Jul/090
Rental Advertising – All You Need To Know
State and local government around the world have come to realize that unless a limit is imposed on the prices of certain commodities and / or services, particularly those which are considered necessary for health, safety and decent living; they may, under very specific circumstances, become unattainable to people within the lower socio-economic and the working classes like me.
Yes, "big brother" may be watching but he's watching out for the little guys - the consumers who are looking through listings of apartment advertising because they are simply in need of a place to call "home." Some may be looking in apartment advertisement sections of newspapers while other may be browsing through websites that list rental advertisements, but they all need affordable roofs over their heads.
Rent control is, for all intents and purposes, a price ceiling on the rent landlords may charge tenants. And this price control is legislated by a municipal or a national governing body which also has the wherewithal and the authority to enforce it.
To-date, about forty countries have come to appreciate the importance of putting a cap of the apartment rental marketing or rental property marketing of any other kind and the rates they charge. Of course, the laws pertaining to rent control vary from one country to another and even between cities of the same country.
For the most part and under many jurisdictions where rent control laws are in effect, rent control which intends to prevent rent from skyrocketing is not as simple as one might expect. Rent control determines a variety of aspects that pertain to rental marketing and those may include:
Identifying which apartments are affected to a greater or lesser extent and which are not. And those, by the way, usually apply to the older and larger apartment houses. Limiting of rent increases which are usually parallel to the rate of the current inflation as it exists in any given area. Controlling the frequency in which rent may be increased. In most instances, it is limited to once a year.
Written into the rent control laws of many areas are provisions that allow periods of "vacancy decontrol" at which times landlords are allowed to increase rent as they see fit and those provisions apply only when the said apartments have been vacated and are being prepared (cleaned, refreshed, renovated, etc.) to be re- rented to new tenants.Rent control laws that do not include "vacancy decontrol" are known as strong rent control laws but these are relatively rare and extremely hard to enforce.
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Needless to say, rent control has been the subject of countless political debates for many years and the pros and cons are constantly at each other's throats (not literally). Based on economic, social and moral grounds, those who are for rent control most often argue that:
Rent control protects tenants from unfair rent increases as a means of retaliation because they dared to ask for some maintenance to be done. Although indirectly, tenants get to enjoy a piece of the income tax benefits enjoyed by landlords. Rent control laws provide more incentives for landlords to keep improving their properties. Rent control adds more stability in market rentals as it enables tenants to lengthen their stay. Rent control defends a basic human right - decent and affordable housing.
On the reverse side of the coin, those who are against rent control claim that:
Rent control reduces the quality and the quantity of houses. Rent control laws are useless and ineffective. Rent control violates the rights of property owners and landlords.
Jul/090
Vacation Rental Marketing – Prevent Costly Mistakes
Apartments and apartment buildings or apartment complexes are income properties and business ventures to landlords everywhere in the world. As is true with any other type of business, landlords need customers to sustain them financially.
Customers in the apartment rental type of businesses are called renters or tenants and they are attracted through a variety of apartment marketing strategies which include but are not limited to apartment rental advertising in the printed media as well as through apartment Internet marketing at the countless websites which provide apartment and house rental advertising services to both side of the equation - the landlords and the tenants.
Because rental apartments are a business and in light of the current weak global economy, most landlords go out of their way to cut costs while at the same time attempting to increase their revenues and preserve the value of their properties.
Children may be viewed as miraculous assets to their families and friends but they are considered to be financial liabilities to landlords for a variety of reasonable, although unfair, reasons:
Children tend to be noisy and make their properties less desirable to other "more upstanding" tenants.As babies they cry; as toddlers they run around banging toys; as pubescents (pre-teens) they are prone to fits of vocal anger; and as teens they play loud music, have wild parties, smoke, drink and talk dirty. Children tend to be dirty and so many other tenants may not appreciate the potential stench. Infants produce diapers filled with poop; toddlers play with chalk, crayons and mud; pre-teens toss rubbish; and teens simply don't bath. Children tend to attract more children and soon their properties are swarming with little urchins. As if tolerating tenant children is not bad enough, children and parents of children tend to invite other children for playtime, parties and dates.
Apartment marketing strategies What You Should Know
There may be some or a whole lot of legitimacy and truth to these harsh allegations.However, we all know that tenants are often part of families which include children and they are every bit deserving as anyone else to have a safe and secure place to live, particularly when children are involved.
To protect tenants with children against discrimination, groups with authority and civil rights organizations have been instrumental in instituting laws that are aimed at preventing landlords from baring families with children into their rental properties. These laws are known as Fair Housing Acts in the United States but other nations have equivalent laws under different names.
Most of such laws define children as individuals who are under the age of 18 and they include children whose relationship to the applying tenants is biological, adoptive or through the legal proceedings of guardianship.These shielding laws also protect tenants who are expecting a child through natural birth, proceedings for adoption or guardianship.
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Regardless of how they are called, these laws make provisions for strict enforcement and punitive consequences for offending landlords. In spite of that, many landlords still continually dismiss tenants or prospective tenants off their properties because they have children. So, many of them end up being reported, sentenced and charged with heavy fines for breaking the law.
Now, if I may be so bold, I would like to offer a few words of advice to landlords and tenants with children.
To the landlords I would like to say: Get over yourselves and remember that you too were children once.
To tenants with children I'd like first of all extend my congratulations for being so lucky. Secondly, I'd like to remind them to be good neighbors by practicing good renting etiquettes and teaching their children to do the same.
Jul/090
House Rental Advertising – What You Must Know
It would be terrifically nice if people in relationships (personal and professional) got along just because. Unfortunately, that isn't what usually happens, especially when money is involved. So, governments and all kinds of official groups come in with rules which tell people how to behave under certain circumstances and how not to. Such lists also provide detailed lists which indicate how those who fail to follow the rules get reprimanded or punished.
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The fact is that world population has been moving steadily upwards while the global economy has been heading downwards in the last few years. So, there are more people who are looking for more apartment rentals because many of them cannot afford to buy real estate. That is how apartment marketing became such a huge business all over the world (after all, people have to live somewhere).
Sets of guidelines have been written into official books as laws and regulations. These all focus on Tenant / Landlord Relations which are intended to protect both sides - the tenants and the landlords - as fairly and justly as is possible.
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Let's take a quick peek at the process that leads up to the Tenant / Landlord Relations which involves rental marketing and then advertising rentals which is meant to attract the right tenants who will occupy the vacancy and pay for the privilege.
To advertise a rental property, the landlord can place ads in the local, the national or the international printed newspapers, periodicals or magazines. The landlord can also apply with agencies as well as post "For Rent" signs in front of the vacant property. But, since the World Wide Web (WWW) and the Internet have been invented, apartment advertising can be handled with much more effective.
Today, the Internet is filled with websites that are quick, easy and convenient as they provide beneficial services to landlords and tenants. For landlords, they provide the ultimate exposure to their vacant apartments by getting them listed in many online sites, search directories, social networks as well as video portals. For tenants, these online services are easy-to-get-to sources for listed vacant apartments.
Although the Internet has become the source for everything for many people, some still prefer taking the old fashioned route and that's OK because it take all kinds to make the world go around.Don't forget that we're talking about Relations here.
Whichever method of advertising the landlord chooses, it is up to him or her to investigate the desirability of the want-to-be tenant. In a similar way, it is the responsibility of the tenant to closely consider what is being offered (the apartment) and who is doing the offering (the landlord).
When the two sides are sure that they have found a good match, the Tenant / Landlord Relations begin with the signing of a written contract (or an agreement) which is legally endorsed by the local authorities. Such a contract must spell out the landlord's obligations, the tenant's commitments, and the means by which to resolve disputes between the two entities, if and when disputes arise.
As is true with all our relationships, Tenant / Landlord Relations are all about the rights, the obligations and the commitments of the landlord toward the tenant and vice versa, of the tenant toward the landlord.
Because every tenant deserves to live in a descent place, landlords must:
Provide apartment which comply with the minimum codes for the health and safety of the tenants. Do whatever they have to in order to sustain the rental quarters in conditions that are conducive to safety of their tenants. Ensure that the common areas of the rental property are safe. Keep all facilities, appliances and systems (electrical, plumbing, sanitation, heating, air conditioning, ventilation, and so on) in safe working conditions. Establish a well maintained system for removal of garbage. Supply clean running cold as well as hot water.
Because each and every landlord deserves thier property to be treated respectfully, tenants are obligated to:
Keep their rented spaces in compliance with health and safety. Keep their rented spaces clean and damage-free while occupying it. Leave the rented spaces as clean and damage-free upon vacancy as they found them when occupancy began. Use the system provided for removal of garbage safely. Use all provided facilities, appliances and systems (electrical, plumbing, sanitation, heating, air conditioning, ventilation, and so on) reasonably and safely. Refrain from purposely or carelessly damage, destroy, deface or remove any part of the rented space. Display considerate and peaceful behavior toward other tenants, landlords and/or neighbors. Adhere to all the dos and don'ts spelled out within the signed rental contract.
All quarrel or disagreements between tenants and landlords which cannot be peacefully resolved otherwise, are taken up in courts of law which are authorized to issue verdicts that can include monitory fines, jail sentences and a variety of community services.