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You are here: Home / Archives for property management

property management

Can’t sell? How about property management?

August 14, 2013 by khproperties Leave a Comment

Leased

Leasing Your Home and Property Management

Not ready to sell your home yet, but need or want to move? Why not consider property management as an option! Renting your home is a great way to hold onto your home longer, generate income, and help pay off your mortgage. If you are not ready to sell your home for any reason, property management is a great opportunity for you to explore. Kimberly Howell Properties runs a property management division and are more than willing to help anyone who wants to look into leasing out their home. You can list your home with a REALTOR® and manage it on your own or have a property manager deal with the management as well. There are a lot of options and ways to go when renting your home so examine them closely and choose the right course for your personal situation.

Here are some things to think about before renting your home:

  • Have a REALTOR® or property manager run a CMA (Comparative Market Analysis) to find out how much the home can be rented for. This can help you determine whether you want to rent the property at all and should be one of the first steps. Kimberly Howell Properties can provide this service to you, as well as give you a full analysis on leasing versus selling your home.
  • Bring your home up to Texas Property Code. If you are going to have tenants living in your home, there are specific laws about locks, alarms, and smoke detectors (just to name a few). Make sure everything is brought up to code before the tenants move in. If you use a property manager they should be able to set all this up for you.
  • Re-key the home. While the landlord or property manager can have a copy of a house key, the doors do need to be re-keyed for a new tenant. Once again, if you use a property manager they should be able to set all this up for you.
  • Talk with a property management company. Property management is surprisingly affordable when renting your home. Using a property manager like Kimberly Howell Properties can decrease your liability greatly. Property managers know the laws when it comes to writing a lease, running an application, and leasing the home throughout the lease term. While it does cost money, the money you spend will help alleviate your personal headaches and help protect you and your investment by being sure the law is being followed and everything is done properly.

Renting a home can be a huge benefit when it is handled properly and within the Texas Property Code. If you ever have any questions regarding the process of property management or what it takes to rent your property please feel free to contact us.

image courtesy of roland

Filed Under: Renters and Landlords Tagged With: property management

Do I Have to Rekey a Rental Property Every Time?

June 12, 2013 by khproperties 2 Comments

Keys

Re-keying Your Rental Property

Some of our landlords have recently asked about the rules on rekeying their property, so we thought we’d take a moment to clarify the rules. You can also check over here and get advice from property valuation experts.  The Texas Property Code, Section 92.151(15) requires that landlords must rekey the locks of their rental property no later than the seventh day after each tenant turnover date. When a rental property is occupied by a new tenant after the previous occupants have moved out, this move-in date is considered the tenant turnover date. One of the questions that comes up regarding this is whether or not a landlord has to rekey the locks if they were the previous occupant. The thinking is often that the landlord only had one key and since they are able to maintain a key to the rental property, they can save a few dollars by not changing the locks. This however, is a false assumption. Regardless of who occupied the property and how much a landlord insists there is only one key, the Property Code requires that the rental property be rekeyed. Think about it this way… how does the new tenant know that someone (a spouse, maid, handyman, etc.) didn’t retain a copy of the key at some point. Imagine the liability if one of those people were to use that key for nefarious purposes after a new tenant moved into the rental property. We don’t know about you, but we certainly wouldn’t want that kind of liability. So remember, hire a locksmith to change those locks on your rental properties every time. There are commercial locksmith services that may help make your rental units more secure.

If you need assistance in understanding the Texas Property Code or managing your rental properties, call us at Kimberly Howell Properties. We have several property managers available to assist you in managing your rentals and helping you stay within the law.

image courtesy of Bohman

Filed Under: Renters and Landlords Tagged With: rental, landlord, property management

Can’t sell your home? Try renting it out.

December 13, 2012 by khproperties Leave a Comment

For Lease

If you’ve had your home listed for sale and it just doesn’t seem to be selling, there’s typically a few reasons. Price is always a major factor and even though we’ve seen an uptick in sales and prices, not every neighborhood is performing as well as we’d like to see. When you can’t get the price you want or need for your home and you’re thinking about throwing in the towel, perhaps it’s time to consider leasing your home instead of selling. Renting your home can be a profitable experience and help you hang onto your home until the timing is better so that you can reach your goals.

Becoming a landlord isn’t for everyone. You’ll need to look at your financial goals and the local rental market. Although rents have been running high for quite some time now, you’ll want to figure out how much your home costs you to keep each month – mortgage payment (interest and principal), taxes, insurance (you’ll pay a higher rate than you do as an owner-occupant, if you don’t hire experts from millerhanover.com/auto-home-and-personal-insurance/renters-insurance site to settle this down), HOA fees, and repairs and maintenance. Unless you’re really bold, you’ll also want to hire a property manager. We recommend hiring one for the simple fact that the Texas Property Code can be a complicated pile of requirements if you don’t stay on top of it and learn all the new rules and regulations as they come along – and not following the letter of the law can land you in serious legal hot water.

We have several property managers here at Kimberly Howell Properties and an office staff that assists with their needs throughout the day as well. We also maintain a core of professional service companies to handle those late night emergencies in addition to regular everyday maintenance.

So is renting right for me?

As mentioned previously, it’s all about the numbers. Take a look at your home’s true cost each month. Sit down with a qualified property manager and go over those numbers. They’ll help you understand the local market and what your home will be worth on the rental market. They’ll discuss the fees of property management (or the cost associated with doing it on your own if you’re experienced and ready to take on that challenge). They’ll talk to you about the estimated money you should be prepared to have on hand for repairs and upkeep. The goal is to make more in rent than you will spend on the home’s true cost, but don’t be discouraged if it’s a wash or even a small negative, because if you don’t rent it out, you’ll still be paying most of those costs on your own anyway. Sometimes it’s better to take a small loss while renting your home and waiting for a better time to put your home on the market for sale.

Have questions about property management and renting your home? Fill out the form below and one of our agents will contact you.

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Filed Under: Sell Your Home Tagged With: option, sell your home, rental, lease, property management

A Challenge to all San Antonio Property Managers

September 10, 2012 by khproperties 2 Comments

Rentals in San Antonio

Property management isn’t an easy job. The author of this post, Matt Stigliano, gets that, but he does think there’s room for improvement.

In dealing with agents all day in my role at the office, I see the same problems with management for rental properties . I hear the same complaints from both the prospective tenants as well as their agents who are assisting them in finding a rental. The problems don’t seem to change…so it’s time to solve the problems. What follows is my personal challenge to San Antonio area property managers – both those in our office and those who work for other companies. I welcome any dialogue that would generate ideas to fix these problems. I know that some of my ideas may seem impossible to someone who handles multiple properties on a daily basis. I know I won’t change the world with this post, but I would love to see such a dialogue take place and all of San Antonio work together to make our system better.

Property Management in San Antonio – A Challenge

Part I – Data

One of the most common complaints I hear from prospective tenants is about the lack of information. Whether we’re talking about photos, room sizes, descriptions, or details about the neighborhood amenities; prospective tenants want data. In a city like San Antonio, where we are experiencing growth and an influx of out-of-towners, many new residents are conducting their searches online before they get here – and the lack of data is frustrating for them. In the age of Docusign and IDX feeds, we need to think of what the consumer needs in order to help them make better decisions and then we need to provide them with that information.

Of course, the counter argument is that rentals are flying off the shelves faster than we can put them on the market. Let’s be honest with ourselves here though, it doesn’t take that long to do a full fledged MLS listing for your rental properties. A few extra photos (particularly of the interior), some room measurements, and a few extra clickboxes defining what is included with the property (yes, my clients do want to know whether it’s an electric or gas water heater). It’s not that far of a stretch.

This then leads to questions about data accuracy. I could rant on this issue for hours, but I’m going to keep it simple – get the facts straight and put them in the MLS correctly. It seems simple enough, but time and time again, we find ourselves trying to track down agents in order to figure out the true facts about the property.

Part II – The Team

I truly believe all property managers need a team to function well. Solo operations are often the hardest to rent from…and when the market is moving quickly, an agent’s response time means everything. That team should be well trained – they may be unlicensed assistants or not know everything that the lead agent knows about property management, but they should be well versed enough to know what to do when someone calls.

Of course, there’s a lot to know about the Texas Property Code and the legal ramifications of that code can be complex at best. With this in mind, the team should stay on top of the latest news and developments within the Property Code – education is always going to be important, no matter what the topic.

It should be pretty obvious, but the team should also know what’s going on with any given property. Too many times I have called a team to find out if a property was still available, only to find out that no one knew, because they were not updated on the status.

Part III – The Status

Not only should the property managers know the status of the property, but even more importantly, the MLS should reflect the rental property’s status. Changing an ACT (Active) status to AR (Application Received) to RNTD (Rented) isn’t difficult and can spare a lot of frustration. The agents in my office (and from my own experiences as well) spend more time trying to see if the property is actually available than they do showing properties. I’m still waiting for call backs about properties I looked into back in 2008 (don’t worry, I’m not waiting by the phone). Property managers waste their time, the showing agent’s time, and the prospective tenant’s time by not keeping their MLS status up to date.

PART IV – The Paperwork

Many property managers (including those that work at Kimberly Howell Properties) require additional forms to be signed by the applicant. These typically spell out the rental criteria for applicants and information about how they will be screened. In the MLS we have a place to upload such extra documents, but in many instances the property manager neglects to upload their forms. Only when the agents are rushing about trying to get the applicants’ forms dropped off at the property managers office are they informed that they need an additional document signed. Upload the document to the MLS and we can show up at your office better prepared.

PART V – Communication and Payment

Communicate with the agent and the prospective tenants. If there’s something holding you up and you’re not going to get the application done in a reasonable amount of time, let us know. Letting us know prevents the multiple calls from both parties that frustrate you as a property manager. Yes, we know you’ll let us know when you hear something, but if for some reason you think the process of vetting the client is going to take a little bit more than usual, give us a quick call. Easy as that.

As for payment – I shouldn’t even have to say this. Pay your invoices on time. The time spent chasing you down for the commissions you owe is frustrating. I know that in some cases by the time the agent has taken a client out looking and then following up with you trying to get paid…well, they’ve lost time and money. Like anyone in real estate, you’re a business. Pay your bills like one. I’m still chasing down agents for commissions from early this year in some cases. It’s shameful.

Overall, I don’t think property managers are bad, but I do think there are enough agents out there who are practicing property management that are making a mess of the system. Renters are frustrated and many agents don’t want to work rentals because they can be more work than the commission is worth. If everyone steps up their game, even the worst property managers would be forced to make changes to improve their conduct in the business. We can all elect to stay the same and not make any changes and do business as usual, but I think the rental clients in San Antonio deserve better.

As I stated at the beginning of this post, I invite all property managers to let me know what they think here in the comments. Let’s discuss what’s good and bad. Let’s see where we can be more effective and help more clients with their move to our wonderful city. My ears are open and I’d love to talk about what we can do as a whole. Thanks for reading.

image courtesy of Charleston’s TheDigitel

Filed Under: Renters and Landlords Tagged With: san antonio, rental, matt stigliano, property management, property managers, challenge

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