We’ve been accused of being huge Apple Fanboys (and girls) around these parts, and it’s an accusation that we are just downright okay with.  Therefore, it should be of no surprise that the iPad 2 has changed the way we do business in our real estate and property management game.

Now you might see the Apple iPad as only a cool new toy.  But we have discovered, it goes way beyond toy around here at the office.  If you want to find out more, we are teaching a class on the best way to use your new iPad and you can register for that class here.  But in the meantime, we have put together a list of our favorite apps we use.  They can all be downloaded from the App Store by just searching their name.  However, please note that the prices we have listed could all be subject to change.

You can find out more on how to use these apps by attending our upcoming class and we’ll show you how to get it done.

We have created a super efficient document storage system allowing us to be paperless and in the cloud.  With the combination of the Neat Desk Scanner and a Drobo system we have made our life more digital.

We do not pre-lease properties.  However in some cases, we do start a wait list, especially for some of our popular properties that are located in the Grand Place Addition (Missouri and Delmar Streets).  Wait lists are often formed in the Spring when the college semesters are ending.

A wait list DOES NOT guarantee that you will receive a property for lease.

In order to be placed on the wait-list, the following criteria must be met.

1. All applications (anyone age 18 and above) must be completely filled out and turned into the office along with copies of driver’s license IDs.  This includes co-signer applications.
2. All applications must be approved.
3. The wait list is kept in an order of first come, first served, first approved.
4. You will know it if we place your application on our wait list.  You will be notified 30 days prior to
5. Again, Dizmang Properties makes NO guarantees that you will receive a property to lease if you are on the wait list.

Once a property is coming available, you will be notified 30 days prior to it’s availability of the chance to lease it.  If you are not interested in signing a lease for the upcoming property, you must give written notice (e-mail is acceptable) within 72 hours that you do not wish to lease the property and we will offer the property to the next approved application(s) on the wait list.

Once a property is offered to you, you must sign a lease and pay the security deposit within 72 hours of notification, or the property will be offered to the next approved application on the wait list.

A wait list DOES NOT guarantee that you will receive a property for lease.

Make Your Checks Payable To Dizmang Properties

We do allow personal checks to be written for your rent payments, in fact we do prefer them.  All checks must be made payable to Dizmang Properties.  The only time that this is an exception is for your first month’s rent and security deposit payments at lease signing.  All first month rent payments and security deposit payments must be made in with money order or certified bank check.  Unfortunately, we cannot accept credit or debit card payments.

• We will not accept third party checks or endorsed payroll checks.
• If you do online banking with your personal accounts, you can have your checks sent to Dizmang Properties.  Please ensure that the payment is sent to the mailing address of 528 W. Battlefield, Suite 101, Springfield, MO 65807.  Also be sure that your name and property address is clearly marked on the check.
• There will be a $25 NSF Fee assessed to your account (of which all tenants will be responsible for) for any check that is returned by the bank for insufficient funds.  If there are two, or more, checks returned on your account, you will no longer be allowed to make your rent payments with a personal check.  Cash, money order or certified bank check will be required for your rent payment.
• Dizmang Properties reserves the right to not accept your check at anytime.  You will be notified via writing if this is the case.
• In the case of multiple, individual payments on a property (i.e. separate roommate payments), we will  allow payments to be made.  Each check must be made payable to Dizmang Properties and clearly marked with the tenant’s name and property address.  Please note that although we do keep track of individual payments, we look at the rent as a whole.  Therefore if you have made your payment, but your roommate has not, all parties (including you) will still be liable for the rent payment in full.

We know that your pets are important to you and are probably considered a member of your family.  Dizmang Properties is one of the few management firms in Springfield that still allow pets.  However, there are a few conditions to a pet approval and they are as follows:

1. Domestic animals only.  We only allow dogs or cats as pets to reside in our properties. Any type of reptile, snake, chickens or circus animals will not be allowed.  We do make an occasional exception for a goldfish.
2. Dogs must not be of a Pit Bull or Rottweiler breed, nor have any mix of such.  Our insurance policy doesn’t allow dogs of a vicious breed to be on our properties.  If found on your property, the tenant could face possible eviction proceedings.
3. There is a non-refundable pet fee of $250.00 that will be due at lease signing.  This pet fee is for the privilege of having a pet, think of it as your pet’s portion of the rent payment.  This charge is NOT a deposit.  It is a fee that is non-refundable and is a yearly charge that will post to your account upon lease renewal. The tenant will still be responsible for any damages a pet may cause during your stay in the property.
4. Upon vacating the premises, the Tenant must have a professional pest control company spray for fleas and also have a professional carpet cleaning service clean the carpets.  Both of these will be at the Tenant’s expense and a copy of paid invoices, showing proof, must be given to management when keys are returned.
5. Although we do allow pets, there are a handful of our properties where pets are not allowed.  It is rare, and these properties will be marked on the web site if pets are not allowed.
6. Management reserves the right to not allow pets or limit the number of pets allowed in a property.  If your pet is not approved, a rare exception may be made however additional pet fee, and or deposit, may be required.  Contact Dizmang Properties if you have any questions relating to the approval of your pet.

If you have further questions, you can e-mail them to us info [at] getpaul [dot] com, or call the office (417) 887-0501.

It is extremely important that you change your furnace filter every three months.  The reasons for doing this are to ensure that your heat and air conditioning system is running most efficiently.  A plugged up filter doesn’t allow proper air flow and circulation, so you will often get poor air-flow through the vents causing your utility bills to be higher.  Sometimes when the filter gets so dirty, it will shut down the unit completely.  When this happens, an HVAC Technician will have to be called in to clean and service the unit.  When this happens and it the cause is a dirty filter that the Tenant failed to change, we bill the Tenant for the service call which can be approximately $90.00.  We tell our Tenants at lease signing that this will be their responsibility.

We have it written into our lease agreements that Tenants are responsible for changing the filter every three months at the Tenant’s expense.  You can buy a filter at WalMart or any hardware store for approximately $3.00 and they are pretty easy to change.  Or you could just get a washable filter like the one mentioned in this video.  Just make sure you remember to wash it.

No doubt our business runs on details.  Details that are numerous and details that can also be detrimental if missed while working the daily grind of real estate and property management.

Obviously, we have become a little obsessive with checklists and forms to cover the multitude of details in our business.  Similar to Apple’s slogan, “There’s An App For That”, we say in our company “There’s A FORM For That.”  And we’re not kidding, we have a form or checklist for almost everything.

We have checklists for opening the office, checklists for processing a rental application, for signing a lease agreement, for checking on a vacant rental property, for calling a previous landlord, for transferring utilities, for final walk through preparation…the list could go on and on.  In fact there is a checklist for finding the right checklist.  I told you it was obsessive.

Our checklists and forms are so important to us for two reasons:

1) They keep us from missing one of those all important details.  How many times have you gone out to list a property for sale or rent only to find out once you got there that you forgot to bring the lockbox?  *hanging my own head in shame*  Our checklists are ever evolving and constantly being updated to make sure that no element of our job is missed.

2) They work well for documentation.  We have a form book for taking phone calls and retrieving voicemails.  This Phone Log Form Book was created in-house by yours truly, and we have it printed at Office Depot.  It is custom made to document every phone call and voicemail message that we receive.  There are checkboxes for you to check it off when a phone call action item was completed or a property inquiry call was returned.  And of course, everything is date and timed.  Documentation is key when dealing with Tenants who claim “I called that in 3 times!”  Your documentation will save you from these types of dramatic statements.

The point to this post is that we are going to make these checklists cooler than being cool.  Dizmang Properties is going to slowly be rolling out our checklists and forms onto our web site for free downloads.  And some of our bigger files will be available for the price of an iPhone app.  Therefore, if you’re starting up or working your own property management firm, we will help you out so that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

Have patience with us, it will take some time to get them all uploaded to our site and ready for you to download. Note: There is a file embedded within this post, please visit this post to download the file.

NARdigras is the official hashtag and tag line of the 2010 National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) Annual Conference and Expo that will be taking place November 5-8th in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Paul and I are really excited about this event because we have been selected by NAR, for the second year in a row, to present our “8 Ways To Profitable Property Management” session at the conference.  We are excited in more ways than this one, because we are both huge supporters of the conference and believe that all REALTORS® should make it a priority to attend.  And following is the video that NAR is using to help market the sessions.  Clearly, we chose this one because we’re a little biased and think that this one is awesome!

Every single lease signed with Dizmang Properties clearly states that rent is due on the first day of each month.  We do give a five-day grace period and do not charge late fees until the 6th day of the month.  However, just because we don’t charge late fees until the sixth day of the month, it still means that your rent is late if it is paid on the 2nd, 3rd or 4th day of the month.

We encourage our tenants to plan ahead because sometimes the first day of the month falls on a Saturday, Sunday or holiday when our offices are not open.  The rules don’t change when this happens.  Late fees are still assessed as per the lease agreement whether the 1st day of the month is on a Saturday, Sunday or holiday.  Hence the reason that we encourage our tenants to plan ahead when making their rent payments.

Although we are doing a quiet launch for the moment, Dizmang Properties is unveiling it’s new web site this week.

Our old web site was built on the Front Page platform in 2005 and was in some desperate need of updating.  Our flash header needed to go buh-bye.  Plus it was time for a change.  A web site should never go five years without a major overhaul.  So bear with us as we slowly add to the new site, but once it’s baked, we’ll be sure to announce it!

The old getpaul web site launched in 2005