Do you charge a set-up or leasing fee?
Real Property Management Hampton Roads doesn’t just add your property to our list of properties managed — we devote about 43 hours into the setup and leasing of your property.
We have several checklist consisting of hundreds of items that we do during the set up and leasing of each property, but let’s just list some of the major things that actually create value and can save the property owner money. For one, we immediately conduct an interior and exterior video inspection of the property and produce a report. We utilize our network of vendors to handle any make ready repairs in a timely and affordable rate for the owner. We shoot professional pictures and video for marketing purposes to start a marketing blitz to get the most exposure for the property. We have a full time leasing team dedicated to renting your property to the most highly qualified applicant. Let’s face it, our interest and yours are in alignment to get the property rented quickly. We do not get paid until a property is rented.
Leasing Fees:
The leasing fees are for our services in connection with:
- Arranging, placement, recording and administrating advertising and signage.
- Arranging, taking, and saving videos of your property.
- Creation and placement of property flyers.
- Access to dozens of marketing venues with the highest traffic to get your property seen and rented faster.
- Uploading photos, video, and property information the various internet marketing sites.
- Arranging and conducting showing appointments with prospective tenants.
- Keeping property owner informed of the showings and rental activity.
- Administrating lease applications and processing applications for tenancy.
- Tenant screening via credit reports, eviction searches, criminal background check, sex offender checks, verification of former landlord references, and employment verification of applicant.
- Negotiating the terms of the lease with prospective renters.
- Organizing the new lease agreement and conducting items necessary for new residency in accordance with California Landlord Tenant Laws.
- Attending the lease closing with tenants, processing of lease including general information and rules and regulations for new tenants.
What Does the Leasing Fee Cover?
When we charge a leasing fee, this is to pay for the rental advertising, entirety of the leasing process, and attorney fees for the leasing paperwork as outlined below.
- Advertising & Setup – Fee covers the time it takes to setup and build the marketing strategy and advertising for a property. This includes researching and including the average utility cost, school zoning, marketing photography using watermarked pictures to avoid scams, writing the marketing description, and organizing and preparing the property file. Manager will submit property advertisement to multiple websites, (including some paid website advertising) as well as manual-entry websites. Examples of manual websites can include Social Media, Craigslist or any other special manual-entry websites. The websites posted to are chosen at the discretion of the Manager, and are based upon market intelligence indicating which websites are providing the highest number of inquiries at the time. Manager will perform a rental comparative market analysis to determine proper pricing. Additionally, fee includes providing a video walkthrough to give you an “edge” over your competition. Other possible items included at the discretion of the manager are special self-show lockboxes designed for rentals and a For-Rent yard sign. Lastly, weekly communication to the owner regarding on-market status updates so the Owner and Manager can make informed decisions on pricing strategies. Manager reserves the right change advertising methods and services based upon technology constraints and individual property characteristics.
- Leasing Process – In addition to the rental advertising and marketing strategy, manager will show the property by appointment and/or scheduled through an online scheduling system. This fee covers scheduling showings electronically and by phone, and processing credit/background/eviction checks.
- Lease Signing – The manager can provide an updated lease prepared by an attorney in accordance with Virginia State Law. Lease signing will be performed by a Virginia Real Estate Licensee.
Please note that we also charge an Initial Setup Fee to cover the initial cost of having the account entered into the operating system, including accounting setup, 1099 setup, portal access, insurance processing, utility processing, and/or lease file set up, emails to owner/tenant informing them of the processes, and online portal setup. This typically takes 25-45 employee hours. Additionally, initial setup fee includes first dwelling unit property condition review.
