471 Park Cottage, Village at the Park

Donlon Backflow Inspections
(805) 377-7070

Ready Restoration:  (805) 984-3344

ASAP Carpet Cleaning in Ventura County
(805) 832-9298

Let’s assume an investor(s) purchased property during the real estate boom years.  They are able to afford the mortgage payments but have chosen to let to let the property fall into foreclosure as the investment has lost 25% value.   Is the decision to do so a moralistic and ethical issue, or simply a matter of sound business decision-making?

Morally and ethically, one might consider how the decision to walk away will affect values in the neighborhood.  How long will the house remain vacant?  If the process lingers for many months, will the house fall into disrepair?  It’s probably safe to assume it will. The grass and weeds will grow, paint may chip, windows will become dirty and the house will look abandoned. What of the impact to the neighbors immediately next to property and those directly across the street?  Is it fair to walk and leave in one’s footsteps a lingering eyesore? What of the moral and ethical decision to walk away from the financial obligation to the financial institution?

Some might argue the banks and mortgage companies bare a brunt of responsibility for approving loans on properties way over-valued, in a speculative market, to individuals and families who could not afford the houses. “Millions have lost their homes,” the investor might argue.  “Why should I continue to make payments on a house still losing value?” Should the investor consider the role of the bank when considering whether or not to walk away?

Many investors feel when a properly loses about 25% of value, it’s justified to simply pack-up and let the place fall into foreclosure.  An investor, hypothetically, may have purchased a single-family dwelling for $400,000 and that same house is now valued at $300,000. When a property loses such value, with no expectations of trends reversing for at least a couple of years, some might offer such a scenario as being good justification for leaving the joint.

Hundreds of thousands of investors who are able to make payments on properties are caught in this moral conundrum.  The decision to walk and leave behind a financial quagmire, affecting the values of houses throughout the neighborhood, is certainly a difficult decision and one which should be thoroughly vetted.

Last week, Chris Thorman from SoftwareAdvice.com, wrote a blog post entitled Property Management Software Sure is SaaSY.  Chris cited five major reasons why web-based software for managing rental properties is gaining traction in the industry:

• Moving tenant services online;
• Offering web site creation and integration;
• Eliminating the need for extensive software training and maintenance;
• Enhancing communication between owners and managers; and,
• Improving record keeping and security

We at Esquire Property Management Company in Ventura County, California have based our business on a platform of technology offering online tenant services from applying online, paying rent online, viewing property images and videos online, maintenance requests online, electronic signatures on lease contracts via Docusign, we have a company intranet system via Central Desktop, etc.  But if we changed our property management software platform and adopted the provided website creation and integration via a SaaSY property management package, we could unleash a search engine marketing disaster for our company.

Search Engine Optimization remains an important part of any online property management platform-especially in a competitive market like Southern California.  An integrated Saasy software package would be great for communicating and managing current tenants and owners.  But Chris doesn’t mention whether or not these available websites are designed to be search engine power houses or if they offer additional SEO plug-ins.   If the goal is to attract new owners and tenants—property managers should put a huge emphasis on getting ranked number one on search engines rather than simply being online.