Owner Welcome Letter
Dear Valued Client,
Thank you for selecting Real Property Management! We know that you have several choices for management services and we are pleased that you have decided to work with us. We look forward to getting to work, leasing your property and showing you why we are DC's #1 Property Management Solution!
One of the things that continues to give us a competitive advantage in the marketplace is our efficiency with technology. We provide an online owner portal that is available for immediate login. At anytime, and from anyplace you may view the accounting details of your property. We also include in your owner portal, a section for uploaded documents. Please read through them, as they will assist you greatly in understanding our policies and procedures. A Owners Manual will be there to give you important information, as well as your management agreement. We hope you enjoy these incredible online conveniences as we assist you with management!
We would like to take this opportunity to address a few topics that will help explain the rental process and our internal processes at Real Property Management. You will receive several communication pieces from us as your property progresses through the rental process. Here are the items we wanted to address at this time:
1. Leasing Agent: Your property has been assigned to a professional Leasing Agent in our office. Real Property Management has several full-time leasing Agents that concentrate on specific geographic areas within our city. You can be assured that your Leasing Agent will be your primary point of contact through the leasing process. If you haven’t heard from one of our Leasing Agents already, they will reach out to you shortly. They will be responsible for the coordination of showings, showing feedback, market updates and all communication tasks associated with leasing your property. Each Tuesday you will receive a phone call to give you vital marketing information based on the feedback your agent has received from prospective tenant inquiries.
2. Advertising: Real Property Management has the most comprehensive marketing plan in the industry today. You will find your property advertised in multiple locations and in premium positions on the Internet. We have a full-time staff person in our office that coordinates all of the advertising. After reviewing your property online at our website www.RPMDCMetro.com, please notify our Advertising/Property Coordinator at Support@RPMDCMetro.com if there are changes that you would like to see made to your ad. The information from our website gets uploaded to many paid sites that we utilize. With our aggressive marketing plan, our office takes dozens of phone calls per day to mitigate your vacancy time!
3. Showings: Your Leasing Agent will coordinate all of the showings for your property. In most cases, we will place a lock box on the property for access to the home. We do give out the lockbox combination to other Realtors to show your property if they have clients interested. If you are still living at your property, make sure you have coordinated with your Leasing Agent on how you would like to be notified of potential showings. As stated in our initial paperwork, please make sure you provide 3 sets of access keys to the home. In addition, we will need all copies of mailbox keys, garage keys etc. Real Property Management will re-key the property just prior to your new tenants taking occupancy. We will deliver one set of keys to the tenant and our office will maintain 2 sets of keys for access, emergencies, etc. If your property has existing tenants, kindly provide 1 copy of the complete set of house keys to our office.
4. Tenant Screening: Real Property Management puts prospective tenants through an extensive application process which includes criminal background checks, comprehensive credit evaluation and analysis of rental history, employment history and personal income relative to the monthly rental rate. Real Property Management complies with all applicable Federal and State Housing Laws in it’s selection process.
5. Notification of Lease: Your Leasing Agent will notify you when we have approved an applicant or applicants for your property. At this time, you will coordinate with the Leasing Agent move-in dates, lease terms etc. If you are occupying your home, you will coordinate the move-in timeframe with your Leasing Agent to allow for the moving of your furniture and the cleaning of your home and carpets prior to the tenant’s scheduled move-in. Once the terms of the lease have been worked out, our office staff will coordinate the details of the lease signing and move-in. You will receive further communication regarding the lease signing/move-in process at that time.
6. Price: The monthly rental rate is the most important component in the leasing of your property. The time it takes to rent is directly proportionate to the rental rate asked. The market is very savvy and tenants will rarely overpay for a property relative to the others that are available for rent in the area. Most tenants start their search on the internet, and will determine online who is priced appropriately and who is overpriced. If the property is overpriced at all, the requests for showings will be very low. Rental rates change seasonally and adjust with our economy. Just like home prices, rental rates are never fixed and they are constantly moving with the market conditions. As a company, we lease properties every week and in general, the only ones that don’t get leased are the ones that are simply priced too high!
7. Property Condition: The second most important component in the leasing of your property is the overall condition of the home. Tenants are looking for clean properties. They are not concerned about extras as much as they are concerned about the cleanliness of the property. Make sure the home is in good condition to maximize the rental rate and minimize the length of time on the market. If your home is in need of house cleaning, carpet cleaning, handyman/fix-up work, etc., you can ask your Leasing Agent about us coordinating any of these services on your behalf. At a minimum you definitely want to make sure the the entire home is deep-cleaned, carpets professionally cleaned and paint at least touched up or repainted where needed. Your Leasing Agent can give you suggestions on what to touch up and what to repaint.
8. Timing: Occupied properties typically are more difficult to lease than vacant properties. This has to do with the timing that the tenant is looking for. Please discuss the timeframe with your Leasing Agent if you are occupying the home so they can communicate effectively with potential tenants regarding the availability of the home.
9. Property Insurance: Once you move out of the home and are no longer occupying it as your primary residence, you will want to review your homeowner’s insurance policy with your insurance agent. There are a number of landlord policies in the market today and please insure that your home is always properly insured.
10. Property Utilities: Once you move out of the home and are no longer occupying it as your primary residence, you will need to notify ALL utility companies that you are renting your residence and that you need your account to automatically switch between you and your tenants without being cut off during vacancies. Each utility company works different so you will need to contact each one. Also, make sure that Real Property Management is added to the account to receive delinquency notices only. This way we will know when a tenant hasn't paid their utility bill. During vacancies you will be in charge of making sure that your utility bills are being paid on time.
Please don’t hesitate to contact our office during normal business hours
(Mon – Fri 9am to 4pm) with any questions you might have.
Our main office number is 202-269-0303.
Thanks You RPM