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5 Key Responsibilities of a Property Manager
Reading Time: 7 minutes One of the most important roles of a property manager is being responsible for all tenants within the property. A property management company is known as a third party explicitly hired to handle daily operations of real estate investment. Services offered by a property management company/manager are genuinely essential. It can also help…
Do you need a property manager or attorney for court?
Reading Time: 2 minutes Court cases are not new in property management. It could be because of an eviction, an appeal from previous tenants because of discrepancies, or just a simple misunderstanding. There is a lot of reasons why property managers can be part of a court case. But at the end of the day, the welfare of…
Section 8 Rental Applications
Reading Time: 2 minutesIn today’s session, we will be talking about Section 8 tenants. The Section 8 program and how it works The Housing Choice Voucher Program, formerly known as Section 8, is the US government’s housing choice assistance program. It authorizes the payment of rental housing assistance to private landlords for low and very low-income…
Benefits of Having One Designated Property Manager
Reading Time: 2 minutes A property management company that handles different properties needs one designated property manager because he/she has a lot of responsibilities. Those are: handling of maintenance and coordination with vendors handling of leases handling of rental applications marketing of property …and many more. With these tasks at hand, some property management…
How to Do Landscaping in a Multi-family Property
Reading Time: 2 minutes If you have a condo, you probably don’t have to take care of it. It is taken care of by your condo association. However, if you have a multi-family home and have any type of front or backyard as well as bushes or trees, you need to make sure that you have a good…
Heat and AC Zones Guide: Why Having Multiple Zones Benefit the Tenants
Reading Time: 2 minutesIn a rental property with multiple rooms, a zoned home is a must as different family members have different comfort levels. Here’s Green Ocean’s Heat and AC Zone Guide to familiarize yourself with the benefits of having multiple zones. What is a zone? A zone is a different section of the actual building that…
How We Take Care of Clients and their Properties
Reading Time: 2 minutes We manage hundreds of properties, but we have been on it for decades so you can trust that we know what we are doing. In this video, our CEO Jarrett Lau cites how we assign and train our property managers to take care of our clients and their properties so they can be confident…
5 Factors to Assess When Investing in a Rental Property
Reading Time: 10 minutesBecoming a landlord and achieving financial stability is a goal many are dreaming about. A great property investment may open up the opportunity for you to reach your financial goals. If you are considering investing in a rental property, you have to make your own research first and not just buy an investment rental property…
How to Remove Satellite Mount Marks
Reading Time: 2 minutes From time to time, we deal with different problems as property managers. One example of which is mount marks from illegally installed satellites. In this article, you will get some ideas on how to remove satellite mount marks. In all of our leases, we state that they’re not allowed to install satellites. …
Why Should You Put Your Property into an LLC?
Reading Time: 3 minutesYou’re ready to invest in a property, but you are concerned about the liabilities that come with renting it out. Should put your property into an LLC? Here are some Having as much protection as possible is incredibly important, but it comes at a cost. So many individual landlords might start with one property,…
Refinance: What is it and How Does it Work?
Reading Time: < 1 minute What is refinance A refinance is when you’re going to work with either your bank or a mortgage loan originator. When you originally get a loan, they’re going to be able to borrow money. And what they’ll do is give you $100,000 and then they might charge you an interest rate. That…
How Do We Make Sure that You Work with Reliable Vendors
Reading Time: 2 minutes One of the most valuable things that we have access to as a property management company is reliable vendors. Having reliable vendors did not happen overnight. We, just like every other landlord had to go through tons and tons of different vendors that gave us issues. Vendors not showing up on time, trying…
Lower your Liabilities with Proactive Maintenance Planning
Reading Time: 4 minutes As a landlord, planning ways on how to reduce your liability and preventing any accidents and injuries to your tenants are necessary. You need to learn how to lower your liabilities with Proactive Maintenance Planning. Here’s how. Think Proactive The best solution for every landlord is to have a proactive approach…
Roof Maintenance Tips You Need to Know
Reading Time: 2 minutes Roofs are more prone to damage than you think. Rain can cause leaks and wind can bring about fallen trees which can pose significant impairments. As such, it is important to look after your roof by doing regular inspections by a roofing professional to do minor fixes and repairs if necessary. In this article,…
How to Avoid Ice Build Up on Roof Gutters
Reading Time: 2 minutes Maintaining a property is not a one-day job where you will just wipe the windows or mop the floors to avoid dirt accumulation. Landlords, property managers, and tenants should work hand in hand to make sure that the property has a good curb appeal and is maintained well. In property maintenance, cleaning of…
Should we allow tenants to leave personal belongings in the basement
Reading Time: 2 minutes We manage hundreds of multifamily properties across greater Boston and what that means is lots of basements that must be cleaned, organized, and secured. In relation to that, we often get this question: “Should we allow our tenants to leave personal belongings in the basements of the houses that we manage?” The answer is NO.…
Where to Place Fire and Carbon Detectors
Reading Time: 10 minutes Safety is the utmost concern when it comes to both your property and our residents. One of the biggest things that we have to make sure is that we take care of it. And we comply with the smoking carbon detector requirements in the city. What we’re going to do is we will…
Benefits of Installing a Coin Laundry
Reading Time: 3 minutes One of the most common questions that we get asked as a landlord is, “I don’t have laundry in my building or I have normal laundry that isn’t coin-op, should I switch or install coin-op laundry?” In every single building that we manage, we always switch to coin-op laundry and we’ll tell you why.…
Who Should Pay the Public Utilities?
Reading Time: 3 minutes Paying of public utilities such as water and electricity can cause confusion to some landlords. In this article, we’re going to be covering whether you can have tenants pay the public utilities. Can they pay for public utilities? The answer is NO. Typically, what will end up happening is that each…
How to Certify Fire Escapes in Boston
Reading Time: 5 minutes Last year, the Department of Fire Services recorded at least 29,461 fires in the state of Massachusetts. 16% higher compared to 2019 causing 44 civilian deaths, 245 civilian injuries, 594 fire service injuries, 854 arsons, and $266 million damage in properties. The top three causes of fires are smoking, electricity malfunction, and unattended cooking of…
Is Rent Collection Possible When Tenants Don’t Have a Bank Account?
Reading Time: 4 minutes We want to be very conscious that some tenants are unable to open up bank accounts and they may request to pay in cash. That sounds very tempting because it gives landlords more flexibility of saving what they earn. Yet, that’s not the right way to do things. Can property managers accept cash? …
Is Emergency Light Testing Required?
Reading Time: < 1 minute With every single commercial building, whether it’s in a condo association, bigger commercial buildings, or even on multi-family homes, there is emergency lighting. Did you know that emergency lighting has batteries? Sometimes, they are also hardwired but there are batteries within the lights and they have to be tested all the time. When…
How to Handle Rental Properties with Oil Heat
Reading Time: 2 minutes Most people in Massachusetts prefer to use oil heating system to keep their places warm. If you have an oil tank in a property that you plan to rent out to tenants, you need to be clear about who is responsible for the maintenance and refilling of the oil tanks. We know, it sounds…
5 Most Affordable Ways to Increase Curb Appeal
Reading Time: 2 minutes In today’s article, we’re going to be talking about the best and easiest and most affordable ways to increase the curb appeal of your property. Prospective renters or even your current renters come to the property and they feel like they’re at home and they want to pay more money and more rent…
Process of Getting Curb Cut and Driveway Explained
Reading Time: 10 minutes Key Terms to Know: Curb Cuts and Driveway Approaches To help make sense of the ins and outs of curb cuts and driveway installations, let’s break down some of the essential terminology you’ll come across during the process: Business Driveway Curb Cut & Apron This refers to the specially designed opening in the…
5 Basic Steps to Prepare your Property for Winter and Fall
Reading Time: 2 minutes Boston gets very cold this time of the year, so generally, we are on the lookout for preventive maintenance to prepare your property for the onset of the fall and winter seasons. Here’s our checklist that has been proven to ensure our properties are ready for the cold months. #1 Test all heating…
We Fix Chimneys too!
Reading Time: < 1 minute In the video above, you can see that Jarrett Lau is up on the roof. Last Saturday morning, we had a little issue with the chimney that deteriorated out. Masonry is really important to check it all the time so you can avoid these types of issues, especially if it looks worse than…
What Makes a Room a Bedroom
Reading Time: 2 minutes A room doesn’t always equate to a bedroom. Why? Certain aspects make a room a bedroom. Read on to find out. #1 A 7 ft. length or width You need a certain length or width of at least 7 feet. That’s not a very big size bedroom, but it is…
Why Two Means of Egresses is the Safest Way to Go
Reading Time: 3 minutes Our founder, Jarrett Lau, walks through dozens of properties every month for his prospective clients to make sure each property is safe, secure, and most importantly legal in the city. We’ve seen a property that had both a basement and an attic built on it. The first thing we noticed was the means of…
The Truth About Hot Water Tank Warranties
Reading Time: 3 minutes When you purchase a hot water tank they’re going to give you options of 6, 10, 12 years, typically at 6 or 10, and the price incremental isn’t that big, $100 or maybe $250 most, but it is something to consider. A lot of our landlords go, “Wow, if I can get an additional…
The Pros and Cons of Multi-Year Lease
Reading Time: 7 minutes A lease is an agreement between, the landlord or the property manager, and the tenant. One of the most important aspects of it is the duration. Typically in Massachusetts, we have a 12-month lease, but we want to make sure that our leases will always end anywhere between June, July, August, or September. Sometimes,…
Benefits of Having an in-house Maintenance Team
Reading Time: 7 minutes One of the most important differences between our property management company and others is the fact that we have on staff maintenance. What does that mean to our clients? Cost savings mean more money in your pocket. We’re able to figure out how fast our guys do work and more importantly…
Increase Curb Appeal through Common Area Cleaning and Maintenance
Reading Time: 2 minutes In today’s article, we’re going to be covering common area cleaning, maintenance and upkeep. Of course, it’s a cost and we understand that since our founder, Jarrett Lau, is an investor and a landlord. Our job is to be able to maximize the actual income that you have coming into your property. More importantly…
What is The Best Way To Maintain Washer and Dryer
Reading Time: 2 minutes As property managers, we try to help our landlords and tenants in extending the life cycle of any type of appliance in their homes. Although it is used in most homes by many, some landlords switch to coin-op laundryin their apartments instead of individual washers and dryers. There are a lot of benefits that come…
3 Landlord Expenses You Might Not Have Considered
Reading Time: 14 minutes Our job as a property manager is to make as much money as possible with your property. and that means maximizing your income and minimizing your expenses, but our founder, Jarrett Lau, runs a company as well and has to make sure that his people are taken care of and we do things such…
How to Add a Dishwasher
Reading Time: < 1 minute Easy way of adding a dishwasher What we will do is work on the necessary electrical and plumbing behind the countertop. Once done, we will slide in a dishwasher then we will make sure that it looks good and looks like the rest of the cabinets. This is…
How to Maintain and Improve Your Cash Flow
Reading Time: 2 minutes Your investment property is probably one of the most expensive assets that you have. You may have bought it or kept it because you want to make money out of it. But managing an investment property requires a lot of planning and budgeting. At the end of the day, you need to know your…
How to Reglaze Backsplash Tiles and Tubs to SAVE Money
Reading Time: 2 minutes People are taking showers, washing their dirty bodies every day, resulting in tubs and tiles stains. It gets discolored, grimy, and dirty. This isn’t very interesting to most prospective renters or anybody who is living in the unit, so probably every 4 or 5 years, depending upon the usage, we’re going to go in…
Why I Created Green Ocean Property Management
Reading Time: 3 minutes Every single time Jarrett Lau, our founder, speaks to a new owner, he always goes through the whole spiel of why he created this business. In this article, we’re going to be explaining that very same thing because we want you to understand where we started. Our founder’s background As a…
How to Keep Things Organized when Owning a Multifamily Property
Reading Time: 2 minutes Multifamily properties, unlike single-family properties, need to be organized at all times because of the volume of tenants that this type of property has. Here are some efforts that Green Ocean Property Management does to make multifamily properties be organized. How does Green Ocean organize multifamily properties? We provide space for bicycle…
Top 5 Steps to Stop and Prevent Basement Leaks
Reading Time: 17 minutes With our buildings in Boston being hundreds of years old, it’s super common to get water in the basements, but as a general contractor and someone who manages hundreds of properties over decades, we’ve seen it all. So let us go through these steps to be able to prevent and stop basement leaks…
Leases VS. Tenant-at-Will: When Do You Use Both?
Reading Time: 7 minutes If you own a property and worked with a property manager before, you may have heard of these terms already: tenant-at-will and leases. Lease being the common has been used to outline the list of agreements between the tenant and the landlord. Why Written Agreements Matter No matter which arrangement you go with,…
Why Property Inspections and Walkthroughs are Important
Reading Time: 2 minutes The majority of our clients live either out of the state or out of the country. If they don’t live locally, they have other things to do with their time other than walking through their property. Some of them haven’t been in their properties in years, and that is where we help them. We…
Can tenants paint the wall?
Reading Time: 11 minutes When moving in, one of the most common questions we get is, “Can tenants paint the wall?” As a property management company, this is what we personally do to protect you, the landlord. Why You Might Want to Let Tenants Paint So, why even consider saying yes when your tenant asks about breaking…
Green Ocean’s Off-Ramp Process and Fees
Reading Time: 2 minutes We often receive questions from our clients and tenants about our off-ramp fees. In this article, we will discuss that thoroughly. Green Ocean’s Off-Ramp Process and Fees Our off-ramp fee is a one-time fee. The majority of our landlords stay with us for the duration that they own their property, but there…
Do Property Managers Need License in Massachusetts?
Reading Time: 5 minutes Do property managers really need license to manage properties in the state of Massachusetts? Read on to find out. They DO NOT need license Technically the answer is NO because there are no federal or state regulations that require a license. It is unlike real estate, in which we have to get either…
How to INCREASE RENTS During Lease Renewal
Reading Time: 2 minutes With the ongoing inflation, tax payments, and demand for repairs, an increase in rents is truly inevitable. As experienced property managers, we always get this question a lot: “How do you determine the increase during lease renewal? Do you also send out a notice to your tenants when it’s time to renew their lease?”…
Joint Lease vs. Individual Lease
Reading Time: 10 minutes There are two methods of lease structures for multiple tenants: signing each tenant individually (or “by-the-bedroom”), or jointly (also called “one lease”). Depending on your preference, your rental property location, and your residents, one lease structure may be better than the other. Let’s take a moment to examine joint lease vs. individual lease…
Are Tenants Allowed to Have A Grill?
Reading Time: 2 minutes Around the spring and summer months, we get this question a lot: “Are Tenants Allowed to Have A Grill?” This is a very tricky question. So in this article, we’re going to be sharing with you how we handle it at Green Ocean Property Management. In all our leases, we don’t allow grills.…
How Nonresident Aliens Pay Their Taxes
Reading Time: 2 minutes According to Internal Revenue System, Nonresident aliens are individuals who are not a U.S. citizen or U.S. national and wasn’t able to pass the green card test or the substantial presence test. Nonresident aliens are international students who are currently studying in the United States, international students who need to obtain practical training that is…
What makes us STAND OUT from the rest!
Reading Time: 2 minutes We are going to be covering the differences between us, Green Ocean Property Management, who has experienced managing hundreds of properties for over a few decades, compared to smaller property manager and companies that might do it on a part time basis or self-managed landlords. This article is not going to be…
How Does Space Heaters and Portable AC Units Work
Reading Time: 2 minutes Another way that we, as a property management company think ahead and avoid problems for our clients is having space heaters and portable airconditioners (ACs) for our clients. We will share more details about it here. Space Heater and Portable Airconditioner: A Must-Have Back-Up Strategy One of the implied warranty of habitability is…
Why we get the appliance model and serial numbers
Reading Time: 2 minutes In today’s article, we’re going to be covering another unique way that we do to save our landlords’ time and money and the things we do to be more efficient and effective in managing your property. Money-saving Tasks that We Do #1 We get the appliance model and serial numbers Whenever…
Why Pre Walkthrough is Necessary before Move-Ins
Reading Time: 2 minutes September 1 is Moving Day in Boston, Massachusetts. As this yearly tradition continues in the whole city, we, as a property management company, continue to be proactive by giving our clients’ renters a stress-free feeling before they move-in. One way to do it is by providing a pre-walkthrough. Why is pre-walkthrough necessary? …
How Important is 6D Forms in Real Estate?
Reading Time: 2 minutes One of the obligations that we have in managing condo associations is to make sure that the documentation process is done smoothly. Any type of paperwork that’s necessary for the transaction of either purchased or refinanced, we have to handle its 6D forms. What is 6D? 6D is a form and it’s from…
How to Ensure Tenants’ Safety
Reading Time: 3 minutes The safety of your residents should be the utmost priority of any landlord or property manager. And with the apparent rise in burglary and criminal trespass cases in Massachusetts, it is imperative to keep the basics in check to prevent any unfortunate incident. We give you the three Ls to remember to ensure tenants’…
Effective Way to Maximize Profits with Parking
Reading Time: 2 minutes According to research conducted by GoCityWide, 95% of a car’s lifetime is spent being parked making a lot of landlords invest in parking spaces for their properties. Although not everyone has parking spaces, many landlords have big open spaces in their property that can be turned into one with our help. In today’s article, we…
The Difference between Local and Central Fire Alarm Systems
Reading Time: 12 minutes Our tenants’ protection should always be our #1 priority. With the rising cases of fire in Massachusetts, fire alarms have been a big help. Although there are still casualties, less than 250 injuries and less than 50 casualties occurred last year. Our brave firefighters and of course, the fire alarm systems made a big…
How Does Our Business Referral Program Works?
Reading Time: 3 minutes We know that there are a lot of fears when real estate agents refer their clients to anybody. Well, let us explain to you why that would never happen with Green Ocean Property Management and the benefits of working with us to help your clients out with more transactions. What we will do…
Can a Landlord Make Tenant Pay for Damages?
Reading Time: 2 minutes As a proactive property manager and company we’re always thinking of ways to save our landlords money and most importantly, hold our tenants responsible for the actions that they take. In the video, Jarrett Lau, CEO and Founder of GOPM is sitting in a bathroom and discussing the three things behind him that they…
Top 5 Reasons Why Landlords GET SUED
Reading Time: 3 minutes We want to help you avoid getting brought into court and having to pay any type of fines that is why we are sharing with you the 5 top most common reasons why landlords get sued. Read on to know these reasons so you can avoid them. Reason #1: Not handling security deposits correctly …
How to Solve Tenants’ Issues on Weekends
Reading Time: 9 minutesWhat Is a Property Manager? A property manager is your go-to person (or team) who handles the daily ins and outs of rental properties on behalf of the owner. Think of them as the middle ground between landlords and tenants—they collect rent, coordinate repairs, and make sure the building or unit stays in top shape.…
How to Handle Security Deposit Deductions?
Reading Time: 3 minutes Many people ask us how we handle security deposit deductions and damages caused by tenants. For us, this process starts very early even the tenant moving into the property in the first place. Pre-move in Process We send them an apartment condition statement form for them to fill out 14 days…
Boston City’s Property Inspection – Explained
Reading Time: 17 minutes Every single rental property in Boston needs to be registered, even if you do it short-term rental. The process can either be done in person through paper and check or online. At Green Ocean, we decided to do it online because of the number of properties that we have. It’s nice if you have…
Top 10 Situations a Landlord Hires a Property Manager
Reading Time: 17 minutes In this article, we will answer one of the most commonly asked questions: When should a landlord hire a property manager? From our experience of working with over 500 landlords, these are the top 10 situations when a landlord decides to hire a property manager. Reason #1: Late payments The number #1 situation when…
3 Brilliant Ways To Prevent Package Theft
Reading Time: 2 minutes Package theft is rampant nowadays, but that doesn’t mean you can’t prevent it from happening to you and your tenants. In this article, we will be covering three affordable ways to protect you and your tenants from having packages being stolen at your property. Tip #1 – Good lighting There shouldn’t…
Condo Landlord Insurance Facts
Reading Time: 3 minutes Every investor should have a Dwelling Fire Policy, also known as the landlord’s policy. In this article, we are going to talk about the different types of insurance for condos and the different types of transfer for every type of building as well – The Condo Landlord Insurance Facts You Should Know. Those policies…
Home Renovation: An Expert Guide
Reading Time: 4 minutes In most renovations, you’re going to hear nightmare stories of general contractors that don’t show up, the subcontractors having issues, delays with materials, every excuse under the sun. These stories result in project delays. When it comes to investment property renovations, time is the equivalent to money. Green Ocean’s Renovation Process …
Qualities of a Property Manager you Need
Reading Time: 2 minutes Your property could be one of the most expensive things you own. Stop for a moment and think about another valuable object that you have, whether it has price or sentimental value. Perhaps, it’s a person like one of your children or an item such as a piece of jewelry that’s been passed down…
How to Rent Your Property Sight Unseen: Smart Tips for Owners
Reading Time: 9 minutes In this article, we will be discussing sight unseen rentals. What does that mean? It means when an apartment gets rented by someone who hasn’t seen the apartment in person. A lot of problems can come from this because they haven’t seen the property. They’re going to base upon either pictures, videos, or 3D tours. They…
Must-Ask Questions during a Landlord Reference Check
Reading Time: 11 minutes During a landlord reference check, we usually ask a lot of questions to make sure that our tenants are screened properly. In this article, we will cover what is a landlord reference and what are the questions that we ask to successfully screen a tenant. What is a landlord reference? Landlord…
Why Should you Ask for tenants’ landlord reference and work verification
Reading Time: 2 minutes One of the most common questions that we get is, “Are landlord and work verification necessary?” Back in the day, anything that we can do to pre-emptively determine if your tenants are going to be a good one or not, we’re going to do it for you. Prior planning prevents poor performance and learning how…
Green Ocean’s Property Protection Program
Reading Time: 2 minutes With so much uncertainty going on in the world today, we are trying to offer our clients and our landlords a little bit more protection. We’ve designed a Property Protection Program (PPP) that allows us to keep you updated with the maintenance cost over the course of a month or a year. With PPP,…
Should a Tenant Pay their Water Bills in Massachusetts?
Reading Time: 4 minutes Are you curious if your tenants should pay the water utilities for your property in Massachusetts? In this article, we will be covering that most commonly asked question by most landlords. Is it possible for tenants to pay water bills? In a condo association, water bills are included. However, if you do…
How to properly handle tenants who withhold rent
Reading Time: 2 minutes Tons of prospective landlords always ask us this question: “Can my tenants withhold rent?” The state of Massachusetts is very tenant-friendly. However, there are some guidelines that tenants need to follow if they are going to withhold rent. Read on to know some. 1. A tenant must withhold in separate escrow accounts …
How Does a Key Fob System Work?
Reading Time: 2 minutes In today’s article, we’re going to be covering keys. We already discussed about the master key system in a different session. So today, we will discuss key fobs. What is a Key Fob? Key fobs are the little things that can get you into a building. Instead of using actual keys,…
Lease Renewal Process – Explained
Reading Time: 3 minutes To help us get started with the lease renewal process let’s first define lease. A lease is a binding contract between you and the tenant, stating the terms of the agreement. Leases will expire anywhere between June and September in the Greater Boston area. We do this because that’s the highest amount of…
Property Management Tips: How to Prepare for Emergencies
Reading Time: 3 minutes Property managers deal with emergencies all the time. Whether it is a flood, fire, or perhaps a squirrel in the attic, we make sure that landlords are prepared for any type of emergencies. As a landlord, you need to make sure that all tenants have your contact information that’s easy to reach. They…
Why Investors Need a Public Insurance Adjuster?
Reading Time: 4 minutes Insurance losses will change people’s lives, and whether it means floods or fires, or something that is going to kick a tenant out of the properties, we make sure that we handle the process from start to finish and as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Why hire a public adjuster? Every…
How can a Property Manager help You?
Reading Time: 3 minutes As a property management company for a few hundred investment properties around greater Boston, we have had our share of losses ranging from small to massively big. These insurance losses change people’s lives, whether it is a flood or fire or something that is going to kick a tenant out of the property. We…
Different Types of Regular Keys and its Duplication Process
Reading Time: 2 minutes In our previous article, we have shared the best master key systems that allow us to have one key and codes. That makes us not worry about bad cuts or copies of old keys, but that doesn’t mean that old keys don’t still exist. Today, we will discuss key cutting machines and the keys…
What makes a property desirable?
Reading Time: 2 minutes When our clients are looking at a property, they always ask, “What are the things that make this property desirable?”. In this article, we are going to share some of the things that we think make a property desirable. #1 Convenience When tenants are picking a property, they consider how far…
How deleading can affect you and your children’s health?
Reading Time: 9 minutes Back in 1978, lead, a metallic substance, was added to paint. It was added because it made paint brighter and more durable. In this article, you will understand how this material that makes our places more beautiful can also affect our health particularly the children. How can lead removal affect you and your…
Green Ocean’s Single and Multifamily Insurance
Reading Time: 2 minutes Insurance is one of those topics that nobody really enjoys talking about, much like going to the dentist, but it is necessary. Having a commercial single family or multi-family property is different than owning and living in it yourself. Things that you should know about Single and Multi-family Insurance Typically, single…
Rental Tips for International Students and Workers
Reading Time: 3 minutes Are you planning to rent your place to international students and workers? Below are some tips and forms needed to be able to do so. Forms needed during the application process A person who wants to study or work in the United States would need to apply to either their school…
Green Ocean’s Pet Application Process
Reading Time: 3 minutes At Great Ocean Property Management, we love pets. However, we have to make sure that if any of our landlords or properties allow animals, they go through a rigorous process. Interested to know the process? Read on! Submission of Forms The tenants typically submit an application online containing information about their…
How to Maximize the Potential of your Property through Renovations?
Reading Time: 3 minutes Let’s maximize the potential of your property! Read on to get some tips from Green Ocean Property Management! With every dollar that you put into your property, you want to make sure that you get a return on your investment. We can help you do that. Property Assessment We can help…
5 Reasons Why Early Renewal and Property Marketing Are A Must
Reading Time: 3 minutes One of the most important aspects of owning investment properties is the lease renewal process and property marketing. To do this, you have to start early. The renewal and marketing process has many steps, all of which should be carefully considered and done correctly. When facilitating the lease renewal and marketing process, we…
Top 5 Financial Red Flags when reviewing Tenant Applications
Reading Time: 14 minutes As property managers, we need to make sure that our clients have responsible tenants. That is why we have listed our Top 5 Red Flags when reviewing potential tenant applications so that landlords can have immediate signs to turn down an applicant but if you see multiple red flags be warned! We have seen too…
Is Room Rental a Good Idea?
Reading Time: 3 minutes With many landlords still facing vacancy, they’re continuing to drop prices, pay fees, but then they don’t know what to do afterwards. Let me explain what a room rental is. Instead of having your entire apartment rented out, whether it’s a two or three-bedroom apartment rent it out to an entire group. What…
Top 5 Hacks to Return your Tenant’s Security Deposit after 9/1
Reading Time: 2 minutesWe got through 9/1. Now the real work of fulfilling new tenant repairs and returning of security deposits needs to get done. This week’s property manager’s pulse, I’m going to be talking about security deposit returns, and how we make it a smooth process. Preparation of Forms Most landlords and management companies have…
Why A Management Fee Is An Investment Not An Expense
Reading Time: 4 minutes For this week’s property manager message, I have a special one today as this is a 9/1 turnover. This means that there are thousands of units across greater of Boston turning over. There are lots of tenants moving out with new tenants moving in, which means cleaning, as well as some repairs, as well…
Top 3 Ways to be Proactive when your Property is Vacant
Reading Time: 2 minutes We are now less than a week away from September 1st, which means tons of move-ins and move-outs and potentially vacancy for hundreds, if not thousands, of landlords. In this week’s property management pulse I’ll be covering three proactive ways that you can do if your property is going to be potentially vacant.…
Top Technologies Green Ocean use to Leverage Services
Reading Time: 3 minutesWATCH THE VIDEO TO SEE THE ACTUAL DEVICE WE USE In this week’s property management pulse, I will be going over some technologies and how we use them to leverage and to be able to improve our service. For you, our clients, as well as being able to perform better and have more supervision oversight…
No Security Deposits with Obligo: How the Monthly Fees Work
Reading Time: 5 minutes A security deposit is a one-time fee that is collected by most landlords. Usually, they charge up to three months’ worth of rent: that is the first month, last month, and security. Other terms for a security deposit are last month’s rent, advance deposit, or cleaning deposit. However you call it, security deposits are…
What to look for in Qualifying a Vendor?
Reading Time: 4 minutesLooking for a good contractor and qualifying a vendor is an important task for a property management company. It can be a deciding factor for some landlords if a property management company is partnered with credible local contractors in the area who are known to deliver satisfactory service. An expert in the industry knows the…
What is a CAP Rate and How do you Calculate it?
Reading Time: 23 minutesBefore you get into the game of being a property investor, having enough knowledge and a sharp eye in choosing the right property investment will help you be successful. The key factor in buying the right investment property is to learn how to determine the value of an income-generating property. Not knowing how to choose…
8 Key Elements in a Landlord Property Insurance policy
Reading Time: 25 minutesA landlord’s rental property is their investment and therefore, they have to make sure it is protected all the time. Landlord insurance is a necessity for every property owner. It helps cover you against any financial risks involved in running a rental property business. There are many situations that may be unpredictable. Even…
7 Tips to Achieve Great Results in Managing a Property
Reading Time: 23 minutesHow much time do you exactly need in managing a property and why a part-time property manager is a bad idea? Learn how effective time management is essential to every property manager. Managing a property is very time-consuming. For a first-timer landlord, there are a lot of issues they may encounter that may question their…
Save more money with these Top 5 Hacks for your Property’s Major Expenses
Reading Time: 6 minutesWhile every landlord’s goal is to maximize their rental income and get it straight to their pockets, running a rental property is more than just about collecting your tenant’s monthly payment. An expert landlord knows that it is necessary to allocate a certain amount of their income for property maintenance. Properly planning and doing a…
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