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Marketing Your Property
Each property we manage is marketed using a marketing strategy designed (and tweaked repeatedly) to get the most traffic. First, we will have professional photos taken of your property. With some tiers of our property management service, we will also make a 3D tour of your property using a service called Matterport. This allows prospective renters to “walk” inside your home and get a feel for the property.
Because the vast majority of prospective renters search for their new home on the Internet and social media, we focus on those areas. Your property will not online be listed on our website, but on 40+ third party sites, including Zillow, Realtor.com, and the MLS (Multiple Listing Service). We also feature your property on our social media.
Our Business Development Manager will analyze the market, similar properties, and the neighborhood to determine a fair price for your property. It is extremely important that your property is correctly priced prior to going on the market. Even a great home can sit on the market if the price is too high.
We recommend using a cleaning service to get your property photo- and rent-ready, but if you’d like to do it yourself, here is a handy checklist of what to clean.
We are happy to work with you and use any existing high resolution photos of your home. However, if these were taken by a previous property management company or real estate agent, we will need to obtain permission in order to use them. However, we strongly prefer not to use photos that are not of professional quality and/or taken on a phone. We want your home to look its best for prospective residents!
We can absolutely show your property while you are still living in it. We do recommend that you remove any identifying items – such as family photos, signage with names, etc. – prior to photography and showings. We will contact you at least the day before any scheduled showings to give you ample opportunity to vacate your home during that time. If you have pets, please let us know! We don’t want to accidentally let out any furry friends! If at all possible, we recommend taking dogs with you during showings.
Finding a Quality Tenant
Each of our applicants must have:
- A credit score of 625 or above
- Provable income 3 times the amount of rent (or 5 times if they are already paying a mortgage)
- No previous evictions
- A favorable background report
- Verification of positive rental history from previous landlords, including timely rent payments
901 Real Estate Services abides by the Fair Housing Act, and we do not discriminate against anyone on the basis of race, color, disability, familial status, national origin, religion, and/or sex (including gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation).
Not a problem! We will take on properties that already have tenants. For more information on how we onboard occupied properties, please reach out.
Applications are processed through our software, AppFolio. (We do not accept 3rd party applications, such as Zillow, and all aspects of the application are done online.) The applicant will pay a non-refundable application fee. This fee goes towards a credit and background check. Our leasing and property management staff will then verify all the submitted documentation. Once approved, your home will be removed from the market after the applicant submits their deposit, any other applicable fees, and signs the lease.
We will absolutely let you know once your property has been rented! How involved you want to be other than that is up to you. We are happy to provide you with regular updates on potential applicants, feedback from showings, and other pertinent information. If you want to hear from us more (or less), let us know!
Your property will be shown to prospective tenants by one of our leasing agents. We do not allow self-guided tours at this time.
Rent Collection & Payments
Rent is due on the 1st of each month, with a grace period through the 5th. On the 6th, rent is considered late. If a resident moves into the property after the 1st of the month, their first month’s rent will be prorated.
For single family properties, owner draws will be processed and sent out through direct deposit on the 10th of each month (unless it is a weekend or a holiday). Your funds should hit your account about 3-5 business days later unless there is a bank holiday, your property isn’t occupied, or your resident has not paid rent yet.
If it’s the 6th of the month, and the resident has not paid, a late fee of 10% will be added to their balance. This is to not only pay our staff for handling their delinquency, but also to act as a deterrent from future late payments. If late rent payments are a pattern with a resident, we may recommend a non-renewal to the owner upon the end of the lease.
If a resident does not respond to requests for payment, delays making a payment on a promised day, or simply does not pay, we will then move to filing an eviction. Whenever possible, we will ask the tenant to voluntarily give up possession of the unit without getting the court involved. However, it can be necessary to file an eviction, which does take longer.
The good news is that 901 Real Estate Services has an eviction rate of less than 1%!
For single-family homes and condos, the security deposit is one month’s rent, less the monthly payment for the Resident Benefits Package.
901 Real Estate Services holds each security deposit in a Trust Account in accordance with Tennessee laws. Once the tenant moves out, any cleaning, painting, repairs, or other damages left behind will be paid for out of the security deposit. The remaining deposit will then be refunded to the outgoing tenant. If the tenant breaks a lease early or otherwise defaults, the entire deposit will be credited to the owner.
We charge a one-time admin fee of $250, which goes to pay our staff for their time approving the applicant, creating a lease, etc. If an approved tenant has a pet, there is also a pet deposit. Some HOAs require move in and move out fees, which we collect on behalf of the owner.
Once a property is removed from the market, the security deposit becomes non-refundable after 48 hours. This ensures our owners still get paid, even with lost time that it could have been marketed.
Property Management services
We will always let you know if there are any changes regarding the resident or any maintenance over $300.
We are willing to discuss our fees and why we charge what we do, as well as help you find a plan that works best for you.
However, we believe that we are the best property management company in Memphis for a reason. We realize that we are not the right fit for every owner, nor every property. We believe in offering a higher quality of property management services that gives our owners and residents peace of mind.
If you’d like to view a sample single family management agreement with pricing details, click here.
(Please note that pricing, terms and conditions, and features available may be different for your property.)
We specialize in single family homes and condos, duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, and some small multi-family properties.
PROPERTY MAINTENANCE & CONDITION
Usually, no. If a maintenance request is small and under the amount of your reserve (such as a smoke detector needing a new battery), we will simply handle it. That’s why you hired us!
However, if you prefer to know about all maintenance at your property, we offer that option to our owners. Please let our Business Development Manager know if you prefer to be contacted for each maintenance item, and we will be happy to note your account.
We ask that owners pay a reserve of $300, though this amount may vary for properties with more than one unit or with certain types of properties.
For basic, everyday maintenance, we use our in-house technician. If the work requires special skills (such as HVAC, major plumbing issues, electrical work, etc.), we have built long-term relationships with a wide variety of trusted vendors. While we will always work to get our owners the lowest price, we also balance cost with quality. A job done correctly once will save more money in the long run than a patch job for the cheapest bid.
While you may love a red kitchen, green dining room, or pink bedroom, potential renters may not. We have found that homes with a white or off-white color tend to rent much faster than those with other colors. Basic, neutral colors are also easier to match when it comes time to repaint patches or walls.
We perform at least three types of inspections – Onboarding or New Property inspections, Move In inspections, and Move Out inspections.
Onboarding inspections are done for newly managed properties. Once you or your current tenant has moved out, we thoroughly inspect the property to ensure we photograph and document the condition. This includes making sure all appliances are functioning, there are no plumbing or HVAC issues, and that there are no repairs that need to be done prior to renting out the home.
The Move In inspection is done prior to a new tenant moving in. We follow the same process. Additionally, we ask that our tenants perform their own inspection just to make sure we didn’t miss anything. Since there can be time that elapses before we onboard your property and when a tenant moves in, we still do this inspection with newly managed properties.
A Move Out inspection is exactly what it sounds like. Because of the amount of detail and documentation that goes into our inspections, we can easily compare condition pre- and post-tenant. While we expect some level of wear and tear, any additional damage or needed repair is then charged to the tenant.
For security reasons, we ask that you turn over all keys to 901 Real Estate Services. We will also need any garage/gate openers, key fobs, or codes, including to doors, garages, gates, and amenities.