The Pacific Grove City Council voted unanimously this week to modify a 12-year old restriction on rentals for less than 30 days. The modification would permit rentals of residential property with registration, licenses, and payment of transient occupancy tax. This move will not only legitimize activity that has been going on in the City, but will bring in some much-needed cash flow to this great town.
The modification to the City’s rental ordinance could not have come at a better time, since approximately 45,000 people will descend on the Monterey Peninsula in June, 2010, for the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.
Monterey Bay Property Management will be registering its entire portfolio of Pacific Grove properties in January, once the ordinance is adopted, in an effort to make PG properties available to its customers who desire to rent a home for less than 30 days.
This is also a great opportunity for private property owners who manage their own properties to come out of the closet and be up front and above board about their rental business and contribute to the welfare of the city we all love so much. For property owners who would like assistance with this process, Monterey Bay Property Management will offer a registration service, as well as a monthly “on-call” service for out-of-town owners who would like a 24/7 contact within arms’ reach of their properties.
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Monterey Bay Property Management made a holiday donation to the Salvation Army via KSBW’s “Share Your Holiday” event this afternoon. The company made the decision to dispense with mailing paper holiday greetings this year. Instead, they saved paper/trees/the planet by sending electronic greetings. The money they saved was given to the Salvation Army. Monterey Bay Property Management hopes others will follow suit and, instead of sending paper cards, will make a donation to their favorite charity this holiday season.
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After twelve years of short-term rentals occurring throughout the city, despite an ordinance against such rentals, the City of Pacific Grove has decided to take a different approach. The City’s current ordinance, enacted by the City Council in 1997, disallows rentals of single-family residences for less than 30 days. The City has now taken the position that these rentals should be licensed, inspected and taxed. The City has missed out on over a million dollars in revenue that could have been generated since the original ordinance was passed. Licensed real estate agents complied with the ordinance passed in 1997, offering their vacation rental homes for 30-day stays. But owner-operators continued to offer their properties for rent by the night and by the week, aware that it would be difficult for the City to successfully prosecute them.
The City’s Planning Commission has reviewed a proposed ordinance that would require properties rented out for less than 30 days at a time to be licensed, registered and inspected by the city. The Commission is recommending that advertisements for short-term rentals, whether in the newspaper, on television or on the Internet, must display the license number of the rental that has been issued by the City. The City Manager will be in charge of enforcing the ordinance, and has indicated that the City will aggressively monitor advertisements to see if short-term rentals are being offered. Penalties for property owners or their agents who fail to register rentals or respond to complaints will be levied.
The advent of legalization of rentals less than 30 days is joyous news to visitors, property managers, owners of second homes in PG, and PG business persons, all of whom will benefit from having visitors to the area. If you are one who loves to visit Pacific Grove – stay tuned! You are about to have a lot more housing options!
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Traveling doesn’t have to mean ruining dedicated diets or budgets.
Budgeting for food expenditures during travel to any destination can be almost as difficult as forecasting the week’s weather. When staying at a traditional hotel, the challenge is multiplied as travelers face the added expense of dining out for breakfast, lunch and dinner. While the majority of quality hotels do not offer full kitchens, professionally managed vacation rentals allow guests to enjoy their favorite (and often healthier) meals and snacks, as each property provides a full kitchen stocked with clean utensils, pots, pans, plates and ample cabinet/refrigerator space for food storage.
“For my family, including grandkids, the best part of staying in a vacation rental was having breakfast in our jammies,” explains Kathy Ogden, a traveler from Clovis, Calif., who stayed with Monterey Bay Property Management. “We loved the freedom to have meals at our leisure and have home-cooked meals instead of dining out.”
Often costing less than a single hotel room, vacation rentals afford travelers an accommodations lifestyle unlike any other, providing considerably more space (both for living and dining), amenities, guest services and privacy than other, more traditional lodging options.
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We are proud of the length of our relationships with the property owners for whom we manage. We still manage property today for owners who joined us in 1986, when our company was established. These long-term relationships are successful because of your trust in our ability to handle issues that come up at your property.
One of those areas is maintenance. As you know, a property owner must be willing to maintain his property in a manner suitable for rental. The rental of property is a business. Maintenance of the property is a business expense. If a one neglects one’s business, the income it produces will decline. We have seen that happen over the years to properties that are “milked” for income with no revenue reinvested to maintain and improve the property.
We interview and contract with licensed, bonded maintenance providers, dispatching the appropriate maintenance person to your property, overseeing the work to ensure quality, and processing the maintenance charge to your account. We contract with only licensed, bonded maintenance people to work at your home. This is important for liability reasons, as well as to insure quality workmanship. We can negotiate better prices from most vendors due to the volume of work that we give them. We contract for the most competitive commercial rates available, so it is very likely that the rate you will pay for maintenance we provide will be less than you could contract for individually. We survey local maintenance providers each year as to their cost, hours available, and qualifications to insure that we have contracted with the best personnel at the best prices. You may be able to contract for a lower rate from an unlicensed person; however, keep in mind that you will need to provide workman’s compensation insurance for that person, which, of course, increases your cost.
Finally, because we pay our vendors within agreed-upon time frames, they are extremely responsive to us. This insures that your tenants and your property get the service required as quickly as possible. When it is raining and lots of people are discovering that they have a leaky roof, the leaky roofs we manage get attention first. This fast service not only protects your property from further damage, it reduces your liability to your tenant.
If you have any questions at all regarding how the maintenance at your home is provided, please contact us.
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Monterey Bay Property Management is now accepting all applications to rent with NO application fees! Start your property search at MBPM, where it won’t cost you $20, $30, or even $40 per person to apply. We recognize that these are challenging economic times, and we are looking for ways to make the rental application process easier and more affordable.
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Jan Leasure, Managing Broker at Monterey Bay Property Management, attended the 21st annual convention of the National Association of the Residential property Managers in Orlando, Florida. The event keeps property managers abreast of the latest developments in the industry. It is a great way to keep up with current trends and changes in the industry and to locate products that are helpful for efficient property management and professional development.
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KSBW: WILL LOCALS BENEFIT
FROM THE US OPEN
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CRAIGS LIST SCAM – RENTERS BEWARE
MONTEREY, Calif. – A new Craigslist scam is targetting Central Coast renters, according to various property management companies.
Jan Leasure, of Monterey Bay Property Management, said the scammers duplicate legitimate rental ads posted on Craigslist, but only change the contact information, as well as the price. “They dramatically drop the price to lure in victims,” said Leasure. “For example, we advertised a property for $2,300 and the scammer posted it for $1,000,” she added.
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