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Property Management

Top 5 Important Questions and Answers When Hiring a Property Manager

Not all property managers are the same so it’s important to ask a lot of questions because big expenses come from mismanagement. A good management company should be able to prevent a lot of problems before they even happen. They should be proactive, prepared, and organized.

Additional useful links that are mentioned in the video:

How to Pick the Right Property Management Company

FAQs

https://youtu.be/uklwlumgpsg

 

 

Categories
Property Management

8 Routine Property Maintenance Tips to Protect Properties – SAVE THOUSANDS!

In today’s video we’re going to talk about eight specific maintenance tips we send to tenants on a regular basis to help prevent maintenance problems & disasters.

The last reminder has saved my clients THOUSANDS of dollars.

One of the first reminders we send tenants is to remove their hose in the fall & winter months. Especially in locations like Utah where there are cold winters, removing your hose can save so much money in the winter months.

This is potentially a BIG PROBLEM. The water in the hose freezes and expands and cracks. When it melts it will get inside the home.

Another routine maintenance tip we send to tenants is that they are responsible for the general upkeep of the yard.

Air filters are a responsibility of the tenant too. We send a reminder to the tenants to make sure to update the air filters.

Another routine reminder is that tenants use their bathroom fans. This keeps the bathroom ventilated and prevents mold, mildew and other problems.

We also remind tenants on how to deal with clogged pipes. These are typically expenses that the tenant would need to pay for if it was something they could have prevented.

There are different types of plungers you can use if you have clogged pipes, drains or toilets.

Updating the batteries on the key pad dead bolts is another maintenance reminder we send to tenants. In a future video we’ll show you how this can be done.

NEVER, EVER use Drano on clogged pipes. They damage the finish on your sink.

 

 

 

Categories
Property Management

Top 7 Red Flags to Watch for When Screening Tenants

Professional property manager Jeff Stinson talks about the top seven red flags to watch for when screening tenants for a rental property. If you aren’t aware of these red flags, you can really get bit hard and lose a lot of money on your rental property. Here are the top 7 red flags to be aware of when screening a tenant:

1. Splitting up the deposit

2. Bullies

3. I’m Special

4. Meeting in person

5. Incomplete applications

6. Someone who’s in a BIG HURRY

7. Let people TALK 🙂

 

 

Categories
Property Management

Best Practices to Screen Tenants

What are the best practices to screen tenants for a rental property? In today’s video, Jeff Stinson from Kasteel Property Management goes over some of the best practices to consider when screening tenants for a rental property. Watch the video or read the rest of the article below to find out more about what it takes.

Before you even start screening potential clients, you want to make sure that your head is on straight. In other words, as a landlord, you need to know what you’re asking for. Remember, you’re not in the business of providing housing for people; you’re looking for a “business partner” to help take care of your property.

Get The Right Tools

This means that you need to be able to run credit checks as well as perform a thorough background check. Now, this process will take time, it will be essential to have these procedures in place. Having these will make it so that you can screen tenants much faster.

Tap Into Resources

One big resource you have is the attorney you use. Here at Kasteel Property Management, we are able to tap into our attorney database of problem tenants. By having this it provides yet another level of security to ensure that your tenants are top notch.

Remember Your Goal

Lastly, when screening tenants, you need to remember your goal – solving problems before they even happen. The desire to accomplish this goal is why it’s important to have a good screening process. If a potential tenant can’t follow your directions, then that is a good indicator that they might not be a good fit for your property.

Screening clients is an ongoing process, but remember to stay diligent and keep your goals in mind. If you have comments or questions, leave them below or visit us at our website!

 

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Property Management

Good v.s Bad Property Managers

In today’s video we’ll discuss a common concern, what are the difference between good and bad property managers? In doing so, we’ll also touch on the role of what a property manager does. Check out the video below or keep reading for more information. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them in the comments below.

First thing’s first, not all property managers are created equal. So what makes the difference?

Bad Property Managers

Bad property mangers can cost you more money than if you hadn’t hired them in the first place. Here are some signs of bad property managers:

  1. Vacant properties. The bad property manager won’t have a tenant lined up when one moves out, as a result, having a vacant lot will cost you more money.
  2. Mishandled maintenance. If you don’t fix a problem, for example a plumbing issue, correctly it will end up costing you more. Unfortunate that happens more often than you would think.
  3. Late rent. This becomes a perpetual problem and the longer it goes on, the more difficult it will be to resolve
  4. Misappropriation of security deposits. This means that the property manager might send back the security deposit without fully inspecting the property, and as a result, you are the one stuck with the bill.

Good Property Managers

A good property manager will make it easy for you to sleep at night because you won’t be worried about them. They are keeping up with the market and invest in success. Here’s what you should look for in a good property manger:

  1. Maintaining market rents. This means the property manger is helping you maximize your profits. To do this they are keeping up to date with market rates to make sure they are charging the right amount of rent.
  2. Timely advertisement of vacancies. Having a new tenant lined up before the current one moves out is crucial to avoiding long periods of vacancy. It’s also weight off your shoulders.
  3. Proper handling of maintenance. This one is quite self explanatory, they look for the right people to fix the problems. It might mean a larger up-front cost, but down the line it will be saving you a lot of money and stress.
  4. Handling late rent. Good property managers have a plan in place to resolve late rent issues quickly, which will prevent the problem from getting larger.
  5. Prepare for problems. A good property manager knows what to do and is ready to act when a problem arises. Why? Because they know what to do and where to go to fix it, and don’t waste time doing so.

To sum everything up. A bad property manager will cost you much more than you think, while a good property manager will save you time and money while protecting your investments.

If you’d like to schedule a consultation, contact us at our website here.

 

 

Categories
Property Management

How Property Managers Work with Real Estate Agents

How does a property manager work with a real estate agent? Is it possible for a property manager to no 1. At Kasteel Property Management, we don’t practice real estate sales. 2. We have a great referral program that benefits both the realtor and Kasteel Property Management. 3. We will review properties with potential buyers to provide our opinion, insights, and experiences. 4. Quick with communication. One problem we see is misappropriation of the security deposit. How does this happen? Where did the money go? Another problem we see is poor communication.

 

Categories
Property Management

Why I Got Involved in Property Management

Why should anyone get involved in property management? Who really wants to get calls in the middle of the night about clogged toilets or leaks? There were several factors that lead me to property management as a business. I LOVE PROPERTY MANAGEMENT! I grew up in the rental property world – my parents had properties and it always interested me. So about 15 years ago, I acquired a few rental properties and hired a property management company. Unfortunately it didn’t go well and I spent a lot of time managing the management company. So I made a career change and became a property manager.

 

Categories
Property Management

How Kasteel Property Management Helps Real Estate Investors with This Channel

We aim to help investors find information to help them be more successful as a property owner. We are an authority in the property management world and want to share our experience with our subscribers. We will provide online documents, tips on how to avoid red-flags with tenants, and much more. How do you know when there’s a problem with a property? We’ll talk about what kinds of properties we recommend as rental properties. We look forward to working with you. To schedule a free consultation, visit https://kasteelproperty.com/ today!

 

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Uncategorized

What are the Risks of Owning Rental Property?

I am sure you have seen those late night infomercials.  The ones that show you being a landlord means you will be living on Easy Street, sipping umbrella drinks by the pool, next to palm trees, and looking cool in your sunglasses.  Is it really that good?

Obviously they are trying to sell you something so they are only showing you one aspect of being a landlord.  It is true that real estate investing can be a critical and lucrative part of achieving financial independence, but the process of getting there is not always the care free life portrayed in a late night infomercial offering you their Limited Time Program for Only 3 Easy Payments.

Being a Landlord has its ups and downs.  I’ve covered proper management techniques and the risks of improper management in other blog posts. https://kasteelproperty.com/blog/ Here I will focus more on what risks to expect even when everything is being managed properly.

Usually when someone is asking about risk in relation to an investment, they are talking about financial risk.  This is what I will address first but there are other risks to consider than just the financial aspect that we will delve into later in this blog post.  

4 Expenses You Should Prepare for with a Rental Property

  1. Maintenance.  There will always be little maintenance issues along the way but you need to be prepared for the big ones or an accumulation of the small ones that sometimes happen all at once.  Furnace or AC, roof, carpet, paint, updates, insurance deductible, foundation settling, replacing appliances, etc.
  2. Vacancy time.  Usually at Kasteel Property Management we can get a place filled before the current tenants even move out so this is not usually an issue.  However a change in the market or new units being built nearby, seasonal holidays, and sometimes unknown factors cause the demand for a particular home to go down which can result in some time that it is not rented.
  3. Lawsuit. There is always the possibility of getting sued or needing to sue someone.  That can take time and money and, depending on how it turns out, it could cost you even more money.  Of course insurance can help mitigate this risk.  At Kasteel Property Management we have a built in Attorney Retainer Program that already covers the potential cost of an eviction and legal advice needed for landlord tenant issues.  https://irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com/15cb59a8/files/uploaded/Attorney_Retainer_Program.pdf 
  4. Delinquent rent.  There are a lot of factors that can affect your ability to collect the rent, such as a tenant loosing their job or running into extra expenses one month and as crazy as it sounds, there could even be a world wide pandemic that could affect peoples ability to work and pay rent. 😉

When you are a landlord, living month to month with no reserves is not an option.  Without warning, you may have to do a major repair or other expenses could come up and if you can’t take care of them, then you may have to have the tenant move out, which of course ends up costing you even more money.

How Much Money Reserve Should I have for a Rental Property?

When people ask me how much they should expect in maintenance expenses before buying a rental property, I ask them how much do they spend on maintenance for the home they live in?  I tell them that owning two homes will be double the expenses and risk of problems.  Owning 3 homes will be triple it.  Also, consider the fact that there are many issues you, as the owner living in your own home, choose to live with and not get fixed because of the cost and time involved to fix it.  As a landlord that’s not usually an option.  When it’s a rental property things will just need to get fixed.  As a general rule of thumb I recommend three months the rent as a reserver, for each rental property you own.  That will give you peace of mind knowing that you can weather the storm of most unplanned expenses that might come up.  You also need to save in advance for a new roof and also new carpet and paint every 8-15 years.

What Other Risks can I Expect from a Rental Property?

  1. Emotional Strain and Stress: Some people are not cut out to be a landlord.  For example, I had a client that decided to sell her rental and quit the landlord business because thinking about it kept her up at night, even though there weren’t any problems going on with it.  It’s just not for everyone. The stress can be mostly reduced by having a good property manager in place and being financially prepared, but it’ll be different for each person depending on your own comfort level.
  2. Time: How much time is needed can be different for each person and for each property.  I recommend to try not to take care of everything yourself.  Your time is valuable and if you want to be the plumber, manager, electrician, handyman, attorney, etc. and you do everything yourself you will be limited to only having one or two rentals and little time for yourself and your family.  You can be far more profitable in the real estate arena if you do not limit yourself by trying to take care of it all yourself.  No matter how you do it though, it still will take up some time.  However, you can keep that to a minimum with a good management company like Kasteel Property Management. 
  3. You also run the risk of getting hooked on real estate and wanting to expand and buy more. Then there is the risk of boring your friends and family with talking about it all the time.  Trust me I’ve been there.  Ha ha ha.

Pros and Cons of Investing in Real Estate

Even with all the risks mentioned above, investing in real estate has far more pros, if done right, than cons.  Just to name a few: tax benefits, leveraging of funds to increase your growth capabilities, rent appreciation, and property appreciation.  The benefits can put your investment and retirement plans on the fast track.  Kasteel Property Management can go over these these pros with you in more detail. Just give us a call. 

You really CAN experience financial independence and financial freedom, get the pool next to palm trees, and be sporting some really cool sunglasses at the beach.  Just don’t expect that to be everyday or to achieve it right after closing on the purchase of your first investment property.  You can grow into it though if you stick with it and do it right.  To make sure it’s done right and to experience the best possible outcomes you will want a great team of professionals and Kasteel Property Management has the network and experience you want with Property Management, Landlord Tenant Attorney, Accounting, Insurance, Maintenance, and a Realtor that specializes in working with investors.

At Kasteel Property Management we do more than just watch your rental property.  We protect it, cultivate it, and help your investment grow.

Stay tuned for more written blogs and videos from Kasteel Property Management.

My management style is based on years of experience with managing hundreds of rentals in Utah.  Utah is generally a strong, growing, stable real estate market.  Other areas may have a different market and personal adaptation may be needed.

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Uncategorized

What Exactly Does a Property Manager Do?

If you’ve had a bad property manager in the past, or heard from those that have, you might be thinking you don’t need a property manager because all they do is sit in their office waiting for the rent to be paid.  If you sign up with a bad manager then you would be correct.  The frustrations and expenses of a bad manager are not worth your time, energy, and money.  The dangers of a bad manager is not only are they a waist of time and money but they can cost you extra expenses on your investment property because of long periods of it sitting vacant, mishandling of maintenance issues, improper procedures to deal with late rent, misappropriation of security deposits, rents being too low, etc.

The alternative, using a great property manager, will be a great benefit to the success of your investment property.  You should be able to depend on your management company to communicate promptly, and to know how to properly take care of issues.  Whether they are regular issues like maintenance and vacancies or bigger issues like unpaid rent, a good manager will know exactly what to do and be immediately in the middle of a resolution.  I truly believe Kasteel Property Management saves our clients more money than it costs them because we do our job and we do it right.

What are the Duties and Responsibilities of a Property Manager?

The number one answer to that question that guides the actions of everything else is to take care of the property owner and their interests.  This is done by taking care of the property and the tenants so the property owner can have the best possible success from their investment property.  Specifically that means:

  1. Finding tenants and thoroughly screening them.
  2. Keeping rent up with the market.
  3. Regular inspections.
  4. Enforcing the lease, including late fees.
  5. Resolving and coordinating maintenance issues.
  6. Collecting the rent and dispersing funds to owner.
  7. Monthly and annual statements and tax forms.
  8. Documenting the condition of the property with move ins and move outs.
  9. Prompt communication with tenants and owners. 

What Skills and licensing Should your Property Manager Have?

In Utah, to manage real estate that is not owned by yourself, you need a Real Estate License.  That is the minimum requirement but in practice you need a lot more than that.

  1. At Kasteel Property Management not only do we have a real estate license but we are our own independent real estate broker.  This means our brokerage is not listed under some other Real Estate Company who’s focus may or may not be Property Management.  At Kasteel Property Management our priority and focus is property management.  To maintain our licensing we also attend the required ongoing State approved education courses.
  1. We also attend regular trainings from our attorney that specializes in Landlord Law.  Their firm is a valuable resource for keeping up on the laws, what policies and procedures we should have, and keeping all our forms and leases current.  In addition we have them available to answer questions and give legal advice for any property management issues that may come up.

If property management is done right, it is a full time job.  To often people and even real estate agents think they can do property management “on the side” and make some extra money.  A property manager needs to be dedicated and full time.  With a part time property manager you will get part time service, including all the hassles and expenses that come with the mismanagement of your property.  At Kasteel Property Management our full time service keeps our clients happy by taking care of their investment properties.

In addition, to the licensing, training, and skills a good property manager needs to have the right tools.  This is more than just a good, up to date lease agreement.  In today’s world tenants should be able to apply online, sign electronically, have access to their own portal to submit maintenance requests, pay their rent, see transaction history, and to share documents like evidence of renters insurance.

Property owners also need online resources, or portal, to view, store and access their past and present monthly statements, to retrieve tax documents, view shared files, and to send money electronically when needed.  At Kasteel Property Management all these things are provided and conveniently accessible with a smart phone app.

How Does a Property Manager Get Paid?

Part of the responsibilities of a property manager is to collect the rent.  From the monthly rent the manager will deduct their fee and any other expenses, like maintenance if there had been any that month, before sending the balance to the property owner.  These charges will be accounted for on the owners monthly statement.

Is it Worth Hiring a Property Manager?

If you hire a good property manager it will save you money, time and hassle.  When considering a property management company make sure you ask a lot of questions.  See our previous blog post, How to Pick the Right Property Management Company, for a list of questions you should ask.

Although I am a big believer that here at Kasteel Property Management we save our clients money, there are a few cases in which some individuals should not hire a property manager.  This is rare but it does come up.  Hiring a property manager requires a level of trust and confidence in your manager.  This can grow over time, but if you are a “do it yourself” type of person or someone that prefers hands on then you might feel more comfortable without a property manager.  This is different than a property owner that wants to personally handle a large maintenance issue themself, or periodically do their own inspection of a property, or wants to do some annual yard care themself.  Such things are often wise and prudent and can help build confidence in how your investment property is being managed.

To clarify, in saying these things, I never want to make a property owner feel they can’t ask questions about a concern they have or get involved in some way.  We love our clients and always want to help and accommodate.  The “do it yourself-er” I’m referring to is rare but I felt it was important to bring up because in those situations using a property manager will essentially be putting “too many cooks in the kitchen” and you will be better off with one less cook.

If you want to seek out professional advice and property management services then Kasteel Property Management will save you time, money, hassle, and stress.  We will get your investment property on track and you will be surprised how easy we can make the process.  You want to know your property is being taken care of by a company that is doing their job and working hard for you.  You want Kasteel Property Management.

Stay tuned for more written blogs and videos from Kasteel Property Management.

At Kasteel Property Management we do more than just watch your rental property.  We protect it, cultivate it, and help your investment grow.