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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!

All property owners who operate rental homes have days where they don’t want to answer anymore tenant calls. Property owners have times where they don’t know why they ever got into the rental home business because they have no time to themselves or to spend with their family anymore. Are you sick of having to field phone calls because your tenants don’t understand how to work their air conditioners? Being a property owner of rental properties can be a super stressful job that is more than we bargained for when we thought making money off rental properties would be fun and easy. If you want to increase your quality of life and still make a substantial income from your rental properties, you should hire a property manager.

What Does a Property Manager Do?

A Property manager is your tenants’ main contact person for your rental home. If you don’t want to be bothered by tenant phone calls, a property manager will be a lifesaver for you. Property managers have expertise in marketing rental homes. They know what the average rent for a property like yours is and they know how to make your home worth more than average.

Homeowners can also trust property managers to attract the right kind of tenants to their property. Many property managers can perform background checks on tenants if you have requirements relating to criminal history or credit. A property manager can also handle all of the day to day tenant needs once the tenants move in.

Property managers are also great for bookkeeping and property maintenance. A property manager can invoice a vendor, set up appointments for maintenance issues, and be the liaison between tenants and the property owners. Homeowners can even allow property managers to handle lease violations, late rent payments, collections activities, and legal proceedings.

Hire Scott Properties today to increase your quality of life by using a property manager.

Thinking that a property management company can actually help your profits while a percentage of the rental income is paid to them in fees every month. While a property management company, at first, will cost you money out of pocket, there are many ways that hiring property management can actually increase the profits overall.

Property management companies have the resources and expertise to rent your property quickly and efficiently. Think about how long a home may sit empty between tenants. The amount of time it takes for you to turn the home yourself, market, and then lease the unit. The property could sit empty for weeks or even months, creating no income and only debt for the owner. A property management company is able to market your property in the latest and most effective ways, employs people to do the turn, and is up to date on all regulations regarding the leasing process and fair housing. Property management companies make it possible to have little empty time between leases.

Property management companies also save you time and everyone knows that time is money. Rather than the homeowner having to field calls, show the home, do the paperwork, and provide maintenance, a property management company handles all the tasks associated with home rentals. A property management company will also employ maintenance staff that is reliable and knowledgeable, so you never have to make a guess at what may be wrong with the central air, dishwasher, or furnace. This is another way a property management company can increase your profits. You don’t have to waste money or time on guesswork. Maintenance issues get fixed right the first time when you have professionals managing your rental home.

Scott Properties is a property management company that wants to make sure that your experience as a rental homeowner is the best it can be. Contact us today to discuss our property management services!

Thinking that a property management company can actually help your profits while a percentage of the rental income is paid to them in fees every month. While a property management company, at first, will cost you money out of pocket, there are many ways that hiring property management can actually increase the profits overall.

Property management companies have the resources and expertise to rent your property quickly and efficiently. Think about how long a home may sit empty between tenants. The amount of time it takes for you to turn the home yourself, market, and then lease the unit. The property could sit empty for weeks or even months, creating no income and only debt for the owner. A property management company is able to market your property in the latest and most effective ways, employs people to do the turn, and is up to date on all regulations regarding the leasing process and fair housing. Property management companies make it possible to have little empty time between leases.

Property management companies also save you time and everyone knows that time is money. Rather than the homeowner having to field calls, show the home, do the paperwork, and provide maintenance, a property management company handles all the tasks associated with home rentals. A property management company will also employ maintenance staff that is reliable and knowledgeable, so you never have to make a guess at what may be wrong with the central air, dishwasher, or furnace. This is another way a property management company can increase your profits. You don’t have to waste money or time on guesswork. Maintenance issues get fixed right the first time when you have professionals managing your rental home.

Scott Properties is a property management company that wants to make sure that your experience as a rental homeowner is the best it can be. Contact us today to discuss our property management services!

Summer is upon us and people love to move in and out during this time. The kids are out of school, they have vacation time, the weather if warm, and there are rental homes available in Charleston, South Carolina that never stay vacant long. With hundreds of families moving to Charleston every month, there will always be a need for rental homes. Charleston America’s largest and fastest growing city and a property manager needs to gear up for leasing season if they have any vacant properties.

1. Schedule Open House Showings

   Trying to book back to back appointments to show a rental home can be hard. When appointments go long, or people arrive late, this can put a kink in your entire day and even drive away tenants because they don’t want to wait. A terrific way to solve this problem is for a property manager to schedule an open house. When leads call in to inquire about rentals, the property manager or leasing agents can invite them to the open house. Try to have a several hour time frames that the rental homes will be open.

2. Make Sure Marketing is Updated

   Make sure you are advertising the correct homes that you have for lease. Properties may begin to fill up quickly and a property manager will need to update marketing frequently to advertise what is left for leasing. A property manager should also gear up with bright, new color flyers, brochures, and applications before the rush of leasing season starts. They may also want to have pens, coasters, or other promotional items for prospects to take with them after showing the home.

3. Turn the Home Quickly

   When a tenant moves out, depending on the use and damages, the turn may take several weeks. If you have tenants moving out during the height of leasing season, try to get the rental home turned as quickly as possible. One thing a property manager can do is hire seasonal maintenance workers that can help out with tasks such as turns, maintenance, and landscaping.

If managing rentals homes during leasing season seems like something you would like to leave to a professional team that includes a property manager, and staff, give Scott Properties a call today.

Property managers have fun jobs. You get to help people find a home to rent that they can call their own. Being a property manager allows you to meet new people, do some traveling, and market your properties in the community. This career is one that requires you to be in front of people and tech savvy, organized but also flexible, and someone who can keep tenants and property owners happy.

Have you been considering a career as a property manager? Are you thinking about renting out your home or flipping houses to rent? There are a lot of ways people get into a property manager role, but there are a few skills you will need if you want to be great at your job.

1. You must be friendly and relatable. One of the most important personality traits of someone who is a property manager is to be friendly and relatable. You must be able to talk to people openly and be outgoing when trying to lease a property. You must also be approachable to renters and relatable to make them want to keep renting the home.
2. You must be organized. A property manager sometimes manages multiple units or homes. You have to stay on top of move-in dates, move out dates, inspections, cleanings, maintenance, showings for leasing, marketing appointments and more. You also may be responsible for paying other people who work for you and creating a schedule. If you aren’t organized a property manager job may not be best for you.
3. You have to be flexible. As much as you need to be organized, you have to be able to change your plans and reorganize in the moment. You may have someone walk into your office or call you wanting to see a home right away. A tenant may have an emergency, a natural disaster could create problems at multiple properties. Being flexible is a must for an extraordinary property manager.

Being a property manager is a rewarding career for the right type of person. If you are looking for a property manager that possesses the above traits, Contact Scott Properties today!

Being a property manager comes with a lot of perks. If you own a home and want to turn it into a rental home, managing the property may appeal to you because you can make residual income on a property you are already invested in. You may feel like you can even manage the property on your own from your retirement home across the country. Depending on the type of lease you offer your renters, you could be doing a whole lot or very little for tenants; however, the less you offer the fewer interested renters you will have.

While being a property manager may seem like a dream job for house flippers or even people who are retiring, moving away, but don’t want to sell their home. There are a few things you need to consider before you take on the role of property manager yourself.

1. Being Available is a MUST. Homes have emergencies. Think of the last time you had to deal with a basement flooding, water heater that stops working, or your central air gives out in the dead of summer. These things happen, and renters don’t always know how to fix these issues themselves. One of the main reasons people rent is to not have to provide maintenance themselves.
2. You’ll need available cash or credit for emergencies. That water heater that stopped working, the flooded basement, a termite infestation happens. You need cash or credit on hand to be able to take care of emergency situations that happen at your property.
3. Late rent situations can leave you high and dry. If a tenant doesn’t pay rent, you have to go through the proper legal channels for eviction which can take several months in some cases. Not only will you have legal fees to pay and back rent to try to collect on, you may have some property damages you are left with as well.

Being a property manager can be a fantastic career, but a huge headache for property owners. Consider hiring Scott Properties to handle your property manager needs!

Leasing homes is one of the main priorities of a property manager. While there are many other tasks to be done, none of those would exist without tenants living in homes for rent. A property manager begins looking for new tenants on a home as soon as a current lease is not renewed. The leasing process can often be a long one, but it is possible to market, show, and lease a home right away with some renters. Having a quick turnaround on leases is important to keep profits up and owners happy. These are the steps a property manager takes to leasing a home.

1. Marketing- As soon as you know a specific unit will be available, you should start marketing that property. Marketing can be done over the radio, through commercials, and through digital channels. You should know who the target market for your properties is and market to those demographics. You should be able to take inbound calls and emails to set appointments and answer questions. A property manager also should make outbound calls to leads they already have.
2. Showing-While there are some people who will rent a home without seeing It first, such as people who are relocating for work, most people will want to see the home before signing a lease. When you show the home your salesmanship skills should be kicked into high gear to ensure the lead falls in love with the property and wants to become a tenant. A property manager should always make sure that the home is well kept, clean, and presentable before showing it.
3. Leasing-Once the lead decides that they want to live in the rental home, you will have them fill out an application and other necessary paperwork. If your lead passes the application, you will need them to sign the lease forms with the agreed move-in dates and all terms of the contract. Paperwork is the most tedious but also the most necessary step to leasing a property.

A property manager from Scott Properties is able to follow through on all steps of the leasing process as well as managing the property. Contact us for a professional and skilled property manager to lease your rental homes.

If you own property with rental homes, there may come a time when you have to decide if you want to be a landlord or hire a property management company. Earning income through rental homes can be a wonderful way to build a business, but managing multiple homes, and sometimes even one, can be difficult and time-consuming. Especially if you do not live on site or near the rental homes, property management can be a headache. Before you hire a property management company to take the burden of being a landlord off your hands, consider these pros and cons.

Property Management Pros

Using a property management company means that you will pay a fee to have a third party manage your rental home. Here are the pros of using property management:

Professionals in marketing
Expert leasing agents
Legal knowledge
Maintenance staff employed
Collection of rent and fees
Fields all phone calls from leads and tenants
Knows the best vendors in the area
Often has discounts with vendors in the area
Available for tenant emergencies
Adheres to a property budget
Finds best tenants for your property
Handles all tenant requests and communications

Cons of Using Property Management

While the benefits of using a property management company are numerous, there are a few disadvantages to hiring a third party for your rental property.

Reduction of profit margin

• Loss of hands-on control

Property management companies cost money. They will often require a deposit up front that can be used for marketing and payment purposes. After a home is rented, the property management company will usually retain a certain percentage (usually around 10%) of the monthly rent in their fees. The property owner is responsible for providing payment for all invoices to vendors or maintenance issues in most cases.

Scott Properties is the perfect solution for property management needs in Charleston. Contact us today to see how we can help you!