Shaffir

When I show an apartment to a prospective tenant, I take a few copies of the latest rental application from my Apartment Owners Association. Tenants are able to fill out the info and email the completed application to me.

WHAT DO YOU DO? There days there are a lot of online companies that most of us use to help finding new tenants zillow.com and apartments.com are the two I prefer. These companies have a number of additional sites that feature your rental unit as well with no extra work. If you go on their websites, you will see the list of additional sites that are included at no additional charge and without the additional effort of inputting your listing multiple times.

craigslist.com offers free listings as well, but is not set up like the others that I mentioned. I rarely use that site.

FREE OR PREMIUM. These sites offer a free option, which allows you to put in all your information, as well as pictures and descriptions, but if you are not getting the response you are looking for, the premium package may be for you. The apartments.com package can cost over $300. per month and the zillow.com package is significantly cheaper at under $50. Included in the free and premium packages on both sites is the ability for prospective tenants to send you a rental agreement and even credit information before you even call the prospect to set up a showing. Even the showing appointments can be set up online.

APARTMENT ASSOCIATION. The sites I mentioned offer rent collection services as well as rental agreements which can be all done online. Personally, I prefer the Apartment Owners Owners Association paperwork as well as their credit reporting and other investigative services, You can even call if you have a question. They are always happy to help make sure you get the best return on your rental property.

KEEP YOUR OPTIONS OPEN There are a lot of options, especially compared to years ago and it is a good idea to check them all out to see which works best for you. It may be that there is one solution for one property and another one for another of your rentals. It’s always good to know your options.

“Champions never complain. They are too busy getting better.” John Wooden

What we at PRS PROPERTIES CAN DO. We can give you a good idea of the current value of your building. We can suggest changes you might want to make before sale to give you an idea what type of building you would be able to exchange into. You may decide to stay in the rental business or you may want to move into a more passive real estate investment, such as a triple net or a DSL.. We are always available to chat. We can give you referrals for professionals, such as lenders, contractors, and engineers, so that you can decide who you feel best with. We can supply you with rent and sale comparable in the area of your properties, so that you know what rental values are in your area. It is important that you know the true value of your rental units, so that you can get them rented right away at market value, or at least as much as possible with rent control restrictions. We can look at potential purchases that you may be interested in to make the property more desirable, and maybe look at potential issues that an insurer might require you to repair.

If you should decide to sell your building, we can help you exchange into a larger or smaller properties. We can even help you move into something with less management responsibilities. We can also help with getting the paperwork together for a refinance if that is your desire. We can also recommend experienced licensed contractors who can perform any repairs or installations you may need prior to selling. We can also look at your building for other easy and inexpensive changes that might allow you to get a higher value. We can help you to get the maximum value for your property, should you decide to sell, or the maximum return if you are planning to keep your building.

We are currently looking for “as-is” properties and are willing to purchase with low rents, deferred maintenance or even with a problem tenant in place. We can offer a 7 day escrow and all cash at closing. Give us a call. We have also put together numerous transactions over the years which involve properties that are not listed for sale. Many investors are currently in 1031 exchanges and need to identify a replacement property before their 45 day identification period runs out.

Should you decide to put your property on the market, we will put together an aggressive, targeted and professional campaign to get your property sold fast. We have been doing this for over 40 years, and we will use all the tools available to bring you the most dollars at closing. If you are thinking of selling or are just curious about the value of your property, don’t hesitate to give us a call.