A landlord who wishes to terminate a periodic (month-to-month) tenancy may do so by properly serving advanced written 30-day or 60-day notices on tenants.    The operative word is properly.  The reality is that most “mom and pop” landlords are on cruise control and don’t know the “ins and outs” of landlord-tenant law, namely California Civil Code section 1946 et. Seq.  Over the years I defended many tenants who were improperly served by the landlord – the result of which was a delayed end of the tenancy.  By failing to properly serve notice the landlord will be surprised when they find out (usually at the end of the 30 or 60 day period) that they need to re-serve the notice thus resetting the calendar for another 30 or 60 day period.

Barron Park is the one Palo Alto neighborhood with the greatest range of types of construction and architecture all with a rural to suburban atmosphere.   Many people are attracted to Barron Park because there is so much diversity in the housing stock.  Barron Park is improving every day with newer homes being constructed with a  Craftsman flair.  This neighborhood might be for you if you enjoy a slightly slower pace of life with a well-regarded community association and friendly neighbors who make an effort to become your friend.

One of Palo Alto’s oldest and most recognizable neighborhoods – Downtown North Palo Alto – grew out of necessity during the construction of Leland Stanford Junior University – workers needed places to live, shop and eat.  Downtown North Palo Alto, located between Alma Street, Middlefield Road, University Avenue, and San Francisquito creek, is a few hundred footsteps from University Avenue which one of the most dynamic, diverse and economically powerful streets in the Silicon Valley.  The Downtown North neighborhood is the essence of urban living in Palo Alto, the hub of Silicon Valley.  Dozens of wonderful and tempting restaurants, cafes, shops, a theatre, and prestige stores line University Avenue (the heart of Palo Alto) – all within minutes of walking from Downtown North Palo Alto.  Jump on your bicycle, or throw on your walking shoes and Downtown North is also minutes from world renowned Leland Stanford Junior University and its sprawling campus.  A few minutes walking in the other direction leads to Caltrain – and all points north and south.

Developed after World War II “Midtown” Palo Alto contains all of the essential elements necessary to be a classic desirable family neighborhood.  Midtown is unambiguously located right smack in the middle of Palo Alto.  At inception Midtown was supposed to be a prototypical track neighborhood designed to accommodate California’s state-wide post-War development boom that defined the start of suburban sprawl.  Originally considered South Palo Alto, Midtown grew so big, so fast that the two separate neighborhoods – Midtown and South Palo Alto – were destined to be separated out of necessity.   Today Midtown is a distinct, charming stand-alone neighborhood which epitomizes Palo Alto neighborhood living.

If one were to encounter a neighborhood crafted around the community gathering place a name like “Community Center” would be appropriate.  Community Center Palo Alto is precisely that place.  The Community Center neighborhood almost symmetrically surrounds the Palo Alto Children’s Library, the City of Palo Alto Main Library, the Palo Alto Children’s Theatre, the Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo, the Palo Alto Art Center, Rinconada Park (for swimming and tennis), and the Lucie Stern Community Center. 

Once you have made the decision to give up control of your rentals or investment property you need to hire a professional to manage it for you.  The costs or fees of property management are sometimes believed to be excessive or exorbitant until one understands all the tasks and time associated with properly managing a property.  Property management fees from a qualified, competent, diligent company are worth their weight in gold.  Comparing the scope of services, the quality of those services, and the quality of the personnel delivering the services is a very good idea before hiring a property management firm.  The company or individual you end up hiring will be marshalling one of your biggest assets in your personal portfolio and you would like to have a competent person doing that – at least that is the conventional wisdom.

Wouldn’t you expect a name like Professorville to be something out of a Hollywood movie?  Well Professorville Palo Alto could very well be in a movie.  Professorville is one of the smaller Palo Alto neighborhoods which is found between Addison, Kingsley, Ramona and Cowper streets in downtown Palo Alto.  The first homes were built in Professorville in the late 1880’s.  During this period Leland Stanford was building out other portions of Palo Alto and Stanford University campus and some of the adventurous professors sought to build their own homes – on land they could actually buy which wasn’t owned by Stanford.

“Fiduciary” is basically defined by Black’s Law Dictionary as a term derived from Roman law which means, as a noun, a person or legal entity, holding the character of a trustee, with respect to the trust and confidence involved as scrupulous good-faith and candor towards another’s affairs.

A fiduciary also has duties which are described as involving good-faith, trust, special confidence, and candor toward another’s interests.  Typical fiduciary duties are imposed on and include such relationships as executor, administrator, trustee, real estate agents, attorneys, and, of course, property managers.  A person or company who manages money or property, i.e., the property manager, for other people must exercise a standard of care in that the interests of the money or property owners are placed above and beyond those of the property manager.  In some states, like California for example, a property manager is statutorily defined as an individual or entity which has the same duties as a trustee, i.e., a fiduciary.

If you are planning any renovations to your investment or rental properties in the near future you should consider going as green as possible.  Improving your investment property’s Eco Performance has monetary and intangible benefits as well.  You can ask your property management to help you along with using some of the helpful information in this quick guide.