Property Management Blog

Winter Maintenance for Richmond Rentals: A Proactive Owner Plan for Fewer Emergencies

Richmond winters are often mild until a short freeze window appears, and then rental maintenance gets expensive because timelines compress. A marginal heating system becomes time-sensitive quickly. A small plumbing vulnerability becomes a mitigation event. A minor roof concern be...

Fake Rental Listing Red Flags in Richmond, VA

Fake rental listings have become one of the most common and financially damaging forms of rental fraud in Richmond. Unlike application fraud or payment diversion schemes, fake listings often appear early in the rental search process and target people before any formal screening o...

Tenant Screening Mistakes That Lead to Evictions and Losses

Tenant screening is one of the most consequential decisions a rental property owner makes, yet it is also one of the most vulnerable to pressure, shortcuts, and informal judgment.In competitive rental markets like Richmond and Central Virginia, vacancy costs, high inquiry volume...

The Truth About Leasing Speed in Richmond: How Vacancy Pressure Breaks Tenant Screening

“How fast can you rent my home?”That’s one of the most common questions property owners ask. It’s a fair question. Every vacant day costs money, and vacancy anxiety is real.But Richmond has a hard reality that rarely gets said out loud: speed is not the s...

How to Price a Rental in a Cooling Richmond Market

The Richmond rental market has shifted. After several years of aggressive rent growth, increased inventory and stronger competition have given renters more leverage. Many landlords respond by holding firm on last year’s pricing, waiting for the right resident to eventually ...

Rental Fraud in Richmond, VA: How Common It Is, How It Works, and How to Avoid It

Rental fraud has become a persistent and increasingly sophisticated problem in Richmond, across Central Virginia, and nationwide. What was once limited to obviously fake listings has evolved into a wide range of schemes that exploit competitive housing markets, remote transactio...

Landlord Maintenance Responsibilities in Virginia: Legal Duties, Risk Management & Best Practices

Property maintenance disputes in Virginia rarely turn on whether an owner “meant well.” They turn on what condition existed, how long it lasted, what was reported, and what was done before the issue got worse.The owner’s legal duties don’t disappear becaus...

Why We Charge a Maintenance Coordination Fee (And Why It Saves You Money)

As a property owner, you want to understand every line item on your statement. That's smart business. One question we hear occasionally is about our 10% maintenance coordination fee, and it's worth explaining not just what it is, but why it exists and...

The Virginia Smoke Alarm Gray Area: Why § 55.1-1220 Creates Legal Confusion

In Part 1, this series covered why professional property managers install bedroom smoke alarms regardless of legal requirements: insurance carriers expect them, fire safety science proves they work, and the cost-benefit analysis is obvious.Part 2 addresses the question that actua...

Why Every Bedroom Needs a Smoke Alarm: The Insurance and Liability Reality

When a tenant is injured in a residential fire, insurance adjusters do not start by asking whether a property technically complied with the minimum code requirements in effect decades ago.They ask three different questions:Did the property meet current industry standards?What wou...