by Arbors Management, Inc. | Mar 24, 2020 | Blog, Property Management Education
Should I Renew My Pittsburgh Resident’s Lease?
To Renew or Not To Renew Your Resident’s Lease?
Near the end of every residency, you need to ask yourself whether or not you want to renew your resident’s lease.
Today, we’re talking about what you should consider when you’re making this decision.
Is Your Resident Paying Their Rent on Time?
One factor to consider when you’re thinking about renewing a resident’s lease is if they pay their rent on time.
If they pay on time consistently each month and you’ve never had to send a reminder or ask where their payment is, that’s great – it’s a good reason to renew the lease!
However, if your resident doesn’t pay rent on time each month, you’ll need to decide if you’re okay with that.
If they pay a few days late every month but they always pay, you might find it tolerable since you’d get to collect a late fee.
The tardy payments may be inconvenient, but if you like the extra income that late fees provide, renewing with a resident who pays a little bit late may work out well for you.
Is Your Resident Taking Care of the Property?
Another point to look at is how well the resident keeps up with property maintenance and cleaning.
If you’re consistently receiving maintenance requests because things are breaking or are being damaged, you might not want to keep such residents in your property.
It’s a good idea to do an inspection before you decide on a lease renewal – this will give you an opportunity to look at the condition of your property and evaluate the resident’s living conditions.
If you see damage, pests, or indications that the resident may be violating your lease agreement, there’s a good chance that you may not want to renew.
But if everything looks like it did at the beginning of the lease term, a renewal probably makes sense!
Will You Increase Your Rent?
Lease renewal is a good time to increase rent, which is another decision you’ll have to make when you’re renewing your resident’s lease.
How much can you increase without chasing the resident out?
You’ll need to do a market analysis to know what other residents are paying in rent for properties similar to yours.
If they’re not paying significantly more, you might want to leave the rent where it is so you can retain your high quality residents and avoid turnover expenses.
How Does Arbors Management Help?
Here at Arbors, we conduct a physical inspection of a property 120 to 150 days before the lease expires.
Then, we send the report to the owner through our online portal. You’ll have a chance to review the inspection report and our recommendations for how much rent should be increased.
You can review that information and decide if you agree, if you’d like to make a different rental increase, or if you don’t want to do one at all.
You can also tell us if you’d rather not renew the current resident’s lease – we’re here to move forward with what you want to do.
Once we have confirmation on how to proceed, we’ll coordinate with the resident and send them the paperwork to successfully complete the renewal process, if you so choose.
All in All…
Deciding whether or not to renew your current resident’s lease can be challenging, but when it comes down to it, you really just need to consider 3 big questions:
- Does your resident pay their rent on time?
- Is your resident caring for your property?
- Do you plan on increasing your rent?
Once you work through those questions, whether it be on your own or with professional guidance from Arbors, you should be able to reach a sound decision.
If you need help deciding whether or not to renew your resident’s lease, contact us at Arbors Management – we’d be more than happy to help!
by Arbors Management, Inc. | Feb 24, 2020 | Blog, Property Management Education
By: Nick Griffith, Director of Conventional Housing
At Arbors Management, we believe the best way to avoid the eviction process and troublesome residents is by conducting a strict screening process before a resident even moves in.
Our resident screening process includes a close look at income, criminal histories, and credit histories. We have a rent collection process that works, and if eviction becomes necessary – we have a process for that, too.
Collecting Rent from Pittsburgh Residents
Before the residency even begins, we set the expectations with the resident about how we anticipate rent being paid. We let them know that rent is due on the first. They know when and how to pay it, and they know what the consequences will be if it’s not paid on time.
If payment is not received after the fifth of the month, we assess a late fee. We also send formal letters to the resident notifying them that rent is late. We tell them how much they owe and that we expect an immediate payment. This letter is sent to document the late rent. In addition to the letter, we also call, email, and text residents throughout the month to make sure they understand what they owe and why we are trying to collect it.
Filing a Landlord Resident Complaint
In the event a resident doesn’t pay rent, we file a Landlord Resident Complaint at the local magistrate. Typically, we will file this during the first week of the second month of rent being late. This means it will still be less expensive for the resident to catch up with rent than it would be to move out and find a new place to live.
We receive a court date, and we’ll go to court on your behalf to obtain a judgment in the amount owed plus court fees. Once this judgment is issued, the residents have 10 days to pay the rent. If they don’t pay the full amount within those 10 days, we can file an Order of Possession. Once we do that, the court gives the resident an additional 10 days to pay the rent. The eviction can only commence on the 11th day after the possession order is filed.
Professional Pittsburg Property Management
If the resident appeals the judgment, the case could go to a higher court level. At that point, we would need to involve an attorney. We are professional property managers, but we aren’t attorneys, so we cannot represent you at a higher court.
Many owners want to know what we charge for these services and the time we spend on paperwork and court appearances. The answer is – we don’t believe we should charge you for a bad resident or someone not paying rent. Our philosophy is that you should only be charged on the rent we collect. So, there’s no fee for us filing the Landlord Resident Complaint. The courts do have fees that you’ll be responsible for paying, but those will be passed along to the resident for your reimbursement.
We avoid evictions and late rental payments whenever possible. If you have any questions about our professional Pittsburg property management services, please contact us at Arbors Management.
by Arbors Management, Inc. | Nov 8, 2019 | Property Management Education
How Arbors Management Provides Irreplaceable Value to Residents
Working with a professional property management company offers landlords and investors a lot of benefits and advantages:
- You save time
- You save money
- Less headaches
- Less hassle that often comes along with owning a rental property
Most importantly: you have access to experience, tools, and resources that only professional managers can bring to the table.
But…
Residents also benefit from a professionally managed home.
With over 40 years of experience, we’ve found that property owners who utilize our management services have happier residents!
Why?
Because we’re responsive, accountable, and able to implement programs and systems that allow for a better and more efficient rental process.
Online Rent Payments and Maintenance Requests
Technology has delivered a number of innovative software systems and online platforms that help us manage your property more efficiently and effectively.
For example, we offer online portals where residents can pay rent and submit maintenance requests.
This is extremely convenient – our residents don’t have to worry about late rent payments or forgotten repair needs. Everything is documented and electronic.
Residents can pay rent whenever is convenient for them; in the middle of the night, during a lunch break, in the evening, literally whenever!
Our residents also have the ability to schedule future or recurring payments, and contact us about maintenance issues at any time and from any place.
Easy Application Procedures
Not only do we have online portals for current residents, but our applications for prospective residents are all online as well.
Residents are able to fill out an application online, then quickly and easily upload any of the supporting documentation required.
This allows our team to screen and verify information quickly and electronically, ultimately providing applicants with our decision faster.
We also list our available properties online!
Our online listings are user-friendly and accurate.
They also include photos, allowing residents to get an idea of what the property is like before applying!
It’s easy to contact a designated Leasing Specialist, and showings can be scheduled electronically as well.
With Arbors Management, the entire process from browsing to renting is paperless and efficient.
Hassle-Free Lease Signing
Once a resident is approved for a property, the leasing process is simple.
Residents will be able to review the entire lease and any addenda online. They can email or call us with any questions and then sign it with an electronic signature.
We will execute the lease on our end, and a copy goes into the online resident portal, which can be accessed at any time.
The security deposit can also be paid online, and residents don’t have to talk to us unless they have a question or need support.
We’re happy to offer our residents such a convenient and simplified process while still being available to provide assistance every step of the way.
Remaining Responsive and Accessible
On that note, one of the many reasons Arbors residents love working with us is because we are available and easy to reach.
Phone calls do not go unreturned and emails are not ignored.
We know the law, we’re accountable to the lease agreement, and we treat all of our residents fairly and consistently.
All in All…
We provide value to you and your residents by being present and using our experience to manage your property better.
Our goal is to use all of our tools and resources to make this a pleasant, successful leasing period for all parties.
If you have any questions about what we do and how our professional property managers provide value, please contact us at Arbors Management.
We’d love to tell you more!
by Arbors Management, Inc. | Oct 10, 2019 | Property Management Education
Maintaining Your Property
Routine repairs and emergency maintenance are not uncommon when you’re renting out a property.
When purchasing an investment home, you need to have a maintenance budget and a maintenance plan in place.
Owning an investment property doesn’t necessarily mean you personally know how or have the tools to fix maintenance issues when they arise.
This is when hiring professional third-party maintenance vendors comes in handy.
Network of Preferred Vendors
A big part of your maintenance plan should be the vendors you’re going to use on a regular basis.
Vendors you hire should be ones you trust, who are reliable, and have a good reputation.
These are who we refer to as “preferred vendors.”
Keeping a list of preferred vendors will ensure your property is well-maintained and your residents are happy.
When you work with a professional property management company, you’ll either have access to their vendor resources or you’ll use the in-house maintenance team they employ.
Some companies will use both in-house maintenance team members and third-party vendors.
Before you hire a property manager, find out how they approach maintenance and why it works for their clients.
At Arbors Management, we currently work with third-party vendors.
Today, we’re talking about how they help us deliver high-quality and low-cost repair services to our owners and their properties.
Working with Professional Maintenance Vendors and Contractors
Whether it’s a routine issue or a middle-of-the-night emergency, we are happy with our team of qualified vendors and contractors.
We screen our vendors thoroughly before we agree to work with anyone; we check to be sure that the vendors are licensed, insured, and properly vetted.
This is important; hiring an unlicensed vendor can put you in a lot of legal risk.
If that worker falls off a ladder at your home, you could be held responsible for the medical care he or she requires.
It is also important to look for vendors who are experienced in the type of work they’re doing. Certain repairs will require a specialist such as a plumber or an electrician.
And, just as crucial as the vendor being knowledgeable and legally capable, make sure that they will treat your residents and your property with respect and care.
Accessing Preferred Maintenance Pricing
One of the major benefits of having a large network of vendors like ours is that we’re able to provide our clients discounted pricing.
This pricing helps our clients to save money. We don’t up-charge for our maintenance services, so when our vendors offer us reduced rates because of volume economics, we pass those savings right onto our clients.
Another benefit we earn because of the amount of work we provide our vendors is that we get priority service.
The priority service we receive helps when there’s an emergency or it happens to be a busy time of year. We’ll still be at the top of their lists when we need something done.
In Conclusion
We would love to tell you more about the vendors we work with, how we choose them, and why it pays to have access to reliable, affordable maintenance through professional property managers.
We have great relationships with vendors and contractors who specialize in a number of different areas, and we’ve worked with them for many years.
So whether your property needs a plumber, HVAC tech, roofer, general contractor, or handyman, we have you covered!
Please contact us at Arbors Management to discuss how we can help you with all of your property management needs in Pittsburgh, Western PA, West Virginia, and surrounding areas.
by Arbors Management, Inc. | Aug 9, 2019 | Investment Rental Property, Property Management Education
The Pittsburgh Housing Market
There are plenty of excellent reasons to invest in Real Estate in Pittsburgh:
- Pittsburgh is diverse
- Pittsburgh is growing and desirable
- Plenty of good school districts nearby
- Pittsburgh real estate is generally affordable
The list could go on and on!
Whether you’re local to the area or from out of state and looking for an investment property, you can find some thriving submarkets in and around Pittsburgh.
Today, we’re talking about what you should buy and where you should buy when considering a Pittsburgh investment property.
Investing in Pittsburgh: Market Strength
Housing prices are on the rise in Pittsburgh, but the buy-in that investors face is still much lower than in other east coast cities.
Pittsburgh neighborhoods have undergone a lot of revitalization in the last few years, and the economy is growing.
More people are moving into the area and unemployment is lower than the state average.
There’s a growing tech industry in the city thanks to companies like Google, Apple, Uber, and Facebook setting up shop.
The medical centers and universities are putting Pittsburgh on the map in new ways, and smart investors are taking note.
Pittsburgh Neighborhoods to Consider
When you’re looking for a Pittsburgh investment property, you’ll need to consider your investment goals and the importance of location.
When we’re talking to investors, whether they’re looking for their first rental home or an additional property to add to a growing portfolio, we always recommend neighborhoods with outstanding resident pools and the potential for long term gains.
Some of those neighborhoods we recommend are:
Pittsburgh Neighborhoods to Avoid
As your property management partners, we care about the investment decisions that you make and are happy to be involved from the beginning.
If you’re considering purchasing a home in Pittsburgh, reach out to us to get our insights on the neighborhood – we’ll give you our honest feedback.
Types of Homes to Buy
When you’re looking for a great investment property in Pittsburgh, remember that your goal is to get it onto the market as soon as possible – an unoccupied rental home is an expensive rental home.
So, look for properties that are in good shape.
Cosmetic upgrades often just take a few days, and it’s fine to buy a home that needs new paint or better flooring.
Don’t bother with properties that will require heavy renovations and rehab work; you’ll lose too much money on vacancy costs, and you may not recoup what you spend bringing it up to habitability standards.
40+ Years of Experience in the Pittsburgh Housing Market
With over 40 years of experience in the Pittsburgh housing market, we’ve learned a thing or two – we’d be more than happy to discuss your options as a potential or current owner in Western Pennsylvania!
For more information or a free consultation, please contact us at Arbors Management.
