Tag Archive for property managers

Managing Tenant Maintenance Requests

May 10, 2013 rocketlease No comments

Wow! I haven’t posted on the Rocket Lease blog for some time now. We’ve been very busy with other things over here lately. But I did want to set aside some time today to write up a post for all you landlords out there. It focuses on managing tenant maintenance requests.

As you are all no doubt aware, maintenance requests are a very real and very important part of being a landlord. Heck, it doesn’t matter if you have one tenant or one hundred, you’ll definitely come up against a maintenance request before long.

A maintenance request in its most basic sense is a request from a tenant that you fix something that is broken or otherwise causing a problem in their unit. Generally, these are things that they can’t fix themselves or aren’t allowed to (as per the specifics in your lease agreement). Usually, they are reasonably serious things: a broken garbage disposal, a leaky faucet, a malfunctioning oven. But sometimes they can be small, minor things like a burnt out light bulb or a clogged drain. These last two things are annoying and, in some ways, shouldn’t be maintenance requests at all.

This is why it is important to note here that you should always be screening your tenants before renting to them. Generally, this tenant screening process (which we provide along with our online application services) will weed out bad tenants who will call on you for the simplest of requests. Good tenants, those that have passed a proper screening, generally are a bit more conscientious and courteous to their landlords.

The absolute key to managing tenant maintenance requests is handling everything in a timely and efficient manner. If the request is non-urgent, I usually recommend waiting no more than 2 days before checking on the problem. If it is an emergency, get over there as soon as possible. You don’t want a relatively minor problem developing into something that could harm any of your tenants or the property.

Promptly responding to maintenance requests will improve your standing with your tenants. It will improve your relationship with them and show them that you care about their needs and well-being. It will make you a good landlord in their eyes. It will also, one certainly hopes, limit the amount of minor requests that they call in for you to take care of.

Finally, a big part of tenant maintenance requests is doing preventative maintenance throughout the year. This is especially true of the time between when old tenants move out and new tenants move in. You should give your units and your property as a whole a once over during these times and fix anything that needs fixing or that looks to be old. This will greatly reduce the amount of maintenance that you have to do in the long run.

If you’re a landlord reading this, what do you think about tenant maintenance requests? Do you have a special system set up for managing them? Have you ever used an online tenant maintenance request management system for you? Do you have any other tips that might help a landlord deal with them? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

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Landlords, Property Managers , , , , ,

Spring Cleaning: Ideas for Landlords and Property Managers

May 10, 2013 rocketlease No comments

This guest post was written by Rental Choice (.com).

The month of May finds rental property owners on the verge of yet another busy rental season. The recent state of the housing market seems to be improving, but there are still a very large number of renters looking for affordable housing. Rental Choice (.com) has compiled a list of ideas for the rental property owner in preparation for the summer months. No one regrets planning ahead, and these steps aim to make this time less challenging for everyone involved.

Because more tenants move during the spring and beginning of summer than during any other time of the year, landlords and property managers undoubtedly burn through more of their time and materials. May is a great month to stock up on supplies that are critical to your rental business, if this has not been completed. These supplies may include light bulbs, shower heads and other various plumbing supplies, air conditioner filters, and elements for water heaters, among others. Consideration of additional staff members during this time may also be in order.

Before becoming too busy handling the many demands of the summer rental season, now is a good time to tackle minor repair issues and preventative maintenance tasks. By using this time to replace air conditioning filters, the working condition of each A/C unit can be ascertained. It is also a good idea to replace the batteries in each unit’s carbon monoxide and/or smoke detector. This important task is quick and dead simple to complete.

An optional (but helpful) item to consider during this time is the drafting of a tenant newsletter. This should detail what is expected of tenants, as well as what they can expect of their landlord or management team. The tenant newsletter is a great opportunity to stress the timely reporting of maintenance issues. Remember, open communication cannot be overstressed in any landlord/tenant relationship.

Take this time to ensure any vacant units or properties are ready for move-in. If not already completed, all vacancies should have cleanings and maintenance scheduled. In doing this, you connect with vendors to make sure everything runs smoothly with them. If all of this planning sounds overwhelming, don’t panic! Property management companies exist to help landlords with all of the specifics of renting properties. These include collecting and depositing rent, conducting background checks and interviews, and taking care of maintenance issues.

Locate and connect with a local property manager using RentalChoice.com. We don’t charge a fee or require users to register. Our goal is to help our visitors connect with the nation’s top property management companies.

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Guest Post, Landlords, Property Managers , , , ,

Is a Rental Property Manager Right for Me?

March 22, 2013 rocketlease No comments

Guest post from Rental Choice (.com)

As a rental property management directory, we receive many questions about property management. Many investors are curious about what level of income they need to justify hiring a property management company. While there is no one-size-fits-all answer, there are some easy ways to evaluate and determine if a management company makes sense.

For example,

  • Do you have time to set aside for managing your rental property?

  • If so, are you already devoting all of your available time to managing rentals?

  • Do you live close to your rental property (or properties)?

  • Do you have time to properly screen a tenant?

These are questions that you must ask yourself. If you don’t have sufficient time to manage your properties, that alone is reason enough to consider professional management. Likewise, if you do have time to devote, but you’re spending all of it on management tasks, then a management company could literally change your life.

If your time is not already consumed with your landlord responsibilities, you must then evaluate your existing knowledge and experience:

  • Do you have proficient knowledge of your state’s landlord/tenant laws?

  • Are you skilled at handling your own maintenance issues?

  • Is your vacancy rate high?

  • Do you have trouble getting rent payments on time?

  • Are you comfortable with evictions and collections?

These factors are also very important and must be considered. If you don’t know your local landlord laws, it’s only a matter of time before you experience legal problems. This is another issue that  carries enough weight to justify a management company. If you aren’t the world’s greatest handyman, maintenance issues have a high probability of causing you frustration.

The benefit of a professional property management company is this: they do property management all day, every day. Every company worth its weight has a preferred vendor list. This means that when a toilet, freezer, or water heater goes down, the management company knows just the right person to call. This expertise applies to all aspects of property management, even those we haven’t mentioned. If you’re considering hiring a professional company to manage your rental, we encourage you to browse our directory, connect with a local professional, and gain some insight.

Rental Choice (.com) helps landlords by making it easy for them to connect with the right property management company. Rental management companies meet the day-to-day responsibilities of being a rental property owner. These include screening and selecting tenants, responding to maintenance requests, collecting rent, and evictions. This way, the landlord can own several rental properties without the hassle and stress that comes with their daily operations. By creating an open-source search directory of the nation’s best rental property management companies, Rental Choice (.com) has become a great resource for property owners across the country.

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Guest Post, Landlords, Property Managers, Tips for Landlords

Five Awesome Mobile Tools for Property Managers (That Will Make Your Life Easier)

February 5, 2013 rocketlease No comments

Rocket Lease firmly believes that renting an apartment shouldn’t suck. It shouldn’t be a terribly hectic, time-consuming hassle for either the renters or the property managers. In fact, it should almost be a little fun. Renters are getting new places to live and property managers are making money. Win, win.

But renting out an empty apartment unit can suck as a property manager. At the very least, it is a time-consuming task that you have to juggle with other essential everyday tasks like advertising, marketing, showing, renting, maintenance, tenant complaints, and a million other little things. Then there is, of course, finding time to feed yourself and sleep. And maybe even spending a few minutes doing something fun each day!

The fact of the matter is that property managers are busy. Luckily, there are a bunch of mobile tools out there that can help make your life a little less busy. They will help you make your job easier and more enjoyable and will allow you to tackle your time more effectively.

Online Applications – Rocket Lease

Rocket Lease is where it is at when it comes to online rental applications. We were founded because we wanted (and still want) to make the rental process cheaper, easier, and faster for everyone involved. While Rocket Lease is primarily an online tool, we also offer a mobile version of our service that allows landlords and property managers to accept apartment applications and perform credit checks on their mobile phones while on the go. The Rocket Lease website has more information on the ins and outs of our service (and a free demo!).

Online Real Estate Database – Zillow

Companies, like Zillow, that offer online real estate databases for easy perusing are an essential tool of the modern property manager. They make getting real estate and values on homes in the United States a piece of cake. You can also use Zillow to find homes and apartments that are for sale or rent. It makes for an easy way to check up on that new building you’re thinking of purchasing or comparing your unit’s rent with other similar units in the same area.

Online Storage – DropBox

There is a reason that DropBox is one of the most popular file hosting services around – because it rocks! Free to sign up and free to use until you reach 2GB of stored data, DropBox is incredibly easy to use. In addition, it allows for quick file sharing, so that when you’re on the go you can share new documents with the folks back at the office, or you can opt to share files from your computer to your phone, so that you have them when you’re out and about.

Online Notepad – Evernote

Another nifty mobile tool for the busy property manager is Evernote. Most commonly used in its app form – it is available for both Android and iOS – Evernote is basically like a multi-form notepad. It lets you jot down text notes, take pictures, record videos, and then share it all with anyone you wish. I personally use Evernote to keep tabs on my properties (it is especially useful to get prepared before apartment showings).

360 Degree Camera – 360 Panorama

Yeah, I agree, today’s renters are spoiled in a lot of ways. When once plain old pictures of an apartment unit would suffice, renters today expect to see full-on videos of said units. And not just any old videos at that, they want to see 360 degree videos of the units that they are interested in. Luckily, it is easy to please these picky apartment hunters with the 360 Panorama app for Android and iOS. It converts your phone’s camera into a 360 degree shooting device so that you can take video of your empty units and upload it to your online listings (which you are hopefully posting on Craigslist, a great mobile tool that we didn’t cover here).

 

What about you? Do you use any mobile tools or smartphone apps to aid you in property management? Have you used any of the tools that we discussed above? Let us know in the comments below!

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Landlords, Property Managers, Rocket Lease , ,

Property Managers: How to Convince Your Property Owner to Switch to Online Applications

March 20, 2012 rocketlease No comments

There are so many difficult situations that a property manager has to deal with in the course of a single day that it would be overwhelming to try to list all of them here.  But perhaps one of the biggest challenges faced by a property manager is dealing with the property owner or landlord that owns your building.  Ideally, you have a good relationship with the property owner who is your boss and that lets you make suggestions to him or her about how the property is handled.  Still, we know that it can sometimes be difficult to convince a property owner to change their ways, which includes getting them to switch to an online rental application process.  Luckily, we here at Rocket Lease have some suggestions for how to deal with the questions and concerns that the property owner might have when you bring up the idea.

What He Says: Won’t it be hard for me to learn a new system? 

Particularly if a landlord has been in the business for a long time, he will probably be concerned about the effort it will take to learn any kind of new system.  If he is in the habit of reviewing paper applications when a vacancy comes up, he may be very hesitant to switch to an online system, lest he not be able to judge prospective tenants so easily.

What You Say: The Rocket Lease system is extremely easy to use.  The streamlined dashboard actually means it’s easier to review applications – with the added benefit that you can do it from anywhere without having drop by the property or have them faxed over.  You can even review applications from your smart phone.  (At this point, you can feel free to show them the simple and oh-so-easy walkthrough on our site, which you’ll find here.)

What He Says: Why would we change?  Our system works fine.

It’s true that people have been renting apartments using paper applications for decades and it hasn’t started any nuclear wars (that we know of).  But just because a system works “ok” doesn’t mean it’s the best system.  If that were true, I’d be typing this on an Apple IIe and faxing it to you, right?

Yes, switching to an online system will doubtless make your job easier and that’s why you want to do it.  But when you’re talking to your boss, don’t focus on that part, focus on how it will actually help them.

What You Say: Switching to an online rental application will save you money because it will save me time.  When I’m not wading through paper applications or fussing with the fax machine, I can be doing the other, more important tasks that come with my job, like checking facebook.  NO!  Don’t say that, like fixing things.

You Can Also Say:  It will find you better tenants because you can accept applications from people around the world and also set up a pre-screening application saving everyone time and energy.  Our current system works “ok” but this system works BETTER.

What He Says: Won’t a fancy online application cost me money?

This is an easy one, because it won’t.

What You Say: Rocket Lease is free for landlords.  They even do tenant screening with the screening fees going to the prospective tenants.

If by this point in the conversation you haven’t convinced your property owner to switch to online rental application, you could always try begging.

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Landlords, Property Managers, Rental Applications, Rocket Lease , , , , , , ,

How Does a Rocket Lease Application Work?

February 28, 2012 rocketlease No comments

'01 (158)' photo (c) 2012, Victor1558 - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Since the core of our business is the online rental application, we want to make sure that the process is as easy to understand as possible. That’s why we thought we’d take a minute (or a post) in our blog to explain an online rental application, step by step.
Our customers are landlords and property managers, so if that’s you, you’re in the right place. If you’re a tenant or a rental applicant and you’re curious about where your information is going when you apply for an apartment with Rocket Lease, feel free to stick around.

Sign Up

The first thing you’ll do when you decide you want to take advantage of the Rocket Lease online rental application is to sign up for our service. Signing up is completely free and will only take you about 3 milliseconds. Ok, that may be a slight exaggeration, but the truth is that all we need from you is your email address and a password that you create an you can probably type those two things faster than you can say RocketLease to the rescue! Not that we say that around the office or anything…

Create an Application

Once you have an account, you’ll be able to create a customized rental application (view a sample rental application) for your vacancy. We’ll ask you a few simple questions about the unit you’re renting and create the application form for you so it’s unique for your property as well as professional in design and functionality.

Find New Tenants

Believe it or not, that’s everything you have to do before you’re ready to start accepting and sorting through applications. When you get a potential applicant, whether it’s online or in person, you can give them the custom url that we’ve generated.

All a prospective tenant has to do is visit the url and enter his or her information, depending on the specifications you made when you created your application. Tenants don’t have to create a Rocket Lease account in order to submit an application, which makes the process attractively simple for them as well.

The Rocket Lease Dashboard

With just a few clicks, an potential tenant’s application will appear instantly on your Rocket Lease dashboard. You’re even able to keep track of applications that have been started but not completed and send deadline reminders to those applicants who haven’t quite finished the process.

The Rocket Lease dashboard also offers an elegant and user-friendly interface to view, organize and ultimately accept or reject applications for your rental. We think it really beats a filling cabinet and a paper shredder.

Hopefully this step by step has proven to you how utterly simple it is to create and accept online rental applications at Rocket Lease. Remember, you can always get more details and have all your questions answered over at rocketlease.com.

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