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It happens all the time elsewhere, but we usually don't allow it.

Getting an apartment into rent-ready shape is expensive. We spend between two and five thousand dollars making the place shine from floor to ceiling, inside and out. When our occupancy rate stays the same, cleaning two apartments doesn't make financial sense.

If a resident wants to move within the complex, Castle trains our property managers to offer incentives like painting or carpet cleaning instead. We may consider exceptions for excellent tenants in soft markets, but this is rare. Our business is managing our clients' money, so we always keep our eye on increasing the occupancy rate.

As we said last week, Craigslist scammers can be smart. They can also be lazy, simply copying and re-posting entire apartment ads. When a prospective resident calls to see the apartment, they cook up "viewing fees" or similar hazy charges. Then they take the money and run.

Castle has a simple solution to this: all our photos are watermarked. If the photos are stolen, the watermark won't show up. This lets us root out dummy ads before they become a problem and give our clients and prospective residents extra peace of mind.