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What is Property management?

Real Estate investing is a great way to build long-term wealth.  Unlike many other investment alternatives, owning real estate is time consuming and labor intensive. The success of your investment is determined by the ability to manage the day to day operations of your real estate holdings.

 

A successful property management team can vastly improve the overall performance of your investment.  We have developed a system that helps improve profitability, decrease vacancies, and reduce costs. 

Benefits to using a Property Manager

Owning rental property can be rewarding and demanding. Whether you have become a rental property owner as part of a long term investment strategy or you have become a accidental landlord because of recent economic conditions, using a quality property manager will give you piece of mind and free up your time to enjoy the more important things in life.

 

The For Rent Shop is a full service property management firm. We provide a suite of property management options for property owners.

 

Our property management services include property inspection and preparation, marketing, tenant screening and placement, resident relations, maintenance and accounting and reporting.

 

The For Rent Shop has a secure online tenant portal where renters can pay their rent online with Visa, MasterCard or bank wire transfer (ACH). As well as view available property, make real time online applications and make property maintenance requests 24 hrs a day.

 

The For Rent Shop also has a secure online portal for property owners. Property owners can view status of payments, maintenance, accounting and a wide range of reports online 24 hrs a day.

 

The For Rent Shop has an in-house maintenance and repair staff with full time employees. Emergency maintenance and repairs are handled by a toll free phone line (888-787-4245). Contact redundancy via call routing and email forwarding technology to ensure that emergency requests are responded to 24 hrs a day.

 

The For Rent Shop has contracted with an advertising agency that uses Brandnetting technology and online services to market property extensively throughout multiple online locations.

 

Property Inspection / Preparation

Property inspection is the initial step in the process of property management. The initial inspection provides the owner and property manager a complete understanding of the property's current condition. Evaluation of the inspection results provides a framework to the property manager and owner of the required repairs and preparation of the property to bring the property to rent ready condition.

 

Depending on the current condition of the property, the rental preparation may be a simple cleaning or extensive repairs may be required.

 

Digital photographs are taken and a property condition report is used to document current condition and establish the repairs that are required. Property owners are informed of what repairs are required and a working plan is devised to bring the property up to rent ready condition.

 

A property must be in rent ready condition in order to begin marketing the property.

 

Marketing

After the property is in rent ready condition the rental price must be established. We evaluate the competitive properties and vacancy rates within the market area of your property to determine the best rental price. We use multiple sources of both available and recently rented properties to establish rental rates.  Once the rental rate has been established, marketing of your property will begin.

Our marketing strategy is determined by a comprehensive marketing plan to get your property great exposure through a variety of different mediums.

We market your property using the professional expertise of an advertising agency.  Our advertising agency uses Brandnetting marketing technology which is a proprietary marketing system that harnesses the power of the internet through social networking, cross branding, blogging, website positioning and internet advertising.

In addition to Brandnetting, our advertising agency will market your property on many of the traditional internet websites such as Realtor.com and Craigslist.org, along with the MLS and numerous other rental websites. 

Our marketing may also use signage, message boards, printed media, real estate forums, and other outlets in an attempt to attract as many qualified residents as possible.  Our advertising agency is constantly evaluating the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and adjusting to changes in the advertising market to provide the most effective overall marketing campaign.

Our leasing agents are available seven days a week to show properties to prospective residents. We may also place a lockbox on your property so other Realtors have access and can show the home easily.

Our primary marketing goal is to find good residents to take occupancy and minimize the time the property remains vacant.

Tenant Screening

Our marketing campaign typically produces multiple applications to available properties. We use online screening software that provides instant results and minimizes time delays for applicant screening. We review credit reports, eviction reports and criminal background provided from a national screening database for all adult applicants. Income information, employment and housing history are reviewed with information provided on our online resident application.

 

All applications are thoroughly reviewed to determine the most qualified applicant. We select new residents based on a number of factors including income, job history, credit ratings and references.

 

Application evaluation, prescreening and proper tenant placement produces the best results for long term success for both property owners and property managers.

 

 

Leasing

Once the most qualified applicant is determined and approved we will request a non-refundable deposit to reserve the vacant property. A move in date will be established and a lease will be signed. Unless the first months rent has been pain in advance, we will meet the new resident on move in day to obtain the first month rent (or balance) in exchange for keys to the property.

We will also take digital photos of the property and complete the move in condition report to document property condition on move in date. New residents will be given a copy of the move in condition report and is required to sign and acknowledge current condition of property. Tenant will also be given a tenant handbook on move in date explaining tenant requirements.

 

Resident Relations

Good communications and professionalism is the most effective path to good resident relations. Tenant communications are tracked using state of the art online technology to track. Resident can contact us via web, mobile and toll free 800 phone number.  Our technology allows us to communicate instantly with all tenants via e-mail or direct mailing where necessary.  Tenant maintenance requests can be made online 24 hours a day and all maintenance requests are tracked to ensure the work order has been completed.  

We want our tenants be happy about the community in which they live and be proud of their home.  We provide our residents with good communications and excellent response times to repairs and expect prompt payment of rent and respect for the property. 

If there are collection issues or violations, including evictions, our communications with tenants are always documented with proper documentation and professionalism is always maintained.

Maintenance and Repairs

Timely responses to maintenance requests are critical to resident relations. All maintenance requests are processed through our online maintenance request system. Maintenance requests are tracked through our online system to ensure work order completion. Tenants have the ability to make maintenance requests through our online tenant website 24 hours a day. Emergency repair requests can be made online, and via a toll free 800 number. After hours and emergency repair requests are processed through our phone redundancy system that ensures someone is available 24 hours a day. Property owners are able to review all repair and maintenance items via secure online owners website 24 hours a day.

 

Our full time maintenance staff has extensive experience in all aspects of property maintenance. Property owners may chose to have our maintenance staff complete repairs, may chose their own contractors or use any of our subcontractors for any maintenance or repairs.

 

Accounting and Reporting

All income and expenses associated with your investment are tracked using our state of the art online property management system. Property owner can chose management options that could include all expense (mortgage, taxes, insurance and repair bills) payments or can be as simple as tenant placement. Monthly statements are available to property owners to view 24 hours a day via our secure owners website portal. In addition to monthly reports, property owners can view expenses, maintenance reports as well as many other reports are available online.

 

As we collect monthly rents, property expenses will be paid and balance will be sent to directly to property owners. For quickest access to owners income, bank wire transfers (ACH) are available for direct deposit into owners bank account.  Property owners who chose not to use ACH will receive proceeds traditional checks via US mail. 

 

We will provide you will an annual statement to document all income and expenses associated with your property along with a 1099 for tax purposes at year end.

 

Costs

Individual property owners have different property management requires. The majority of property owners use property managers for tenant placement and/or resident relation (rental collections, late notices, evictions etc) with maintenance management. Resident relations and maintenance management are generally considered Property Management. A list of property management responsibilities and owner responsibilities are covered in the Property Owners Manual.

 

Our fee structure is straight-forward and easy to understand.

 

Owner Leasing Fee (Tenant Placement)

 

The tenant placement fee equals the monthly rental rate of signed lease (1 months rent) and is deducted from initial rent payment. The leasing fee is charged when placing a new tenant for a vacant property. A fee of 25% is charged for existing tenants for lease renewals. There is no leasing commission for assuming management responsibilities for a property that already has a tenant in place.

 

Owner Property Management Fee

 

Ten percent (10%) of gross monthly lease rate is charged monthly as property management fee for 1-4 units

Nine Percent (9%) of gross monthly lease rate is charged monthly as property management fee for 5-9 units

Eight percent (8%) of gross monthly lease rate is charged monthly as property management fee for 10+ units

 

There is no property management fee for months where a new tenant is placed or a tenant has signed a lease renewal agreement.  

 

Resident and Applicant Fees

 

Applicants and residents are charged fees for rental applications, late rent, or insufficient funds etc.  Fees collected help us offset costs incurred from normal business-related activities associated with your property. In order to keep property owners costs as low as possible, income from fees are retained and is not income for property owners.

 

• Copy of Management Agreement
• Copy of Owners Manual
• Copy of Lease