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Hot Tubs - should they stay or should they go?
2007-02-07 05:32:02
Should hot tubs stay or go with your property??OK, maybe I should be embarrased, but this is me in a Hot Tub and I love it! This entire podcast was taped from the hot tub! :) Click on the picture to see the video.I tell my clients, that if you have a hot tub and you are selling your house you should not leave it with the property...take it with you. There are several reasons why you should take it with you when you sell your home. One reason is: hey, you enjoyed it while you were living in your old home, you'll enjoy it in your new home! If you don't have a place for it in your new home, then look at it this way: you'll get more for it by selling it in the paper or to a friend than you would if you included it in the sale of your home. Secondly, if the buyers of your new home really want the hot tub, then they will write it up in the contract and request that it stays with the home. You can either sell it with your home, or sell it outside of the contract, afterall it is ...
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The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread
2007-02-07 05:32:02
Are we really that wonderful, and if so what makes us so wonderful? This may sound like we?re a little full of ourselves and that certainly isn?t my intention, but are we, as a company, really as wonderful as people claim we are?Paul had a prospective tenant call on Friday and tell him that she was interested in renting one of our properties. She already had seen the property and wanted to turn in her rental application to us on Saturday, but we are closed on Saturday. She did not want to leave her application in the mailbox over the weekend, due to the sensitive personal information required to complete our application, of which we don?t blame her. So Paul told her to call me when she was ready to leave her application in the box and we would go up to the office and pick it up so that it wasn?t left in the box over the weekend.So on Saturday afternoon, I hadn?t heard from her but I had to go into the office. She hadn?t left her application in the box yet, so I got my work done and ...
More About: Great , Read , Bread , Test , Thing

National Association of REALTORS Annual Convention
2007-02-07 05:32:02
Paul, Jessica and Jay attended the Nation al Association of REALTORS annual convention in New Orleans that was held November 9-13, 2006. Almost 20,000 REALTORS from around the world attended this conference and expo. There were so many things going...the General Session had the guest speakers of the former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. It was standing room only, so we didn't get as many pics (or videos) as we had wanted. But the session was still very good. We visited the tradeshow floor and took many pictures of the different exhibitors and such. If you want to find out more about the trip and the things that were seen, e-mail us at: 417Dwellings@gmail.com. Let's just 2007 is going to be an awesome year!
More About: Realtors , Soci , Realtor

That's Hot! Dizmang Associates Real Estate has lau...
2007-02-07 05:32:02
That's Hot!Dizmang Associates Real Estate has launched their new web site! Don't miss it! Go to www.getpaul.com because it's hot & sizzlin'!
More About: Real Estate , Hat , Soci , State

HANG IN THERE
2007-02-07 05:32:02
Almost everyone in Southwest Missouri was effected by the recent ice storm and most are tired of even talking about it. Obviously some were hit harder than others and there are still people trying to recover from the damage, financial hardship, and displacement suffered. The emergency management agencies, police and fire departments, utility companies, road crews, volunteers and neighbors have performed exceptionally and are to be commended for their efforts.Without prolonging this subject any further, I just want to say HANG IN THERE and don't lose heart. We will have the scars on the landscape for a long time but we will all recover sooner or later. If you know a neighbor who needs help, give that neighbor a hand. Maybe you can remove the debris in your lawn and help one or two other households with theirs.If you live in the Sprinfield area and still need assistance of some kind, here are a few of the numbers you might want:The American Red Cross Disaster Services (417) 832-9500 ...
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Sticking Together Like Ice
2007-02-07 05:32:02
A really bad ice storm hit Springfield late Friday night January 12 and we survived (barely) 3 waves of the storm. The roads are fine, just a little wet, but the ice that has accumulated on the trees has caused huge problems. Downed trees and power lines has put this city at a standstill. At one point almost 90% of Springfield was completely without power and/or heat. And there are still over 65,000 residents that are still out of power and are going on Day 5 of no power now.As a property management firm, we not only had our own homes and families to worry about, but we also had approximately 140 other rental homes to take care of. We're not out of the woods yet, but we banded together as a team and we went out in the storms and cut down tree limbs out of power lines and checked on our Tenants. Afterall, that's what our Owners pay us for, right?2007 has certainly started off with a bang for us. First with the major house fire on the 5th of January, and now this major ice problem o...
More About: Together , King , Stick , Like , Tick

Careless Smoking by Tenants Causes Fire
2007-02-07 05:32:02
It's rare that an unfortunate event such as a fire consumes a property.On January 5, 2007 around 4am, it happened to us.Working in the property management business for over 20 years, this is the first fire we've had to deal with.The local tv stations were on the scene and reported the fire very early in the morning. We figured that the first phone call we should make is to the owner of the property before they saw it on the news and wondered why we hadn't yet called them.Our other top priority was to find the 2 Tenants that were living in the property and make sure that they were okay.As we sifted thru the bystanders in awe of the burning building, we sorted out the details of how this happened. The fire had obviously started in the garage and we have now figured out it was because the young college students living in the property had a party where everyone was smoking in the garage. Someone's cigarette started the garage on fire. The sad part in all of this was that the 2 colle...
More About: Care , Smoking , Fire , King , Causes

A MUCH BETTER VALUE WITHOUT SPENDING ONE EXTRA DIME
2007-02-07 05:32:02
Most people, other than surgical specialists, would have a hard time performing a liver transplant. Most of us, with the exception of trained & experienced CPA's, would be at a loss in auditing the accounting books of a major business. Very few brave souls, save the elite of all basketball players, could keep pace with NBA players for an entire season. Relatively speaking, just a very tiny percent of the population could actually perform any of these tasks. Only those with some natural attributes, training, determination, and perserverance make it to the big stage of surgery, financial analysis of mega-companies, and even the National Basketball Association.It is true that a considerable percentage of the population could attempt one or more of the skillful activities mentioned, but that is not the topic on which I want to write. Believe it or not, I am trying to make a point about the unknown value of a Realtor when you buy a house, condo, commercial property, or whatever. I think...
More About: With , Spending , Ending , Better , Much

Opening the "Hiring-A-Sub-Contractor" Can of Worms
2007-02-07 05:32:02
The best way to prevent yourself from getting taken by a sub-contractor is to plan ahead and get it all in writing ahead of time. I'm not talking about just getting the bid of what the sub is going to charge you, but the date that they will complete the project by, and also get all of their personal info so that you can reach them. You'll also need that information to file your taxes at the end of the year...but let's stick to one can of worms at a time! :)See the video podcast here!We had a bad sub-contractor experience this last weekend. We had a Tenant scheduled to move in to one of our properties on December 1st and a couple days prior to her moving in, we realized that the carpet in the property needed to be changed. So we hired a sub-contractor to do the job. And yeah, it's embarassing to admit...but we got took. He didn't finish the job, and we had to put the very unhappy Tenant (who came from out of state with a big truck and lots of family to help unload it in their ne...
More About: Open , Worms , Worm , Opening , Contract

Setting Ground Rules for Hiring Sub-Contractors, Part 2
2007-02-07 05:32:02
Since my last blog post, I've given a lot of thought to the hiring a sub-contractor. I know, I know...like I said in the first post on this subject...I've opened the can of worms. :)Click here to see Part 2 Video Podcast!I've thought about all of the ground rules that it takes in just getting started with hiring a sub-contractor to assist you in some of the maintenance of your rental properties. And I have found that things are much easier for my company if you have all of your forms in place. First you want to start with a "General Information" Form. Get a form filled out by the sub-contractor that has them fill out their name, address, phone number and tax ID or social security number. At the end of the year, you will have to file a 1099 IRS tax form which will require a tax ID or social security number of the sub-contractor. It's good to know what this 1099 IRS form is and be prepared for it by getting the information before you write the first paycheck to the sub so that you...
More About: Ground , Actors , Contract , Ring , Rules