Renew Real Estate Services manages hundreds of rental properties in Nashville and its surrounding areas. These include single-family homes, multi-family properties, and condos. We have been a Nashville Property Management Company for over a decade now. Because of this, we have an expertise in getting your vacant rental properties filled with a quality tenant at the right price. Read along for our brief 5 step process for taking over management for a vacant rental property in Nashville.
1. Management Agreement
The first step when taking over management for a new rental property is having the owner sign a management agreement. This agreement will explain all of the relevant fees, services, length of management term, and more. Here are some examples of what is included in our management agreement:
- Fee Structure
- Renewal Terms
- Termination Terms
- Initial Walkthrough
- Advertising
- Tenant Screening
- Lock Changes
- Maintenance
- Security Deposit
- Owner Payouts
- Monthly Statements
- Upkeep of Property
- Sale of Property
There are several other points included in our management agreements, but those are most of the big ones. It is very important that the property owner reviews and fully understands the management agreement. We are always here to clarify anything or answer any questions they may have. We will discuss some of these points further down below.
2. Initial Walkthrough
Once we have a fully signed management agreement for a new rental property, we can perform an initial walkthrough. This allows us to get a better sense of the property's current condition. If it is ready for move-in, we can take professional pictures and get it ready for listing. If there are repairs/cleaning needed, we will coordinate that prior to taking any pictures. We always want to show our properties in the best condition possible. Once the property is in move-in condition, we can get it ready for listing.
3. Listing the Property
After the condition of the property is up to our standards and professional pictures have been taken, we can go ahead and list the property. The first thing we will do before listing it is put a digital Rently lockbox on the front door. This allows our vendors, as well as potential applicants to enter the property without ever having to step foot in our office. Utilizing a digital lockbox system has saved us countless hours of time. It also gives applicants much more flexibility, as they can schedule a tour of the property for nearly any time of day, any day of the week.
We will also ensure that we set an accurate rental price for your property. We utilize a comparative analysis software that pulls all of the nearby properties with a similar bed/bath ratio. This allows us to see what similar properties in the area are renting for. This takes the guesswork out of it and saves you time and money.
Once the lockbox is set up, we will set up an individualized marketing campaign for the property. We post nearly all of our listings on 40+ major rental websites like Zillow, Trulia, etc. Of course, we will always have all of our available rentals posted on our website, renewtn.com/rentals. We also utilize our social media platforms to market all of our available rentals. We have over 4,000 Facebook followers and over 1,000 Twitter followers. This allows us to put your rental property in front of as many eyeballs as possible. More eyeballs typically equals more applications.
4. Tenant Screening
Now that your vacant rental property has been properly marketed, we will begin to receive applications. We believe that properly screening your tenants is one of the most important things you can do to set your property up for success. Our main requirements include:
- Monthly income must be at least three times the rent
- Clean background history
- No recent felonies
- No sex crime convictions
- Credible credit history
- No recent evictions
- Zero or minimal accounts in collections
- Credible rental history
- Payments made on time
- No outstanding balances to previous landlords
- A completed self-tour of the property
- Must have a SSN or TIN
We ensure that our property managers are thoroughly screening each application that comes through. Doing so allows us to put a high quality tenant into each rental property. We understand that your property is an investment, and should be treated as such.
5. Move-In Process
Once we have selected a high quality tenant for your rental property, we will reach out for a deposit. When that is received, we can take the listing down and begin generating the lease. Typically, we do not like to hold a property for longer than two weeks if possible. This allows us to minimize turnover times and keep our properties rented. We will work with the new tenant to confirm their move-in date and then send them the lease agreement for review and signing.
After the lease is fully executed, all we need is the first month's rent before we can hand over the keys. When the tenant finally moves in, we always ask that they make a list of any damages or repairs that need to be addressed. That allows us to ensure that the tenant is starting with a clean slate upon move-in. This makes everything a lot easier when they move-out and we do the deposit disposition.
Going Forward
At this point, we have gotten you hooked up with our management agreement, performed a walkthrough of the property, listed it, screened applicants to find the perfect tenant, and got the property all leased up in 5 steps. Now, of course there are some smaller details involved in this process. We just wanted to give you a brief overview of the process of taking over management for a vacant rental property. If you or someone you know happens to own a rental property in the Nashville area, give RENEW a call! We have been in the Nashville Property Management world for quite some time. Because our company is founded and operated by real estate investors, we know exactly how to help you! We look forward to working with you!
