I’m a small business owner on Maui, and our family-owned business offers an alternative to homeowners wanting to sell but not wanting to list publicly (or other reasons, such as needing major repairs, or needing to close fast).

We repair, fix up and flip high-end properties to finance our goal of creating more affordable and accessible rentals for our community. We strive to provide value to our community and have a history of very happy past customers.

We own a small portfolio of rental properties in Hawaii which we use to provide below-market-rent housing to our community, and I want to offer landlords tips on how they can provide value to their community and feel good about their rentals without costing them money.

Tips I share with landlords include reconsidering no pets. This issue has gotten out of control and there’s no reason for it. You’d get better tenants that stay longer and are grateful, just by allowing them to have a dog.

We also like to spread the word about resources that landlords can refer their tenants to when they fall behind on rent.

For example, we recently had a tenant struggle with health issues and fall behind, so we referred her to Catholic Charities of Hawaii who covered her rent for three months while she got back on her feet.

In most cases, the landlord doesn’t know these resources are available, so tenants fall behind and often end up in an unnecessary eviction that is bad for everyone.

Greg Gaudet

Makawao