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Preparing Your Lawn For Winter

November 20, 2009 – 12:42 pm
By Denise ZocchiA few small tasks that can help keep your landscape healthy through the dormant season.Although there are some of us who deal with the hassles of lawn care with a 1-800-Landscape number, there are do-it-yourselfers out there. And for them, the hopes that the winter damage won’t be “that bad” can be a few steps closer with a little preparation.Mow your grass one last time before the snowfall comes in. Keeping it short avoids moisture from being trapped and eventually forming infecting conditions that will kill the seeds.This is also a good time to re-seed and fertilize the lawn. Doing so before the hard weather hits gives it an immunity boost, kind of like taking vitamins before flu season.If it happens to be one of those winters that does not provide us with any snowfall or a satisfying amount of rainfall, be sure to sprinkle ...

Join Our New Facebook Fan Page!

November 19, 2009 – 7:51 pm
FB.init("dfbcb53907fe70cbafc9a64c3e7d03d4");RentBits.Com on Facebook

Highest Paid Business Professionals

November 19, 2009 – 12:12 pm
Tracked, a site that makes it very easy to track people, businesses and news online, has a page that tracks the wealthiest business professionals.Below are the top 10 for each category.Highest Compensated Executives (2008)Highest Salaries (2008)Largest Bonuses (2008)

Determine the Walkability of Your Neighborhood

November 19, 2009 – 10:32 am
By Dennis ZocchiA new way to determine whether or not you’ll need a car at your next home!Anyone born and raised near a city knows the advantages of not having to use a car to get around. Walking and using public transportation, if available, are the best methods of getting to where you want to go. You don’t have to worry about parking tickets, parking fees, and best of all finding a spot on the street. Well now, thanks to www.walkscore.com, you can determine the “walkability” of you neighborhood.The website works similar to Google Maps. You type in your address, or the address of a home you are interested in, and a map zooms into the area marking all the nearby businesses and amenities. The marks fall into the following categories: Transit (public transportation) Grocery Stores Restaurants Coffee Shops Bars Movie Theaters Schools Parks Libraries Bookstores Fitness Drug Stores Hardware Stores Clothing and MusicIn addition, the website gives the entered ...

National Rent Continues to Fall

November 18, 2009 – 7:10 pm
Nationally, apartment rental rates are falling. According to the Wall Street Journal, many property owners are offering incentives for residents to stay put.Amid the jobless recovery, some landlords are showering flat-screen TVs, cash, rent cuts and other incentives on tenants to encourage them to renew their apartment leases and thus avoid the expense of filling empty units.Nationally, the demand for apartments is lower than the supply. This is putting downward pressure on the rental rates for the multi-family industry.  The demand for apartments is decreasing because so many people are moving back in with their families, getting room-mates, or trading down to less expensive units.In the third quarter of 2009, the apartment vacancy rate hit a 23-year high at 7.8%. Many national REITs are trying to find new ways to reach the demand that is out there.Over 90% of potential residents search across multiple rental sites before finding their ideal rental. Many REITs are advertising their communities with online ...

RealPage Acquires Propertyware

November 18, 2009 – 11:04 am
While at the NARPM convention in Orlando a few weeks ago, Real Page acquired PropertyWare, a property management solution for single family homes and small apartment communities.“This acquisition will enable managers of single family rentals and smaller apartment communities that are centrally managed, to leverage the infrastructure, controls, financial backing, and integrated services offered by RealPage,” said Steve Winn, CEO of RealPage. Virtually all of the on-demand services offered by RealPage including tenant screening, renters insurance, eProcurement, group purchasing, contact center, and billing will be tightly integrated into the Propertyware platform over the next 6 to 12 months. The current management team will continue to operate Propertyware, with the addition of significant sales and service resources to support the rapid growth both companies are experiencing. RealPage also plans to move the Propertyware data center into its SAS70 and PCI compliant, cloud computing infrastructure in Dallas.Propertyware was founded by SaaS veterans Shekou and Adam ...

Top Cities For Art - The List May Surprise You!

November 18, 2009 – 10:52 am
By Denise ZocchiAs an avid art-lover and museum enthusiast, I was delighted to ‘stumble upon’ a list of the best cities for art in America. The list itself is organized in three categories: large cities, mid-sized cities, and small cities. The top 5 large cities for art came as no surprise. After all, New Yorkis the melting pot of America topping that list as number one and followed by Chicago, Washington DC, San Francisco and Albuquerque.It was the lists of mid-size and small cities that sparked my curiosity. Below I’ve provided you with the top 5 cities names on both lists in hopes that they’ll stir some interest.Mid-Size Cities Buffalo, NY Chattanooga, TN Pittsburgh, PA Scottsdale, AZ New Orleans, LASmall Cities Santa Fe, NM Asheville, NC Sedona, AZ Taos, NM Saugatuck, MIWithout the overwhelming variety of museums and galleries in a city like San Francisco or New York, all that is left are the simple gifts that the city offers. ...

Defend Yourself Against Sick Roommates

November 17, 2009 – 10:19 am
It’s not a hopeless cause, you can stay healthy!Every year flu season rolls around throwing anyone who lives with roommates into a panic. “I’m bound to get it any day now because my roommate has it.” This really isn’t the case if both of you make some effort to protect each other. There are simple ways to keep the sickness away and maintain a germ-free home. All it takes is a little effort and some simple tools you can find at a pharmacy nearby.Things you’ll need: Hand sanitizers (Get familiar with the Purell pump!) Tissues Extra bed sheets Surgical masks Small trash bins AirborneThe first thing to do, even if your roommate just “thinks” they may be getting sick, is to take Airborne. Airborne is a tablet that you drop into a glass of water and it keeps illness away. Originally developed for airborne sicknesses, the vitamins and minerals in it ...

Tenant flash cards: Renters’ rights made fun!

November 16, 2009 – 3:10 pm
After renting five apartments in New York City, Candy realized she was still unfamiliar with her rights. What is my landlord required to repair? How does subletting work? When can my landlord enter my apartment? Her friends and acquaintaces also had problems with slumlords and, even worse, eviction.Thanks to a generous grant from Sappi Ideas That Matter, Candy collaborated with non-profit group Tenants and Neighbors to develop and produce a boxed set of 30 flash cards on tenants' rights. The flash cards translate New York's official Tenants' Rights Guide into a friendly format that covers everything from security deposits and subletting to privacy and pets to help educate renters when navigating their rights.Residents can enjoy good times testing their friends and family on their wily tenant know-how while becoming empowered, active agents in their homes. Thousands of copies will be distributed to Tenants and Neighbors' members and also made available in their online ...

Twitter US Traffic Continues to Fall

November 12, 2009 – 3:39 pm
In September, we wrote that we may continue to see Twitter traffic drop in the US. Most recently, TechCrunch wrote that Twitter US traffic has dropped 8% in October.Google trends also sees a decline in US traffic for Twitter:Expect this trend to continue throughout the rest of the year and flattening out in early 2010.

Top 8 Hawaiian Beaches in Google Street View

November 11, 2009 – 1:03 pm
Google wants to offer street view for every street in the World. They are one step closer by offering street view in Hawaii. Below are the top 8 Hawaiian beaches with Street View:Waikiki Beach - Oahu - The Duke Kahanamoku Statue welcomes you to one of the most popular beaches in the world. Waikiki Beach is host to more than 4 million visitors every year and boasts famous views of Diamond Head (Leahi). Thanks to its small but long-lasting wave break, this is one of the best places in Hawaii to learn how to surf or paddle a canoe. View Larger MapDiamond Head Lookout - Oahu - This overlook, located at the base of Diamond Head (Leahi) crater, is a popular spot for watching windsurfers and surfers enjoying the waves below. Diamond Head, a United States State Monument, is a defining feature of the view known to residents and tourists of Waikiki. View Larger ...

Where to Find Pet-Friendly Rentals

November 11, 2009 – 12:25 pm
While most rental listing websites, rentBits.com included, give the option for pet-friendly listings, they are not exclusively dedicated to pet-friendly rentals and other housing information. Today we are providing a list of pet-expert sources that can facilitate the process of finding a home and moving into it.PeopleWithPets.com Provides pet-friendly apartment listings which can be filtered by state, city, and price. Each listing also details the size and type of animal they allow. This website also gives the option of registering a listing. As a landlord, if you own a building that is pet-friendly, then marketing it as such will help reach another market of consumers. One service that sets this site apart from others is their “Find A Roommate” forum. This provides a common source for finding a “pet-friendly” roommate.Pets911.com Has a database of pet-friendly home and apartment listings. This website works with Apartments.com to filter out the pet-friendly options ...

Rental Deal-breakers: Things I Wish I Looked For Before Signing My Lease

November 10, 2009 – 10:35 am
If heat and hot water are included in the rent, check the apartment for a temperature dial during your walk-through. Although it is always re-assuring to see “heat and hot water included” next to a listing, it can be deceiving. Getting stuck with a heat-controlled apartment happens to many and can make for a miserable winter if you have a stingy landlord. Do not assume that walls are renovated between rental periods. Scuff marks and holes can make an otherwise decent place look like a dump. Check your lease for maintenance qualifications and make sure you don’t come home to a block of Swiss cheese.Take a look around each room and locate the outlets. Look for inconvenient placement, cable connections, and number of outlets per room. Having one outlet in a busy room can be very inconvenient, especially with the number of electronics the average household uses ...

The Top Strangest Celebrity Homes

November 9, 2009 – 11:39 am
Every week we come across some of the strangest real estate news out there. This week, we’ve decided to highlight some of the craziest celebrity homes we’ve encountered.Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch - Los Olivos, CAStrange homes can’t be discussed without first mentioning Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch. Since he first moved in 1988, Neverland Ranch began a transformation that turned the 2800 acre property into a dream world for children. Today the property is best known for the theme park complete with ferris wheel and a zoo. After Michael Jackson lost the property due to financial issues in 2007, the property has become an abandoned mystery. After Michael’s death this past summer, speculation on the property’s future became a hot topic. Hopeful fans have been on the edge of their seats waiting for property owners to turn Neverland into a museum. Only time will what ...

Top 15 Cities for Rental Scams

November 7, 2009 – 5:34 pm
At RentalScams.org, we have been keeping track of the various rental scams within the United States.  Rental scams continue to increase in volume year over year. Below is a Google graph of rental scam interest over time:With that said, we wanted to see the cities that are hit with rental scams.Below are the top 15 cities in the US for the most rental scams.San Diego, CALos Angeles, CAPhoenix, AZSeattle, WASan Francisco, CAWashington, DCNew York, NYAtlanta, GABoston, MAOrlando, FLDenver, COAustin, TXChicago, ILLas Vegas, NVPortland, OR

Zillow Starts Charging for Mortgage Leads

November 6, 2009 – 2:44 pm
Zillow, which launched a mortgage market place for free in 2008, will now be charging lenders on a cost per lead basis. This announcement follows Google's to test comparison ads for verticals like "mortgage".How much will it cost?The market will determine the price for each contact; Zillow will not be setting price. Leads will vary by market and range from  $0-$100.  The price will be shown as part of the loan request, so lenders can use this information to decide which requests to quote. Lenders will also be able to set a maximum price to pay per contact. Mortgage lead generation is a very large market and the recent tax credit extension will only increase demand for mortgages in the near future.

Landlords Decreasing Rent Prices Across the Nation

November 6, 2009 – 10:40 am
Yesterday’s blog concerning renovation negotiations with landlords could not have come at a better time. A few days ago the National Association of Independent Landlords published survey results on landlord’s current behavior with rent prices and their willingness to accommodate tenant’s financial needs. With an overwhelming 69% of independent landlords willing to reduce rent, now is the time to jump into negotiations.Of those landlords willing to negotiate, 61% said they would drop rents up to 5%, and another 29% said they would take off up to 10%; the handful of those remaining said they would consider even higher reductions. These cuts are a reflection of the struggle landlord’s are going through in order to maintain the budgets that keep their business going."Just like everyone else in this recession, landlords are trying hard to pay their mortgage and cover their bills,” points out Tracey Benson, president of The National Association of Independent Landlords. ...

Renting and Renovating, All For The Cost Of Rent

November 5, 2009 – 1:31 pm
Anyone who has been through the rental-search process has seen the worn down apartments, which may have met the desired location and price point, but essentially did not make the cut. The scratched walls, stained floors, and water stains are hard to settle for and therefore the search continues. However, for one San Franciscan tenant, the potential of the apartment inspired a clever proposal that gave him a renovated apartment without the extra costs.NYTimes.com recently published this story detailing renovations made to the San Francisco apartment by the tenant, Grant K. Gibson, in exchange for free rent for two months. With the current economic pressure on property owners (and their budgets) preventing them from paying for the work themselves, the timing could not be better for this type exchange.The key is to look beyond the ugly marks left behind by previous tenants and find the elements of the ...

Rental Scams - What to Look For

November 3, 2009 – 11:30 am
For a while now, we have been doing our best to educate renters, property owners, and all other web-oriented audiences of online rental scams. Although it is a growing dilemma, there are a few simple precautions that can help avoid the problem altogether.The scam begins with an ad plagiarized from a rental site and edited to make the rental rates substantially lower than normal. This attracts consumers based on price alone. Next, the interested party sends in an inquiry (or an application) to the “property owner”.Confirmation letting the renter know they are “chosen” is sent through an email. The email itself gives very little contact information and rather than pressing for a tour of the home or for any sort of non-web communication, it asks the renter to fill out a form with their information and send in a deposit check. It then promises to send ...

Success Rule #4 - FOCUS ON PEOPLE AND SERVICE

November 3, 2009 – 11:28 am
By Dan Daugherty"Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends." - Walt DisneyIt is very difficult to make your customers happy if you don't have happy employees. Derek Kalles of Kalles Properties says, "People are the key to successfully sustaining, growing and developing a company that will create a legacy for many years to come. We are a service-based business with the most important asset not existing on our balance sheet - rather, it is our people."Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos, an online shoe company that was recently acquired by Amazon for approximately $850 million, says that one of the keys to Zappos' success has been creating a culture and business that is "powered by service." Tony says, "we believe that customer service shouldn't be just a department, it should be the entire company."At Rent Marketer, one of our ...

Success Rule #3 - LAUGH AND SMILE, AND DON’T TAKE THINGS PERSONALLY

November 3, 2009 – 11:15 am
By Mike Branam"With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh I should die." - Abraham Lincoln"Laughter gives us distance. It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it and then move on." - Bob NewhartLaughing. Smiling. We know how important these things are in our personal lives, but they are just as important in our professional lives as well. This is not to say that business should be taken lightly, or that a customer issue will magically be resolved with a hearty belly laugh. But taking a moment to reflect on a challenging issue, or laughing at yourself when times are a little tough can help navigate us through difficult waters.While we cannot always control what happens, we can certainly control how we react.PJ Chapman of Chapman Properties and Mike Mumford of Bennett Property Management are two members of ...

Success Rule #2 - SOLVE PROBLEMS

November 2, 2009 – 9:26 pm
By Dan Daugherty“Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them.” - Henry Ford“We are too busy mopping the floor to turn off the faucet.” - UnknownWhen asked, "If you had only one word to describe the day-to-day life of a property manager, what would that word be?", many property managers mentioned the words "frustrated", "hectic," and "chaotic". These words are echoed by many of the most extraordinary people and companies in the world. These frustrations usually turn into the development and implementation of better services and products.At Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin were frustrated with the results from search engines. Their response was to develop a more relevant search engine based on the democracy of the Internet. Virgin Airlines was developed because Richard Branson was frustrated with the service he received from other airlines. At Rent Marketer, we were frustrated with ...

Success Rule #1 - SET GOALS, AND HAVE A VISION

November 2, 2009 – 9:24 pm
As a follow-up to our recent post entitled "Property Management Published Book - The 9 Laws of Success," we wanted to post each law as a post in its entirely. We hope you enjoy it.Success Rule #1 - SET GOALS, AND HAVE A VISIONBy Mike Branam“The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” - Michelangelo"What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals." - Zig ZiglarJim Cathcart, a noted professional speaker, once said, "Most people aim at nothing in life and hit it with amazing accuracy." If we don't specify exactly what we want, we have no reason to complain about what we get or where we find ourselves. I have always been a big advocate of having a ...

Property Management Published Book - The 9 Laws of Success

November 2, 2009 – 4:17 pm
We recently participated in the NARPM convention that was held in Orlando, Fl. Every year, over 400 property managers from all over the US come together to share ideas, meet with vendors and receive credits for classes.  This was Rent Marketer's 4th National NARPM convention. Every year, vendors give away prizes, shirts, pens, etc. This year, we wanted to have a more collaborative giveaway that involved more property managers.One of the core values at Rent Marketer is to "Always Learn and Always Grow." Another value is to "Share Knowledge". Keeping those 2 core values in mind, we had an idea for a project that would allow us to create a medium for a select group of management professionals to share some of their knowledge with others while incorporating these thoughts with a few principles that can help anyone and everyone thrive in their professional and personal lives.What follows is the collective ...

Top 10 Safest Cities to Live

November 1, 2009 – 6:01 pm
The ideal city is one that provides the thriving culture of like New York City, with the safety of suburban neighborhoods like  Greenich, CT.  Cities that meet these qualities do exist and according to a ranking published last week by Forbes.Com, they aren’t that far off the map.Forbes.com safest cities in America determined ranking based on the city’s violent crimes, workplace fatalities, traffic deaths, and natural disaster risk.  These four categories sum up the environmental and public safety concerns of city life.  Below are the highest rating cities: Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, OR-WA Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA Providence-New Bedford-Fall River, RI-MA San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA Cincinnati-Middletown, OH-KY-IN Denver-Aurora, COEach city’s ranking was determined by the sum of their rank in the four individual safety categories.   Minneapolis ranked in the top ten for violent crimes (#9), traffic deaths, and natural disaster risk (#7). Its position as the safest city to live in is number one under workplace ...

Reno Real Estate Market Report

November 1, 2009 – 3:44 pm
According to Zillow, the average value of a home in Reno, Nevada is $195,200. Down 20.3 percent year over year. For the month of Sept, the rentBits rental index shows the average rental rates in Reno to be $873.  Up slightly from the month of August.The demand for homes for rent in Reno has been on the rise as more and more foreclosure hit the market. The for sale market has seen a dramatic decline in for sale prices during the last year.  According to Trulia.com, the media sales price has fallen 21.5% year over year.

Google Gets into the Mortgage Comparison Business

October 29, 2009 – 8:44 pm
Today, Google announced their test release of comparison ads.  Comparison ads lets users compare multiple, relevant offers more easily.Here is how it works. Lets take a look at the keyword 'mortgage'.If the user clicks on the ad, they will be taken to a page with more detailed sponsored results. Once the user finds an offer that matches their needs, they can call the offer or request a quote.The advertisers would only pay if the user calls or requests a quote. This is very similar to Zillow Mortgage but Zillow Mortgage is free for mortgage brokers.Google will most likely release this across many verticals where consumers want to compare various services.

Six Things Property Management Software Makes Easy

October 27, 2009 – 10:48 am
We ran across a blog resource called Software Advice. One article in particular stood out, "Six Things Property Management Software Makes Easy." In it, Chris Thorman narrows down 6 challenges property managers face with their existing business and offers some software solutions to help solve these problems. Managing Leads to New Tenants Connecting with Tenants Automation of Regular Tasks Advertising with Popular Websites Building a Website that Integrates with Your Software Going GreenOne challenge that is close to our hearts touches on point number 4. The challenge of rental property distribution to the hundreds of rental sites that exist on the web. A recent Apartments.com study found that over 90% of the renters search across multiple websites before finding their ideal rental. At Rent Marketer and Apartment Marketer, our goal is to solve this difficult challenge by providing one place for property managers to reach their audience. No matter what site they are on.Software and technology will continue to improve the efficiencies of ...

Real Estate Survey - Have you Received New Business from Twitter

October 21, 2009 – 12:23 pm
Our goal is to get 500 respondents to answer this survey. Please send to all of the real estate professionals you know: Loading...

TurnSocial Helps to Make Apartment Websites More Social Friendly

October 15, 2009 – 9:39 am
TurnSocial aims to aggregate social content from across the web and give companies and apartment communities a simple solution to engage visitors and build a better 'social' community. The total cost is Free.TurnSocial is working with Apartment Websites like Urbane Apartments to make the social experience better. Take a look at the social bar at the bottom of Urbane's website.TurnSocial currently works with various applications including: Facebook Fan Page RentWiki Yelp Twitter Search Twitter Feed MySpace YouTube Flickr Outside.in Walkscore