Part I: How to Declutter Your Property Management Process

Part I: Leasing

ロ Determine Monthly Rent

Use a combination of the below approaches to price your rental

(1) Market Approach:

Review rental prices of comparable properties currently listed on the market.

(2) Growth Approach:

For properties rented historically, use the initial rental rate and apply your county's annual growth rate.

(3) Data-driven Approach:

Online tools, such as the Rent Zestimate, use large amounts of data to determine price. These tools are not always accurate, but they provide a baseline to compare with the other two approaches.

Economics: If you have too many candidates, then you are pricing your property too low. If you have too few candidates, then you may be pricing your property too high (may because some people don’t properly advertise their property.)

Math: It's easier to list your property above market rate and reduce the price than it is to increase an underpriced unit.

ロ Create Property Advertising:

Perform the work once and store in one place to automatically syndicate to websites.

(1) Professional photos (seriously, don’t skimp on the quality, it hurts your advertising)

(2) Overview of property: # bedrooms, # bathrooms, sq footage, pet policy

(3) Detailed description of property: dishwasher, washer/dryer, parking, amenities

(4) Property listing details: specific to this listing

Price (rent and security deposit)

Terms (month-by-month, 6 months, 12 months, flexible

Minimum application requirements: credit score and income-to-rent ratio

Showing dates

Application process

Math: More information = fewer emailed questions from prospective tenants

ロ Post to Listing Websites:

The reality is, some websites drive more traffic and exposure than other websites. We recommend posting to:

(1) Craigslist: top source for apartment rentals

(2) Postlets: syndication platform, which will post to Zillow, Trulia, Hotpads, LiveLovely, etc.

Economics: It’s faster to go through Hemlane to perform this step. Also, your posting will slowly disappear to the bottom if it’s not consistently re-posted.

ロ Host Property Showing

Two options:

(1) Open House: most effective approach, because:

1. Saves time: fewer showings; if a tenant wants to rent your place, they will rearrange their schedule to make the open house
2. Impression of high demand: tenants see other tenants viewing the property and want to make their decision faster and get the paperwork in sooner

(2) Individual Showing: recommended for only very high-end properties

1. Caters to prospective tenants’ schedules
2. Allows you to focus and sell to a particular tenant

ロ Collect Applications & Perform Background Check

The most costly expense is a bad tenant. The screening process will help mitigate the risk of selecting a bad tenant. Use an online application that is secure, easily retainable, and accessible from any of your devices.

Perform the following steps in the background check:

(1) Credit Report & Score

(2) Background Check

(3) Employment and Rental Verification

ロ Select tenant

Most important step! Make sure you are abiding by Fair Housing and use objective information from the application and screening process.

Math: 1 additional hour vetting tenants < 12+ months of tracking down rent and repairing damages

ロ Complete Residential Rental Agreement

Avoid the free internet lease agreements, since laws vary by state. You want a contract that foresees possible issues and is written to support you. Contact a lawyer, or I can provide referrals, to get one written specific for you and your state.

For the complete rental lifecycle checklist, download it here.