All Forum Posts by: Arvand Sabetian

I think many others have touched base on a lot of important points such as price and seasonality. Location is also a factor. Keep in mind photo quality on listings also helps quite bit. 

Make sure your listing is getting pushed through to all the major sites. We see that Zillow accounts for the majority of our quality leads in our syndication. 

Since you're having a difficult time finding applicants make sure there is thorough screening done on any applicants that do come through. Don't feel the need rush the process and choose the first one that comes through. A bad tenant can cause way more in headache and costs. 

Good luck on your search!

As others have stated, you aren't required to reimburse tenants for hotspot costs. If you're looking to help out that would be on your own accord. It would definitely help build trust and rapport with your tenant, but if it's not defined in the lease agreement you aren't on the hook for that. 

If you reimburse now, you may be opening the door for future reimbursement requests in the future.

This doesn't meant to ignore reimbursement requests such as this, but it's something to consider.

There's a lot of options to consider. Best is subjective.

I'd recommend speaking to a few PMs to see who aligns with the type of management and fees you're looking for in a property management company.

I would hope a PM is providing a cost breakdown of fees (and itemized) related to a property.

We're upfront about all costs associated with anything related to repair and maintenance requests. Any costs being passed down to the owner is communicated and approved by the owner.

If you're questioning your relationship with your PM then it might be best you consider other options. Otherwise, having a conversation with them on how to handle things like this moving forward would be productive in seeing how they respond.

Sorry to hear about your experience with them. With budget services such as RR you're going to be limited in areas such as customer support. They're appealing to the masses. 

With that said, it sounds like you've found an alternative and I hope it works out smoothly for you! 

Any fees collected by the property manager should be a separate charge and not deducted from rent. Rent should be a standalone line item.

With regards to fees, these will vary from property manager--flat fees, % of rent, and other structures depending on short/long-term rentals, unit type and location.

1) I'd recommend utilities be separate. Some owners like to include that in rent so it's case by case basis. This should be defined in the lease agreement as to how it's covered (by the tenant or landlord) and how they're switched over when turnover occurs.

2) Not sure if I'm understanding correctly, but any fees paid to the property manager should be separate. 

As others have mentioned you could have a conversation with your tenant(s) about splitting the cost. As the owner, you may want to eat the cost since future tenants will likely make the same mistake. Consider it something as "cost of doing business" and a future investment into the property.

Are you goin to be managing this property in or out of state? If out of state I'd recommend finding a property manager. 

However, if you're set on managing it yourself there's plenty of websites and apps you can utilize for rent collection.

Some may or may not include messaging for requests such a repairs or maintenance, but if you're looking for rent collection there's quite a few options on the market that are affordable. Not sure if we can mention names specifically here in the forums so you'll want to search Google for rent collection for landlords or similar.

Highly recommend having security deposit and rent hit a separate bank account from your personal. 

As others have already stated, you would need to get the tenants to agree. A termination agreement with a defined move out date. The landlord needs to provide just cause for wanting to terminate an existing lease. This would be considered a no fault just cause eviction since it's based on the landlord's actions--wanting to move back into the property. The reason should be communicated to the tenants.

Since this is a case where the landlord wishes to terminate the lease early, the landlord may want to consider offering a cash incentive to the tenants.

If the tenant doesn't agree, they're legally allowed to remain tenants until the remainder of the lease. Make sure to the landlord is aware they will need to issue a 30/60 day notice prior to the lease expiring.

Hi Felicia,

I'd definitely recommend taking your time to consider your options.

Lithonia sees a lot of squatters and trespassers. It's possible to find great tenants with thorough screening, but also be mindful if you're considering short-term (e.g., AirBnB) as it will expose your property to bad actors.

Law enforcement and the legal system seem to operate quite slowly out there. Note, this is from direct experience.

It might be wise to also consider selling since home prices are slightly up in the past 2 years.