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Finding tenants for rental homes Midlands should be easy, after all the city has a population of 744,000 people in the metro area. People are flocking to Midlands for the job opportunities, family friendly atmosphere, and southern living. The median age of folks in Midlands is 36 and with the same number of people moving to town every day, property managers can have a tough time finding quality applicants for their rental homes Midlands.

The first thing you must do when you are looking for quality tenants for your rental homes Midlands, is have a comprehensive application that prospective renters fill out. This application should include:

Full Name
Proof of Income
Job history
Social security number
Current contact information including address
Past 5-10 years of rental history and job history
Date of birth
Driver’s license number

All members of the household that will reside in the rental home

Next, conduct a background check on the applicant to ensure they meet all the rental property qualifications. These could relate to criminal history, credit report, income, etc. Do not make exceptions for any applicants. This is against fair housing laws. All applicants for rental homes Midlands must be treated equally, so do not make concessions on the application criteria ever.

After the background and credit checks are passed, do a reference check on the applicant. Call their past employers and past landlords to get a better idea of the renter. While employers and landlords are limited by what they can disclose by law, they can tell you whether they would hire or rent to that person again at the very least.

If you have income requirements for your rental homes Midlands, make sure that they are reasonable. Standard practice is that rent should consume no more than one third of a renter’s monthly budget. Set these same expectations for your applicants to reduce the chance of late rent or missed payments. Including an application fee in your rental process can also give you a better idea of a person’s ability to afford your rental unit.

Property Manager | Do you love real estate, customer service, sales and meeting new people? Are you thinking about becoming a property manager? Being a property manager may seem like a lot of fun, but not everyone can cut it in the competitive marketplace. Here is what you need to know about being a property manager, so you can decide if it is truly the right fit for you.

1. You Must Always Be Available- You may have regular office hours that you hold for leasing, but once you have tenants, you have to be available for maintenance emergencies, issues paying rent, and other tenant issues at all hours of the day. There are answering services that can help field calls outside of normal business hours but if a tenant has true emergency you will be expected to handle it, whether it happens at 3 in the morning or on a Sunday Afternoon.

2. You Must Love People- Working as a property manager means that you will have to love people. You must be comfortable talking to people on the phone, through emails, and in person. You have to be friendly, outgoing and have excellent sales and customer service skills. If you aren’t comfortable around new people or don’t consider yourself a salesperson, being a property manager is not for you.

3. You Must Think Quickly- Making decisions in the moment is important for a property manager to be able to do. When your tenants have an emergency, you must be able to react quickly. If a tenant confrontation is escalating, you must be able quickly diffuse the situation while still protecting the property. A property manager needs to not only be able to make snap decisions, but those decisions must be the right decision. Decision making is a huge responsibility to have.

If you read through these three requirements for being a property manager and believe you are still cut out for the position, this may just be the correct career path for you!

Property Manager | Turning a home, or getting the home ready for the next renter, can take anywhere from a few days to several weeks or even months depending on what needs to be done. When tenants leave rental homes in good condition, a property manager usually just has a few tasks to ensure are completed before the next tenant can move in.

1. Repaint. You cannot live in a home without damaging the paint on a wall. It’s inevitable and a property manager knows this. After a move out, most rooms in the rental home will be repainted. Often, a property manager may offer for the new tenants to be a part of this process by choosing an accent wall color.

2. Shampoo Carpets. Carpets in the home need to be, at the very least, shampooed in between tenants. If the previous tenants lived in the rental home for a long time and the carpet is worn, or the carpet has stains that cannot be removed, replacement may be necessary. Switching to wood or laminate floors can help a property manager replace flooring less often.

3 Deep Clean of Home. The property manager will hire or schedule a cleaning company to provide a deep clean of the rental home. Appliances such as the oven, refrigerator, and microwave will be cleaned. Dusting will be done as well as vacuuming, mopping, steaming floors, scrubbing toilets and bathtubs and much more. A deep clean should always been done between tenants and after any work needed.

4. Locks Changed. The rental homes locks should be replaced or rekeyed between tenants. While every property manager will request the keys to the rental home upon move out, there is no telling whether the previous tenants kept copies. Changing the locks between renters is standard in the rental home industry.

Other than damage to the home that needs to be fixed or major maintenance issues such as flooding, a rental home can be turned in just a few days doing the four things in this list. Scott Properties is dedicated to making sure every tenant moves into a move in ready home.

Property Management Company | If you are charging market rent or above for your rental home, curb appeal must be comparable to or better than the other properties for rent in your neighborhood. Curb appeal is what attractions renters to your home. Other than location and price, the way a home looks is one of the most important things a renter thinks about when deciding where to live. Use these tips from professional property management companies to increase the curb appeal of your rental home.

1. Maintain the Yard- Mowing the grass and raking the leaves is very important for curb appeal. When home owners and property management allow yard to become overrun with weeds, don’t rake the leaves, and allow the grass to grow long when homes are vacant, renters don’t believe the home owners care about the property. When property management shows and markets the home to renters, the yard being well maintained sets the tone for the meeting and will leave an impression on the renter.

2. Plant Flowers- Everyone wants to be welcomed home by colorful flowers. If you are renting a home in the winter months ask the property management to put wreaths out, pine garland, and other evergreen plants around the exterior of the home to be festive and welcoming. When garden beds and yards are landscaped, it shows that the home has been well taken care of and creates an inviting ambiance.

3. Cut Down Dead Trees and Branches- There is nothing more menacing than dead trees and bushes in a front yard. When long, dead branches hang over driveways or on street parking, renters will fear damage to their cars or getting hurt by falling branches. Your property management should arrange for dead branches and trees to be trimmed back twice per year.

4. Keep Walk Ways Clear- When winter comes and snow falls, potential renters don’t want to worry about needing to tread through snow to get to the front porch. The last thing the property management wants is someone slipping and falling on the home’s walkways. When visitors pull up to the home, clear walkways are a welcoming invitation to approach the home.

Scott Properties has many other tips and tricks to increasing your curb appeal! Call today to ask us how we can help you!

Property management companies are much greater than just the property manager that is taking care of renting out the home. A property management company sometimes purchases homes and properties, employs many property managers that manage the day to day business of those homes and properties and much more. Many property management companies use in house maintenance crews and vendors for all the properties they own or manage and can get great discounts on services and products this way. If you are opening a property management business, or looking to work with one, there are few key traits that smoothing operating property management businesses all have.

1. They Hire Well-Owning a property management company means hiring the best people to represent the company. Maintenance crews, property managers, leasers, and vendors all need to be selected carefully. A property management company that hires the cheapest bidder for the job is one that should be avoided. Quality of services should never be a low priority for a great property management business.

2. High Occupancy-Property management companies that have a lot of vacancies should be questioned. Are they vacant due to a recent remodel and the units are all just now available or are all the company’s properties unkept? Does the property management company have a bad reputation? When there are high occupancy rates this means that people want to rent from them, want to keep renting, and are happy with the property management company.

3. They Are Responsive-Property management companies need to be responsive in all aspects of their business. When an email comes through the leasing software from a potential renter, someone should respond to it before the end of the business day. Companies that offer walk-in appointments for tours of available properties should make sure that there is always someone available to help.

Property management companies with great teams, high occupancy, and proven responsiveness are the best to hire to manage your rental home!