We are so excited about Fiesta here in San Antonio! We wanted to share the event schedule! Let us know what event you go to and how it was!

All County Alamo Property Management!

http://visitsanantonio.com/english/Microsites/2014-TLA/Fiesta

Its Thursday! Like always we are going to share our Thursday Thoughts about property management.

Over the next few weeks, we will talk about hiring a skilled property manager! If you own one or several rental homes or apartments, the care and maintenance required is time-consuming, to say the least! Hiring a reliable property manager can help take the burden of management away, leaving you time to enjoy the benefits provided by your investment. Today we will talk about the property manager being licensed, the management fee, and references.

At All County Alamo all of our offices are operated by licensed property managers. “Licensed” means that this person has taken an approved property management course and passed a state licensing exam. Most importantly, the licensed property manager will have a state-regulated procedure in place for handling your rental income and security deposits. Not only is it good that they should be licensed they should also be affiliated with the local Realtor boards and property management associations. Here in San Antonio, we are affiliated with San Antonio Board of Realtor s, National association of Residential Property Managers, and the San Antonio Apartment Association. You always want to make sure your property managers are accredited and up to date.

Management fees are the next thing you want to ask about when inquiring the services of a property manager. Make sure they are far and they have open door policy, you don’t want to be charged for every little thing. Open door policy meaning, full disclosure of all the bills and services done on your home is very important. We don’t want them to over charge you for something. We make sure everything is at your finger tips with our online portal.

References are very important also! Ask for them, if they aren’t willing to give you any then that means something smells a little fishy! You can also drive by any of their current properties and see how well they enforce neatness on their tenants. This also shows how well they chose a responsible tenant for a property.

Next Thursday we will talk about property inspections, evictions, and repairs/maintenance.

We all go through the hassle of trying to pick out the best tenants! Just like the saying “you can’t always judge a book by its cover” things can be deceiving! I know that quote is suppose to be positive but at the same time you have to protect yourself and your property. After all that is what property mangers are for! Here are four things that can help you weed out the bad tenants!

1. A tenant who has rented in the past but can’t produce a landlord reference is probably hiding something — like a prior eviction. What the tenant won’t tell you is as important as what he or she does say.

2. A landlord has the right to confirm that the applicant has sufficient income to cover the rent, regardless of the source of that income. Those with criminal intentions often pay with cash. Those with inadequate income may exaggerate. Applicants who wish to pay cash or are self-employed require more due diligence to confirm that their income is legitimate.

3. A tenant’s credit is a mess. If the credit check shows red flags, you are dealing with an individual who has had a tough time managing their money. That increases the risk that this person will pay late, or overextend and run out of money to pay rent. Running a credit report is the only way to get an honest picture of a rental applicant.

4. Professional tenants — those who have ripped off previous landlords — often ask to pay rent or deposit in installments. They say they will have the money by end of week, for instance. But these tenants know the game.

Here at All County Alamo we strive to make sure your property is in good hands. These are four red flags we look for diligently!