Clearwater Property Management | In-House Maintenance & Direct Owner Access

Your Property Manager Doesn’t Own Any Rental Properties, and therefore, doesn’t share your perspective

This is THE ONE question you must ASK before you even think of hiring a Property Manager. I am sure you would agree, if I haven’t “walked in your shoes” as a property owner, how can I understand your pressing need to find a good tenant. Or just how vital it is to keep maintenance costs reasonable?

It’s like asking a guy for parenting advice, who is a 40 year old, confirmed bachelor…He just doesn’t have your frame of reference.

Did You Know That Most Property Owners Are Losing At Least $1500 A Year Of Income On Each Rental Property...

which could have (just as easily) went into their wallet. Why? Because of lack of urgency of their property manager -- who has never owned more than one or two rental properties in his life (if that many). He or she just doesn’t understand the need for passionate attention to detail in marketing, screening for good tenants, or finding high quality, inexpensive repairmen.

My business partner, Chris, and I live these issues everyday with our own rental properties. We own over 20 single family homes. In order to meet our mortgage payments, property taxes, insurance, and repair bills, we had to figure out how to solve these problems, and do so quickly.

In fact, it is from learning how to make our own rental properties profitable that we developed our marketing, tenant screening, and maintenance systems. These systems now form the core of our business: Stress Free Property Management.

Without question, there is nothing like the necessity of having to pay over 20 mortgage payments each and every month to provide inspiration and desire to get better and better, as a property manager.

You hired a Realtor, who sells homes for a living, rather than a Property Management Specialist.

If you stop for a moment and think about this, most realtors in Clearwater (in fact most people) do not enjoy being property managers. In fact, if someone didn’t choose to specialize in property management, he is in affect choosing to do it part-time. Therefore, how good can he possibly be? It’s kind of like an accountant selling mortgages, or a high school teacher selling life insurance on the side.

Not to mention, if someone is just doing something to pay their bills, when their regular income is slow, what happens when their business picks up? You would have to think your property would become less of a priority, right?

Sadly, for most realtors, who dabble in property management, this is exactly what happens. He or she is really only passionate about writing contracts and collecting BIG Commissions, from selling homes and NOT renting them.

No question, Realtors are happy to rent out your home, BUT there is a big temptation to just put the first “live body” that comes through the door. It is a lot of work to market your rental effectively, answer phone calls, and do proper background checks. Not to mention, all the work servicing your tenants, once they move in.

When you think about it, most Realtors’ long term success is not based on your rental property performing well. Selling houses is really what their after.

When you are dealing with someone like us, we have the same “vested” interests. I want to rent your home quickly, to a good tenant, because that’s the only way I make money. Our focus is not selling homes, but managing rental properties (like yours) for the long haul.

This is what has made us so successful, and it is why 99% of our property owners remain our clients, year after year.

The end result is you get a property management specialist who lives and breathes this stuff as their chosen profession, rather than a typical realtor just managing homes, until sales pick up.

Allowing a property to sit vacant for 3, 5, or even 7 months, hoping for a good tenant to come along.

Let me assure you about one thing when it comes to finding a good tenant:

Hope…Is Not A Good Business Strategy!

I see this mistake all the time. So let me give you my “cardinal rule” for property management:

IF your property is sitting vacant for more than a month, there is at least one thing WRONG that must be fixed, and I have NEVER found an exception. And YES, this is true even in today’s economy.

The first and most common issue is the rent is just too high and has to come down a bit. Right now, the rental market is very good. You can ask for higher rents than in the past. However, tenants are still checking to make sure the rental rate is reasonable to similar properties in the neighborhood

Therefore, it’s critical your rental rate is competitive with similar properties in the surrounding area. Your property manager must give you:

An honest, No B.S. Assessment Of Market Rent - In other words, how much can you realistically rent your home for in the next 30 days? And by the way, you should be willing to drop the rent a bit below that price (if necessary) to start getting cash flow rolling in.

Without question, in this economy, renters will negotiate rent. And the reality is, the property owner who is flexible will get the best tenants for the longest amount of time.

Look, I know this is not a popular topic to discuss. After all, who likes to talk about getting less money? However, I’d rather have you know this up front rather than after your property has been sitting vacant for six months, because the rent is too high.

I’ve routinely seen rental homes sit vacant for being just $50 a month more than the going rate for similar homes in the neighborhood. So it’s extremely important you get this right.

The second common issue is something goes wrong inside your rental, after it was painted and cleaned. For example, we sometimes have unusual paint colors in certain bedrooms. The owner wanted us to try and rent the home as is and the paint looked fine. The trouble is that most of the people looking do not like the color scheme. Maybe it just doesn't match their furniture, who knows, but feedback is poor.

Or sometimes, bugs will suddenly show up. Not to be gross but a few dead roaches on the floor will scare away just about anyone. Other times, the roof, toilet, or sink might suddenly start leaking, and anyone who visits starts wondering what else might be wrong with the home. So, they pass on your rental property because they think if the owner missed these “obvious” repairs, it is just the tip of the iceberg. In their mind, there is probably a hell of a lot MORE things wrong, they can’t see.

The key is to get feedback from tenants after they look at your rental, so you can spot this stuff early and fix it. We are constantly quizzing tenants who visit one of your properties to find out why they didn’t rent. Based on their feedback, we make any necessary repairs to your rental, immediately. For example, the carpets may need to be steam cleaned again, because some stains showed back up, or the maid needs to clean the bathroom again, because she forgot to wash down the tub. You get the idea.

Although this may sound very simple, this is extremely uncommon in the property management industry. Most property managers don’t own rental properties of their own, and therefore, haven’t had the painful experience of their own rental property sitting vacant because of one of these issues.

Regardless of the reasons, we have learned (the hard way) that well over 65% of all tenants who look at a typical rental property, are turned-off, instantly. They are turned off because either the rent is too high in comparison to similar properties in the neighborhood, or one or more things are wrong inside the home, like bugs or leaks. Think about it, haven’t you experienced the same negative first impression, looking at places to rent when you were younger?

We have learned to carefully and objectively research the real world, rental rates of properties we manage for our clients. We check online and in newspapers to see what properties are currently available for rent, in a specific neighborhood or zip code.

Our goal is to find 4 or 5 similar properties in Clearwater so we are comparing apples to apples. If you price your rental $75 above what other similar properties in the neighborhood are priced at, it will sit vacant… a long time.

Is it a bit more complicated than this? No, not really... However there are a large number of things inside your rental that need to be checked carefully so tenants are not turned off.

We also carefully inspect your home with our unique 67 point “Ready to Rent” Checklist.

This checklist was developed from years of trying to figure out why certain homes rent quickly and others do not.

My inspection staff checks everything, from ensuring the closet doors are hung properly in the bedrooms, to looking under the sink for any water leaks. It is vital we are thorough, because each of these 67 areas will either offer a positive or negative impression to tenants.

My operating philosophy is if my mom wouldn’t be 100% satisfied with the cleanliness and condition then the rental is not ready to rent.

However, the average property manager or landlord often just does the minimum to get a house ready for rent. This is a mistake and results in the property sitting vacant for months, and eventually, renting to a lower quality tenant, who typically pays the rent late and doesn’t take care of the home.