Maintenance

 

Who pays for any maintenance that needs to be done on my property?

Unless the tenant is responsible for damage to Property or is negligent in regards to property maintenance, then owners bear the financial responsibility for repairs. But by utilizing our in-house maintenance, you will not be paying retail price on repairs, so this supposed to leave your money on needed repairs.

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How do you handle maintenance requests?

We provide online portal for tenants or they can simply call in the request on an automated line that is available 24 hours, 7 days a week. The tenant is your customer and we try to remedy the problem in a short amount of time. Whether  it is an emergency and time sensitive or non-emergency problem, we will handle the repair. If we identify that the problem will put the tenant in danger from a health and safety standpoint, we will make the repair immediately to mitigate the owner's risk and liability. If the repair is due to tenant negligence, we will make the repair and charge it back to the tenant.

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Who will perform the maintenance at my home and what will be the cost? 

When maintenance issues arise, we use both in-house maintenance staff as well as approved vendors. Our pricing is below retail and we handle all repairs per code as required by law. The cost would be based on the specific repair and, in all cases, we attempt to send a technician that can handle multiple issues so We negotiate any discounts with our vendors on materials and labor and we pass on the savings to our clients. Ypu will typically between 10-15% below what you could obtain on your own for the same services.

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What types of maintenance personnel do you use?

For make-readys, we use a general handyman. We also have a cleaning crew and a carpet cleaning vendor who give us great discounts that we pass onto our clients. We also use licensed contractors for all AC Plumbing and electrical work.

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Approximately how much time do you take to make ready?

Easy Turn:  carpet, paint, appliances (3 days)

Medium Turn: some damage, holes in walls, etc. (5 days)
Hard Turn: linoleum, plumbing,  electrical (2 weeks).

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How do you negotiate with vendors to save me money on maintenance, supplies, services, advertising, and anything else? 

Real Property Management prefers to do the majority of maintenace in-house, which results in the most savings. However, should contract workers be needed, we have excellent relationships with vendors throughout the surrounding areas who specialize in all types of maintenance work. Becasue we receive discounted prices, your cost will be less than you would have obtained on your own.

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Property Leasing

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How to do you get my property leased? 

Our first priority is to get your property leased. We will inspect the property, recommend any items that are needed to make rent ready, and provide you with a market analysis that will provide you with financial information on what the current market rates are. We then use a marketing strategy to drive as much traffic to your property as possible. We also maintain a database of renters who are looking for homes in specific areas, and we cross-sell to tenants asking about other properties to help rent out our properties faster. We will communicate with you along the way and provide feedback on the showings, so if the price is consistently an issue, we will advise you if you need to adjust to the market to ensure that the property does not stay vacant an additional month.

 

How do you screen applicants?

Once we have an applicant we do a credit analysis as well as verifying employment status and income, and we then check the rental history to make sure they have not been previously evicted and pay rent on time.

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Who determines rent for my property?

Ultimately, the market determines the rental amount for your property, and it's our job to provide you with the information regarding market rent rates. As such, we always recommend market pricing to you but we let our clients choose the price point.

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How long will it take to rent my property?

For all our properties that are market ready and priced at amrket rates, our average days-on market is approximately 26 days (subject to change). For homes that are not in market-ready condition and/or priced at above-market conditions, then it can take considerably longer to rent. Your vacancy period will also be affected by both the vacancy rate within the area and the time of year as there are specific months in which property lease  faster.

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Should I ask for a higher rent, I can always come down.

This may seem like a good idea, but here is something to think about. Tenants, unlike home buyers, don't usually make offers on properties. If a prospective tenant looks at your property and believes it to be overpriced, they will usually move on to the next property, leaving your property vacant. So lots of qualified tenants can be lost.

 

Another factor to consider is that most of the inquiries occur during the first two weeks of advertising, after which they drop off sharply. It is therefore generally in your best interest to come out with your best price first, versus risking a potentially extended vacancy period for only a few dollars more. Plus, many qualified tenants searching online put in rental limits, which can make it so your property is not even displayed to a potential renter.

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Management Services and Fees

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What types of properties of Real Property Management manage?

Real property management manages residential property including single-family homes,, condos, Multiplex, multi-family units.

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What does real property charge for the services?

Real Property Management has a very simple and cost-effective structure. For multi-plex and multi-family units please call so we can provide you a custom quote. For all other single-family homes townhomes and condos we have a lease which is typically equal to 1 months rent and a monthly management fees are pretty, 24 times 7 times 365, which is a small percentage of the gross rents collected.

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What is included in your leasing fee?

The initial property assessment, where we document and photograph the condition of your property prior to the tenant moving in so we can hold them responsible for any damage. We also take marketing photos, place a sign in the yard and a lockbox on the door, and we advertise your property on rental sites on the internet. We schedule and conduct showings of your property and screen the backgrounds of all potential tenants, which include employment checks, income verification, and past rental history. Once we have an approved tenant we draftthe lease and conduct the lease signing with the tenant and collect the deposit, which we keep in a trust account, as well as the first month's rent.

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What fee do you charge for finding and installing a new tenant?

$695 and that covers the initial property assessment, preparing ads for online marketing,  cost of online marketing, screening all applicants, commissions paid to the agent who leases the property, drafting the lease, and completing the lease signing with the tenant. We handle all the required legal documentation and our lease is written to protect our clients.

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What is included with the monthly management fee?

Rent collections, late notices, online services for tenant and owner, managing maintenance requests, accounting and reporting, lease violation oversight, and administrative expenses such as lease renewals. Leasing Fees are separate and only charged upon delivering a newly signed lease.

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Who handles evictions, at what expense? 

We coordinate all our own evictions. In general the cost runs from $650 for a simple eviciton to $1600 for an eviciton where it goes to court and getting a judgement against the tenant.

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Can I protect myself against an eviciton?

Yes, you can enroll in our Eviction Protection Program for a small monthly fee. If you get an eviction on a property in which we placed the tenant we will cover most of your eviction costs. Click here for more details. 

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About Real Property Management

 

How long has Real Property Management in business?

Real Property Management, as an international company, has been around since 1986, over 30 years.

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Approximately how many buildings Real Property Management, and type and size?

In North America we manage over sixty thousand units. Single-family, duplexes and condos make up about 70% of our properties and multi-family properties make up 30%.

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What special training does Real Property Management offer for property managers?

Every employee is tested pre-hire. Each employee must also have specific attributes and skill sets required for each specific job. They go through ongoing training for 90 days. We also require that they  ongoing online Property Management training. All our property managers in Alberta are licensed through the Real Estate Council of Alberta.