What do you charge to manage a house?
The fees vary depending on where the home is located or a single family home, condo, duplex or manufactured home. We also give discount rates to owners with more than one home or unit. Normally, the rate is around 8% per month.
We also charge a placement fee of 1/2 a month's rent whenever we place a tenant. This covers the cost of advertisement and also includes that month's management fee.
Will you just place a tenant for us? We would like to manage the house ourselves.
Sorry, we do not do tenant placement only. The cost of marketing can very easily exceed what we charge to place a tenant. We also have an obligation to our home owners who contract with us, to fill their homes first.
Who determines the price for our rental?
The Owner and Property Manager will work together to determine market rent and the best price.
What are the terms of your leases? Month to month, 6 months or one year?
We do one year leases. Occasionally we will do a 6 month lease with the owners permission. This is normally done to prevent a move during the slowest part of the year.
We like of keep all of our tenants on a set lease. This way we can contact them 45 to 60 days prior to their lease expiration and find out if they want to renew or not. If they are not going to renew then we can start marketing the home to find a new tenant before the home becomes vacant.
Do you charge anything to renew a lease?
No. We do have the requirement that the home must be given a full interior and exterior inspection before we will let a tenant renew.
How often do you inspect the property?
We will do a drive by inspection normally every 1 to 2 months. In most cases if the tenant is taking care of the outside, they are taking care of the inside. If the outside is not being taken care of then we will schedule an interior inspection. On the drive by inspection, we are checking for yard maintenance, trash in the yard, violations of CC&Rs, violations of the lease and general exterior maintenance of the home.
When do you pay the owners?
We pay the owners on the 10th of each month. If the 10th falls on a weekend we will normally pay the owners on the Friday before.
I am from out-of-state. Will you deposit my payment into my bank account?
Yes. Most of our owners will have us deposit their check into their bank for them.
What is the screening process? What do you screen for?
We screen for credit, criminal, civil, employment verification and past rental history.
What about pets? Pet deposits? Can we put limits on the pets?
We recommend that we make pets negotiable. Most tenants have a pet, about 75% do. By saying no pets we are trying to find a tenant from only about 25% of the total tenant pool. This results in longer vacancy time and lower rents. In most cases kids will do far more damage than most pets.
Part of our screen process is to screen for pets. We do not allow puppies or male cats in most cases because these are normally the ones that do the most damage. We will also limit pets by size, weight, breeds and number of pets.
Do you let the tenants smoke in the houses?
No. However, this is very hard to enforce 100% of the time. The tenants are told that if anyone does smoke, they are responsible for any and all damage caused by their smoking.
Do you take care of the maintenance?
We use independent contractors. They are all licensed, bonded and insured.
Can I do the repairs on my rental myself?
Yes. You just need to let us know that you want to, and we will contact you for all repairs.
Can I go into my house anytime I want?
No. We are required by law to give the tenants a 48 hour notice to enter the home.
Who takes care of the yard maintenance?
In most cases the tenant is responsible for the basic yard maintenance. (Mowing, weeding and minor trimming.)
Do you pay the mortgage payment, taxes and insurance?
No. If we paid these we would have to maintain a very large reserve on each home. The owners reserves are kept in our general trust account which, by law, can not be in an interest bearing account.
Do you pay the owners HOA dues?
Yes. Out of the owners funds.
Does the tenant pay the utilities or does the owner?
Normally in a single family home the tenant pays all utilities. In duplexes the owner may have to pay certain utilities, normally water & sewer. In condos water and sewer are normally included in the HOA dues and paid by the owner.
What happens if the tenant does not pay the utilities?
On utilities where the utility company can lien the property we normally receive a notice from the utility company. We will follow up with the tenant and the utility company to make sure the tenant has paid them. In the rare case where the tenant still has not paid, then we will pay them out of the owners funds and back charge the tenant.
Would it help if we put a washer and dryer in the house?
No. Having the home owner's washers and dryers in the house will not increase the rental fee; washers and dryers are also high maintenance items. We recommend not placing yours in the units.
