First, a little bit about my background, and our vision for Property Management. I began my career in real estate as a handyman, and was often hired by property managers/real estate agents to do repairs on rentals. I quickly learned that the majority of landlord/tenant relationships were based on misunderstandings and sometimes mistrust. I would often remind the tenants that the Landlord was paying me to do repairs, and try to go the extra mile to show that the landlord did care about their living situation. At the same time, I made note of a few things that tenants tend to do (or not do), and from this I created our Premium Property Maintenance Package to address some of these things (more on that below).
Years later when I became an investor/Landlord, then real estate agent and property manager myself, I wanted to continue to keep a posture of servanthood towards both tenants and landlords. We enjoy good relationships with most of our tenants, and we are looking to work with landlords who can appreciate their role in providing decent housing for the community of renters, while also expecting tenants to appreciate and value (and maintain!) the homes they live in. We have managed rentals since 2016, and believe that our commitment to excellence attracts and keeps quality tenants.
Here is what we offer in Property Management:
We list your property separately on both the MLS and on Zillow. This used to be automatic, but I manually add the listing to Zillow now, which pushes it to Trulia and Apartments.com. The MLS still also pushes it out to many other syndicated search sites, but I find that Zillow gets the most exposure currently. It's also listed on Homes.com, a website that is growing in market exposure. I am happy to take photos for the listing, however, I do recommend hiring a professional photographer. Currently the rate for a basic photo shoot is around $150 or less, and it makes your rental stand out on the internet.
We coordinate all showings, appointments, applications, screening, and approval. To protect you from any lawsuits, I don't share personal information nor exact credit scores, race, religion, etc. for any applicants. Our standard minimum credit score requirement is 600.
Once approved, we issue the lease, collect the security deposit, and handle the move in for the tenants. We handle all communication and lease enforcement with the tenants, including eviction process, collecting late payments, etc. (thankfully this is not normal for our properties, but we have needed to do this during COVID of all times, so we have experience!) We are set up to respond to all maintenance issues and requests.
Basically, all you have to do is collect the rent payments! We use Abrams Realty as our broker, so everything will flow through them, and we use powerful nationally recognized PM software which helps us streamline much of the process.
In addition, we integrate our Premium Property Maintenance Package (PPMA) on our rentals. I started this with my own properties, and continue it to this day for all the properties we manage because we have found it to be so helpful and effective. We tell all applicants up front that the Landlord cares for their tenants and the property by hiring us to come on a regular basis (usually once every 2 months) to do the following:
This provides real accountability on how the property is being treated, and the RIGHT tenants always respond the same way when I tell them this is included in the rent... they say - "that's great!" And the start of a great tenant/landlord relationship is born. This isn't perfect, but I believe the number of “challenging” tenants has been significantly reduced. Keep in mind that as a landlord and PM, we CANNOT discriminate against any applicant except on the grounds of credit, referrals, and income *** (and if you own more than 4 rentals, you can't even discriminate based on income... more on that in a second) So I have found the PPMA to be an effective tool in thwarting tenants who have no interest in maintaining your property well, and making tenants who value a quality home feel served well. In addition, we find that the minor maintenance we perform actually saves landlords money in the long run. We have replaced faulty outlets, lights, door knobs, faucets, etc. etc. and only charge you for the materials if we can fit it into our normal visit.
*** Please note - IF you own at least 10% interest in more than 4 rental units, you CANNOT turn down an applicant who provides proof of Housing Vouchers (Section 8). Please let me know if this is the case and we can discuss this in more detail.
So what does our services cost?
MONTHLY - 8% of total rent - management commission
MONTHLY - $25 flat monthly Broker fee - Goes to Abrams Realty
ONE TIME/YEARLY AT MOST - FINDERS FEE - $300 OR 10% of first month’s rent, whichever is higher - this is paid to either another licensed agent who brings a qualified applicant that results in a lease, OR me since I will be showing the place to many potential tenants due to the Zillow/Trulia advertising. This is only paid by you when we advertise, find, screen, and place new tenants in the home.
PER VISIT - $50 per PPMA maintenance visit - I usually recommend a visit every other month, but there are cases for properties that need extra special care (some student rentals and some more difficult tenants) that require monthly visits. So usually this averages out to $25 per month.
The VA Landlord Tenant act REQUIRES that locks are changed for each and every new tenant group. We have access to specialized locksets that make this process safe, secure, and smooth for each turn over. Expect there to be a cost of around $50 per lock for the initial turnover of the house to a rental, and after that, $50 per door labor fee to switch between tenants.
We earn additional income from the tenants:
Abrams does offer some other services to the lease, Mangold Real Estate is allowed to offer these as optional add-ons. I don't make any money from these, and I don't know if Abrams Realty makes any money either. Total extra optional services (insurance, pest control, etc.) can come to $65+ per month. These are all paid by the tenant, not the owner.
Unlike many property managers, We do NOT charge any fees for arranging for repairs (standard is a 10% service fee), and Mangold Real Estate does not charge you the 8% rate and broker fee when the place is vacant. I only get paid if I can get your place rented!
We do ask owners to keep 1 month rent in RESERVE at Abrams Realty. This is your money, but held in escrow in case of emergency required repairs. It enables us to pay an emergency contractor (middle of night or weekend plumbing leak) and then have you replenish the fund the next month.
I know this is a lot, so take your time, and let me know if you have any questions!