Owner Resources

If you are very good at maintenance, or like being more hands on, you always have the option of taking care of the maintenance of your property on your own. Our only requirement is that any maintenance not done through our office be done in a timely manner using our office to schedule times and communicate with the tenant. In our experience, most people who attempt to be the maintenance man, or even the supervisor end up with more down time, a lot of personal involvement, and more money out of pocket. If maintenance is your expertise, go for it… otherwise we suggest you leave it to us.

You will benefit from many technology advantages including access to your accounting. This includes the ability to view reports to see how your property is doing, and to see copies of any related documents.

Don’t worry about getting your rental property perfect before asking RW Caldwell to manage it. We can absolutely take your home in any condition and get it rent ready fast. We’ll tell you up front what needs to be done before we even start.

Maintenance requests are sent to our team in real time when the tenant inputs it in the tenant portal. We will review the information and send out the needed vendor access the repairs. If the estimate for the repair is over the threshold listing in your management agreement, we will contact you to approve or decline the work order. Once approved one of our professional staff members will carry out the request. Repairs are paid for weekly using the rent money collected on the 1st of the month. Owners who receive ACH payments will have their invoices uploaded to their owner portal monthly so you will always have a record of work performed in your investment!

It depends on how experienced you are, and how much time/money you can invest while you learn. On the surface, managing a rental property seems like a pretty simple proposition. When you really get into all the little things that can happen with a home and a tenant, and the laws that govern how you work with both, it is more than most people can handle well. That’s why very few people manage their own rental homes long term. Most people handling a rental home for the first time will end up going with a property management company, or let frustration push them out of real estate investing entirely. How much does it cost you every day to have your property sit vacant? If you don’t know you should figure it out. Rent/30 is the cost of each vacant day while your busy life commitments push the rental to the back burner. Most people can’t afford NOT to hire a professional property manager.

Unless you have a solid background in property management, your most expensive choice will probably be to save some money and manage the home yourself. Unless you are very good at pricing your rental, running an ad, taking calls, and negotiating a lease, it is easy to add a month or two to each vacancy. You may lease the house for less than it is worth, or settle for a tenant you can’t properly screen. Unless you are experienced with managing the tenant, it is easy to have a simple 30 day eviction turn into 60 days or more of lost income. With a regular full time job taking your time, even seasoned experts can rarely manage their own rental home efficiently enough to save money over a professional property management company. Those extra vacant months quickly cost you more than Management fees ever will.

As soon as you sign up with RW Caldwell and give us your email address you will receive a link to your personal Owner Portal. You will have access to copies of all important documents, including your Management Agreement, the current Lease Agreement, repair invoices, etc., online 24/7. If you need to talk to somebody after taking advantage of the wealth of information we give you online, call or e-mail us anytime. We are happy to help you with any questions you may have. We make it easy to know what is happening with your homes.

Your property manager will have an impact on your experience as a real estate investor. We are investors ourselves and have tailored this company to be exactly what we wanted (and could never find) in a property management company. If your property manager can’t say yes to everything below, red flags should be going up for you!

DO THEY GET IT?

If they don’t own investment real estate themselves, they can’t possibly understand what it is like to be an investor, to have a vacant property, or to be left out of the loop. We believe it is impossible to effectively manage a rental property without that personal experience! If your property manager knows what it is like to have a bad tenant, they will screen better if they know what it is like to pay that mortgage with no rent, they will be more committed to getting the home leased etc. If they aren’t passionate enough about real estate investing to be in the game themselves, how careful will they be with your investments? If they don’t nail this one, keep shopping

CAN THEY REALLY FOCUS ON YOUR HOME OR ARE YOU JUST $2,000?

The critical thing to each investor shouldn’t be how many houses you manage, but how you will manage their ONE property. Before you sign up with a huge company, make sure they can provide you with the personalized care you deserve. How can you tell if they do a good job? First check out how many years they have been in business, check out their community involvement, request references, ask around the community, to find out if they manage their homes well, or just churn through the numbers. We are always happy to provide our prospective owners with references and answer all of their questions.

ARE THEIR FEES FAIR AND EASY TO UNDERSTAND?

Don’t be fooled by all the smoke and mirrors. Nobody works for free, but some companies are masters of hiding the dozens of ways they can reach into your pocket. Ask about the renewal contract, lease fees, maintenance fees and find out if your rates will change after the first of the year. Ask about other things that may show up as bills on your accounting. Little extra charges and fees can nickel and dime a great property to death. Make your property manager be honest about their fees. Expect great service and be ready to pay a fair price for it but avoid the gimmicky promotions.

Our fees are competitive in the market place; we charge a small percentage of the monthly rent as a management fee for Annual Leases. The percent is determined by the type and number of properties we manage for you. We do not charge a leasing program fee to find and place a qualified tenant nor do we charge additional fees for lease renewal like other companies in the area.

HOW WILL THEY MARKET YOUR HOME?

A few tried and true quotes come to mind, “you get what you pay for”, or “there is no such thing as a free lunch” and “if it sounds too good to be true…”. How much marketing do you really believe they will do for free? None. Count on it. We would never trust our results to the stuff we can get for free and we don’t think you should either. Be ready to make an investment in your vacancy. The difference between aggressive marketing and free marketing will definitely show up in longer vacancies and extra mortgage payments with no rent. Leasing is a numbers game and aggressive marketing will create more leads… and more leads give us more choices… more choices result in better tenants in less time.

Getting your property rented as soon as possible to a qualified tenant is one of our highest priorities. Lost rent because of unnecessary vacancies is not good for anyone. Therefore, we use tested methods of advertising to give your property the widest possible exposure. These include, but are not limited to:

Internet

Photos, videos and a full description of your property will be placed on over 30 websites including our own company site. Prospective renters can access these sites and search by various factors to find exactly what they want. No Charge for this service.

Rental highlight list

Your property description will be added to our in-office rental list. This list of available for all upcoming rentals and is updated daily along with being available free of charge to all who come into our office. This service is provided at no additional charge.

Yard signs

One of our R.W. Caldwell, Inc. yard signs will be placed on the property (if permitted) between two and four weeks prior to a vacancy, or immediately if your property is just being placed on the rental market with our company. This service is provided at no additional charge.

Whether it is your primary home or a rental, things do go wrong in a home. The easiest way to lose a great tenant is to be careless with maintenance, or let the property condition decline. We advocate being very proactive with maintenance to keep the relationship with the tenant strong, and to preserve the value of your investment. This aspect of your investment strategy is so critical that we strongly avoid cutting corners and going with the cheapest possible solution. There is usually a reason one painter is half the price of another… and it sometimes means paying the good contractor to go do it right after you tried to save a little money. We will leverage our volume to get you a good job for a fair price.

The fastest property to be leased in any neighborhood is almost always the best rental home for the best price. We will direct you on how to make your property the best, and how to price it to move. If you follow our lead, your vacancies will be very short… if we are trying to rent a home that is in rough shape and overpriced, be ready for a few extra mortgage payments.

We balance the need to end the vacancy with the desire to get the right tenant. We don’t want to slam a marginal tenant in fast, just to have to remove them in a month or two. We are committed to marketing the home for maximum phone calls, handling every call well, screening the tenants to avoid problems where possible, and doing it all ASAP.