When you first begin the onboarding process with a property management company, it can be overwhelming trying to understand different terms and fees. Below, we have detailed some of the most frequently asked about topics when it comes to initial costs and fees.
The first two months of onboarding a new property will look different than what could be expected on a regular basis moving forward. This is due to initial activities like leasing the property, rekeying the unit, management fees, leasing fee, and a property reserve account. Because these activities only happen during specific situations or during onboarding, the typical monthly statement will look different.
After this initial period, monthly statements can vary slightly depending on things like maintenance issues occurring.
A maintenance limit allows an owner to provide a predetermined amount of money to allow us to handle smaller maintenance concerns directly, without additional authorization. We ask for a $500 maintenance limit, meaning that maintenance concerns that fall under the $500 threshold can be handled without further involving the owner. This money is only spent on valid maintenance concerns. Maintenance issues above the $500 threshold are discussed with the owner prior to work being completed.
We provide each tenant with a gift card at the end of the year from both our team at Rincon Property Management and the property owner. The gift card is $100 to a local business as a small token of goodwill towards the tenant. The gift serves as a thank you to your tenants from both our team at Rincon Property Management and the property owner for caring for the home, making rental payments on-time, and reporting any maintenance issues to us promptly.
This small fee goes a long way in showing appreciation, and encouraging tenants to reach out if anything comes up. When tenants feel valued the owner and property management company and report maintenance issues in a timely manner, the units stay in better condition.
The tenant transfer fee is a less common fee that we see. If a tenant is already in the unit when we begin managing the unit, we are happy to take them on with a transfer fee of $295.
This fee allows us to put the existing tenant into our own system, initiate communication with the tenant to conduct an inspection of the property and walk-through, and set them up on our online portal. We also make sure that an existing tenant is aware of the new way to make rental payments, ask questions, or submit maintenance requests.
Where can I learn more about anticipated fees?
If you are interested in learning more about leasing fees, early cancellation fees, late fees, maintenance coordination fees, or lease renewal fees, read our full article, Hidden Fees: What You Should Know. Additionally, you can learn more about our maintenance limit, here.
If you have any additional questions, feel free to reach out to us by visiting our contact page, here. To view similar content, you can view our learning hub, here.