There are two different types of rental inspections that property managers and landlords do. A vacant inspection is typically a move in and a move out inspection, when a tenant is not in the home. This is entirely different from the second type of inspection, which we call an occupied inspection. An occupied inspection is often done to check on how well a tenant is taking care of your property.

Today, we’re going to talk about vacant inspections. Five years ago, we began doing vacant inspections with video at Hoffman Realty. It has really changed our process as well as our results. These might be the world’s most boring videos, but they are working well for us an...

Your pet policy is an important part of renting out your residential property. In the first two blogs in our series on landlords and pets, we explained why it might be a good idea for you as a landlord to accept pets. We also explained how pet damage can be minimized when it comes to protecting your property. This blog will discuss pet liability and how you can minimize the chances that any damage or injury caused by a pet will not be your financial responsibility.

First, check your landlord insurance policy. As a Florida landlord, any recent policies you have will probably not include any kind of pet liability. If you are fortunate enough to have some coverage for...

PropertyWare Outage

On Wednesday afternoon 12 September, PropertyWare, the software database system Hoffman Realty uses to manage our landlord's rental properties went "off-line". PropertyWare's customer support staff informed us that they are having a system-wide outage affecting all their users in North America. Therefore Hoffman Realty, along with thousands of other property managers (representing millions of rental properties in the United States and Canada) was unable to access their property management data. As of Friday morning 14 September the PropertyWare system was still "off-line". UPDATE: On Saturday and Sunday it seemed to be back online and stable. UPDATE: Performance probl...

In Part I of our blog series on landlords and pets, we discussed some good reasons for why landlords should accept pets when renting their properties out to tenants who have them. Today, we will talk about pet damage and how to minimize the chance that a tenant with pets will cause harm to your property.

Maybe you just put down new carpet, or you have installed gorgeous bamboo floors and you do not want to run the risk of having an animal scratch up the floors or chew on the carpet. Those are understandable and legitimate concerns. You should take comfort in the fact that it is extremely rare for the costs of pet damage to ever exceed the security deposit that a ren...

Your pet policy is an important part of renting out your residential property. In our three-part blog series on pets and landlords, we will explore why pets might be acceptable when you are renting out your property, and what you will need to consider in terms of pet deposits and liability. In this blog, we will discuss the reasons why you should accept pets.

Here is an interesting statistic you might not be aware of: 80 percent of the people searching for a rental home generally have pets. With the soaring number of people needing to share living space with their dogs and cats, you will be seriously limiting your pool of potential tenants if you have a no pet p...

As you learned from the first blog in our series on how to find a residential property manager, using a professional who belongs to the National Association of Residential Property Managers (NARPM) is always a benefit. NARPM members are required to uphold a series of professional standards and ethics that will benefits landlords as well as tenants. We helped you narrow your search to three potential property managers in your area. Here is the next step:

Step Two: Conduct a Background Check

Doing a background check is easy in the age of the Internet. With all of the social networking sites, online review sites and digital references all over the place, you can learn...

Finding the right property manager for your investment is essential. In order to help you choose an outstanding professional to manage your property, we have a three-part series full of tips and ideas that we have tried on our own and found to be successful. Part I deals with standards and professional expertise. Our first step in finding a property manager is this:

Step One: Find a manager who is a member of NARPM.

NARPM stands for the National Association of Residential Property Managers. This is a nonprofit organization that represents and promotes the interests of qualified, experienced and ethical property managers. The organization provides a lot of suppor...

Selecting the right property manager can make all the difference when it comes to the success of your rental property. And while a good property manager can help maximize your investment’s return value, a bad one will make you want to run for the hills. So, what happens when the property manager you choose turns out to be no good?

Well, that is why we at Hoffman Realty in Tampa have put together this three-part blog series to help you determine if your current property manager just isn’t getting the job done. In the last four to five years, we have never seen so many complaints from landlords about their property managers.

We’ve compiled the top three reason landlord...

Owning a rental property is one of the largest assets someone will acquire in their lifetime. Selecting the right property manager to protect your investment is considerable when looking to maximize its return value. But, what happens when the property manager you choose turns out to be no good?

Well, that is why we at Hoffman Realty have put together this three part blog series to help you determine if your current property manager just isn’t getting the job done. In the last four to five years, we have never seen so many complaints from landlords about their property managers.

We’ve compiled the top three reason landlords tell us, they’re unhappy with their prop...

Maybe its a new job in another city that is making you vacate the home you own in the Tampa Bay area? Whatever the reason for moving out of your home, you are likely faced with the decision to either short sale your home or rent it. The reason being that your property is worth a much lower amount than what you owe on your mortgage. Thus, you don’t have the option of doing a regular sale.

Based on our professional expertise and experience with property owners in Tampa, here are the pros and cons of both a short sale and deciding to rent.

Short Sale - Pros and Cons

Pros:

Con...

According to Smart Money, whatever your reason is for moving, it’s important to have a healthy grasp of the financial issues at play when weighing this decision. Here’s what you need to consider when in the position to either sell or rent your Tampa home.

C...

One of Donald Trump’s guiding principles in business is, “To know your market,” and if you know your market, you can price your Tampa rental home accordingly. The most important thing to do before buying a rental property is to determine its fair market rent value.

By using market rent as a guide to determine what the rent will be, you will maximize profits without scaring away potential renters.  If you set rent too high you’re likely to have a vacant unit. On the other hand, if you set rent too low you lose out financially.

So, how do you determine the market rent?

In order to get the maximum rent possible on your property, you have to research current rental rates of compa...

Its tax time and if you are new to Tampa rental management you likely have questions about tax deductions on your Tampa rental property. The tax treatment of your Tampa property while under property management is quite different to your primary residence. The good news is that a lot of your expenses as a landlord can be deducted to offset your rental income. Generally you will be able to deduct the following rental expenses:

Property Management Service Fees:

Your property management expenses such as management fees and leasing fees are deductible.

Mortgage Interest:

If you have a mortgage, the interest you pay each year (that is reported to you on a 1098) is deductible.

Taxes:

Your ...

We often receive enquiries from property owners asking what we charge for property management services in Tampa. This is a legitimate question so we publish our property management rates on our website, but if it is the first or only question we are asked, we usually respond by asking the property owner some questions in return. We will ask them about their property, their situation and their expectations to see if our work quality and work scope are a good match for their needs. It is difficult to discuss price without knowing the property owner's needs and expectations.

A good analogy would be selecting a painting contractor to have the exterior of your property painted. Just like prop...

If you currently rent from Hoffman Realty Tampa Property Management, do you know we offer the you a free service that allows you to pay your rent online? If you are not currently using this service, here are some reasons to sign-up for online rent payment:

You can save money. You don't have to pay gas to drive to our office or pay for postage to mail us a check. You can pay your rent online through your Renters Portal for free.
You receive confirmation of received rent payment. You know we have received your rent when you pay online as your payment shows on your ledger and your receive a confirmation email.
You can pay rent from anywhere. You don't have to be in Tampa FL to pay rent. Pay f...