What Does Rent Ready Mean?

What Does Rent Ready Mean? Preparing a property to rent involves a very intentional process that ensures that you are able to secure the very best tenants possible. Every tenant is a contract relationship, but it’s more. It is potentially a long standing economic and social association that meets both parties needed purposes. For the landlord, a longer tenancy that is happy in their residence means lower turnover and costly refresh expenses. For the tenant, a longer residency means comfort, connection to the community and a sense of belonging. In both cases, it all begins from the way the home is prepared to welcome a qualified prospective tenant. Security Always rekey a home after a tenant vacates the property. This avoids some unfortunate unexpected or unintentional consequence from occurring. As the landlord, you don’t know who the former tenant gave a spare key to. Can you imagine the possibility of an innocent home invasion occurrence when a person unexpectant surprise visitor walks into what they thought was their friends former bedroom only to find an unknown new resident, shock or worse! The response could be deadly!! Safety Everything must function as it was originally designed to work. Safety is critical for tenant safety. The last thing you ever want to hear is that something failed because it was not fixed or repaired properly and a tenant or their child was seriously injured. There is no room for excuses when life safety or functional adequacy is concerned. You must fix, remove or replace any item that does not meet optimal working standards when you lease a home. Cleanliness This point is critical to securing your best tenant prospect because the quality of a properties cleanliness at the initial viewing is directly proportional to the quality of tenant the property will attract. Clean people will not want to live in anything less than clean. Conversely, a tenant who does not need a clean property will not maintain a clean rental lifestyle either. A PROFESSIONAL CLEANING is essential to ensure the home is adequately cleaned to establish a standard you expect in return. 100% Rent Ready No showing should occur until all punch items are completed. Unmet expectations over an item that will be resolved soon is not a good precedent to manage after the tenant moves into the property. Your best efforts may not meet their unmet expectations to resolve their perception of what was promised or delivered. Avoid this critical relationship BOMB. If your not 100% ready, don’t allow a prospect to tour the property. Avoid this hazard completely! We hope these points help you understand that being extremely intentional is the best way to manage your investment and your future tenant relationship. At Real Living Home Realty Group, this is the process we follow to make sure all of our clients whether landlord or tenant, receive the best care. Quality matters and our customer service approval demonstrates that we deliver quality service, so everyone involved enjoys life a little more under our care. CONTACT US We would love to hear from you! So let’s set up a meeting today. Please fill out the form and you will receive an email from us. If you do not get the email in the next 5 minutes, check your spam/junk folder. We will make sure that someone gets in touch with you as soon as possible. Leave us a message Jen Assip Property Manager Have any questions? Call us: 843-232-0000

Minimize Turnovers with Effective Lease Renewals

Minimize Turnovers with Effective Lease Renewals Property management is largely about reducing needless expenses and serving the tenant in such a way that they love the home they lease.  This comfort zone experience takes time and is largely a function of the tenant feeling that they receive good value for the rent they pay every month.  Our goal as property managers is to deliver a home to the resident in optimal living condition and then maintain the property at that standard throughout their initial lease and beyond. Expense It’s important to remember that turnover is your biggest expense – If you have a good tenant, you should do everything in your power to keep them. In an example of a 30-year tenant, contrasted with that of a pattern of leasing to new tenants every two years, you’re looking at 15 turnovers!  That translates into over a year of vacancy and lease income.  Turnovers create more remodel repair and refresh costs. The longer you can keep a good tenant, the better it is for your bottom line. Treating Tenants One key guideline is to always treat your tenants well. Don’t be difficult to work with and then expect your tenant to want to resign at the expiry of their lease. Be prompt with their maintenance requests throughout the duration of their lease so that when it comes time to renew, the tenant will WANT to stay with you.  Wants and needs are not always something a landlord wants to deal with because it means spending money and taking you time to deal with the request.  Maintaining an objective attitude and fairly evaluating all requests is often hard, but necessary to maintain a great landlord-tenant relationship. Real Living Home Realty Group really takes pride in our ability to evaluate tenant needs and requests to make sure the tenant and the landlord are treated fairly.  Balance, fairness and good will go a long way in establishing trust and a safe comfort zone all long term tenant’s desire.  If we can help you find the sweet spot so you enjoy long term tenants, give us a call so we can help you keep turn over low. CONTACT US We would love to hear from you! So let’s set up a meeting today. Please fill out the form and you will receive an email from us. If you do not get the email in the next 5 minutes, check your spam/junk folder. We will make sure that someone gets in touch with you as soon as possible. Leave us a message Jen Assip Property Manager Have any questions? Call us: 843-232-0000

Paint Colors that Reduce Stress

Paint Colors that Reduce Stress In this hectic world, coming home to a relaxing home along the Grand Strand is increasingly essential to Tenants.  Choosing soothing paint colors helps your Tenant to renew their energy in a calm, peaceful environment.  The right wall paint color is an affordable strategy to help your annual rental property to stay rented.  The design colors you choose to do as much as anything to create the home atmosphere help reduce stress.  Using our recommendations also helps you mirror what new developer model homes in the Myrtle Beach area feature. Recommended Colors: As an annual rental property manager, I recommend painting your property in white or light shades of grey. In my experience, Tenants prefer these more neutral shades to work with their existing décor of furniture and accent furnishings.  Lighter colors help to make living spaces feel more spacious, especially when dealing with smaller rooms, especially areas that have minimal square footage.  Some people think that because we live in Myrtle Beach, the Caribbean color pallet would be preferable.  Not for a rental property!  Most people move here from somewhere else in the country.  They may want these colors eventually as part of their home, but it’s a bit too much for their first Horry County residence. A home serves as the center of our personal lives.  With our busy schedules, coming home should be relaxing and regenerating.  We recommend painting an annual rental every 5 to 7 years. A professional painter is a great advisor because they can recommend the most popular neutral interior colors. Staying current with tenant preferences is essential when you want your property to stand out and looking it’s best when it’s time to replace an annual rental tenant. We hope this helps in the decision process of updating your annual rental to get the most value for your property.  Please call us to help you initiate a soothing interior lifestyle for all of your rental properties.  We are experts in helping you as a landlord accomplish your financial goals of higher income, lower maintenance, and stable annual tenants. CONTACT US We would love to hear from you! So let’s set up a meeting today. Please fill out the form and you will receive an email from us. If you do not get the email in the next 5 minutes, check your spam/junk folder. We will make sure that someone gets in touch with you as soon as possible. Leave us a message Jen Assip Property Manager Have any questions? Call us: 843-232-0000

Myrtle Beach Lease Expirations and Renewals

Myrtle Beach Lease Expirations and Renewals Overview Maintaining awareness of when your property lease expires is a key to repeated renewals by a tenant.  Some landlords are afraid to contact or discuss the lease renewal in hopes the tenant will forget.  But this is a poor concept.  The tenant is going to do what is in their best interests, so addressing their future plans gives you a chance to have some input into their thinking. By establishing contact at least 90 days prior to expiration, you determine how they like living in the property. You also can address any unresolved maintenance issues and what you are doing to satisfy them in a timely manner. Additionally, they want to know if the rent will increase and by the amount the landlord will require. It’s possible the next year can be determined by a mutual agreement that satisfies both parties concerns.  Moving is a hassle, expensive and there is no guarantee that the next residence will be a better lifestyle for them. Don’t be afraid to increase the rent – Educate your residents to expect small but incremental lease renewals. As a rental property owner, your bills go up annually. Build in a yearly rent increase just to stay even on your income. However, never be excessive in the amount of monthly increase. You never want to lose a good tenant over rent increases. The market adjusts periodically to a landlord’s advantage. Remember that over time, a good tenant can save you a lot of money in turnover costs and vacancy expenses. Our Services Whether you self-manage or use a property manager for your Myrtle Beach rental property portfolio, your goal is always the same — keeping great tenants for as long as possible is the name of this game. The Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices – Coastal Real Estate team is here to serve as a property management resource to you along the Grand Strand of Myrtle Beach. If you are working through a lease renewal or have questions on any other property management topics, give our team a call. 843-232-0000.