What We Do For Property Owners
We firmly believe that a real estate management company should do more than collect rent and pay bills. We are landlord advocates. When you partner with Nest Managers, you can be confident that we are dedicated to keeping your investment in good repair at minimal costs and building a trusting relationship. Nest Managers knows how to get the optimal rental rate and the best-qualified residents for your investment, our 8 plus years of services have proven that.
Keep in mind, property management our focus even though we only employ a staff of NC licensed real estate professionals. We are not a sales company that does property management on the side. We can, however, offer you a variety of cost savings services.
Owner Communications
Owners can expect to receive regular, clear, and concise information about their investment property when needed. Property owners want a property management company that they trust and reach out to when needed, with one person to contact to answer all of their questions. We provide this to you in the following ways:
We Answer Our Phones
Like you, we too, get frustrated when immediately getting a voicemail system when we call a business. We do things differently. Our staff makes it a priority to answer our phones. Our Customer Service Standards dictate that we respond to your phone call or email within 24 business hours.
No Vacant Property Surprises
When a notice to vacate from a tenant is received, we email you promptly to let you know of a pending interruption in cash flow. Likewise, we notify you as soon as the property leases with the conditions of the lease. This notification alerts you to a potential interruption in revenue.
Owner Handbook
All owners receive a comprehensive owner handbook that covers our Policies and Procedures concerning their property. The handbook goes into many details of marketing your property, tenant screening, key control, maintaining your property, vendor selection, tenant education, emergencies, security deposit refund process, and more. The goal is to be transparent and let you know how we manage your investment on a daily, monthly, and annual basis and keep you informed.
Vacant Property Status Email
Should your property become vacant, once it is on the lease market, you will receive a weekly email update from your property manager reporting on the showing activity the property received. We want you to know what's going on with your investment, no surprises.
Single Point of Contact - One Call
Our style of property management is called "portfolio" management. What does this mean for our owners? You only make one call to your property manager for any and all questions you might have about your property. You don't have to call different departments (accounting, leasing, maintenance,...) to get your questions answered. You are assigned a team and every one of your team members is knowledgeable of your portfolio and able to answer your questions at any given time. Your team is assigned to you at onboarding.
Maintenance Cost Control
Should a maintenance expense (other than a health and safety event) of more than $500 occur, your property manager will contact you to discuss the cost. We understand and respect that this is your money.
Tenant Selection, Tenant Evictions, and our Guarantee
Leasing your investment to the wrong tenants can cost you tens of thousands of dollars in repairs and lost rent. A property management company should be experienced in investigating the background of its applicants. Since 2015 we have processed thousands of applications and signed thousands of leases. Our owners have said that they want: top-quality tenants that pay on time and take care of the property. For each applicant, we will:
Verify each rental applicant's lease history
Run a credit report on each applicant
Check each application's criminal record and check for prior evictions
Verify each applicant's employment and income
If a pet is allowed, all pets go through our third-party pet screening services for verification of pet breed, age and weight. This is also true of any Service Animals, this verifies that the resident meets the federal criteria for having a Service Animal.
In-House Maintenance Personnel and Vendors
Having an experienced, well-qualified maintenance tech on our team yields many benefits for our owners:
Our uniformed maintenance person's goal is to respond to maintenance requests within 24 to 48 business hours. Quick service is critical to tenant satisfaction.
Our maintenance tech is covered by Workers Compensation insurance to protect you
The maintenance tech completes a 7-Point Maintenance Check-Up at each property visit. This alerts the property manager to any possible issues and allows us to handle things proactively instead of reactively, and that saves you money.
Since the tech can perform several different trades in one service call, our owners save money. Instead of sending different vendors, one person, one service call, one detailed invoice for you to review.
We only use vendors that agree to the terms and conditions in our Vendor Program. These vendors agree to a high level of service and are honest, experienced, fully insured (Workman's Comp and General Liability insurance) and are competitive in their pricing. We will not accept poor workmanship.
Quick Tenant Services = High Tenant Retention Rates = Better ROI
A primary goal is to provide tenants with superior service. If tenants receive quality service, chances are higher they will stay longer, which helps keep your costs down. Less turn over means a better ROI for our owners. This is accomplished in various ways:
We respond to a tenant's maintenance request within 24 - 48 business hours.
Tenants can pay their rent and submit a maintenance request through our website 24 hours a day.
Tenants receive a quality control email survey after each repair to assure their satisfaction with the work.
Our annual property survey lets the tenant know the property owner cares about their home's condition.
On average, our tenants stay with us for over 3.2 years! The usual lease term for a tenant is less than two years. However, we track this monthly and focus on giving tenants the service they want. We understand that turn over is expensive and strive to keep good tenants in place.
Unique Money Back Guarantees - Six Month Leasing Commission Guarantee
Since we believe strongly in the quality of our residents and our resident selection process, we offer a guarantee on our leases. If a resident(s) breaks their initial lease for any reason during the first six months, we will find another qualified resident for your property, and you will not be charged another lease commission. No other property management company will offer you this guarantee. (Does not apply to the termination of the lease with military orders or other valid provisions in the lease).
Detailed Monthly Statements
Your monthly property statement report includes a comprehensive packet of information. Your report will include, but is not limited to:
Invoices
Invoices for repairs are included in your statement and reviewed by the property manager before payment. There are no markups or hidden fees. Some companies do not provide invoices and add on a fee.
Itemization
Statements provide a detailed breakdown for each property and show every transaction. We also provide you with a monthly and year-to-date profit and loss statement and prepare your IRS required year-end 1099s.
Owner Account Portal
Your owner portal will have each month's statement and all supporting documentation available to you anytime.
Fund Transfers
Net rental income is sent to you by electronic transfer directly into your bank account, no checks to deposit.
The Ratio of Employees to Properties
Nest Managers currently has eight team members and maintains a ratio of around 53 properties to each employee. Other management companies have an employee to property ratio of over 100 properties per employee. As a result, Nest can attend to tenant, and owner needs quickly. Quicker response time equals higher customer satisfaction and, in turn, equals higher lease renewal rates that save you money. Ask about our Customer Service Standards.
EXAMINING OPERATING COSTS
While it is not always possible to control many items' costs, it is possible to examine operating expenses to establish whether they are fair and competitive. We make it our goal to examine all property operating costs to see that our clients are not overpaying.
PROPERLY INSURED FOR YOUR PROTECTION
Vendor/Contractor - Required Insurance Protection
We also require contractors to carry Worker's Compensation insurance. Many property management companies do not require this coverage; however, without this protection, your liability is far greater than the minor amount of money that would be saved from using an uninsured contractor. If you are unsure about this, call your insurance agent or attorney and ask them about your liability and what a properly insured property management firm can do to protect you.
Tenant Damage Insurance Protection
Tenants are required to provide proof of damage liability insurance on behalf of the Owner and Property Manager of $100,000 for damage to the Landlord's property before they can move in. The policy must cover the perils of fire, smoke, explosion, accidental water discharge, and sewer backup. Since the lease states that the tenant is responsible for tenant-caused damages, serious damage can be more than a tenant can financially handle. For example, a tenant accidentally set the wood deck on fire and cause $23,000 worth of damages. In this instance, the tenant's insurance stepped up and paid to replace the deck. The other upside is the Owner's policy didn't make a claim and the Owner didn't have to pay the deductible. Smart management saving you costs!
Property Condition Surveys and Properly Maintained Property
Your property is a valuable investment that appreciates when it is properly managed and properly maintained. To assist you in maintaining your investment's condition, an annual (or bi-annual) maintenance survey is provided to you performed by your property manager. Surveys go room by room and provide pictures of the entire property to give a clear idea of its condition.
Property Survey/Report at Takeover
When we onboard a property, your property manager walks and prepares a detailed, room-by-room survey for you. This report also establishes baselines for the property going forward.
Property Survey before Lease Renewal
The survey provides a look at the property before offering the tenant a lease renewal. At your direction, identified repairs or improvements can then be scheduled. Ideally, such repairs or improvements should be made while the property is occupied and rent is coming in.
Proactive Response to Repairs
The survey will also provide you with the information necessary to approach and properly plan for identifiable maintenance items (such as roofing, exterior painting, air conditioning, heating, flooring,.) on a proactive basis instead of a reactive basis. Reactive maintenance is always more costly and can damage your relationship with the tenant. This information can also be a useful tool for tax planning purposes.
Keeping you Informed
Each survey is performed by your property manager and unlike other management companies, this is not farmed out to a third party. This gives you the assurance that we know the condition of your property first hand.
These are just a few of the many property management services that we provide to our clients.
Interested in more information?
Take a moment to complete our brief Contact Us form, and we'll send you detailed information about these and the other benefits of becoming a Nest Managers client.