Talk track Flashcards
Home warranties
We do not work with home warranties.
They drag their feet, give you large windows to meet with them, and they might not show up. It’s very difficult to work with home warranties. We do not do that. Who has time to do that?
We want to find out if they are basically married to their home warranty. It’s okay to have a home warranty, but are they willing to set it aside? Because we are a full service. We take care of ALL of the maintenance, not some of it.
Timeline (Vacant unit)
When will the house be empty? Or when will the lease expire and the tenants out?
We can sign as far as 60 days out, giving them ample time to get the property ready and a goal start date.
We basically need five days between signing and start date to get them into the system, meet the team, QA time, walk them through Buildium (accounting software), make sure they know how to read their owner’s statement, etc.
Timeline (Occupied)
The start date needs to be 10 days before the first of next month. Signing needs to be five days before that.
Make sure they own the property. Are you the sole owner of the property?
maintenance approval limit/ maintenance Reserve System
To address the #1 reason tenants don’t renew—poor maintenance—we’ve implemented a maintenance reserve system. This allows us to respond quickly and efficiently to any issues that arise.
For example, with our Standard Plan, you’d deposit $750 when you sign the Agreement. This becomes your starting balance, held in a non-interest-bearing trust account tied to your property. If you ever cancel, we return this amount to you, minus any unpaid management fees.
We don’t use these funds frivolously. Each service request is carefully assessed to determine responsibility. These reserves cover maintenance costs so we don’t have to bill you constantly—you’ll see everything on your owner’s statement. If your balance is low, we’ll deduct the amount needed from your rent before disbursements on the 10th of each month. This ensures funds are always available when needed.
Now, regarding the $750:
For tenant-caused damages (beyond normal wear and tear)—such as a hole in the wall, clogged pipes, or negligence like a clogged furnace filter—that’s a chargeback to the tenant. These are things you could also charge against their security deposit.
For normal wear and tear, you the owner are responsible.
For unexpected emergencies (like a burst pipe or appliance failure), we handle it promptly and at a fair price, always acting in your best interest.
You’ll see all charges and deductions on your owner’s statement. If a repair exceeds the $750, we’ll contact you for approval and request a contribution to replenish your reserve.
Finally, we don’t charge a trip charge or have a minimum—only actual time and materials at $84 per hour.
Utilities Not On at Property
If our team visits the property and finds that utilities (electric, gas, or water) are not active as expected, a trip fee of $55/hour will apply for the time spent resolving the issue.
Emergency maintenance + Service requests
After-hours maintenance calls are handled by a 24-hour professional call center. Emergency maintenance is addressed 24 hours a day. This being said, there are four steps we take with any problem reported by a tenant – no matter when they call: remain calm, assess the nature of what’s happened, assure the resident, and (assuming it is an emergency) get the appropriate maintenance team out there to fix it.
We use EZ Repairs for our after-hours call center. So, they have a phone number for emergencies. We use Property Meld for service requests. Each unit gets a QR code on the refrigerator so they can easily scan that and place the request.
It’s important to know that within the last 12 months. There were 3,400 service requests put in. We headed off 18% by sending a YouTube video or troubleshooting over the phone,
Services w/ Monthly MGMT Fee
Comprehensive Tenant Screening , Rent Collection, Emergency & Non-Emergency Maintenance Mgmt, Advertising & Marketing of your properties, Online Property Owner Portal, Financial Recordkeeping , Monthly Statements, Direct Deposit of Net Income To Your Bank Account, In-House Maintenance Service - $84/hr, Move-in Ready Inspection (Final Check), and Move-out Inspection & Turn Scope Preparation .
Lawn Care while vacant - do we provide a lawn mower?
Nope, don’t even worry about that. That will be 100% on the resident to either go out and purchase a mower of their own, or have a lawn service.
Owners supplying items would increase liability. We don’t want our investor clients to be in a position where they could be held responsible in the event someone gets hurt by the equipment they provided.
Ultimately, our goal is to reduce your liability. We don’t want them injured by anything you provided, or you have to fix or replace something they break. We do not want anything left for them; mowers, tools, ladders, no-nothing.
How do you make sure they cut the lawn?
If they don’t, the city code will slap them with a violation and we would be notified of that. But it’s very rare that that happens. Speaking of responsibilities, this is why we put such an emphasis on our rent Ready Standards and attract high quality residents, who are responsible and who will take pride in your property. Therefore, we don’t have issues, not to worry.
Inspections:
We recommend quarterly inspections. We do quarterly or annual inspections. It is up to you how often we do them. They range from $100 to 200. We charge our standard $84 an hour for it. It really depends on the size of the unit, scope of the repairs, and the time involved.
So, this is a ballpark as to what you can expect. It’s a great way to get eyes on the property. Make sure there’s no deferred maintenance, no surprise tenants, no unauthorized pets; make sure the furnace filter is being replaced, lawn is being cut, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are working.
Logistics of onboarding
We will need keys to the property prior to the start date.
You can drop off keys at our office in Gahanna. If you do that, please place them in an envelope. Attention: Tiffany. Or place them in an on-site lock box.
We will need the code for the lock box prior to the start date.
Two to three business days from the start date.
We will schedule a walkthrough of the property, it must be empty And vacant, nobody present.
The inspection takes 3–5 hours. It is a very thorough inspection. We take approximately 250 photos. We will send them to you that way, so you see what we see. We will send those via Dropbox. One to two business days later, we will go over a detailed scope of work.
It is basically broken down into two key categories: Requirements and recommendations. Requirements-Things that must be done. Like code, safety. For example, fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, and batteries are new. These things must be done! Recommendations - Things that could get you higher rent, maybe a fan with lights instead of just a fan.
When you two come to an agreement on the price, two or three business days out, we will begin the make-ready work.
We average about 18 or 19 days for make-ready work.
Basically, to make sure everything is clean, safe and functional. Hotel Style Clean, Freshly painted!
Once we are finished, we will take
Listing photos.
These photos do not cost you anything. And then we will list the property.
We syndicate to about 50 different websites, including Zillow zumper, Instigram, HotPads, Trulia, including our own website.
Our goal is to lease the property in two to four weeks. We average about 18 days on market.
We utilize Showmojo for self-showings.
So we need the utilities to stay on and in your name. I know you will never turn them off. However, please keep them on and in your name. There will be the equivalent of a trip charge ($55) if we show up and the utilities are not on. Once we execute a lease, we’ll have the tenants put them in their names. For now, keep them on and in your name.
When prospective tenants visit the property, they have to provide a photo ID and answer 10 questions. If you do not allow pets, and they have pets, they do not get a one-time access code to the property. With this one-time access code, they cannot return to the property. This is very safe. It is a great way to take advantage of getting people in on their own time to tour the property. It’s one of the better platforms. It’s very common within the industry to utilize self-showing platforms, very efficient and quick. And once we have green lights, we will push the applications.
We do a very thorough screening.
My team is very good at what they do, having consistent processes in place, leaving the emotions out of it.
Keeping it very business-like for our clients.
Once we have that lucky winner. We’ll then execute a lease. They will then place the utilities in their name and transfer them over. Once they provide proof they’ve done that, then we will hand them keys to the property.
Bear in mind, we have already by this point taken
move-in photos. We document everything. We will take
move-out photos when they move out of the property to compare before and after for the security deposit disposition.
Keep in mind that during the showings, we are in heavy communication with our investor clients, keeping them in the loop.
Communication while my unit is vacant?
You will receive weekly updates via email from the self-showing platform, Showmojo. These updates will summarize the past week-number of showings in the past week, number of applications. We will get feedback from the prospective tenants, perhaps the rent is too high or comments about maintenance items. Like maybe a wall is dirty, so we might need to hit it with paint. We are in heavy comms with owners at this time.
We drop rent by $50 every two weeks if we aren’t seeing interest. It’s better to rent it at a lower price than to sit vacant for months.
** we do vacant unit checks every two weeks during the winter months. If we aren’t getting any interest, no one’s going to tell us there’s a leak in the basement, for instance. We’ll keep eyes on the vacant unit**
Plan options?
“We offer three different plans, so you can choose the level of involvement that works best for you.”
1. The Passive Plan – “This is our most hands-off option. If you want to sit back and relax, this is perfect for you. Its $117/ mo, with a $1500 maint reserve limit”
2. The Standard Plan – “This plan is our most popular. It’s $137 a month with a $750 reserve. The funds in this reserve are yours, and if you ever decide to cancel, we’ll refund whatever is left, minus any unpaid management fees. We also pride ourselves on our fast response time with an average of just 6 days for maintenance repairs.”
3. The Premium Plan – “This plan is designed for properties that rent for over $3,000 a month. It’s $184 a month with a $350 maint reserve limit. and comes with some extra benefits like pre-listing services to generate interest before the property even hits the market. We also do give the owner final tenant approval, and allow your vendors to be used.
Rent Ready conditions
Based on what you’ve shared with me, it sounds like we would be a great fit to help you with your goals—especially since you’re focusing on a buy-and-hold strategy. We pride ourselves on being a Higher Standards property management company. What that means is, we don’t just take the keys and rent out your property. We go beyond that to ensure your property is in top condition before it hits the market, Think hotel style clean, appearing freshly painted, and everything in proper working condition.
ASK QUESTION: I know you mentioned updating [XYZ—insert specific detail from the conversation]. Have you made any other upgrades to the property? For example, when was the last time the carpets were replaced or cleaned? … Use this to gauge the condition of the property or if not reviewed outright ASK!
Once we’ve signed the Property Management Agreement (PMA), we’ll schedule an intensive property inspection within a few days. It takes anywhere from 2-4hrs, we take over 250 photos during this inspection and share them with you. Then, you’ll have a follow-up call with Tiffany, our Vacant Unit Manager, to go over the required and recommended repairs.
Once we have a plan in place, you’ll provide the funds for the work—typically between $2,000 and $8,000—and we’ll begin getting the property into RL’s rent-ready condition. (Turnscopes usually under 5K- confirm w/ Tiff). – …???HOW Much do you think it would take to get your property from GOOD to GREAT condition?
One thing I want to highlight is that we don’t charge tenant placement fees (which can range from ½ to 1 month’s rent). So, instead of paying a leasing agent for placement, that money goes directly into improving your property, making it more attractive to the highest-quality tenants.
This approach has really paid off for us: we’ve maintained an 80% lease renewal rate and our tenants typically stay for an average of 4.5 years. How does that compare to your strategy? … Does that sound like something you’d be comfortable with and able to fund?
I’ll send over our Rent Ready Conditions document shortly, which outlines everything we require and recommend. Feel free to review it, and if you’d like, you can start working on some of the items you see there. The sooner we get started, the quicker we can get your property market-ready!
How do you handle evictions?
We use professional local attorneys to complete the court eviction process. Our normal process for handling evictions is three steps and takes approximately 6 weeks, but we also look for other solutions – such as offering a pay-and-stay.»_space;>
Franklin County charges $130, and the attorney group charges $100, for a total hard cost of $230. RLPMG also charges a fee of $199 to manage the process. The client is responsible for those charges, although we make every effort to recover it from the resident.
