Owner Services:

If you are an experienced landlord who enjoys the challenges of handling your own management activities – interacting with tenants, collections, legal work, and maintenance – our Tenant marketing and screening services may be right for you.

We use the resources of Guardian Real Estate & Investment Group to procure a tenant by marketing your property and verifying their application details so you can manage your new tenant with confidence.

If you don’t want to be available 24/7, also consider our property management services.

We can handle the marketing, applicant screening, property showing and tenant lease execution for you. Our services include:

• Handling and processing the application from prospective tenants.
• Present screened tenant applications to you, the owner.
• Ensure accurate completion of the lease and associated documents.
• Handle processing of initial tenant payments.

Our commitment to excellence and professional education, as well as responsiveness and adaptation to market forces, ensures that we provide the highest caliber of service to our clients.

We succeed when our clients achieve their investment goals through effective counsel and management of their real estate assets.

Why use a Property Management Company?

• Do you have experience managing rental property yourself?
• Are you familiar with fair housing and landlord/tenant laws in the jurisdiction(s) where your property is located?
• Do you have relationships with contractors that ensure you can get 24 hour service at reasonable prices?
• Do you have a reliable means to determine fair market rent and returns on your investment property?
• Do you know and have the proper notices and legal process to deal with non-paying tenants?
• Do you have a current, professionally crafted lease and related agreements/forms to minimize your exposure to liability should a tenant sue?

If you answered “no” to any of the above questions, it might be prudent to hire a professional management team. The cost of one bad decision could more than offset the cost of hiring a professional manager to help you avoid the pitfalls of rental property ownership.

Landlord Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What do I get for my monthly management fee?
A: Among other things, your management fee buys:

• The market presence and reputation of Guardian Realty & Investment Group
• Rent collection and tenant relations.
• Routine property inspections
• Professionally crafted and legally tested leases and related documents.
• Access to competent, effective landlord/tenant attorneys.
• Peace of mind, let us deal with any headaches that may arise.

Q; How long will it take to rent my property?
A: Many factors affect the speed with which a property rents including supply/demand, time of year, location, and condition. Your property manager will recommend a market rent based on these factors.

Q: Why do property management companies charge leasing commissions? How are these different from management fees?
A: Management fees pay the managing company and your property manager for the day-to-day tasks associated with conducting your rental business. Leasing commissions are offered as an inducement to get the property marketed and shown. Our goal is to maximize exposure for your property and encourage all real estate agents (who number in the thousands) to bring qualified tenants to the table. This is accomplished by offering a leasing commission or “finder’s fee” to the agent who markets the property and the agent who brings the tenant to the table.

Q: Can Guardian Realty & Investment Group make my mortgage payments?
A: Yes, provided the following conditions are met:

1. A minimum of one month’s mortgage payment is held as a “minimum balance” or “funding” in your property account.
2. Sufficient funds are available to us when the payment is due.

Q: Will Guardian pay vendors or my fees if my account balance is insufficient when the bills are received?

A: No. Real estate regulations preclude any real estate company from advancing its own funds to settle an owner’s expenses. Bills are paid when the available balance in the property account is equal to or exceeds the amount(s) owed. For this reason, it is important to ensure your account balance is always sufficient to pay all anticipated expenses.

Q: I interviewed several managers and found a lot of variation in fees. Why is that?
A: Real estate companies operate completely independently of one another and set their fees according to what they consider reasonable returns for their efforts. There are no “standard” fees for particular services. At Guardian, the emphasis is on quality and we work hard to attract and retain the best management talent. We believe our program provides excellent value to our investment property owners. Our philosophy is to gain market share by consistently delivering an exceptional range of services to our landlords and tenants.

Q: My property manager has suggested that I paint, replace a few rooms of carpet, and have the house power washed before placing it on the rental market. I’m not selling—why should I go to all this trouble and expense for tenants?
A: A well-maintained property attracts better tenants, leases in a shorter time, and generally brings higher rents. Well-qualified tenants realize they are sought after and shop homes that are in good condition and offer the best value for their rent dollars. The money you “save” by not having the property in top condition will be spent on longer vacancies and the problems associated with attracting lesser qualified tenants.

Pets – Should you allow them?

Roughly 50% of tenants have a pet of some kind. Denying pets reduces your pool of potential renters.

Pros

• Pet owners are normally required to provide additional security deposits.
• Pet owners may stay longer as other property available to them is limited.
• Two or more pets can actually be better than one – since they provide companionship for each other and are less likely to cause damage due to boredom or anxiety.

Cons

• Pets can create odor and damage problems if not properly supervised by their owners.
• Items such as carpet generally require more frequent replacement in pet friendly properties.
• It can be difficult to obtain reliable references on pets from former landlords.
• Pet damages sometimes exceed the amount of deposits and it can be difficult to recover the excess from former tenants.

Recommendation
As with most such issues, each case is different and comes with its own set of risk versus reward considerations. The following are some factors to consider in making your decision:

• Do you have pets or have pets previously been in the property?
• Does the property have older carpet?
• Do you intend to occupy the property yourself at some point? Would you likely upgrade many items in that process anyway?
• Do you have allergies that might be aggravated by pet odor/dander?
• Would allowing pets provide significant reduction in projected market times?