Most people in search of the most legitimate home based businesses are often confronted with the ever present danger of a fraudster collecting their cash and getting out of town. What further complicates the problem is that there is a very fine line between the real thing and the fake thing. In this article, we look at how you can find some profitable and legitimate home based businesses that will create a dependable income.Your first plan of attack when looking for a legitimate home based business is to begin by eliminating all so-called “turnkey” opportunities that require money upfront for you to get started. What these folks normally do is to provide you with a website and products only to find that their money making system has been sold to thousands of other unsuspecting people like you.Such “opportunities” that are pitched as legitimate home based businesses are heavily penalized by the search engines and will never rank for any keyword as they carry duplicate content. This leaves your business out in the cold with no possibility of ever making money. Infact, you will be hard pressed to find someone who has made money from these turnkey projects.So, how exactly do you go about looking for a credible business that will make you money?While there is no science to it, there are a few guidelines that will give you the upper edge. To begin with, the most legitimate home based businesses have lots of positive reviews spread throughout the net. The best reviews are from ordinary individuals who have taken advantage of the opportunity and found it to be something of value in their lives.Interestingly, you are most likely to also come across complaints when researching an opportunity. You need to exercise judgment and weigh the positive evaluations against the negative ones in order to come to a proper assessment.Another powerful method for finding a legitimate business is to conduct research at websites that specialize on the subject of home based businesses. These are content sites that are maintained by independent professional editors whose recommendations carry a very high level of trust. They are most likely to make recommendations that will damage their reputation.Additionally, the most legitimate home based businesses are backed by solid demand for the products or services being offered. Where no demand exists, there is really no business to talk about. You will soon realize that most of the scams that are being marketed as legitimate businesses are packaged as convincing offers, yet, a closer analysis of the market clearly shows a lack of demand.You should not be drawn by attractive packaging and sales copy. You should infact be looking at an in-demand product or service that is priced competitively if you want to achieve any real success.As you can see, finding a home based business to promote is like finding a needle that has fallen into thick grass. The process is characterized by much research to identify the gold hidden beneath the rubble. The above guidelines will definitely get you started in the right direction.

During my daily activities driving around town looking at properties, I see many For Rent By Owner signs on lawns of vacant rental property. As I see these signs, I find it interesting that the owners have not asked themselves, is it really worth it?I wonder to myself if the property owners have actually asked themselves some key questions:
Am I actually saving money doing it myself?
Am I prepared for the responsibility?
Do I have all the tools I need such as Applications, credit and background checks, leases, eviction forms, notices, repair and cleaning resources?
Will the cost of doing it myself actually save me money or will it cost more?
As a full time professional property manager, I know from experience how difficult and costly it is to manage rental property. How do I know this? Because I do it for a living, I have unique insight into the activities and costs associated with managing income properties. My time is valuable!  Why would you as an income property owner want to invest the aggravation, effort and time it takes to make a few extra dollars a year renting a property yourself, when you can hire a reputable company to do it!It’s a no brainer to me.  Isn’t your time worth more then $10.00 per hour or $33.58 per month or $403.00 a year for one property! What am I talking about?  Let’s take a look at how I arrive at these figures… Before we begin to look at the costs associated with property management, let’s set a few ground rules and identify and define some terms.FeesProperty management companies charge anywhere from 5-35% for their services based on:
The rental term – Short, mid or long term
Services offered – Concierge, housekeeping etc
Repair services – On staff or hired as needed
Local market – Some areas receive higher management fees then others.  Example: Los Angeles California may charge 20-30% fees for long term rentals where my market area charges much less.
Other factors
Property Management services in my area for mid and long term rentals run approximately 10% of each month’s rent.  Sometimes, an additional first month’s rent fee is charged to cover initial setup costs.Lease TermsI classify lease terms as:
Short term rentals – Less then 1 month
Mid term rentals – 1 to 6 months
Long term rentals – 7 months to 1 year
Variables for renting in my market area depend on several factors:
The season – Being a primarily tourist oriented area; we go through several tourist oriented seasons where our residency swells.
Transfer in and out of Military personnel and families
Construction increases
The SeasonsLet’s break down the type of renters by season so we can estimate and gauge the types of renters we will typically have in a given season:

Winter – During this season we get several types of renters which include “snowbirds”.  “Snowbirds” tend towards mid term rentals.  They come to our area during the winter months and their primary residences are often the northern United States and Canada.

Spring – The spring season brings short term renters in the form of “spring breakers” as well as families taking advantage of breaks during the school year.  An interesting aspect to spring is the semi annual transfer of military families to one or more of our local military bases.

Summer – This season consists primarily of short term renters and midterm renters.  Visitors from all over the world travel to our area during summer and stay anywhere from 2-3 days to 1-2 months.  While visitors from the United States tend towards short term, European visitors lean more towards 2 weeks or more.

Fall – This is an interesting season and often the time of year local residents change residences.  It is also part of the semi annual transfer of military families to one or more of our local military bases. 
Vacancy ratioAn important factor to consider in estimating the costs to run an income property is the Vacancy Ratio.  Vacancy ratio is defined as the amount of time a rental property is vacant compared to the amount of time it is not.Vacancy ratio is governed by not only the seasons as mentioned above, but also:
The price of the unit
Amenities – Pool, spa, allow pets, etc.
The local economy
Marketing
Availability of the unit
Other factors defined by the area
In my area we typically see on average a vacancy ratio of 2-4% for small multi-family long term rentals (duplexes and triplexes).  However, during difficult economic times we could expect to see ratios as high as 6-7%!  I’ve recently seen vacancy ratios as high 10-12% for several areas.For ease of calculation, we will use a 5% vacancy ratio since it is in the middle of the vacancy ratios we expect to see in my market area.  These may or may not reflect the ratios other areas experience.  It is advisable to seek the assistance of a qualified property management company in the local area for accurate data.Let’s get to it…Now that we have a few guidelines to work with, we can make some educated estimates:
Vacancy ratio
Expected rental terms
Property Management Costs
Using these guidelines, let’s look at the average costs to use a Property Management company. In our example we will use a 2 bedroom 1 ½ bath apartment which typically rents for $700.00 per month utilities not included and no pets allowed.The property management fee of 10% will provide the following services:
Marketing and advertising – general (lawn sign, website, print, etc.)
Tenant screening/Application services – Background and credit checking
Unlimited unit showing – Using an average of 5 pre-qualified tenant showings per Unit before is rented.
Online transaction processing for tenant and owner
Monthly accounting report
Monthly Unit inspections for the first 3 months
Tenant notifications – Failure to conform to Lease, 3 day rental notices and late payment notices, etc.
Tenant evictions – NOTE: Only the beginning of this process is included.  Expenses for full tenant evictions are typically paid by the owner.
Our formula for calculating rental income will be:Rent * term = Gross Rent minus Vacancy Ratio = Net Income:
$700.00 * 12 = $8400.00 – $420.00 = $7980.00 annuallyWe expand on this formula and include a property management fee of 10%Rent * term = Gross Rent minus Vacancy Ratio = Income – Property Management Fee = Net Income:
$700.00 * 12 = $8400.00 – $420.00 = $7980.00 – $798.00 = $7182.00 annuallyNote: This article is not intended to be an investment strategy article.  The intention of the article is to identify whether it is worth the cost to use a property management company for a rental unit.  Therefore, our example uses a simple calculation of net income and not Net Operating Income which is much more complex and used for investment strategies.In our example calculation we see that without any negative impacts affecting a rental unit, the property management company made a whopping $798.00 per year on 1 unit. Let’s now put a price tag on just some of the services we’ve identified being offered by the property management company using average pricing:Application services – Application forms will cost approximately $5.00 for 5 formsMarketing and advertising – Lawn sign – $15.00, Website – $40.00 per month, Newspaper advertising – $40.00 per weekTenant screening – Background check – $15.00, Credit check – $15.00Unit showing – $10.00 per hour, 5 showings (1 showing per hour) = $50.00 (This is an extremely low rate and used simply to provide a guide.  I’m sure your time is worth much more then $10.00 per hour).Tenant notifications – Notification forms will cost approximately $5.00 for 5 forms, Hourly cost for 1 notification – $10.00 (includes travel time)We will omit the remaining example property management services as typically they would not be provided by an owner anyway. Without including the advertising costs, when we add up these costs we have an expense of $155.00.  If we use our vacancy ratio of 5% (or 6 weeks) and calculate our advertising costs we will need to add in $240.00.The cost for an owner managed unit not using a property management company is then calculated as:Rent * term = Gross Rent minus Vacancy Ratio = Income minus simple operating costs = Net Income or:
$700.00 * 12 = $8400.00 – $420.00 = $7980.00 – $395.00 = $7585.00 annuallyWow, a property owner who does the renting of a unit by themselves makes $403.00 more a year or $33.58 more a month then if they hired a qualified property management company!However, I am not aware of too many property owners whose hourly employment rate is $10.00 per hour considering someone who makes $10.00 would find it difficult to obtain financing to purchase income property!The question then becomes, how much is your time worth? If your time, aggravation and effort to rent a property yourself are worth the added income of $403.00 per year or $33.58 a month, then by all means you should not hire a property management company! If on the other hand, less aggravation and effort and your time is worth more then $403.00 a year, you should consider using a property management company to take care of your income property.A qualified property management company not only saves you time, effort and aggravation but also saves you money. What would happen if the unit would have been vacant longer then 6 weeks?  The advertising costs would have eliminated all or part of that $403.00 a year you made!Is it really worth it?  I don’t think so.If you own rental property, do yourself a favor and hire a reputable, qualified property management company.Services such as:
Tenant screening – Background and credit checking
Application services
Unit showing
Online transaction processing with tenant and owner reporting
Monthly account reporting
Electronic funds transfer
Are all part of most property management companies standard services.In addition, property management companies have professional full time staff to help you with all your needs: from creating the most efficient advertising campaigns to tenant screening and background checks to advice for repairs and staging to get the most income for your rental units.

Health and safety and fire risk management is an important aspect of a freehold or leasehold property management company’s responsibility. The consequences of failure to meet requirements can be catastrophic when it comes to the lives and well being of the leaseholders and residents. The risk of injury or death is clear however ineffective management can also have very serious financial penalties as evidenced by recent fines handed out by the courts..

Under a property lease certain aspects of property block management and fire safety are unavoidably the responsibility of the freeholder. A professional, regulated property block management company or managing agent will help ensure that buildings and grounds are well maintained in compliance with current health and safety requirements offering protection to all concerned.

Failure to face up to these responsibilities can lead to prosecution and recent case law supports this. The managing agent of a block of flats in London was fined £100,000 and ordered to pay almost £13,000 in costs after pleading guilty to breaches of fire safety law.

The leasehold owner of the premises was fined £33,000 after pleading guilty to one offence under the Order and ordered to pay costs of £6,440.

Following a fire in a flat, London Fire Brigade carried out an audit of the communal areas. Officers found a number of fire safety breaches which included failure to: make an emergency plan, ensure fire doors were self closing, install a fire alarm system and ensure that the electrical intake cupboard was locked.

Assistant commissioner for fire safety regulation, Steve Turek, said: “London Fire Brigade will continue to take action against managing agents, lease owners or landlords who do not take their fire safety responsibilities seriously. Failure to comply with the law can, as this case has shown, result in a prosecution.”

It is clear that health and safety and fire safety specifically is essential when it comes to managing property and a good professional RICS Regulated managing agent will be able to advise on the necessary measures.

The freeholds of leasehold blocks of flats deserve special attention regarding fire safety and the latest statutory regulations being enforced are there to protect residents, leaseholders, visitors and contractors. All those attending blocks of flats or estates are entitled to do so safely without being put at risk of harm or injury.

Fire safety is not something to be attempted by volunteer property management company directors however well intentioned their actions might be.

Preventative action must be carried out effectively in compliance with the current statutory regulations and expert advice should be sought. Property management companies and their agents are responsible for health and safety and for carrying out fire risk assessments and implementing their recommendations.

While fines might appear harsh the real tragedy to be avoided is putting lives at risk and all measures that reduce that risk must be supported.

Your basic principle of advertising requires you to completely analyze the answer some question prior to making an effective advertising decisions. Here are the 4 question you should ask yourself:

4 Main Questions

What should my advertising accomplish?

Who should your advertising speak to?

What should your advertising say?

What kind of advertising medium should you use?

In many kinds of business conditions, these question can have many answers. As you go through these question you should think about each question you should not accept just any answer until you have reviewed and look in to the complete extent possibilities.

What Do You Want Your Advertising To Accomplish?

The first thing you want to improve on in your advertising plan is know what your precise advertising goals are. You need to be as specific as you can as to why are you advertising and what do you want accomplish. You will want your advertising to expand your business, for your advertising program to work, you have to be very precise. Here are some goals you may what to achieve in your advertising:

You may want to increase familiarity of your business.

You want to entice your competitors customers to your website.

You want to multiply the good chance of keeping your current customers and building their loyalty.

You want you produce instant sales and sales leads.

There is a chance you may want your advertising to accomplish all of these goals and even more. You will want to prioritize your goals. Your advertising will work most excellent when it is expanded to meet one goal at a time.

Who Should Your Advertising Speak To?

Now that you have established your advertising goals, you need to select your purposed audience for your advertising message. Advertising that is aimed at everyone very seldom works. For successful advertising should be written toward a specific customer in mind. You should attempt to picture the individual you need to reach so you can accomplish your advertising goals. You should relate to your targeted customer in all of the following:

Demographics: which includes age, income, gender, location of business or residence

Behaviors; your current knowledge of your business, products, services and or vendors they are using, loyalty to your competitors business or your business, etc.

Needs, want, or desires: what are the benefits your customer is looking for, the reason on which they will decide if they will use your product or service, and how can your business fulfill there needs.

What Should My Advertising Say?

Once you have figured out who your target audience will be and what they are looking for. The service or products you offer, you will need to decide what your advertising will say. Your advertising should be written to inform a message that can be seen as something is important by your intended customers. You should write your advertising to persuade your audience, describing the most important benefits of your service or product in your advertising. You should keep in mind Attention, hold Interest, arouse Desire, motivate Action the analog is AIDA.

Where Should You Place Your Advertising?

You will find that every month, there are new and updated advertising options become available. You can place advertising on television stations, on grocery carts, in airports, buses and any where else you can locate. You want to place your advertising where your target customer will have the highest likelihood of hearing or seeing your advertising. There is no good or bad setting place to advertise. You need to look at your advertising goals, your advertising budget, as you look at your media choices.