Michel's Blog

Every landlord or legal entity that owns and rents a residential housing unit in Philadelphia must obtain a rental license (formerly known as a housing inspection license). The rental license itself is just one piece of the compliance puzzle. There are prerequisites to being able to get the renta...

Some community association boards just seem to get along and work together better than others. Is there something the property manager can do to make a board run more smoothly, cohesively and productively? We spoke with Alan Silverman, Chief Operating Officer of Del Val Realty & Property Manageme...

I want to introduce several resources where a real estate investor or property owner can determine what rent you can charge for your investment property.   The three most popular websites available for this purpose are Zillow.com, Rentometer.com, and Craig’s List. Zillow is the most popular and r...

Residential property management in West Chester, PA involves serving two different rental communities. The first community includes students who attend West Chester University. As certain geographic areas of West Chester do not allow student rentals, it is very important that you make sure what ...

Del Val Realty & Property Management (“Del Val”) took over the property management duties for a group of 47 rental units in Philadelphia and New Jersey in 4 separate buildings as of August 2015.  At the time Del Val took over, the buildings were being managed by a single real estate agent with li...

One of the interesting discussions I have with property owners is about pets and whether they should accept them. It is a hot topic, so I thought I would lay out the pros and cons and some of the things you can do to offset the potential risk of accepting pets. 60% of Americans Own Pets!To start ...

Do you own an investment property? And if so have you raised your rent every year?When I get hired by new clients or someone's thinking of hiring us, the topic of rent increases often comes up.  I learn they have not raised their tenant’s rent for a couple of years, 10 years in some cases because...

One of the questions I get asked a lot from owners and potential owners is about our lease.  We have a lease we've been using for over 15 years and have been constantly improving and fine tuning it to protect our owners.  We have used our lease for over 4,000 lease signings over this time period....

I am often asked about Section 8 and whether a landlord should consider renting to someone with a Section 8 certificate. They want to know if they should accept these tenants, what kind of rent they might get, and what are some of the pros and cons of this program.  Quite often they initially sta...

Avoiding tenant damage is an integral part of protecting the value of your rental properties. Aside from screening the tenants, it's your job to perform regular inspections and ensure that everything is properly maintained. Here are some of the most useful tips that would help you avoid the issue...