Property Management

Do You Know the Biggest Disadvantage for Owning A Rental Home?

Diversifying your investment portfolio with real estate can be one of the most strategic and conservative decisions you make to protect your wealth from the unpredictability of the stock market.  In addition to competitive risk to return ratios, real estate has the added benefit of tax advantages and asset appreciation that you can’t get from owning shares of a company.  However, every investment has its advantages and disadvantages.  After taking over the management of many self-managing landlords, we can testify that the biggest disadvantage of rental real estate are the consequences of a poorly managed home.

My home has very little problems with it and I can easily get to the home when needed.  How could I possibly manage it poorly?

This is something many owners sincerely think when they purchase their first few rental homes.  The simple answer is that you aren’t a professional.  This is why some people choose to hire an Accountant rather than do their own taxes…to save money, and reduce liability.  The same goes for hiring an attorney.  Most people would agree that when it comes to an activity that involves liability, it’s best to hire a professional.  I wouldn’t feel so passionate about hiring a professional if we were talking about maintaining your lawn or washing your car because there is little to no liability involved.  Sincerity simply cannot replace the experience and knowledge that a professional will bring to the table.  Whether you are managing a home yourself or employing a company, here is a simple checklist to diagnose the management “health” of your investment home.

Watch this video for an Overview of our Services and Fees:

10 Questions to Diagnose your Property Management Health

• Do I have access to current market data to understand the market price, absorption rates and the current competition?
• Do I understand the Principle of Price Elasticity and how to strategically position my home to meet my desired goals?
• Do I have a proven marketing plan to expose my home to the maximum amount of qualified renters on the market?
• Do I have the time and resources to respond to lead inquiries in a timely manner, prequalify and show the property during the day?
• Do I have a proven system to qualify a tenant that can result in less than a .001% eviction rate?
• Do I have a communications plan to maintain top-of-mind awareness with the tenant?
• Do I have a network of trusted vendors that I can rely on to make timely repairs or get a second opinion?
• Do I have an “expert” level of experience by conducting a leasing and management transaction over 1000 times?
• Do I have systems in place for automated rent payments, monthly statements and annual CPA-produced tax records?
• Do I have continuing education in negotiation expertise, property management, and local property codes to avoid potential lawsuits?

If you answered “No” to any of these questions, you are leaving money on the table and/or creating unnecessary liability with your investment.  Good property managers should be able to answer all of these questions and give you, the owner, peace of mind that your home is being rented and cared for.  Risk reduction and maximizing your return will more than account for the money you pay for a good property manager.

Hire Mars Hill Realty To Manage Your Investments Correctly

If you own real estate, the wisest thing you can do is to reduce your burden and liability of property management, and hire a professional. At Mars Hill Realty Group, we are a full-service property management company in Northern Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C. and the Austin, Texas area committed to the belief that your real estate investment should be hassle-free. Our expertise is making sure your real estate investment is being properly managed and leveraged so that it is making you money. To accomplish this, we provide full-service property management services. Our strategy revolves around building strong professional relationships within our own teams as well as the service providers that we use to ensure that your experience is a positive one. Our family of agents, vendors and community of owners all benefit from our passion for fair business practices.

At Mars Hill, our goal is to create and maintain the financial success of your investment while freeing you from day-to-day management tasks that cost you time and money. Our rental strategy, market knowledge, varied resources, and effective communication set our services apart.

Hire Mars Hill Realty To Save You Time and Money

• We provide fast, friendly, and professional service tailored to your individual property management needs.
• We treat your investment property like it's our own, which translates into a property that is well-maintained and leased with a minimum amount of vacancy.
• We conduct extensive screening on all tenants and handle everything from pre-qualifying potential tenants to property maintenance.
• We offer full-service comprehensive property management services all in one place.
• We strive to provide an exceptional level of reliable customer service to all of our clients.

Leasing In Northern Virginia, DC, Maryland, And Austin, Texas

Market Analysis – Every listing strategy must begin with the right understanding of market fundamentals.  We help you understand the market as well as we do so that you can make an informed decision on how much we should ask for rent.  This includes a review of previous homes that have rented, current competition, absorption rates for your neighborhood and/or city, and other factors that can sometimes make a difference between offering a rental rate that includes a discount or a market premium.

Marketing – We leverage the Internet to gain maximum exposure for your listing.  Instead of just listing your property in the local real estate listing service, we also syndicate your listing to the most trafficked real estate websites on the Internet.  We conduct video walkthroughs and also invest in the same professional-caliber photography and copywriting in your rental as we do in selling a home.  Why?  Because it works.

Tenant Screening – We conduct a thorough review of an applicant’s employment history, residential history, debt to income ratios, credit history and criminal history.  In addition to that, we also have proprietary methods for screening a tenant and conduct a phone interview before we give you our recommendation.

Property Management In The DC Area and Austin, Texas

Walk-throughs – Risk-reduction is one of the most important tasks for a property manager.  If your property manager does not understand that, it could be trouble!  In order to reduce the risks of miscommunication and disputes over the property condition, we use move-in checklists and leverage photography during the three most critical times of a lease:  prior to a tenant moving in, within two weeks after a tenant has moved in, and immediately following a tenant moving out.

Work orders – Our goal is to provide a timely response to work orders and have access to a network of vendors that provide professional work and are cost-effective.  We have work order systems that are transparent to the owner to foster trust and accountability.  For example, every owner receives a real-time alert when a work order is submitted and all work must be verified via phone or in-person (depending on the type of repair) prior to the vendor receiving payment.  Before and after photography is used whenever possible and all invoices, photographs and work order requests are stored in the owner’s records for review at any time.

Communications – We spend a lot of effort to make sure we have systems in place to communicate with our owners and tenants on a regular schedule.  It’s important for a property manager to stay “top-of-mind” with a tenant so that they will be remembered when a work order needs to be submitted and it reduces the likelihood of the property being neglected.  We have invested in Owner Portals and Tenant Portals that can be used for paying a ledger balance, reviewing contracts, reviewing statements, submitting a work order and much more.

If you’re interested in reading more about how our company operates and what our company values are, you can visit an educational website that we created called www.WEmanageYOUhavepeace.com. You’ll also find helpful questions to use when you interview a property manager in Northern Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C. and Austin, Texas.

Let Us Make The Most Of Your Investment!

At Mars Hill Realty Group, our goal is to provide our clients with a package of services that allows them the peace-of-mind of knowing their investment is in good hands. Interested in learning more? Fill out our contact form and we’ll contact you within 24 hours to see how we can help!