Prune Your Budget with Smart Landscaping

Photo Credit: Patrick StandishQuality landscaping can have a substantial effect on the value and desirability of your units, but maintaining lawn and garden can quickly become a big ticket budget item. By making smart choices and keeping labor, water and fuel expenses low, it’s possible to keep costs in check while keeping your units looking their best. Here are some expert tips to keep your property looking its best without breaking the bank:   

• Choose plants native to your location. Since they are suited to the locale, they will take less maintenance and effort in planting. This is also a factor in sustainable landscaping, which can add even more value in the right market.

• Choose slow-growing species of shrubs and bushes to reduce pruning and shaping. Planting them a little bit farther away from a walkway or driveway – if they don’t encroach, an unruly shrub won’t be as noticeable.

• When shopping around for landscapers, try to hire in the winter. Business is slow and they will be more inclined to bargain for discounted rates just to secure a contract.

• Trees can increase aesthetic appeal and value of condo units, while saving energy by shading in the summer and shielding from snow in the winter.

• If you’re doing a substantial landscaping overhaul, look into accreditation for sustainable landscaping. This can add huge value to your property in the green market, and many sustainable solutions will pay for themselves over time with reduced water and fertilizer costs.

• For flower beds, buy low maintenance perennials and bulbs that propagate on their own like tiger lilies, hyacinths and crocus for low upkeep color every spring.

• Diversifying gardens and flower patches can make them more difficult to keep up with, since each species will have different water and fertilizer needs. Keep things simple with fewer species.

• Look into drought-resistant plants to reduce your water bills. Succulents like Angelina and Sempervivum have become incredibly popular lately and require very little water and maintenance and grow well in many climates.

• Consider upgrading to moisture sensing sprinkler systems -- they will be able to tell when it’s raining or when the soil is already saturated and doesn’t need additional water, reducing water usage. They are more expensive, but if you live in a relatively moist climate, they will pay for themselves in water savings over time. 

Siding Replacement and Repair

Photo Credit: Donna & AndrewSpring is in full bloom in Boston, which means it’s exterior maintenance season for property owners and managers. Siding repair and replacement is a perennial issue, especially with older buildings; a balancing act between short term savings and long term risk. Understanding your options will help you make smart decisions and manage the potential for loss in the long term.

Band-Aids or Surgery?

Making spot repairs to siding is a normal part of building maintenance, but at what point is it smarter to replace the entire system than to keep making more and more costly repairs? It turns out that the magic number is about 10%. Once 10% of the siding needs to be replaced, it’s time to consider surgery rather than the bandaid approach. Spot repairs may seem cheap in the short run, but often they don’t address the problems that are causing real damage. Once siding starts to go downhill, you’ll have to pour more money into it year after year until eventually the whole system gets replaced. If you are unsure, have an engineer or experienced contractor perform a cost analysis for spot repairs versus full replacement before making a decision.

The Right Stuff

Selecting the right replacement siding often involves balancing a number of factors; appearance, neighborhood and association regulations, cost and maintenance.

Natural clapboard siding is the most traditional, and also one of the most expensive, but it provides an unmatched aesthetic appeal and, when high quality cedar is used, has the potential to outlast even synthetic alternatives. With wood siding it’s worth it to spring for the good stuff – high quality wood Western Red Cedar with a clear vertical grain, installed properly. It’s not cheap but it will save you from high maintenance costs down the road and look amazing in the meantime.

Vinyl siding is undoubtedly the leader in long term value, with extremely low maintenance, installation costs and a 50-year life cycle. Vinyl tends to get a bad name as far as appearance is concerned, but the technology has come very far in recent years and is becoming more and more indistinguishable from traditional alternatives. Vinyl may last a long time, but it will start to show its age through fading and cracking, which can be combated by spot repairs and painting – just keep in mind that 10% tipping point.

Fiber Cement is a relative newcomer to the siding market – a composite formed from cement and natural fibers, it can very closely mimic the appearance of natural wood siding, while costing significantly less to install and maintain. In addition, fiber cement siding is durable, fire resistant and it is not susceptible to termites or rot. Unfortunately, fiber cement does not behave well in moist climates due to its porosity and tendency to absorb water causing leaks, mold and other problems. Consult with an engineer or experienced contractor before deciding on fiber cement siding.

The Right People

Whether making periodic repairs or starting fresh with a full replacement, take the time to select a knowledgeable contractor with a well-trained team; one that is familiar with the material you’ve selected and your specific application. All the money you spend on quality siding will just be wasted without quality installation and repairs. Check references and make sure that the balancing of cost and quality match up with your expectations.   

Preventing Ice Dams

Image credit: State Farm via Flickr A decorative chain of icicle lights might look nice during the holidays, but a gutter-bulging, roof-destroying mass of real icicles dangling precariously from the eaves can spell disaster.

Ice dams are formed when snow at the top of a roof melts and water runs down to the edge of the roof, freezing into a thick strip of ice. This forms a dam at the edge of the roof where water from melting snow pools, eventually leaking into the building through the roof, causing thousands of dollars of damage.

Ice dams are caused primarily by heat loss from living spaces into the attic, which increases the temperature on the roof and causes snow to melt. It seems counter intuitive, but the roof is meant to remain at the ambient outdoor temperature to prevent excessive snow melting.

The way to combat ice dam formation is to insulate and ventilate the attic and seal the roof. Create an insulated barrier between living space and the attic and fill in heat-loss gaps from recessed lighting and vents. Installing soffit-to-ridge vents will keep your roof cool by pulling air from outside and forcing it up along the roof to the ridge vent.

Finally, sealing your roof with self-healing rubber sheets beneath the shingles, or installing sheet metal flashing where water pools along the gutters, will provide an extra layer of protection against water leakage. Avoid Band-Aid approaches like scraping ice and snow away manually or using calcium chloride to melt ice on the roof – these will cause damage in the long run.  

5 Essential Tips for Photographing Your Property

With a little time and effort, you can have high quality property photos without calling in a professional. Photo credit: Evil Erin via Flickr
Prepare the Environment

                While a photograph may not allow for strict scrutiny the way a home showing will, it is still wise to get the property looking its best. Pretend you’re preparing for a party – tidy rooms, arrange furniture, and do a little decorating. Check out some interior design magazines and consider the impression you want to create in different spaces. A cozy living room might have a lit fireplace and plush furniture bedecked with throw pillows; while a kitchen with gleaming fixtures, appliances and counters will evoke efficiency and ease of maintenance. Try and avoid distractions, especially moving ones like ceiling fans, pets and reflections in the background. And don’t forget about outdoor space. Photograph your property during the more picturesque months and try to highlight features such as views, landscaping and useable space. 

Lighting

                Photography literally translates to writing with light -- the more light you have, the better capacity you have to capture the image. Before you start your photo shoot, go around and turn on every light you can. If you’re photographing a naturally dark space, invest in some clamp lights to illuminate the area and use a tripod to prevent blurriness. A dark, grainy photograph is sometimes worse than no photo at all. Quality of light is also important. Avoid using the flash unless absolutely necessary. It will eliminate mid-tones, destroying your carefully constructed ambience and making your space look small. Similarly, harsh lamps or fluorescent lights should be avoided. Working with natural light can also create a strong impression, but takes some skill to capture effectively. Consider doing some research on different photography techniques before attempting this artistic option.

The Camera

                Thanks to the availability of high-quality digital cameras, more and more consumers are able to take excellent photos without having to shell out for professional quality equipment. Many point-and-shoot models will be able to do a pretty good job in “Auto” mode (with the flash off, of course). Do not, however, try to use a smart-phone. Phone cameras may have come a long way in recent years and boast high mega-pixels, but they tend to have poor lenses and light sensors. If you’ve got some photography skills, find a point-and-shoot camera with a manual option so you can set aperture and shutter speed. Beyond that you’re in DSLR territory, better left to the professionals unless you’ve got an active interest in amateur photography.

Composition

                We already mentioned setting the scene, now you’ll have to frame your shot to best capture a space. Try different angles, high and low, and shoot from different parts of the room. Thanks to instant-review on digital cameras you’ll be able to see what’s working and what’s not. Keep in mind, sometimes the best looking shots don’t necessarily communicate the most information; for instance, a shot that shows an entire room full of furniture might look busy, while a close-up that shows a specific detail might lack context.

Digital Touch-up

                In the age of digital photography, this has become just as much an art form as capturing the original image. Investing in Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom are certainly options, but bringing out the big guns isn’t always necessary. They may be powerful industry standards, but they are also expensive and take a lot of effort to learn, while most photos can be improved dramatically with a simple crop and some adjustments to brightness, contrast and colors. There are many free photo editing programs available that are designed for usability and geared towards non-professionals. 

Credit Reports 101: Red Flags and Red Herrings

Three credit bureaus, three numbers – but how reliable are they? Reading between the lines on a credit score can be invaluable in tenant screening. Photocredit: Trinitycreditservices via Flickr

Three credit bureaus, three numbers – but how reliable are they? Reading between the lines on a credit score can be invaluable in tenant screening. Photocredit: Trinitycreditservices via Flickr

When screening new tenants for rentals, running a credit check is one of the most useful tools at a property manager’s disposal for managing risk. But a score is more than just a number – to the right eyes it’s a roadmap of an applicant’s patterns and financial habits. Reading between the lines can provide extra insight on what to expect from a tenant.

Soft vs. Hard inquiry:

There are two different kinds of credit checks that you can run on a potential tenant. Hard inquiries are used by lenders and credit issuers when making a lending decision and will have a negative effect on the subject’s credit score. A soft inquiry gives you most of the same information, but does not affect credit score. So why do banks and other lenders use hard inquiries? By lowering the credit score for a period of 12 months, multiple hard inquiries discourage people from taking out too many loans or lines of credit at once – a market practice unrelated to renting property. Consider the impact you may have on an applicant’s credit score before running a hard inquiry

The Numbers

When you pull a credit score from the three national credit bureaus, Experian, Transunion or Equifax, you will get a report containing a number somewhere between 300 and 850. This number is determined by the FICO scoring system, which weights payment history (35%), amounts owed (30%), length of credit history (15%), new credit lines (10%) and types of credit used (10%) in order to determine the probability of default. The lower the score, the more likely a tenant is to default on a loan – useful info to have if he or she is going to end up owing you money at any point. 700 and above is considered the safest bet, as there is only a 2% chance of a default. But the drop-off is pretty steep – a score of less than 600 has a 43% chance of defaulting.

Reading between the Lines
In addition to that all-important number you’ll be given access to information on loans, credit history, missed payments, bankruptcies and more. A history of late payments, despite a good credit score, probably means you won’t see many rent checks on time. A long line of maxed-out cards means that the applicant likes to rack up bills and then hop from card to card – high risk of bankruptcy in the future when it all comes crashing down. Speaking of which, pending bankruptcies listed on the report are also worth avoiding. Lastly, outstanding tax liens should be avoided for two reasons; a history of unpaid taxes probably doesn’t bode well for collecting rent, and in the event of bankruptcy the government gets dibs on assets before you do.

Exceptions

In life, as in finance, nobody is perfect, and a seemingly black-and-white metric like a credit score can sometimes ignore factors worth taking into account.  When outlining requirements to potential tenants, you may opt to take credit scores below a certain amount on a case-by-case basis, in compliance with Fair Housing guidelines.

An applicant who has a past bankruptcy, but has, through hard work and diligence brought his or her credit score back up to a respectable level may make an excellent tenant. Similarly, an applicant with a short or non-existent credit history may have an artificially low credit score due to the weighted factors in the FICO system. A rise in cash-only businesses and growing dissatisfaction with the credit system may account for more and more of this in the future. Remain cautious, but consider investigating other screening options with this kind of applicant.

Then of course, there’s always accounting for bad luck, which sometimes has little correlation to fiscal responsibility. With unexpected medical bills responsible for 60% of all bankruptcies in America, consider adding to your karmic account balance and overlooking an applicant’s late hospital payments or outstanding balances. Similarly, an otherwise-good score marred by a recent foreclosure may be worth ignoring if combined with stable work history, good references and so on. Given the current housing market, it’s always a possibility, despite even the most diligent risk management.