The Beginning of Fountain Heights

Fountain Heights is an historic neighborhood located in Birmingham, Alabama.  Separated by Enon Ridge and Evergreen neighborhoods by I-65 and 17th Avenue on the north; from the Central City neighborhood to the east by 19th St. N.; from the Five Points South neighborhood by the Railroad Reservation; and from the Smithfield neighborhood to the west by I-65, Fountain Heights also includes the former area of "Little Korea" or "Newmongo" north of 8th Ave and the NW section of downtown Birmingham which includes the Civil Rights District surrounding the Kelly Ingram Park.

The beginnings of Fountain Heights can be traced to George C. Kelley.  Mr. Kelley was born in Wilmington, North Carolina on July 30, 1847.  By 1881, he had become a resident of Birmingham, Alabama.  He built a building devoted to the mercantile trade on Second Avenue, where he established a wholesale and retail hardware business that extended throughout the South. In 1882, he purchased ten acres in the Fountain Heights area and built a beautiful residence there.

Assistant Professor Pamela King of UAB has performed extensive research into the homes at Fountain Heights and tells of her project in the film below.

The abandoned homes in Fountain Heights are some of the oldest in Birmingham. The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Assistant Professor Pamela King has surveyed its historic buildings. She says the neighborhood “has some histories that are absolutely unique in the city, so when it’s gone, it’s gone.”

According to King, it began in the 1880s as a Jewish community. Jews eventually migrated out, and by the 1940s, it was a working-class white neighborhood. Middle-class blacks began to move into the area, crossing over from Smithfield. 

“I think of it as the frontline of Birmingham’s desegregation,” says King. “And there’s a huge wave of African-Americans who move in right that year. I interviewed some and … by 1969, 1970, according to Birmingham Census and Records, it’s 100 percent Black.”

Around this time, construction began for Interstate 65. It cut directly through Fountain Heights and the neighboring community of Enon Ridge.

By the 1970s, Fountain Heights was surrounded by interstate on three sides and property values declined. Middle- and upper-income black families began to leave the area. John Colón, Birmingham’s community development director, says these outward migration patterns occurred throughout inner-city Birmingham.  “We’ve lost a third of our population essentially over the past 50, 60 years,” he says. “And as folks left the city, they left sort of a surplus of housing.”

In communities like Fountain Heights, residents look forward to change. But with each vacant home that’s demolished, they risk losing touch with the very history that led to the problem.

Early 1900's Street Car that ran between 

Fountain Heights and Avondale

In the early 1900s the streetcar carried passengers from Fountain Heights to Avondale and back.

The early 1900s also saw the opening of the weather station for Birmingham that remained in Fountain Heights for over 40 years.

One of Fountain Heights biggest claims to fame was the fact that it had a weather station for Birmingham and the weatherman, E. C. Horton even broadcast from there.   Horton was marooned in his weather observatory at Fountain Heights in a disastrous sleet storm on February 5, 1923, without telephone communication with the outside world. He made his readings by candlelight while the city of Birmingham awoke under a solid sheet of ice. The whole city was without electricity and was forced to return to kerosene lamp and old-fashioned candles. Magnificent oaks and tall pines went down as if hit by a cyclone according to The Birmingham News.

Henry F. DeBardeleben lived in Fountain Heights

Henry F. DeBardeleben, the founder of Bessemer, had his home in Fountain Heights. This mansion was later the start of St. Vincent’s Health System. The first temporary location was established in DeBardenleben's home in 1898 by the Sisters of Charity Hospital Association. “Groundbreaking for the facility shown in this photograph took place in March 1899, and this permanent location opened on Thanksgiving Day 1900. Known as Mount Saint Vincent, the hospital was the first in Birmingham to have x-ray equipment installed".

A Jewish Settlement was established in Fountain Heights

A Jewish settlement extended from near 13th Ave and then to the West.  “Hidden in plain sight", the Knesseth Israel/Beth-El Cemetery, the oldest Jewish cemetery in the city, is situated at the top of Enon Ridge in the Fountain Heights neighborhood of north Birmingham. Modest wooden houses built during the 1930s line the cemetery on two sides.  Center Street runs through the middle, with Knesseth Israel on one side and Beth-El Cemetery on the other. A strip of woods screens the peaceful grounds from the sounds of cars and trucks roaring by on I-59, constructed during the late 1960s as part of Eisenhower’s urban renewal plan. 

Fox 6 WBRC actually began in Fountain Heights

WBRC station actually began broadcasting from Fountain Heights as a radio station in the late 1920s.  WBRC AM 950 operated with a power of 10 watts. The transmitter facilities and studios were in the home of J.C. Bell in Fountain Heights, and WBRC-AM had a broadcast day of only four hours.  WBRC actually stands for Bell Radio Corporation. 

One of Birmingham’s historic fire stations, No. 11, was built in 1910 in a commercial style, in contrast to later suburban stations. The garage door sat on the left side of the building next to a central entrance door. A brick belt over the office portion of the building and an awning over the doors are the only decorative elements in the building.

There are many more stories connected to the Fountain Heights Community and it is sad to see its deterioration. I know progress is important, and we must have improvements on our Interstate system, but Birmingham has lost so much of its history that makes it a unique city. The destruction and loss of the Birmingham Terminal Station is and will forever be a disappointment felt by many.

Terminal Station in 1910

Jemison magazine of June 1910 volume 1, No. 2 stated that the “Terminal Station cost $2,000,000 and had a wonderful effect on property values on Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Avenues, East of Twentieth Street.” Can you imagine what it would cost to replace such a property today?  Unfortunately, the Terminal Station has long been demolished in the name of "modernization".   Imagine how wonderful it would be if we still had the terminal in conjunction with Railroad Park.

Old Homes Abandoned and New Homes Built

Photo on the left courtesy of the Birmingham Department of Archives. Photo on the right courtesy of Mary Scott Hodgin, Health & Science Report for WBHM

H. Clanton Miller house located at 1110 Fountain Ave. cica 1910

Not all of the houses in the Fountain Heights neighborhood is abandoned and/or neglected.  There are many well-maintained homes in the area, as well as, new builds.

Over the last several years, there has been a renewed interest in the Fountain Heights neighborhood with many new builds that mimic the bungalows and Four Squares that were original to that area.

Photo taken from the following article:  https://birminghamview.com/online/2008/01/22/new-fountain-heights-homes-signal-revitalization/

As is true of any long neglected and overlooked neighborhood, Fountain Heights will rebound into a thriving community only with the help of progressive investors.  With its close proximity to downtown and all the amenities and businesses that the downtown has to offer coupled with the easy access to interstates and major highways, the Fountain Heights neighborhood has a lot to offer.

12 Improvements that Could Devalue Your Property

A lot of things factor into how much your property is worth.  Things such as the location, square footage, school district and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms.

As a homeowner or investor, your job is to consider both what you can do to improve your home's value, as well as what you may be doing to decrease the value and desirability of your property.

One of the main things to remember while trying to boost the value of your house is that people have a wide variety of tastes, wants, and desires.  These vary greatly both geographically and demographically.  A house with the ability to suit the largest group of people will sell and/or rent quickly.  The more people who find a house attractive when it hits the market, the better.

Let's take a look at 16 improvements that many people make to their properties that can actually devalue their house.  These improvements can, and very often do, cause an otherwise desirable property to sit on the market far longer than it should and sometimes even lower the final price by thousands.

1.  Over the Top and/or 

Overly Personalized Lighting Fixtures

Bit over the top unless you're trying to sell or rent a Georgian Mansion

This is a really cool set of light fixtures.  However, I don't think I'd want to live with them and 

I'd bet most people wouldn't want to live with them either.

Nice lighting can actually help sell or rent houses.  However over personalizing anything will immediately cut your market by half or more.  If you're an investor or landlord, save the personalized items for your personal home.  If you're a homeowner looking to sell, it would behoove you to remove all personalized features whenever possible and replace with more "crowd friendly" features.  Remember, just because you LOVE it, doesn't mean that everyone will.

2.  Over the Top and/or 

Overly Personalized Tile

Example of an extravagant tile design that is very taste specific

Another example of taste specific tile

Just like lighting fixtures, it's best to remember that taste vary and what you think is stunning beyond belief, someone else might find garish beyond belief.  It should also be noted that while light fixtures are relatively easy and inexpensive to have removed, tiles are not.  Potential buyers will remember that when it comes time to make an offer.

3.  Too Much Wallpaper or too Taste Specific Wallpaper

While this wallpaper is unique, would you really want to live with it?

I'm sure the homeowners thought this was a great idea, but will potential buyers agree?

Wallpaper is making a strong comeback.  I personally think it's great.  I love the way wallpaper allows me to add textures, colors, and design to my walls and sometimes even ceilings.  However, not everyone loves wallpaper and no one loves to remove it, potentially repair wall damage and then paint.  As a side note, border wallpaper makes a room feel smaller and shorter than it really is, so I don't suggest ever using it anywhere.  People walk into a wallpapered room and the first thing they think is, "how much money and time is it going to cost to get this off the walls?" and "I wonder what's behind that wallpaper?  Did they put it up to hide issues with the sheetrock and if so, what's that going to cost me?" 

4.  Textured walls and Ceilings

The two pictures above show textured ceilings

The two pictures above show textured walls

Textured walls and ceilings were all the rage for decades.  Popcorn ceilings or the swirly designed ceilings can still be found in many many homes even today as can textured walls.  Putting a texture on the ceilings and walls was an efficient and cheap way to hide any imperfections and the practice also grew in popularity as a design feature.  These days people like smooth ceilings and walls so when a potential buyer walks into a home with textured walls and ceilings, they tend to hit the nearest exit.  Not only can removing the texture (and then repairing the ceilings/walls) be expensive but it's one of the messiest jobs in all of homeowner land.  If you have wall and/or ceiling damage, it's cheaper, in the long run, to repair it rather than try to hide it behind texture.

5.  Carpeting Everywhere

How would you like to live with the carpeting in these two houses?  

I don't know anyone who would love either of these.

Above are examples of neutral carpeting that isn't beige, brown or cream

While carpeting is another design element that is making a strong comeback after years of being the first thing new homeowners ripped out, it's still not popular enough with the majority of people to warrant installing it wall to wall in every room.  If your time and/or budget won't allow for the installation of new hardwoods or neutral tile throughout your home and you simply must install carpeting, keep it neutral....not white neutral...but a neutral that won't show dirt easily and will blend with many interior color choices.  If you go with carpeting, don't skimp on the padding.  No matter how expensive your carpeting is, if it feels "thin" when you walk on it, it will automatically feel cheap.

6.  Bright and Bold Paint Choices - inside or out

Nothing changes the appearance of a room or house quicker and more dramatically, then the addition of paint.  While paint can definitely be your best friend, making a bad paint color choice will be your very worst enemy and can cost you thousands of dollars in resale or can make potential tenants run screaming for the hills!  So while painting is probably the cheapest way to refresh, update and improve the appearance of any property, the wrong paint color(s) can wind up costing you more time and money than almost anything else.

If you must paint the exterior or the interior of your property and you like bold colors, try to limit those colors to the hues that are less difficult (and expensive) to cover.  Anything in the families of red, pink, purple, blacks or deep blues and greens will take so much primer to just reach a coverable state that potential buyers will only see dollars and time flying out the window.  If your property is a rental and you paint these outrageous colors, you can expect very few applications.

Depending on the style and age of the home there are charcoal grays, slate blues, forest greens that will make the exterior of your home feel updated while still maintaining the integrity of the period in which the home was built without feeling garish...and will still give you that pop of color that will satisfy your desire and set you apart from the rest of the houses on your block.  Inside, it's always best to go with muted tones.  Sage, gray, cream, etc.  Another great way to satisfy the tastes of those looking to purchase or rent your property would be to paint it white and give a reasonable allowance to the buyer (or renter - to be used on the interior only).  This allowance would be used to paint it the color of their choice.  If this is a renter situation, their color choices should be limited to a set of color swatches that you have pre-approved.

7.  Over-Improving the Kitchen or Bathroom

Everyone thinks that a great kitchen or bathroom can overcome any obstacle when it comes to selling or renting their property.  Everyone would be wrong.  While an updated attractive kitchen and/or bathroom goes a long long way, it is not the end all be all when it comes to a potential buyer or renters decision. 

As a matter of fact, over improving a kitchen or bathroom can actually cost you money.  Taste, trends, fads come and go.  If you install a kitchen or bathroom that was designed on your own personal taste the chances are the next folks are going to rip it all out and start from scratch so they can have the kitchen or bathroom of their dreams - not yours.  You should also realize that when you improve a kitchen or bathroom that is a lot nicer than the rest of the house, you have just accentuated the fact that the rest of the house needs massive work.  The kitchen and/or bathroom immediately feels out of place with the rest of the house.

According to Zillow, you should try to never spend more than 10 to 15% of the value of the home on the kitchen and the same applies to the master bath.  In 2015, Remodeling.hw.net estimated that the average kitchen renovation costs approximately $56,768 with a return of only $38,485 which works out roughly to a 53.9% return on investment.

Be aware that the opposite also applies.  If you replace flooring, paint and dress up the rest of the property but don't fully address the kitchen and bathrooms, you have just lost money.  Buyers understand that the most expensive and timely renovations in a property are always the kitchen and bathrooms and when they see that you have left those up to them, they will move on down the road unless you are willing to shave thousands of dollars off the price....and maybe not even then.

8.  Permanently Converting or Removing a Bedroom

Permanently converting a bedroom into anything else, is never a good idea and could devalue your property by as much as 10%.  That means converting it to a dressing room/closet, TV/Media room or home office.  That number is also true whenever you take a bedroom in order to make the master larger or to enlarge bathroom/master closet space.  If you must use a spare bedroom as a home office, TV room, playroom for the kids or even a home gym, make sure nothing in there is permanently installed so if you decide to put your house on the market down the road, everything can be removed and the room staged for its original purpose.

Combining bedrooms to make a larger bedroom might sound like a great idea at the time but according to Brian Davis, real estate investor & Co-Founder of the renting resource SparkRental.com, this is a very bad move if you don't plan on staying in that house forever.  He states, "Even small bedrooms add value to homes, as most families want children to have their own rooms but don't mind if they're on the small side."  He goes on to say, "In my experience, each bedroom can add about 15% to the overall value of a home."

9.  Sunrooms

A sunroom can be a great place to enjoy the outdoors away from the elements, but adding a sunroom is one of the worst home renovations when it comes to return on investment.  The only exception is if you go the extra, and very expensive, route of adding HVAC and highly insulated windows which in effect turns the sunroom into another interior living space. 

You should also be aware that if the sunroom wasn't properly permitted and built to code, you can be forced to tear it down before you can sell it.

Another thing to consider before deciding to add a sunroom is available outdoor space.  If your outdoor living space is already limited and you add a sunroom, you have effectively erased your outdoor area.

10.  Built-In Electronics

Home theaters are great for movie or sports fans but built-in electronics take up space in an otherwise usable room and could be very offputting to potential buyers.  As with all home renovations, personalization can deal to a decrease in home value and built-in technology that can quickly become outdated is no exception.

11. Swimming Pools and Hottubs

Unless you're somewhere that's hot at least 6 months out of the year, pools are generally more trouble than they're worth.  Research has shown that only about 50% of the population really want them so you've just narrowed your buying market by half.

When you add the cost to build a pool, the added insurance cost, fencing and maintenance expenses, swimming pools add very little potential value to your property.

Hot tubs, just like swimming pools usually aren't worth the investment.  Potential homebuyers with children might consider the pool and hot tub both as safety hazards.  Most homeowners don't want a hot tub and they must consider the costs of removing the hot tub and then repairing the damaged lawn area or deck area where it sat when they consider their offer on your property.

12.  Garage Conversions

If you're a fitness buff, if your children need a dedicated playroom or if a relative has moved in with you and you need more space, converting your garage into space for those needs may seem like a good thing.  However, many potential buyers may not agree.  Recently MarketWatch did a survey of 7,500 people on this very topic and a whopping 74% said that having a garage is extremely or very important to them.

As in the bedroom, conversion spoke of earlier, if you can convert the garage into whatever space you need without making permanent alterations, then you should be fine.  Otherwise, use the garage as a garage.

10 Mistakes Landlords make that can cost them tenants and cash

Everybody makes mistakes from time to time in their lives.....even landlords.  There's no shame to it.  However, a landlord can make fewer and less costly mistakes if he/she is careful. 

Let's look at 10 mistakes that landlords should learn to avoid at all costs.

1.

Incomplete or inadequate tenant screening

The tenant you place in your home will either make you a happy, profitable landlord, or a stressed, frantic landlord. Everyone’s perfect tenant usually has three of the same qualities. They pay rent on time, they take care of the property, and they follow the terms of the lease. You also want a tenant who is willing to stay in the property for a long time and is able to communicate any questions, maintenance problems, or concerns in a timely manner.

Many landlords glance at an application and maybe run a credit check before approving a tenant for their property. You have to dig a little deeper than that if you want to be sure you’re getting a great tenant.

If you fail to do a thorough tenant screening, you could end up with a tenant who has prior evictions, a history of damaging rental homes, or a problem keeping jobs. It takes time to screen tenants, especially if you’re a landlord doing it yourself. But, not screening tenants is one of the worst mistakes you can make.

The elements of a thorough tenant screening include a few important things:

• Credit history. Ignore the credit score and focus on whether the prospective tenant pays utility bills and meets other financial obligations. Make sure you don’t see any outstanding debts to previous landlords or management companies.
• Criminal history. Recent felonies or a history of violent behavior is problematic. Check everything from the terrorist watch list to the sexual predator database.
• Employment and income. You want a tenant who earns at least three times the amount of rent. Talk to employers and ask for pay stubs.
• Landlord references. Ask previous and current landlords about the tenant and whether they would be willing to rent to that person again.
• If your prospective tenant is a parent whose child or children don't live with them full time, are they current with their child support?  If their paycheck is garnished, where will your rent come from?
• Do they like to party?  Check their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.  

2.

Failing to perform a thorough Move-in 

and Move-Out Inspection

Before your tenant moves in, you need to conduct a move-in inspection. This is where you go through the property, room by room and closet by closet, and you document its condition.  This is not only an important step in making sure the property is ready to rent but it also gives you the opportunity to demonstrate what the property looked like when you handed over the keys.

Make detailed notes and take a lot of pictures. No detail is too small. Photograph the condition of paint and appliances. Take pictures of floors, windows, ceilings – everything. At the end of the lease term, you’ll also conduct a move-out inspection. This will allow you to compare the move-in condition to the move-out condition.  

This is important because if there’s damage that you want to charge the security deposit for, you’ll have to prove that the damage wasn’t there before your tenant moved in. Judges aren’t going to take your word for it. If you withhold $200 from a security deposit to fix a wall that has a gaping hole in it, you’ll need to show a picture of that wall without the hole before your tenant moved in, and a picture of the same wall with the hole when your tenant moved out.

It’s a mistake not to do this because you’ll end up spending money on repairs that should have been the tenant’s responsibility.

3.

Lack of Legal Knowledge

Unless you’re a lawyer, you probably don’t spend a lot of time keeping up with legal changes and regulatory requirements. But, if you’re a landlord renting out property, there are a few things you need to be aware of, otherwise, you could find yourself embroiled in a lawsuit.

There are federal laws such as the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act which impact how you rent out your property and to whom. Not following these laws can cost you thousands of dollars.

It’s easy to make an unintentional fair housing mistake. When landlords advertise their properties and choose tenants, they often don’t think about how their words, questions, and decisions can look to federal agencies such as the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Landlords often make the mistake of not screening all applicants consistently. You should have a written set of procedures so you can show your process of choosing a tenant to anyone who asks. Establish a list of criteria and hand that out to every applicant so that your requirements are in writing and non-negotiable.

Service animals and emotional support animals are not pets. You cannot deny someone with a documented service animal because you have a no-pet policy. This will get you in a lot of legal trouble. You cannot allow a documented emotional support animal and then charge a pet deposit or extra pet rent. It’s a violation of federal law.  However, the tenant must have documentation from the appropriate source that clearly states the animal is a required service or emotional support animal.  This documentation should become a permanent part of the tenant's file.  In other words, if you don’t know the laws, you could make some very serious and costly mistakes.

There are also state requirements to be considered in addition to Federal requirements.  Further, some municipalities also have their own set of additional requirements of which you should be familiar. 

You need to know as much about the landlord and tenant laws as you can in order to avoid disputes, lawsuits, and claims. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you don’t have to worry about these things.

4.

Inconsistent Rent Collections

Tenants who don’t pay rent on time are a huge problem.  As a landlord, you probably want to be a nice person. That’s admirable. However, this is a business, not a social networking opportunity.  In other words, you're not doing this in order to make new friends.  Your rental property (or rental properties) need to be viewed as a business because that’s what it is. It’s an investment that needs to bring you a regular income. When tenants are late with rent payments, your cash flow is disrupted. It’s a mistake to be laid back about rental payments.

Make sure your lease is clear about when rent is due, how much is due, and how it’s expected to be paid. The lease should also reference any late fees and other consequences that are part of your rent collection policy. Then, you have to enforce this part of the lease.  

When you allow tenants to pay whenever they feel like it, you’re setting a dangerous standard. What if the tenants stop paying altogether? You might find yourself having to evict them, and if you’ve been inconsistent with your rent collection up to that point, getting them to meet their obligations or leave your property will be difficult.

Don’t get emotionally involved with your tenants. They will have excuses and stories about why rent is not paid on time, and some of them might even be true. But it’s your responsibility to get the rent in on time so you can meet your own obligations. If you have trouble enforcing your lease and consistently collecting rent, turn it over to a professional property manager so you don’t end up losing money or your property.

5.

Deferring Property Maintenance

Maintenance can be expensive, and if you don’t have relationships in place already with some great vendors and contractors, it can be a struggle to coordinate. However, it’s a fact that your rental property will need maintenance and repairs at some point. Some landlords put those things off, which is a mistake. You absolutely must be responsive to maintenance needs. You have to be thorough and proactive.

There are two reasons for this.  First, preventative maintenance preserves the condition of your property and keeps it increasing in value.  If you begin to ignore the small maintenance problems like leaks under the sinks or a hot water heater that leaks "just a little bit now and again", you're going to end up with bigger, more complicated and more expensive repairs in the future.  You're also going to compromise the integrity of your property.  

It will be difficult to increase rent or to keep good tenants in the property if it's falling apart.  A badly maintained property has a negative impact on your tenants.  Your current tenants will move out as soon as they have the chance if their repair requests go unanswered.  

You should also know that if you want to sell the property down the road, you can bet you won't get anywhere near the money you might want for it if it's not properly maintained.

6.

Weak or Illegal Lease

It is well worth the time and money to get a licensed attorney who is experienced in both real estate and contract laws within your state to draft a strong and legal lease.  While it will be an upfront expense, this is a lease that you can use over and over so it will more than make up for the expense involved over time.

What is an "illegal" lease, you might ask?  An illegal lease is one in which the lease ask the tenant to do, or not do, something that isn't allowed under the law.  An example would be if you put in your lease that the tenant could not become pregnant and have a child while she lived in your unit.  There was a time when landlords could refuse to rent to an adult with children.  No longer is that the case.  What if you include wording in the lease that states the tenant cannot have lights on past 8 p.m.?  If you said this would be unenforceable, you'd be right.

Another example of an illegal lease is one that while detailing what the landlord expects from the tenant doesn't include details of what the tenant can expect from the landlord.  A contract can be declared null and void if there is no give and take written into it.  There is no such thing as a one-sided contract.  You must include what the landlord expects from the tenant AND what the tenant should expect from the landlord in order for it to be considered a legal and binding contract.

A strong lease will be very detailed as to the exact conditions of the lease.  Better to include too much detail as too little.  As an example, if you don't want bikes stored in the breezeways but fail to include that in the lease, you may find it difficult to enforce that rule down the road or if you don't want grills used on covered patios, that needs to be in the lease.  If you don't allow non-working vehicles parked at the property, then include that in your lease.  It doesn't matter if all of these items don't apply to each and every tenant that you have or will have.  However, if you don't include them in the lease and it does apply to even one tenant, that tenant can legally claim not to have broken their lease when you try to enforce the "rule".  The stronger your lease, the more protected you are.

Perhaps the most common excuse a tenant will have for violating a term of the lease is the "I didn't know" excuse.  That's why it is imperative to sit down with the tenant(s) and go over each and every word of the lease with them.  Have them initial each paragraph as you have read and explained it to them.  Answer any questions they may have at that moment.  Getting them to initial each paragraph will go a long way to prove that they did indeed know and it will blow that excuse right out of the water.  Taking 10 minutes upfront to read the lease in its entirety and have them initial each paragraph before they sign the lease will save you countless hours down the road.

8.

Not responding timely - being a Mystery Landlord

Everyone loves a good mystery and being mysterious is intriguing.  However, no one wants a mystery landlord.  Make sure your tenant(s) know how to contact you.  Make sure they know who to call at 3 in the morning during a hard rain when the roof is leaking or at 2 pm on Christmas afternoon when the basement is flooded.  Maybe you don't want them waking you from your sleep or interrupting your Christmas Day festivities, but make sure they have the phone number of someone who can take care of it.  Not losing sleep is a perfect reason to hire a reputable property management company.  They have emergency numbers to call for these things.  Your sleep remains uninterrupted and they get their issue resolved.  Win-win.

I would venture to say that more business disputes are caused because the unhappy customer (or tenant in this situation) feels they have been inconvenienced or wronged and the business (or landlord) either responds in anger or doesn't respond at all.  More lawsuits are filed for this reason than for any other.  

As with any business that deals with the public, a landlord must be a good ambassador for their business.  Even if you feel their complaint is trivial....it's not to them or they wouldn't be so upset about it.  A sincere apology goes a long long way in diffusing potentially volatile situations.  Even if you don't believe you did anything wrong a simple "I'm so sorry this happened.  What can I do to make it better" can oftentimes save a landlord from a lot of ugliness.

9.

There is a difference between Raising the Rent and Jacking up the Rent

Some states have laws in place as to how much a landlord can raise the rent and when.  If your tenant has a one year lease in place, you cannot legally raise their rent until the lease is over.  Having said that, it is extremely wise for you to study the neighborhood in which your property is located.  If the neighborhood normally rents within the range (example) of $500 to $800 per month, charging $1,100 for your property is not a good idea.  You can trust me when I tell you that during the life of their lease, they will discover this fact and when their lease if over, they will be gone.  

The same can be said for raising the rent by $300 when their lease is up.  Raising the rent is fine but $300 a month is jacking up the rent.

10.

Not Offering Specials in a Soft Market

You don't have to own a large apartment complex to offer a rent special.  Moving is expensive and anything you can do to make it less expensive is majorly attractive to a potential tenant.  If a tenant has looked at a property that is similarly priced, similar in appearance and amenities as yours but you are offering a move-in special, they're going to take yours.

Move-in specials don't have to break the bank.  My favorite is the free month with a 13-month lease.  They don't get that free month until the 13th month.  Another good one is one month free but it's spread out over 2, 3 or even 4 months.

If rentals are in large demand in your area, your property is located right with great amenities and it's in great condition,  then it's not necessary to offer a special.  But if there are other properties for rent like yours and priced near to yours in the neighborhood, a good move-in special could make you stand out from the crowd.