OWNERS NEWSLETTER – MARCH 2007 

LEASE CHANGES – I attended a legal seminar last month that covered changes to the lease contracts we use. Staying knowledgeable in areas of the law that govern rental housing in Texas is paramount in protecting your investments and avoiding legal liability problems with your renters. Some of the recent changes include: 

  1. Lack of hot water is now considered an emergency. If a tenant reports no hot water, we must act diligently to have it restored as quickly as possible. Generally, 24-hours is acceptable.
  2. Landlord’s Lien. Previously, if rent was delinquent, we could enter the tenant’s home without notice and take lien items such as computers, weapons, coin collections, etc. Now, we must secure a court order before taking lien property if the renter is military.
  3. All sliding entry doors must be equipped with a pin lock in addition to a locking latch and/or lock bar.

WIND, FIRE, DAMAGE – On Saturday, February 24, we experienced extremely high winds from the west. At times, we saw wind gusts up to 50 MPH. Dry conditions and the high winds placed us under a fire watch and we did have several properties damaged by wild fires. Some properties also experienced wind damage to fences, sheds, and shingles. Properties on elevated lots or that face open space to the west were at highest risk of damage. We will continue to inspect for damage and will notify individual owners of any significant damage we discover. 

SPRING FERTILIZATION – This month we will be fertilizing the yards of properties for owners that have requested this service. The cost of performing this service, which includes the fertilizer, is $65.00. If you would like your property to be added to our list, please contact our maintenance department at hrmaint@aol.com.  

FEBRUARY TRAFFIC – We definitely saw more activity last month than in January. We rented 39 properties, 14 of which were single-family homes and 25 were multi-family. We ended the month with an overall occupancy rate of 89%. Our occupancy rate is slowly improving. Reducing the asking rents on many of our availabilities contributed to the increase in properties getting rented. It was unusual to see more apartments getting rented than houses, but this has already changed and we are again seeing very little activity in the multi-family category.

David Gerke

CO-Owner/Broker