Owner FAQs

We can start the process immediately. We can do all of the paperwork needed electronically and begin the process very quickly. Contact us so we can find out more about you and your property and see if we would be a good fit for your wants and expectations regarding management services.

If the property is in the best condition as possible and priced well, it will ensure optimal showing conditions to increase our chances of attracting high-quality residents and obtaining the highest rent possible while maintaining lower days on the market overall.

Prior to placing a property on the rental market or renewing a lease, we do a comparative market analysis and determine the most economical and profitable rental rate that can be charged. Other factors, such as the time of the year, the immediate area, and neighborhood’s demands, will need to be taken into consideration as well.

On average, it will take us anywhere from one to three weeks to find a qualified resident. There are many factors that affect this timeframe such as the asking rent price, market demands, the immediate area, the condition of the property and the time of year. Please note, market activities are normally slower during the Fall and Winter months than they are in the Spring and Summer months.

Even the best properties will not lease quickly if overpriced. After a property has been exposed to the market for two weeks without renting, we look into the possibility that the asking rent is too high. We will consider lowering the rent so that the property will not sit vacant.

If the property is currently occupied, we would like to pre-market the property 2-3 weeks prior to the current resident moving out. That way, we can get ahead on exposing the property and hopefully find a replacement resident to move in immediately.

We will add the property on our website, which will syndicate and send the listing to over 50+ other online sites like Zillow, Trulia, Hotpads, Apartment.com, Zumper, and many more. We’ll also manually list the property on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace, and send the property to our database of qualified applicants that are looking to move to ensure your property will get maximum exposure and rent out as quickly as possible.

This is one of the most important aspects of the successful management of rental property. We look at an applicant’s past behavior and assume their future behavior will be the same. An applicant must demonstrate a history of being a good, responsible resident as well as meeting our financial criteria.

We pull a credit check and review the results looking at income, past rental history, credit, employment status, family size, pets, criminal history, eviction, bankruptcy and any other stipulations presented in order to make a good decision upon which resident to rent to. It is our policy to choose the BEST applicant, not always the first. Credit is not always the most important aspect of screening an applicant and our goal is to ultimately pick a resident that will be a good fit for us and will likely treat the property as their home and not just a rental.

Statistics show that around 72% of residents own a pet, therefore by not allowing pets in your rental, we are eliminating about 72% of our potential resident pool. What this translates to is your property will likely take longer to find a resident and we may also have to accept lower than market rent when they come.

We recommend that you allow residents with pets. Our pet policy requires all residents to verify their pet through a 3rd party service for licensing, immunization, vaccination, health and behavior records. It is kind of like a human background check, but for animals. With the pet report, we’ll have a clearer picture of the kind of pet the resident has, which will allow us to make better risk assessment choices to accept the pet or not. Please be advised though that Service Animals and Emotional Support Animals (ESAs) are not considered as pets, and we are required by law to accept them when the owner provides proper verification documentation.

NOTE: Our complimentary Pet Protection Guarantee will reimburse you up to $1,000 in pet related damages.

After receiving a repair request, we will contact the resident and ask them questions in order to help us determine the exact nature of the problem before sending a service technician. We make sure it is not something the resident can fix themselves (ex: reset button on the disposal, tripped breaker etc.) before your money is spent on a service call. After determining that it is a legitimate problem that the resident can’t resolve by themselves, we will send the appropriate service vendor to make the repair. If the estimated cost of repair is above $500, we will seek your written approval first before any work will be performed. Depending on the type of repairs or what/who caused it, it will either be charged to the resident or deducted against the owner’s account.

Although we have yet to discover a bulletproof system to find residents that will guarantee they will treat your property like you would, we do take several steps to minimize our chances of approving the ones who won’t. Firstly, our carefully thoughtout resident selection criteria protects your property from being rented to unqualified people. Our screening process is very stringent and while we screen our applicants, we purposely look for those who will likely treat your property as their own vs ones who have the “it’s just a rental” mentality. People with the mentality of wanting to treat your property as their own home will likely take good care of the property and help us maintain the property better by proactively fixing the small issues themselves and notify us for the ones they can’t. On the other hand, people with the “it’s just a rental” mentality tend to not care about the property as much because it is not theirs. They will likely ignore small repair issues which will eventually turn into bigger problems later, potentially costing you hundreds, if not thousands, more to address the problem.

During the lease term, we may have situations granting entry to the property for repair or maintenance reasons providing the opportunity to examine the property. In addition, our scheduled annual maintenance inspection allows us to see how the resident(s) are maintaining the property. During such opportunities, we’ll check for things that can be easily overlooked, such as the air filter being changed, the smoke alarms having batteries, and that there are no unreported problems at the property.

We give them an opportunity to correct the situation, and usually they will. If a problem persists, we will make a decision based on that specific situation to take more drastic measures that could include eviction if needed. Prior to pushing towards an eviction, the courts will require an “Opportunity to Cure'' the defect. Example – if they have an unauthorized pet in the home – we would have to send them formal correspondence to remove the pet by a certain date, then inspect the home to ensure compliance. If they fail to comply, our case is solid and an eviction over the matter would be more justified with the proper documentation.

Unless otherwise stated in the Lease and Management Agreement or restricted by property limitations, all utilities used on the premises are paid for by the resident. New residents are advised to notify the appropriate utility companies to have service turned on in their name. During periods of vacancy, utilities can be placed in the TDHT name or left in your/owner’s name, TDHT will arrange payment of utility bills and charge the amount to your account.

In most of our leases, the resident is responsible for yard maintenance which includes watering, cutting grass, weeding, reseeding if needed, trimming shrubs and flowers. The area around the driveway, sidewalks, curbs, and gutters are considered to be part of the yard and need to be kept free of weeds, grass, and leaves. For security reasons, hedges and bushes should be trimmed so they do not block the view from windows. Owners are responsible for trimming limbs that are on or near roofs. In some cases where an owner has put a lot of money into landscaping, we recommend hiring a professional landscaper instead of relying on the resident for upkeep. This would be built into the lease and would allow the owner to ask for more in rent.

NOTE: Owners should not expect residents to perform the type of upkeep that owners would do such as leave removal, fertilizing, heavy trimming, mulching, and annual type of clean ups. Owners can expect the resident to usually only cut the grass and trim when needed.

At the start of every new lease we required all residents to provide a security deposit equal to one month's rent, which is the maximum amount allowed by the law. We hold the security deposit in a Trust Account in compliance with applicable State and Federal laws. At the end of the lease term, the security deposit will be itemized to pay for any damage to the property beyond normal wear and tear. Any remaining balance will be refunded back to the resident.

NOTE: Our resident Damage Protection Guarantee will reimburse you up to $5,000 in resident related damages.

Our lease agreement states that rent is due on the 1st of each month, with a grace period to pay rent by the end of the 5th before rent is considered late. In a perfect world, every resident would have paid their rent by the 1st of the month, the bank will instantly clear that payment to us, then we’ll send it to you on the same day and everyone is happy. Unfortunately, we’re not in that perfect world and not all residents pay their rent by the 1st of each month, or by the 5th.

Sometimes residents experience unexpected financial hiccups and can’t pay until the 5th or later. Add on the fact that our current banking system requires 2-5 business days to clear a resident's payment from their account to ours, and again from ours to yours. If any of those days falls on the weekend or holidays, then it gets further delayed.

Therefore, for these reasons we generally disburse your rent funds by the 15th of every month. The disbursements will be made by ACH direct deposit into your account and an itemized statement detailing any expenses will be forwarded. You will also receive your very own Owner’s Portal on our cloud-based system where you can log in and review any past statements.

We typically hold a $500 Account Reserve for each property that we manage to help cover any small repair items that come up. If we use some of the funds, we will keep some of the rent payment the following month to top it up to $500 again.

If rent has not been paid by the 6th, then we give the resident a courtesy call or email. Usually this will remedy the situation soon after. If we do not hear from them then we will deliver or post a ‘Pay or Vacate Notice’ on their front door. Whether or not we eventually have to proceed with a formal eviction depends on the specific circumstances.

After a resident falls behind in paying rent, we’ll work diligently with our residents to avoid eviction and get residents with past due rent on a repayment plan. It is usually financially better, for all involved, if a solution can be worked out, and we have found that communication and respect are usually the best tools for remedying these types of situations.

Because of our stringent resident screening protocols, it is very rare that we ever had to evict a resident. We are proud to say that since 2007, we have only had to evict 2 residents! Even through the Pandemic, we didn’t have to evict one resident! We know our management approach works, that’s why we’re confident enough to offer our owners an Eviction Assurance & Rent Protection Guarantee that will cover you up to $5,000 in eviction related costs and pay you one month’s rent if a resident is evicted by the court.

A Landlord policy is what you will need to properly insure a rental property. A Landlord policy will protect your property from damage in an event such as a tree falling on your rental property and causing substantial damage. Depending on your Landlord policy, it will usually cover the repair expenses and also compensate you for potential loss of rental income in cases where the property can’t be rented during repair. It will also protect you from being personally liable in such an event where your resident or their guest fell because of a loose handrail.

As a property manager, we take on countless different responsibilities and have frequent interactions with residents. Typically, we do not have a financial interest in the property, but we take on the same risks as the homeowner. As a result, when something goes wrong, we're often the target of any resulting litigation along with the landlord.

Like any other reputable business, we carry error & omission insurance and general liability insurance, but those do not protect us against claims concerning the property itself, leaving us vulnerable to claims and lawsuits arising directly from the home. Some examples where we would not be covered by our own insurance policies include: theft or burglary, water leaks, fire or smoke damage, vandalism or damage by a resident, damage caused by pets or service animals, injuries that occur on the property, and more.

When you add us as an ‘Additional Insured’ on your landlord policy, it means that any coverage you have is extended to us. When one policy extends to both parties, they are able to present a unified defense, with one insurance company representing both. It not only streamlines the process but significantly reduces costs all around for all parties.

For a more detailed explanation, please check out Why List my Property Manager as an ‘Additional Insured’?

It is important to note that ‘Additional Insured’ and ‘Additional Interest’ are NOT the same thing. If your insurance company adds us as an ‘Additional Interest’, it does not extend coverage, but simply means that the property manager will receive notification when changes to the policy (such as cancellation or renewal) occur.

Without an ‘Additional Insured’ endorsement, we would have to cover any expenses up front and then seek reimbursement from you directly under our indemnification clause – a much more time-consuming and costly process that neither party would like to be a part of.

We specialize in Single-Family homes, Townhomes, Condos, 1-4 units Multi-Family and small apartment complexes.

We don’t manage commercial properties. We don’t manage properties with chronic repair issues or conditions that might adversely affect the health or safety of an ordinary resident. An example would be a home with a rotted 2nd story deck that an owner “can’t afford” to properly repair. We understand funds can be tight for some owners – but if we feel an owner will not be able to afford or approve any repairs – it only reflects poorly on us with the resident.

Example 1: When an owner wants to use a company like Home Depot to deliver a new stove to a vacant property, and we have to meet Home Depot at the property, there is a service fee associated with this to take the time, personnel and gas to go to the home and accommodate this request.

Example 2: If the owner is refinancing the property, and we must meet the appraiser or other persons at the property, there is a service fee associated with this.

Example 3: Sometimes an owner wants us to take pictures of a new fence, new roof or a repair that has been done on the property. We are happy to do this for the owners, but we must charge a service fee for this.

Owners often ask us to do things that are outside our normal management services, and we will try to accommodate our owners whenever possible.

Yes, we are a full-service investment firm. We live, breathe and sleep real estate. We ourselves are actively buying more properties to add to our investment portfolio in today’s market, and we also help our clients buy, sell, repair, renovate and build new constructions too. By being active and proactive in our current market not only helps us to stay up-to-date with laws and rules changes, but also on knowing what’s reasonable cost for most maintenance items as well.

As a local company that has been “in the trenches” since 2007, you’ll gain the benefit of not having to relearn our expensive lessons. We will treat your property as if it is our own because many of our staff are landlords ourselves, therefore we’re also invested to stay atop of the market changes so you don’t have to.

On the business philosophy level, while we hold the title of property manager, we also see ourselves as somewhat a combination of an asset manager and a business manager. Our main duties when managing your rental property is to oversee and execute your rental business and continue to make improvements in its performance (appeal, functionality and rental income), while minimizing your business risks (resident screening and contract enforcement).

Additionally, we are so confident in our proven methods that we offer 9 exclusive, results driven Guarantees to all who work with us to ensure they’re happy and their liabilities are as low as possible.

We have a few plans available, please see our Pricing page for more details.

Since we do not charge any setup fee, there is technically $0 upfront cost to you. To make it less financially burdensome for you, we typically take our fees from the first month’s rent we collected from the resident.

Although we do have to sign a contract to legally establish our business relationship with each other, our Happiness and Stress-Free Cancellation Guarantee allows you to cancel for any reason and never pay any termination fee or penalty.

Please give us a call/text 206-203-0060, email trong@tdhometeam.com or leave us a message on our Contact Us and we’ll give back with you at our earliest available time.