Springtime has arrived and it’s time to open the windows and clear the mustiness of winter. For landlords, it’s time not only for vital spring maintenance, but it’s important to tend to the external landscaping of the property. For tenants, now is an excellent time to deep-clean your space, change HVAC filters, and ensure you are completing any necessary tenant maintenance.

LANDLORDS’ SPRING CLEANING TASKS

Exterior Management

While it’s important to complete the full checklist for vital spring maintenance, the transition to spring weather creates the optimal opportunity for cleaning of the exterior of the property. Make certain that the gutters are cleared of materials that fall and winter weather may have brought debris to. Leaves, small sticks or branches, and organic material can accumulate in the gutters due to autumn and winter storms. Make certain that your gutters are fully cleaned to prepare for spring showers which we just experienced here in Stockton. Furthermore, protect your building’s exterior with a good power wash to eliminate any gathered grime from winter.

Landscape Grooming

Maintaining curb appeal is an important aspect to protecting your investment’s worth, there’s no better time than spring to guarantee your tenants and prospective tenants will adore the landscape. Get out your rakes and pruning tools and get down to business–and for added flair add a few new spring blooms to the mix.

TENANTS’ SPRING CLEANING TASKS

Interior Management

While one of the benefits in renting lies with having to deal with fewer maintenance tasks, renters are not off the hook completely. Seasonal changes serve as an excellent marker indicating that it’s time to change your HVAC filters and complete other recurring renter responsibilities.

Deep Cleaning Tasks

• Daily Tasks: Before the deep cleaning can begin, start with the daily tasks to set the stage. Tidy any personal items throughout your space, vacuum carpets, and sweep kitchen and bathroom floors.
• Dust: Work from the top down, starting at the ceiling taking pains to clean hard to reach spots that may be missed in the day-to-day cleaning tasks. Use an extendable duster to tackle any cobwebs or dust on ceiling fan blades and any crown molding.
• Clean Walls: Scuffs caused by furniture, children, or general use should be tackled with every deep clean. If a sponge and clear soap (avoid any dyed soap that could cause staining to light-colored walls) with a small amount of water doesn’t do the trick, using a product like the magic eraser should remove most scuff marks.
• Wash Window Screens & Sill: You may clean your window glass until it sparkles, but often the screen and sill get left out.
• Vacuum Low-traffic Areas: While ideally, you will be vacuuming low-traffic areas regularly, places like under furniture, the floors of closets, and other hard to reach spots are excellent candidates for spring cleaning. Move out furniture and items from closets to ensure that every area in your house is free from accumulating dust and allergens.
• Clean Carpets: To truly ensure you get your security deposit back, a good carpet cleaning once or so a year is a great way to maintain the cleanliness of your space, and keep it as clean as the day you moved in. Borrow or purchase a carpet cleaner (you can find consumer level versions for the same cost as an average vacuum) and do the task yourself, or confer with your landlord and offer to pay part of the cost of hiring a professional service. Either way, a clean carpet will ensure that your space stays fresh and will eliminate many household allergens.

In the end, both landlords and tenants are responsible for maintaining the property. Tenants who fail to regularly clean and maintain their home during tenancy can face a dwindling return on their security deposit should anything be damaged due to neglect. Landlords should strive to remind their renters of important cleaning and maintenance duties to protect the property and set tenants up for success.

Navigating the landlord-tenant relationship can be tricky at times, but landlords and renters shouldn’t have to perpetually be at odds with each other.

If landlords are conscientious of the customer service they provide and listen to tenant concerns, and if renters responsibly care for the property and pay rent on time, the landlord-tenant relationship can flourish into one of mutual respect and satisfaction.

The unfortunate reality is, that most renters are unknowingly damaging their landlord’s perception of renters without even realizing it. Having a good history with your landlord is vital to ensuring that your landlord will be more willing to assist you if you come across a rare late payment or simply need a good reference for a future rental. If you want a great relationship with your landlord, these 5 ways to keep your landlord happy are sure to do the trick.

AVOID WHITE LIES:

We all know that trust is key in any relationship, and that big lies are sure to damage that trust. And while big lies are sure to cause trouble–if not get you evicted–white lies can slowly erode your landlord’s confidence in you as well. It can be tempting as a renter to indulge in a few half-truths now-and-then, but saying things like “the check is in the mail” and “sure, we totally read that maintenance checklist you gave us!” can add up to some big issues in the future. White lies tend to add up fast and can give you the reputation of being a flake–at best.

PAY RENT ON TIME:

This one should be obvious, yet late rent is often the most pervasive problem landlords face from renters. Give your landlord a reason to love having you as a tenant and avoid costly late fees. Rental agreements specify the due date with most contracts having a 3-5 day “grace period.”  Pay your rent on time, every time. It’s better early than late.  Remember, a day or two late may not seem like a big deal, but your landlord likely has property expenses that need to be covered with the rent payments. If you come across extenuating circumstances be sure to inform your landlord as quickly as possible, they may be dependent on your rent to supplement the property’s mortgage.

KEEP YOUR HOME CLEAN:

Exterior and interior cleanliness shows your landlord that you respect their house and your home. It also prevents against additional wear and tear due to layers of dirt or grime. Weekly cleaning tasks as well as, the occasional deep clean, are vital to ensure that your home stays in top shape. Not only will your landlord thank you for keeping the place clean, so will you!

GET ALONG WITH YOUR NEIGHBORS:

Good renters strive to be kind and respectful to those that live around them, and they know that (unless it’s written into the lease) it’s not the landlord’s responsibility to mediate between bad neighbors. While it’s important to notify the police if something illegal is occurring or you feel in danger, running to your landlord for every small issue will likely become very irritating. If you find that your neighbor plays loud music late at night, your best course of action is to be cordial and politely ask for a compromise. Sometimes a conversation is all it takes to resolve an issue.

AVOID HIDING HOUSEMATES:

Keep your landlord happy by following your lease agreement in full, and ensuring that anyone living on the property is there with your landlord’s permission.  Having an uninvited guest stay permanently (without your landlord’s permission) is a sure-fire way to damage your relationship with your landlord. This is also true if your guest is a furry friend. Unauthorized pets are never a good idea, and can be cause for eviction. If you can’t live without a pet, be upfront prior to renting and ask if it’s a possibility, mitigate their concern by offering to pay a higher deposit and be aware of breed restrictions. For new roommates, ask if your landlord would be willing to allow a new person if they pass the same tenant screening you went through to stay at the rental.

Keeping your landlord happy is definitely in your best interests as a renter. Having a great relationship with your landlord can make your tenancy a breeze, and can put you first in line to keep your dream home when your lease is up for renewal.  

Stay tuned for part 2 to find out the next 5 ways to keep your landlord happy, and how to shine like the dream tenant you can become.

We’re now into the 2nd month of the new year, and it’s around now that many find that their resolutions are a little harder to accomplish than originally imagined. If one of your resolutions this year was to get more organized within your Stockton home, and you don’t think  Marie Kondo will stop by your home anytime soon……. here are a few tips to get started.

The best part is, none of these tips will require any permanent installations, so your home or apartment won’t face any damage.

CONTAIN AND CORRAL:

Minimalism is growing in popularity, but that wasn’t always the go-to method to organize. Having less will allow for better organization, but you don’t have to abandon all your possessions to have a tidy home. Instead, try to contain and corral like items. House your belongings in a spot where they can be easily put away after use. Remember, the key to organizing for your home is ensuring your organization plan is easy to maintain. If you have to walk to another floor to put a small item away every day, it likely won’t make it there consistently. Put items away where you would most use them to make things easy on yourself.

USE COMMAND PRODUCTS:

Don’t underestimate the power of using your wall space. If you live in an apartment, it can be difficult to truly utilize the walls to their fullest without fear of the repercussions of damaging the space. Thankfully, taking advantage of all the command products available on the market today can help you organize and use the vertical space you have available. Removable wall hooks can be used to hang keys, coats and small baskets of items, while removable photo ledges can be used to house pictures, books or small bric-a-brac you would like to display.  

REMEMBER THE CLASSICS:

Organizing can be a big goal, and with any large goal, it can be easy to toss aside all working and non-working solutions in hopes of starting from scratch. Realistically, organizing is all about finding what works in your home. Don’t hesitate to get rid of the methods that are clearly creating chaos in your space, but don’t try to reinvent the wheel. For instance, a well-styled bookshelf is a classic and time-tested organizing tool that’s not just for books. Use photo boxes or magazine holders to house important papers, think in layers to display your child’s art and your beloved collections, and of course, they easily corral all your books.

IGNORE THE ONE-AND-DONE TEMPTATION:

You may be tempted to work excessively hard to reign in the chaos and then assume that you have completed the organization process long-term. This can be the biggest hurdle with organizing. Maintenance tasks will be key. Truly organized individuals devote attention to the task throughout the year. It takes just a few minutes every day.  They clean as they go, refine solutions for their lifestyle, and set aside time to redo problem areas. All are important aspects of the overall organizational process. Remember, regular adjustments of your system will translate to less huge clean-up projects down the road.

Seeking a more organized home is a great goal for 2019, and one that will keep it enjoyable throughout the year. You may not have the floor-to-ceiling built-in shelving on every organization guru’s Instagram, but you can certainly find easy to maintain solutions for your place. Creating a haven out of chaos can be an overwhelming task, but taking it in small steps and remembering the basics can go a long way.  It is your home and sanctuary, where you can relax and enjoy life to it’s fullest.

Norbert G. Huston