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Q. How much will my investment property lease for?
A. That depends on
a number of factors. Prior to entering into a management agreement with you, we will perform a "comparative market analysis
of rents" in your area to determine the likely rental value of your property. Based on that information, you can decide on
an "asking" price you want us to advertise, and a minimum acceptable rent we can rely on for negotiating purposes. If we receive
an offer that differs from these, we will present it to you along with our recommendation.
Q. What is included in my package of management services?
A. When you contract
with Professional Property Management, Inc., we commit to perform any and all functions related to the normal operation
of your property as a rental property. This includes marketing, screening and qualifying tenants, executing leases, escrowing
security deposits in accordance with Georgia law, collecting rent and timely forwarding it to you, mobilizing required
maintenance and repairs, dealing with HOA violations, attending HOA meetings when necessary, initial and periodic inspections,
responding to HOA or neighbor complaints, and, should the need ever arise, handling the process of evicting the tenant and
re-leasing the propety.
Q. How much does professional management cost?
A. Actually,
the investors who contract with PPM for management would say that compared to self-management, professional management represents
a savings, not a cost. How much you pay for the benefits of professional management can vary depending upon the Manager. At
Professional Property Management, we think we offer the best value in Georgia. We base the management fee solely
on the "collected rents." That is to say, there is no charge to you during any period of vacancy. All of the management services
are provided for a single flat fee of 10% of the collected rents. When you have two properties under our management, we pass
on the "economies of scale" to you by reducing the fee to 9% each for all of your properties (or 8% each for
three or more properties).
There is a one-time setup fee of $350, payable when you execute our management contract. The
setup fee covers all of the functions involved in getting the property ready for market, including the photographic
inspection to document the base-line condition of the property prior to occupancy, mobilizing any maintenence or repair
that may be required, installing the lockbox, entering the property into various online databases so it can be shown
by 16,000+ Savannah Realtors, entering the property and owner into our accounting system to ensure accurate and timely accounting,
preparing the marketing literature, And in fact, with our all-inclusive management fee structure, you will
never see an added charge for "incidentals" such as property inspections, lockbox placement, statement preparation,
postage, or anything else. All usual, customary and necessary management tasks are included in a single flat fee. Plus, we
make available to you a super-cost-effective marketing service especially adapted to today's difficult rental market in Savannah, to
help you find a great tenant in the shortest possible time. That means you won't have to waste money on newspaper ads that
usually don't work. So when you consider the likelihood of fewer weeks of vacancy and lower tenant turnover costs,
the benefits of Professional Property Management will certainly outweigh the costs.
Q. How does Professional Property Management screen my tenants?
A.
Tenant screening is a crucial function
that can determine success or failure for the residential landlord. Tenant qualification is a particularly difficult
challenge in today's real estate market. Vacany periods are painful, but a poor tenant choice can also be very costly. Consider
that while there are more rental properties offered today in the Savannah area than ever before in history, there is also
an absorbtion rate: the influx of new residents to Savannah is currently clocked at over 9 people each hour
of every day! The vast majority of these new households will initially rent rather than buy. That translates
into an ample supply of quality tenants, but those quality tenants have a lot of choices for their housing. If your
property is clean, well-maintained, property equipped, and competitively priced, you should have no trouble attracting
those quality tenants.
PPM investigates each applicant thoroughly. We check credit history, rental history, employment history, and
eviction/litigation history....to establish whether the applicant is someone who is resposible, pays their bills, and
takes care of their home. Only applicants who meet our standards will be permitted to rent your property.
Q. How will PPM market my property for rent?
A.
We've arrived at the 21st Century. Not everyone
owns a computer, but most do. The reality today is that very few well-qualified candidates will sit in Winchell's with their
cup of coffee squinting through a magnifying glass at the classified ads searching for their next home.
The folks whom you probably want as your tenants probably own a computer and know how to use it to find the
things they want. When they shop for a home to lease, they want to see the photographs, and the map links.
Consider too, that the folks combing the classified ads may be looking for the "for rent by owner" ads, trying
to avoid a professional management company because they know we will perform a tenant screening, whereas owner "self-managers"
often do not.
For these and other reasons, we now market by electronic media exclusively. We don't use classified advertising,
because it is very expensive and in today's market it rarely yields satisfactory results.
If your homeowners' association permits, placing a sign on the property is usually a good strategy, because
we know that the sign sometimes catches the successful applicant. What we will NOT do is throw away money on
classified ads that rarely pay off. If you have a particular publication you've had success with and would like to use, be
our guest, but you must allow us to check your ad first for compliance with federal and state fair housing laws.
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