Because we have a diverse population, many different holidays are celebrated during the winter months. Holidays like Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa can take a toll on us all: The preparation, planning, hosting, and cleaning can really tire you out! We hope that the following mini-guide will help you with your winter holiday prep and clean up.

First of all, planning and preparation takes time. The time you put into it, however, will reap massive benefits. You should get holiday parties that you will be hosting, and those that you will be attending, up on your calendar as soon as possible. Take immediate note of staffing requirements early on so that your crew can plan accordingly. Be especially sensitive to each of your staff members during this time; each member will likely have his or her own commitments to attend to, so plan around that early on in the process by asking everybody what their current commitments are during the winter holidays.

As the biggest holiday of the year for many approaches, your tenants will be putting up Christmas trees, holiday decorations, and interior and exterior lights, among many other things. Now would be a great time to send out a reminder of things to do and don’t do this holiday season. Make sure, however, that you set the stage in a positive way.

One of the age-old mysteries of business is determining how much to charge for the goods and services you offer. Every business owner quarrels with this issue and it is doubtful that the “perfect price” has ever been set. There are as many methods for determining price as there are people, too, which does not make the pricing determination any easier.

The most basic of pricing strategies is to take your cost and add a percentage to it. If your cost of one apartment unit is $1,000 to maintain (for both short- and long-term), you could simply add 25 percent to that figure to arrive at $1,250 per month for each rental unit.

Being a successful landlord is just like being successful in any other profession. You need to be a shrewd business person, have high ethical standards, listen and understand your tenants, and be willing to compromise in order to serve the greater good.

First and foremost, commercial and residential real estate property management requires a landlord with good business sense. While you do not necessarily need to have an MBA, you do need to have strong analytical skills, a love of numbers, and sound business knowledge under your belt. You have to be a go-getter and be very proactive with situations that could have major ramifications on the profitability of your rental property.

When you and a tenant sign a rental agreement or lease, you both are bound to the terms of the contract. Most times, however, it will be the tenant who initiates the early termination of a lease, either intentionally or unintentionally. It is rare that a landlord or property owner breaks a lease. Of course, it does happen; it is just a very infrequent occurrence.

As a landlord or property manager, you wear many hats. You are a salesperson, manager, human resources director, marketing genius, janitor, carpet cleaner, and house cleaner, just to mention a few things that you may have been called on to do either as part of your everyday routine or in pinches.

In any event, you need to know a lot about a lot. If you’re in a position of leverage, you simply must call on employees and vendors to arrange various tasks. However, you still need to know what goes into each job so that you go into the bidding process with a firm grasp of what is required from a time and resource perspective (i.e., cost) as well as to know when you’re getting a fair or a sucker’s deal.

As a landlord or property manager, you have various specific and general responsibilities when it comes to all aspects of your rental properties. Everything, of course, hinges on what has been agreed to in any rental agreement or lease; those written contracts supersede what has been traditionally taken care of by landlords and renters.

When it comes to property maintenance, there are dozens upon dozens of things to consider. From light bulbs to exterior painting and everything in between, the level of responsibilities shared by tenants and you is negotiable.