image by Håkan Dahlström)
We have outlined our services below. If you would rather have a telephone conversation to understand what we do then please talk to one of our Vice Presidents. Or you can email Tina Dixon.
We manage property a little differently than most managers. Instead of being the manager who makes all the decisions for you, we believe we are your eyes and ears so we manage the property with your input. For example, when we have applicants vetted and ready for approval, we give you our educated opinion then we ask if you believe this is the right person for your property. When repairs are requested, we consult you on how you want to approach the repairs. We use this same philosophy on every aspect of property management. We have managed thousands of properties, and we find every owner has unique ideas on how they want their property handled. We try to handle things the way you would want them.
We manage homes for people to live in. We don’t offer management services for commercial properties, associations, land or any other types of property management. We focus on homes. We currently have 20+ employees managing 900+ properties for 400+ owners. We have employees available 7 days per week. You can almost always contact someone to address your needs. We strive to answer the phone every time it rings and pride ourselves with getting very few voicemails per day.
Rainey has a strong marketing program to attract prospective tenants. We implement all current available resources to secure qualified tenants for our Owners as quickly as possible. Below are some of the following resources we utilize: Yellow Pages; Yard Signs; Internet Advertising through over 100 different websites including weekly postings on Craigslist, AHRN, CARMLS, Realtor.com, Zillow and Hotpads; No one spends more than we do to be at the top of Google searches. And no one is highlighted as much on premier websites like Zillow, Hotpads and Realtor.com. We currently receive hundreds of thousands of hits on our website. We market well and then professionally handle the inquiries and showings.
Because of the pandemic, Rainey developed its proprietary software to give prospective tenants a great new way to safely see your home. It has been so popular that we have decided to make it a regular part of our marketing services even beyond the pandemic. Being able to virtually show your property allows more people to see your property in detail. A great advantage in marketing. We also do virtual tours in most of our inspections detailed below. All of these at no cost to the owner.
Another creative marketing tool that only Rainey uses on all of its properties, also at no cost to the owner. Many tenants want to know if their furniture fits. These floor plans are integrated with our 360º Interactive Virtual Tours. Potential renters can move from room to room by clicking. We reveal more of the property before a showing is made. This results in more qualified tenants seeing your property.
Finding the proper tenant is one of the most important things we do. This is accomplished by a thorough background check. The background check includes, but is not limited to the following: National Criminal Background Search; Tenant background screening credit report, furnished by Trans Union; OFAC and USA Patriot ACT Compliance and Due Diligence; National Sex Offender Background Check; Social Trace; Employment and Income Verification; and Past Rental History Verification. Once we have gathered all the information, we grade the tenant and present the facts to the property owner to make sure this is the right tenant or do we need to keep marketing the property to find someone more qualified.
Upon acceptance of the tenant, we require the tenant to pay the deposit to take the property off the market. Security deposits will be held in a non-interest bearing Escrow Account. Our leases are annual leases and have been reviewed by an attorney who specializes in Landlord/Tenant Law. Leases are continuously updated to stay current with the changes in local and state laws. Tenant responsibilities are clearly defined, giving us the ability to enforce lease requirements.
Our collection of rents is a vital part of our service to you. Rent is due on the 1st and late after the 5th. We only accept funds through our online payment system, PayLease. Through PayLease, Tenants can pay by eCheck, credit card and even cash at hundreds of locations. We charge the tenant’s a late fee after the 5th (retroactive to the 1st) for our collection services. If the tenant offers to pay by a certain date then we work with the owner to decide do we want to work with this tenant or is it time to get them to leave. Every owner has different needs so we consult with you and the direction you want to take. If it is time to evict then we serve a 3 day notice and turn the eviction over to a qualified attorney. We have very few evictions because of our tough qualifying and collection standards.
Rainey is on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All maintenance emergencies are handled quickly and in a cost efficient manner. Non-emergency maintenance requests must be made in writing or submitted online to prevent frivolous requests. We consult with our owners about those repairs to make sure we handle the repairs the way the owner wants. Rainey uses licensed and insured repair people for the owner’s protection. Due to the high volume of properties we handle, we can secure good rates from these vendors, which are passed directly to our owners.
We do inspections of the properties on a regular basis every 60-90 days to ensure tenants are complying with the Rental Agreement. We drive by the property and look to see if the outside of the property is in good condition. It is our experience that if the tenant is taking care of the outside then they generally take care of the inside. If we see anything that troubles us then we issue a deficiency letter and do an inside inspection.
We do inspections before every occupancy and at every vacancy to document the condition of the property for the new tenant and to decide the disposition of the security deposit from the previous tenant. We cannot hold the tenant responsible for normal wear and tear but we do hold them accountable for damage to the property or premature wear and tear.
We check on every vacant property a minimum of every other week to make sure the property is still in show ready condition. We check to make sure that the property is secure and the heat and air is set properly.
Our experience is that many tenants do not do a good job at handling simple maintenance issues. We often find very dirty air filters that shorten the life of HVAC systems. Unreported leaks in roofing or plumbing can do quite a bit of damage too. This is an optional service and the owner can choose the frequency they desire. It costs $60 per trip which includes the costs of filters and batteries. The other items that are addressed: Check HVAC temps; Snake drains to avoid plumbing issues; Check to see if lights and appliances are working; Snake dryer vent, if accessible from the ground, to avoid a fire hazard; Check/replace smoke detector batteries to reduce fire liability; Inspect roof and gutters; Report any deferred maintenance; Look for unauthorized smoking/pets or other damages; Publish the video inspection; Send a non-compliance letter for any issues or concerns.
We have taken our management services to the next level by videotaping all our appearances at your property. These videos immediately show on your Online Statement for your review the same day. We are prolific at taking more than 100 videos per day. Our staff watches these videos, records actions needed and then posts them to your web page. This is a great new way for you to keep up with your property without seeing it yourself.
We pride ourselves on getting rent checks out to our Owners on the 10th of the month by direct deposit. If the rent comes in after the 10th then we do weekly payouts. Your deposit will be made at the next payout date after we receive rent. We do not wait for Tenant's checks to clear before issuing Owner's checks. Any expenses incurred during the month will be deducted and if you have work orders to be paid in the current month then we will hold back enough to cover the cost of those repairs so you don’t have to send us any money. Also, we believe in going green. You receive an online account to see all activity on your property. We do not mail statements or invoices. They are all on your Online Statement.
We believe we give the best service in the business and we believe we take very good care of our owners. But if you ever decide you don't want our services, we do not have any cancellation fees. You will be hard-pressed to find another manager willing to have no cancellation provision. We are the top single family manager because we take care of business.
We are a full service management company. We charge 10% of the collected rent with a minimum of $100 per month to manage your property. We do not nickel and dime you with a bunch of other fees. See the charts below. If you have multiple properties then we can give you a specific quote.
We occasionally have owners that just want us to help them get their property rented. We can do that too. For $150 per month you have complete access to our leasing services. If we get you a renter then you will pay us the first month’s rent and we turn the tenant over to you to manage. We do all the advertising and marketing. We will then handle the incoming calls and emails and schedule showings, which are done by coded lockbox. Optionally, we can do in-person showings at an additional cost of $25 per trip. We will check on your property every 2 weeks to make sure it is in good order. This service is free for those owners who choose our full management services.
