What We Do For Our Sonoma County Owners

As long as your particular trust account has funds to release, you can reasonably expect to receive net proceeds from DeDe’s Rentals once a month. CONTRACTUALLY, we affirm that we’ll release payments on or by the 15th of the month. Historically, we’ve made every effort to release funds on the 12th or 13th, depending on the calendar and bank holidays.

For some of our clients, we pay condominium association dues, insurance policy premiums, mortgage payments, even property taxes. We’re equipped and prepared to pay almost any obligation that directly relates to the costs and keeping of your investment.

Your property manager will be able to help guide you through that process, in order to prepare and promote your property at its most desirable. It’s an unfortunate fact that your OPERATING COSTS on any property do not have any reflection to what the RENT VALUE will be. Market rent is determined by many factors: time of year, age of the property, condition of the property, even how many other rental units are available at a given time. It’s always going to be our goal to rent your property at an attractive price, within a reasonable period of time, to qualified residents.

Evictions are actually rare, but given our many years of experience, we know well how to navigate the process.

Evictions, also known as Unlawful Detainers or UDs, may be instituted for financial or behavioral violations of the rental contract. Unpaid rent is the most predominant type of FINANCIAL eviction. Behavioral violations could be any of a variety of breaches, but are often much harder to prove and prosecute than unpaid rent.

Your management team will typically handle any initial steps without contacting or disrupting you. A resident who has not paid rent will be served with a “3-Day Notice to Pay Rent.” A resident who has some other behavioral issue will be sent one or more written violation notices, which may include a formal “3-Day Notice to Cure.”

Only if the resident doesn’t correct the behavior within the allowed time would we contact you - because if they FIX it, they’ve done what was requested. There’s no great reason to concern you if we’ve successfully resolved a problem.

If the resident DOESN’T correct the behavior, if they don’t pay the rent, if they don’t remove the unapproved co-tenant (for example), we will promptly contact you and discuss strategy. It is rarely to your advantage to take these types of situations lightly. One month unpaid rent can quickly compound; bad behavior can conceivably get worse, impacting adjacent neighbors, your rental property, and even your legal liability.

If it’s appropriate to proceed, and with your approval, we’d act as your advocate, interacting with attorneys, representing you in court proceedings, keeping you fully informed, and effectively treating the case as if it were our own property being impacted.

NOTE: At the time of this posting, there are statewide regulations related to COVID-19, which severely limit your ability to institute most evictions. In such instances, we will STILL do our best to protect your interests.

The simple answer to this question is “no.” But there is a much more complicated answer, which may give you reason to reconsider.

Anecdotally, approximately 30-35% of housing providers will allow pets. But as great a percentage as 65% of residents (both renters and owner-occupied) HAVE pets, mostly either cats or dogs. If you refuse to allow ANY pets, you could be severely restricting the pool of otherwise-qualified applicants who might be interested in your home.

We subscribe to an internet-based software solution to help us screen pets, and to help us establish whether any individual animal - based on breed, age, weight, vaccination history, prior behavior - is a heightened risk. We’ve established a “sliding scale” of increased security deposits, based on the specific results of this screening. The process has allowed us to, in some instances, be much more accommodating with pets, while still protecting your interests.

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Not withstanding, you may still be disinclined to accept pets, and you are within your rights to do so. However, there are specific classifications of animals that are NOT considered “pets;” you cannot refuse a resident to have one of these animals even if you have a “no pets” policy. Whether identified as “service,” “assistance,” “companion,” “emotional support,” or any similar term, a resident’s right to have one of these particular animals is protected by the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. A housing provider can’t refuse permission, can’t increase rent, and can’t increase the security deposit to offset real or perceived risk.

We’ve had plenty of experience with these types of animals, and the variety of documentation that residents provide to support their pet’s classification as an “assistance” animal. Honestly, there has been rampant fraud in this arena; it’s not fair, because people who genuinely DO need assistance or companion animals are often distrusted and discriminated against, due to the behavior of those who are unjustly trying to take advantage.

Fortunately, the same internet-based software solution that helps us screen applicant pets ALSO has been tremendously effective at differentiating between valid and inappropriate requests for assistance animal accommodations. Modern problems require modern solutions.

This is becoming less of a concern as the months and years pass. In 2014, California passed a law requiring all newly-installed smoke detectors to be equipped with 10-year non-replaceable batteries. The initial implementation of this law did not require all detectors to be immediately replaced; only those that were inoperable had to be switched for the new design. However, the “classic”-style smoke detector has a functional lifespan of 7-10 years. We recommend that any classic-style detectors be replaced when the next reasonable opportunity arises.

With the new 10-year detectors, there is no longer a concern about “maintenance.” We have all been trained with the strategy to replace batteries twice a year, when we adjusted our clocks. That’s no longer necessary. However, residents SHOULD be reminded to inform the owner promptly in the event that any smoke detector fails to function properly, whether it’s a new or old model. Almost every detector comes with factory recommendations to test on a monthly basis; residents should also be reminded that this monthly chore IS their responsibility.