Management fees are easy to price. The cost of doing it yourself is not, because most of it rarely reaches a spreadsheet. Here is the Columbus math, as of September 2026, with both columns filled in. TL;DR Professional management in Columbus runs $117 to $184 per unit per month on a flat-rate plan,
Read the article → You own the building. Someone else lives in it. Ohio law draws a line between those two facts, and it is more specific than most Columbus landlords expect. TL;DR Ohio requires reasonable notice before a landlord enters an occupied rental, and the statute puts a number on it: 24 hours is presumed rea
Read the article → Move-out is the point in a tenancy where Ohio law gets specific and expensive. Here is the sequence that keeps a Columbus landlord out of a deposit dispute. TL;DR An Ohio tenant move-out runs on one hard deadline: under ORC 5321.16(B), the itemized deduction list and any money owed are due within 30
Read the article → Renewal offers on leases signed last spring are going out right now. On most of them, the decision is worth more than the rent difference it turns on. TL;DR Raise rent at renewal when the gap to market is 10% or more, when the resident has gone two years without an increase, or when the
Read the article → The tenant is gone. The couch, the boxes, and half a closet of clothes are not. Before anything goes in a dumpster, it’s worth knowing that Ohio law says less about this situation than most landlords assume, and that the gap is where owners get sued. TL;DR Ohio has no statute spelling out how landlo
Read the article → Bexley is three miles from downtown Columbus, wrapped on three sides by the city, and priced like neither of those things. For investors, it’s a live demonstration of what school district demand and constrained inventory do to a rental market. TL;DR Bexley is a premium, supply-constrained rental sub
Read the article → Starting October 1, 2026, the cost of professional photos for a new listing shifts from RL Property Management’s books to the property owner’s, a change worth explaining rather than burying in a cost schedule update. TL;DR Starting October 1, 2026, RL Property Management passes the cost of professio
Read the article → Your listing has been live for two weeks. A handful of views, zero inquiries, zero applications, and the mortgage payment doesn’t pause while you wait. The good news: this problem is diagnosable, and the diagnosis usually comes down to one of three things. TL;DR A rental listing getting no applicati
Read the article → Ten years ago, New Albany was a master-planned suburb known for white fences and good schools. In 2026, it sits at the center of the largest concentration of tech and advanced manufacturing investment in Ohio’s history, and the rental math has changed with it. TL;DR New Albany is Columbus’s premium
Read the article → Nearly 6 in 10 renters have a pet. A “no pets” policy doesn’t just shrink your applicant pool; it filters out long-staying tenants while doing nothing about the animals that show up anyway. The real question isn’t whether to allow pets. It’s whether your policy protects you when you do. TL;DR Pet-fr
Read the article → Powell just closed the book on an eighteen-month zoning rewrite, Whitehall is weighing two ordinances that could touch construction and tenant activity, and a Franklin zoning board meets tonight. Here is what Central Ohio landlords need to track this week. TL;DR Powell City Council approved an updat
Read the article → Ohio doesn’t cap late rent fees. That sounds like freedom until a magistrate strikes your $15-per-day charge as a penalty, or a Columbus tenant uses your oversized fee against you in an eviction. The rules live in the lease you wrote and the consistency you bring to enforcing it. TL;DR Ohio has no s
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