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MARS HILL YOU TUBE

VA

703-776-9223 (VA)

TX

512-942-0024 (TX)

Marketing / Leasing Procedures

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Marketing/Leasing Procedures

Leasing Fees

There are no start-up fees, we get paid out of the rent collected to make accounting and cash flow more convenient for you.

  • Lease Only Service – We do not do lease only services.
  • Leasing and Management of the home – 100% of one month’s rent leasing fee (80% in TX). The leasing fee is defined as any time we put a new resident in the home. “Management Fees” can be found under the “Property Management” section.  This is paid regardless of who finds the tenant (owner or management company).
  • Renewal Fee – 30% of one month’s rent.  The renewal fee is defined as any time we have to renew a contract with an existing renter.  If we are extending a lease beyond the original terms, regardless of the length, a renewal fee is charged.

Preparing The Home For Lease

Professional Photography, Videography and Copywriting

When you hire Mars Hill Property Management, you can count on marketing that stands out from the rest.  Any agent with a pulse can list your home on the Internet, but few can maximize your home’s marketing effectiveness like we can.

Most marketing by traditional real estate companies feature amateur photography that is poorly exposed (bad lighting) and does not capture the true essence of a home.  It may show how many rooms there are, but it doesn’t convey the feeling that those rooms can give you.  The descriptions are equally bland, usually just a factual, bullet point list of features that would put an engineer to sleep.

The philosophy for our marketing is to invest in photography, videography and copywriting that is emotionally engaging for the renter.  People buy and rent on emotion and not just facts.  

We accomplish this by photography that makes your rooms look bright and evenly lit, without over-exposing the windows.  Our professional photographers use wide-angle photography to accentuate the best aspects of the space, so you will actually see the entire bathroom and not just a picture of the shower!  Here are some comparison photos between two homes that are the same floor plan:

Traditional PhotographyMars Hill Photography

Centered Image

NOTE:  If your home is not stage-ready, we use amateur photos until your home is cleaned, vacant and ready for professional photos.  

 

We also use copywriting that takes the traditional list of features and translates those to lifestyle benefits.  It’s the difference between listing out the features of a yard, which most real estate companies do:

 

Private, fenced backyard with a beautiful lawn and wood deck. 

 

versus the lifestyle benefits of the yard: 

 

Relax in the privacy of your own backyard or engage in a friendly game of football while the intoxicating aroma of hamburger patties are sizzling on the grill.  

 

Here are the real world descriptions of two exact floor plans that were listed by a local real estate company for the home pictured above:

Traditional Marketing

“Great home with nice extras, including plantation shutters and hardwood flooring, in Sun City-AGE REQUIREMENT in this community, pets okay with approval, under 35 lbs, great amenities and lawn care included in rent, ready for Immediate Move In!”

 

“Very large master with huge Master Closet and Master Bath with Walk in Shower.  Pet Fence and “Doggie door” available for trained pets.  Wood Laminate floors throughout.”

 

Combining this marketing copy with the traditional photography above, the two floor plans were able to rent for an average of $1425/mo in 11 days.  

 

Next is the description that our company used for the same floor plan in that neighborhood.

Mars Hill Marketing

“Wonderful open and airy homes in Sun City have much to offer.  This three bedroom two bath home backs up to a luscious greenbelt.  The screened in back porch is a great place to relax and enjoy a cup of Joe.  If relaxing isn’t your thing, don’t worry, just hop in your golf cart and drive to numerous golf courses, clubhouses, biking and jogging trails or swimming pools.”

 

This particular marketing copy with the Mars Hill photography above resulted in a rental price of $1600/mo with just 1 day on the market.  Effective photography and marketing copy can save you money!

Staging A Furnished Home

If your home is occupied by your family while we are marketing it, we highly recommend that you stage it.  If you stage your home, you are more likely to get a viewing, increase the perceived value, spend less time on the market, and help the future resident visualize living there, while overlooking the flaws.

 

Here are some resources to help you stage your home:

 

 

Consider these findings from the National Association of Realtors:

 

  • Among REALTORS® who typically represent the buyer, 49 percent report most buyers are affected by home staging and 47 percent report some buyers are affected by home staging.
  • For buyers it is easier to visualize the property as a future home (81 percent), buyers are more willing to walk through a home they viewed online (46 percent), will positively impact the value of the home if it is decorated to the buyer tastes (45 percent), and buyers are more willing to overlook other property faults (28 percent).
  • Among sellers’ agents 34% stage all homes, 13% stage difficult homes to sell, and four percent stage only high price bracket homes. Forty-four percent suggest the seller de-clutter and fix property faults only and do not stage the home.
  • The median dollar value to stage a home is $675 for each home.
  • The most important rooms to be staged for buyers match identically to the rooms that are most common to be staged among sellers—in order: living room, kitchen, master bedroom, dining room, bathroom, children’s bedroom, and guest bedroom.
  • 32% of buyers’ agents believe staged homes increase the dollar value buyers are willing to offer by 1% – 5%.  19% say there is no impact on the dollar value, and 16% believe it increases the dollar value buyers are willing to offer by 5% – 10%
  • 37% of sellers’ agents believe staged homes increase the dollar value buyers are willing to offer by 1% – 5%.  22% believe it increases the dollar value buyers are willing to offer by 6% – 10%.  10% say home staging has no impact on dollar value, and 8% say home staging homes increase the dollar value buyers are willing to offer by 11% – 15%.
  • Staged homes spent 72% less time on the market.

Standard Make-Ready Versus General Contracting

We will work with you to prepare the home for the market by making recommendations during our initial walk-through.  If there are items that need to be completed, we can refer to an appropriate contractor suitable for the job.  Initial make-ready projects should be handled directly by the owner if they are still living in the home and/or there is no tenant occupying it.  On subsequent make-ready projects, or if the owner is not present, we can help you by recommending contractors and getting an initial bid based on a detailed scope of work.  Any subsequent negotiations regarding pricing, scope of work changes, and payments should be handled directly between the owner and the contractor.  We can help the absentee owner verify that the work performed was completed.   It is important to note that we are a property management company and not a general contractor.  If there are major renovations needed, these are outside the scope of our services.

 

We define major renovations as projects that involve managing three or more vendors or costing in excess of three months of rent for the property.  In ideal circumstances, the owner who is leaving their home and converting it into a rental will be available to manage major renovations.  If the owner is not available, we can help you select a general contractor to manage the project on your behalf.  If we are placed in the position of managing a major renovation, we will include a project management fee of 10% of the project cost.

 

Our goal is to help our owners prepare their home for the market when it comes to cleaning and minor repairs.  Any make ready costs above the repair limit will be presented to the owner for approval.  There are three circumstances in which we would make repairs without owner approval:

 

  1. Any make ready costs that are covered by the tenant’s security deposit
  2. Any make ready costs below the owner’s repair limit set forth in their contract (usually $500) 
  3. Any required health and safety items per local property codes

 

We utilize a Handyman checklist to ensure the standard of care for the exterior and interior of your home is well maintained.  This checklist is used for every make-ready to ensure the tenant that is moving in is not experiencing difficulty with the basic functioning of the home and creating a bad initial experience.  Costs can vary on this checklist depending on how many items are needed and the age of the home, for a more precise cost, your property manager can help you obtain an estimate for this work.  To view the checklist, you can click here:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1b7EtPwHtFnh2KlWjQM3H7E8NGzAHv2-ttaL3uS-huBE/edit?usp=sharing 

 

Standard Of Care For Home (Exterior)

Items included in the exterior make-ready process may include, but are not limited to, yard maintenance (mow, trim bushes and trees), fence repairs, irrigation repairs, painting (if wear and tear is significant), gutter repair, gutter cleaning, installing garage keypad and other items found on the Handyman Make-Ready Checklist.

We will replace your traditional keyed deadbolt on your front door with a smart lock to improve security and reduce annual rekey costs.  This estimated cost for materials and labor is $300 – $325 (regular price of $350).  

 

We will also replace all exterior deadbolts with a one-way lock ($25-$35/unit) and replace all keyed door knobs with non-keyed versions (exterior levers $35/per unit, Interior levers $25/per unit).  These are material costs and do not include labor.

Standard Of Care For Home (Interior)

Items included in the interior make-ready process may include, but are not limited to, replacing light bulbs, 9V batteries (or additional installation) for smoke/carbon monoxide detectors, general cleaning, carpet cleaning, changing HVAC filters, touch up painting, rekeying the home, replacing rubber supply lines with steel braided ones, replacing worn toilet mechanisms, cleaning fireplaces, flushing water heaters, purchasing drain strainers, replacing broken blinds, pouring bleach down the primary condensate line, servicing the HVAC unit if it has not been serviced for the past 2 years, and other items found in the Handyman Make-Ready Checklist.

 

Based on industry guidelines and guidance from local judges, we recommend the following schedule to properly maintain and update the home and keep it in very good condition.  Any itemizations we do will be based on the following lifespan:

 

  1. Repaint the entire home every 3-4 years.
  2. Replace carpet every 5-6 years.
  3. Replace smoke detectors every 10 years.

Where We Market and Marketing Strategy

In addition to real estate signage, we leverage the Internet to market our listings.  Here are some of the websites that your home will be listed on (These are subject to change based on changes to subscription services or partnerships with local MLS boards).

 

We have been very successful in renting out hundreds of homes using these online resources.  If you want us to create a custom listing or submission on a website not listed here, we charge $100 per listing in addition to the cost that we incur from that website.  


IMPORTANT TO KNOW ABOUT MARKETING SITES:  Where you market (i.e. particular websites) is really not as critical as you may think.  It’s a myth that specific websites will be the “magic bullet” that will ensure you get the visibility you need to be successful in renting out your home.  This article addresses this with selling a home, but it applies equally to renting a home:  See “The Biggest Myth In Selling A Home”):  https://www.marshillpropertymanagement.com/service/selling/ 

 

We market our property on a variety of third party websites and social media sites, but the majority of our exposure comes from listing it in the MLS.  This has always been our focus as it should, as that is where a majority of QUALIFIED renters will find homes that meet their criteria when working with a real estate professional.  It’s safe to assume that most renter prospects working with a real estate professional will be pre-qualified to some degree and those are the future tenants we want in our homes.  In fact, even when we used to use third-party sites in the past and we tracked the sources of all of our renters, most were coming from the MLS.  If not the MLS, they would call us off the sign in the yard.  That is why we stopped advertising on third-party sites.

If a home is not renting, the question we should be asking is not whether we have the appropriate amount of market exposure, it should be “Are we priced well, and do we have terms and conditions that could attract the next renter?”  Price, Terms and Conditions are the three main drivers that will determine how quickly your home rents.

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