The Saunders Blog

1

Sarasota Real Estate – Manage Your Rental Property with Confidence and Ease

One of the forces behind Southwest Florida’s real estate recovery has been the ramped-up need for residential rentals.  Such demand has driven investors big and small to purchase single-family homes and condominiums at deeply reduced prices in order to capitalize on our market’s growing shortage of quality rental properties.

Seems straightforward enough.   Demand for rentals is up, vacancy rates are down, rents are on the rise; and construction of new, multi-family rentals is at a virtual standstill. Meanwhile residential properties are still being sold at prices that national experts have repeatedly called “undervalued” for our market. Thus, with prices as much as 50% below their peak, investors are gladly trading volatility in other capital markets for the stabilizing fundamentals of the Southwest Florida real estate market; and the opportunity to enjoy an immediate return on their investment in the guise of a good tenant.

But therein lies the rub.  Nearly two-thirds of all landlords and property managers polled in a recent survey described finding good tenants as the most challenging aspect of rental housing.  Lew Sichelman, whose by-line appears on a nationally syndicated real estate column, says “the only thing more difficult than putting a good tenant in is getting a bad tenant out.”

In his column Finding Keepers—which ran in last week’s Sarasota Herald-Tribune—Sichelman recommends several best practices for successfully screening tenants.  These include conducting personal interviews, background and credit checks.

If all this sounds tedious, time-consuming and vaguely uncomfortable, it is just the beginning of your responsibilities as a hands-on landlord.  Sooner or later there will be maintenance issues that you will have to address immediately—often on weekends or the wee hours of the morning.  Of course, these problems will be exacerbated if you live somewhere far removed from your investment property.

If you suddenly hear yourself saying “There’s got to be a better way,” then read on.  Because there is.

Managing and maintaining your rental property needn’t be harrowing or unpleasant when you consider letting the MSC Rental Division do it for you.  In addition to providing personalized attention, the professionals within the MSC Rental Division are prepared to handle every property management challenge in order to safeguard your property and maximize its long-term profitability.

The MSC Rental Division offers a complete range of property management services including:

• - Full-time staff of experienced property management professionals.
• - Determining the property’s optimal pricing strategy.
• - Meticulous tenant screenings.
• - Lease negotiations and preparation.
• - Rent and security deposit collection.
• - Full service accounting and reporting.
• - Full pre- and post-rental inspection.
• - Re-inspect the property on a regular basis.
• - Full service care, including repairs, maintenance and cleaning.
• - Tenant placement and renewal.
• - Ensuring your property is always in compliance with all Florida real estate laws.

 

Each of our rental properties is marketed on numerous rental web sites, including flipkey.com and VRBO.com; then systematically cross-promoted between our 23 regional offices, 600 agents and their extensive sphere of influence.  As a result, the MSC Rental Division enjoys a much larger pool of qualified renters to screen the best ones from.

Of course, no one—no matter how diligent and careful the screening—can promise you the perfect tenant every time.  But we do guarantee superior property management, maintenance, communication and oversight.

Presently, we have year-round and vacation tenants looking for now; and seasonal renters planning their accommodations for next winter.  Contact us at 1-888-409-4448 to learn more about our complete range of property management services and how you can profit by our experience.  It costs nothing to learn how leasing your property through the MSC Rental Division will help you realize its full earning potential without the day-to-day hassles of going it alone.