Rental demand continues to rise. Last year, the number of U.S. rental households reached a record 45 million, and landlords are seeing the effects of rapidly increasing rents. From 2020 to 2024, rents rose 32% nationwide, with nearly half of renting households now spending more than 30% of their income on rent. “Fifteen to 20 […]

From Application to Approval: 7 Screening Mistakes That Cost Landlords Time and Money For landlords, the rental application process is more than just paperwork — it’s the foundation for building a reliable and profitable tenant relationship. Yet too often, landlords rush through screening or rely on gut instincts, only to face costly consequences down the […]

The 2025 rental market is heating up—but not in the same way we’ve experienced in recent years. After a period marked by soaring inflation and rapidly rising interest rates that squeezed many potential renters out of the market, conditions are now shifting. Inflation is finally cooling, and interest rates are stabilizing, creating a more balanced […]

The REAL ID enforcement deadline officially passed on May 7, 2025, and with summer travel about to ramp up Memorial Day weekend, many Americans are still scrambling to update their identification to stay compliant with TSA regulations. Unfortunately, cybercriminals are capitalizing on the confusion and urgency, rolling out a new wave of REAL ID-related scams. […]

“I might go to the neighborhood park or something and then I might say, ‘Well, I’ll go home this way today. Then, while I’m walkin’ up the street I’ll just look around, checkin’ it out,” said one burglar who, since he was caught, apparently didn’t check it out well enough. They keep a mental card […]

Remember when you acquired your first piece of rental property. Maybe you had visions of providing a great place for people to live. Maybe you looked forward to the thousands of dollars that were going to roll in because of your becoming a real estate tycoon. Or maybe you thought of how this property was […]

In 2023, rental owners wrote off $4.2 million in bad debt. Almost one quarter of that, 24.5 percent or $1.029 million, arose from landlords renting to applicants who completed fraudulent applications reports the National Multihousing Conference (NMHC). Application fraud has become so prevalent that in that year, 93.3 percent of rental owners experienced fraud, reports […]

What a great time to own rental property. Rents have risen to the point where they slowly make up for the lost income during the pandemic. And the shortage of rental properties promises to keep rents where they continue to make a profit for rental owners. The high interest rates and limited supply of houses […]

Years ago as I rode the Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic I wore a t-shirt I’d had made with “The Northwest Landlord: The newsletter for landlords” printed front and back. A group of three or four young women came up behind me and one of them said something to the effect that I shouldn’t be […]