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Property Management should mean a lot more than collecting the rent. It should wrap its arms around everything a homeowner could ever need. Feng Shui advice included.

A Short But Invaluable Guide to Feng Shui for Property Owners

We’ll start with a quick definition of feng shui, for those of you not familiar with the ancient practice. It’s a Chinese set of design principles based on arranging furniture in order to optimize harmony with nature. The two words communicate that origin: “feng” translates to “wind,” and “shui” to “water.”

By designing based on the system of laws represented by feng shui – whether it’s a living room or a skyscraper – you can improve the flow of energy, or the qi (pronounced “chee”), and improve the relationship between an individual and the environment.

As a landlord you might not think that the feng shui of your rental property is important.  Quite the opposite. Your home is an extension of you, so any Feng Shui problems will circle back to you (remember that this practice is all about the flow of energy, negative and positive.) 

Read some home-focused haikus written by poet, Sarah T. Jewell

For example, if the people occupying your house have financial problems, those issues will have an impact on you. Similarly, if positive vibes are flowing through the home, those will reach into your life as well. “Feng Shui your rental properties for good luck” this blog urges.

Now that we’ve made the argument, you’re probably wondering what you can do to up your Feng Shui game. Have no fear, we’ve got you covered with the basics, so you can create the positive energy you want in your homes and your life. (You’re all about positive energy yourself, we can feel it!)

First things first — your front door (after all, what’s more firstly than that?). Make sure it doesn’t creak or stick or rub. It should open beautifully, not just because it is the first impression you will make on a prospective resident, but because energy flows in through the same portal. Which means that all the Feng Shui areas of the home – Career, Wisdom, Family, Wealth, Fame, Love, Children, Helpful People, and Health – will benefit from a door that opens with ease and fluidity.

Our thoughts on how plants can bring positive energy to a home

The good news here is that if you have a front door problem, one of our network of over 10,000 contractors can remedy the situation for you. They can also address all of the other – umm – sticking points that stand between your home and positive Feng Shui. For example, painting is essential because a well-maintained home keeps energy flowing, and our homeowners have instant access to master painters.

There’s also an entire art to choosing the colors most suitable for positive qi. Each color stands for a different aspect of nature. For example, “mid-tone blues and teals represent the wood element (while) wood is connected to growth, vitality, and compassion.”  Red is the most powerful color in Feng Shui, and is used to protect – and also to clear – a home, and the energy of those who inhabit it. Browns and other similar tones introduce earth-related energy, which helps with grounding and stability.

Lighting also has a profound impact on Feng Shui. Here’s a great article with some illuminating tips.

We also need to point out that a bitter enemy of positive Feng Shui is junk. Clutter stops the qi from flowing; even a pile of toys can trap energy. To explain it all, we recommend the book Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui: Free Yourself from Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Clutter Forever. Remember that Feng Shui existed millennia before Marie Kondo.

Of course, when it comes to arranging your furniture, Feng Shui continues to play an important role. Here are two YouTube videos about applying the principles to bedrooms and living rooms. They have over a million views between them, so take note!

We believe that this background information and the tips in the links we’ve provided will point you in the right Feng Shui direction. Indeed, once you see the world through the powerful and curative lens of this Chinese practice, you will probably want to make sure your primary house or apartment is aligned. Here are some tips for using Feng Shui to make your home office as productive and joyful as possible. We particularly like the idea of laying the bagua – the Feng Shui energy map – on your desk, and organizing it to optimize the eight areas of your life.  Make sure nothing is interrupting the flow of your wealth corner!

At Belong, our mission is to connect people who own much-loved houses with people who are ready to move in and love them back.  Making sure your house has been organized according to the principles of Feng Shui is a valuable way to demonstrate – and share – that love.

Property Management has been stuck in the past, find out how Belong are breaking the mold by combining new tech with a human approach to renting out your home.

Looking for a Property Manager? Disruption Has Arrived

Technology is changing many old-fashioned, stuck-in-the-past industries; up until now, property management hasn’t been one of them. But things are moving forward, and fast! Read on to discover how one property management company refuses to take yesterday for an answer.  

When an industry is transformed dramatically – and shakes the status quo – it changes everything. Sometimes though it takes a while to fully accept how profound that change is. But once you accept it, you can’t go back.

For example, think of how different the world was before Uber or Spotify or DoorDash. Now, we can’t imagine what life would be like without them. These are technologies that suddenly made the previous ways of doing things obsolete.

The same holds in the world of property management. If you’re a homeowner – and aren’t following the disruptions in the category – it’s like you’re living in a world where you can’t book a car from your phone, or stream a virtually unlimited music library, or get food delivered from your favorite restaurants.

One major disruptive player in property management is Belong. Like the other examples of change agents, they’ve brought the power of sophisticated, consumer-friendly technology to a tired and under-innovated category. They have created a beautiful product experience. But, unlike Uber and its ilk, Belong doesn’t rely on technology exclusively. They also bring a level of passionate personal attention to the industry. 

To anyone who ever dealt with a conventional property manager and their many failings, the difference between that unfortunate experience, and what Belong delivers, is instantly obvious. 

To start with, Belong is focused entirely on finding people who will love your home as much as you do. That’s core to their DNA, and it’s why the homeowners they represent are usually not investors, but people who are looking to generate income from a family home, or a home they inherited.

To reinforce that personal connection, Belong never calls you a landlord. You’re a homeowner. And the people you are renting to are residents, not tenants. In fact, Belong believes in their tenants to the extent that they are willing to guarantee the rent. No matter what. 

That’s one level of disruption. But Belong has also taken what was a clumsy, manual process and turned all the steps and paperwork into a joyful digital experience. What can be done electronically, is done electronically. What must be done in person – like moving, like repairs and renovations – is managed through a combination of a dedicated 24/7 concierge, a vetted network of over 10,000 contractors, and a digital platform.  

You own a home.
We have someone to ❤️  it.

As a further example of Belong’s sophistication, they developed a sophisticated Market Price Optimizer. While old-school property managers just check listings and make a “guesstimate,” Belong’s algorithm takes into account multiple variables to deliver an accurate price that neither leaves money on the table, nor prices the home above the market.

It has been said that you don’t appreciate how broken things are, and how much they need to be fixed, until someone comes along and does it.   If you own a rental home, you may be so used to the broken experience that you’ve stopped thinking about it.  Like the expression goes, “A fish doesn’t know the water.”

But when homeowners move to Belong, and their eyes are opened, they will realize just how much they had to put up with before.  And that they never have to deal with it again, because disruption has arrived.

From pricing fluctuations to discrimination laws, we dig into three reasons why property management is more complicated when the landscape is changing fast.

3 Reasons Property Management Has Never Been More Complicated

The right firm really matters when the landscape is changing fast.

For a long time, the essential tasks of a property manager have remained essentially unchanged. They find tenants, collect the rent, maintain the property, and take the burdens of home ownership off the homeowner.

BUT the truth is that most property managers have never been adequate to the task, even before the world became more complicated. They haven’t brought in digital technology and they don’t provide attentive, “concierge-style” service. Simply put they don’t care enough.

When you add in the recent changes wrought by Covid-19, that put even more pressure on a property manager, you’ll see why a new breed of property manager – like Belong – is a necessity.

The risk of discrimination complicates property management.

Did you know that according to the U.S. Fair Housing Act – which governs how tenants must be treated – you can’t ask one tenant to pay a larger security deposit than another, even if it is for a non-discriminator reason?

It’s also true that you can’t ask a rental applicant if they have any kids – even casually.  Nor can you describe a property as “family friendly” in an ad, because it opens itself to the interpretation that the homeowner prefers families as tenants.

And these are just the federal standards; there are also local regulations that must be followed.  Here are some examples of where San Francisco has its own standards above and beyond the U.S. Fair Housing Act. 

It’s difficult for any individual to keep track of these requirements, and there’s no reason to put yourself in a high-risk situation when the right property manager, like Belong, has systems and protocols in place that ensure compliance with federal, state, and local requirements.

With the renovation boom, it’s almost impossible to find great contractors.

You’ve no doubt been reading about how supply chain interruptions have made it harder than ever to get the material you need for renovations. A lack of available, competent contractors has only compounded the challenges.  BiggerPockets – a blog with a mission to help people who invest in real estate, put it like this:

"A few weeks ago you call six different contractors to take a look at a small repair job on your home. Every single one went to voicemail. Okay, understandable. You figure they’re busy working and leave a message. In total, four of them call back, and you schedule an appointment with each of them to get an estimate. Of the four appointments, two of them never showed up. Wondering how to find a contractor (who doesn’t suck)? You’re not alone."

As an owner of one or two properties, you simply don’t have the time or the clout to hire on talented and reliable contractors. At the same time, you know making your hope as perfect as possible will help you get the best possible resident at the highest rent.

Ask Belong. With access to a concierge service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, we can give personalized advice whenever you need it. Including connecting you to an extensive vendor network of over 10,000 contractors. If you've got a job to do or repair to make, we know who can help. 

With rentals surging in value, it’s hard to know what to charge.

“Rent is about to go up again” declares CNBC’s newsletter, “Make It.”  With this shortage of supply, it’s challenging for homeowners to figure out where to price their homes.  If they’re overly optimistic, they risk overpricing it, wasting time showing it, and having to deal with an extended vacancy.

On the other hand, if you price your home too low, you’re leaving money on the table.  So how do you find the sweet spot, the Goldilocks price, that is “Just right?”  It calls for some sophisticated technology, which is what the folks at Belong have come up with.

They’ve created a pricing optimization model that takes everything into account:  the neighborhood; your individual house and its pros and cons; and what recent rentals deals have brought.

Everyone who signs up with Belong has access to this.  What’s more, Belong handles all the appointments and showings.

In a fast-changing world, which has risks and opportunities, you can’t afford to be stuck in the old way of managing property.  It’s getting trickier and more stressful to do it yourself, which is why a modern property manager like Belong may be just what these times call for.

Love letters might seem like a cute trend in the real estate industry, but homeowners beware when opening one that you're not opening a can of worms with it.

A Warning on Real Estate “Love Letters”

The housing market is tight. So much so that you may have been reading about a new twist: people who are looking for houses are sending “love letters” to sellers, telling them why they are the ideal people to buy the house. 

These letters are definitely not as innocuous – or potentially charming – as they might seem, as the Wall Street Journal pointed out in a well-written story.

While this phenomenon is not as widespread in rentals as it is in purchase situations, the same risks apply.   The risk, simply put, is that acting on one of these endearing letters could result in major trouble, putting a homeowner at risk of “enabling discrimination”  -- whether the contemplated transaction is buying or renting.

The story noted the case of a letter from an anxious buyer who noted that he and the seller went to the same college.   That seemingly innocent statement could result in a seller being accused of violating  “the federal Fair Housing Act by choosing a buyer based on a protected class, such as race, religion, or nationality. The law includes seven protected classes, and some states and localities have additional protected categories.”

A blog post from the Sloan Law Firm, cheekily titled “Real Estate Love Letters: A Heartfelt Enticement or a Forbidden Affair,” lays out the dos and don’ts.  It’s fine if a letter “expresses admiration for a particular architectural style,” but when a letter “includes a family photo, references to the number of children in a family, or a note that the property is close to the buyer’s church, it unwittingly inserts information into the transaction that a seller is not legally permitted to consider and possibly exposes the seller to allegations of discrimination if the sellers opt not to sell to that buyer.”

Even statements in a letter like “This dining room is perfect for our big family,” or “This layout is perfect for our daughter’s wheelchair,” cannot be legally considered.

The National Association of Realtors has also warned against this technique.

So if you’re renting out your home, be super-cautious about even reading a love letter.  Instead, if you want to find someone who will love your home we’d like to introduce you to Belong.

Belong is turning everything about traditional property management upside down. 

We’ll find you the right residents, those ready to love your house and make a life there,  and also tell you exactly how much to price your house.  We have a super-smart Price Optimization technology that understands neighborhood uniqueness. And of course, we manage the whole process for you. 

In the long run, you’ll be the one writing a love letter — to Belong.

Disclaimer: This piece is not intended to provide legal advice of any kind and we advise you to consult your attorney before making any decisions with regard to any issues described or raised herein.  

Adam Hanft

Adam is a futurist - co-author of "Dictionary of the Future" - brand strategist, public-company board member, former comedy-writer (but he hasn't stopped being vaguely amusing), and an investor in Belong.

Tamara Epelbaum

Belong

Lauren Slagter

Sparsh Mehta

Flora Fiorillo

Tamara Epelbaum

Belong

Lauren Slagter

Sparsh Mehta

Flora Fiorillo