Ready Set Sold with Bryan Vogt #39-02: Renee Wittenauer: Preparing your house to lease

Welcome back to Ready Set Sold I’m your host Bryan Vogt. And I have renamed with an hour a Cecil property manager with me and we’ve been talking about the military and this is the time this is we’re coming up to March this is when the orders officially come through now again during the course of the year there is military coming in but not in the bulk that we’re talking about right now this is the big kind and the spray market is going to be big anyway on the housing market but also there’s a leasing Park Department attempting to play and that could be just as used and knowing who to call who to contact who to go to is big stuff it really is just
picking out a property management company.
Maybe because they have a big name that’s great but really sitting now I’m finding up you know what they do and how they do it that’s what’s important and that’s what we’re talking with Renee with and Renee kind of showing what we talked about in the last segment what about the military person that has a house they love the area they plan on coming back and that’s not unusual how do they proceed what’s kind of the process what should they be looking for what’s kind of a step-by-step process they need to do yeah um you know I just got to in Gmail this morning from a military person who’s getting some last-minute orders where they have to leave and so they obviously have to make decisions really quick and you do want to make sure that you’re making the right decisions.
You’re not just taking the first company you know who you see on a internet search or the first company who you know a neighbors use where you see the sign in the yard or something before so you really want to do your due diligence because if you are getting those orders and having to move quick that’s just added stress added pressure doing your due diligence asking the right questions from the property manager is going to be huge and essentially save you a lot of stress and time down the road so look for the communication pieces with the property manager how quickly do they respond do they ask what your needs are or do they just sell their services first do they want to see the house or do they just want to do everything electronically you know you want to make sure that you get that personal touch so they truly understand what you know what your situation is what your needs are and what you can expect from them well.
And that’s a great point cos because and I love what you saidand in fact Renee would narrow with useful management tasteful property management I’ll get that right uh that that this is a big thing okay you’re leaving your house you leave me home you’re letting their I say strangers come into it and what I’m hearing from you is just that extra touch you should be expecting your property management that but you get that you actually just get it and you know you know there could be some stress there but we’re going to make this work and that’s what I’m hearing from you and that’s so key that that’s so key of having an understanding that’s one thing that you guys bring to the table that I love right yeah it goes back to truly partnering with somebody you know your property manager is going to be your eyes and your ears for.
While you’re gone your property manager is going to be the one making sure that your property is being taken care of the values protected your tenants are happy your neighbors are happy so there’s a lot of weight on the shoulders of a property manager to make sure that they take care of it for not only just the owner before for the neighborhood you know for the tenants for the neighborhood for the community there’s a lot of pieces that fall into place and depend on on each other in it really does start at the property management level so making sure you get the the right property manager that sees the importance of the bigger picture not just finding you a tenant and filling the house but it’s everything that comes along with it.
That truly does have the ripple effect and affect the community as a whole and just if you could what would be you know people listening right now that they know they’re going to be moving but they’re coming back as I said we have a fantastic I will say a track record of people these are coming back sometimes they may come back they may leave for a while they may they may sell but many times even then they’ll come back if they love the community in the area so what would be a timeline Renee if someone said okay I know I’m going to have to rent out we’re talking a week to its legal aid kind of give maybe walk through a process of what somebody should expect from the property management sure I always like to say you know this time of year even if you’re moving in June.
We want to get it up on the market now because you want to catch those people coming here around Easter and Spring Break where they’re doing their spring house hunting they want to find something that they can move into this summer so 90 days is great average it’s going to take you know if you’re June July it’s going to take you roughly 30 days to rent a property this time of year you’re in that forty to forty-five to sixty day mark but ideally I love to have it listed at that 90 day point I did you know I don’t mind listing a house like if it’s going to be available July 1st if you put it up 90 to 120 days it’s not going to get old and stale on the market because you have your military people coming in and they’re looking now they’re ready to make a decision now and they’re going to commit to it so you can put it out a little bit earlier for those type of homes.
Yeah I love that because that’s the same thing I’m housing that’s if you’re selling it also it’s the same principle that goes into that you can get on their early and they’re going to be coming in and that’s good to know so when I’m what I’m hearing from you though is so that if somebody says I’m leaving in June that you need to be talking to you – you guys are to the property manager now yes yeah talk to us now um you know if some people that are leaving in June with their type of house it may be better to list it up March 1st or April 1st but now we can help them get the occupancy inspections out of the way I can do a walk-through now and recommend that they paint certain rooms or if a screen is torn that they replace the screen or if they do some work to the landscaping.
So now where you can start doing those improvements to get all of that out of the way that way whenever you hit the market you hit the market strong ideally you have that 90 days we get it rented in the first half of that and then the last half of that where you’re stressed and you’re moving and you’re taking down pictures and you’re you know you’re packing boxes you don’t have to worry about showings and everything coming through so it is a multi-step process and getting us out there where we can look at it and give them that timeline and give them those maintenance recommendations that they can gradually do as they get ready to list and then hit the market you know at the peak where their house looks the best it’s going to look we price it right it’s going to rent quickly and it’s going to do well for them my goodness.
I think you just told did you read my book because it’s the same thing when you’re by when yourself in your house but you want to get those things prepped that you really want to get things in order it’s nice to know that on the leasing side those things matter I think sometimes people not many but some people are in the illusion that this is this is it this is where I live and what I’m hearing is well you can do that but yet you know some people think rental and sales is really different especially whenever you’re looking at the military community where they’re coming here with their family they’re going to be here for three years it’s not that different even though it is temporary they still think of it and treat it as their home so yeah rental and sales I mean prepping the house a timeline of a house the mentality that you need to have in you know what quality you want to have your house looking at for to sell it.
You really want to do the same for a rental because it’s going to help you get that multi-year lease very good tenant that’s going to take care of it just like you will that’s awesome and I think the other part we’re in talk in the next segment because I think we’re gonna talk about the go-to loners the ones that say you know what I don’t need a property management I don’t need this I don’t meet that and some of the some of the true problems you can run into that’s it Renee’s going to be talking more about in the next segment you’ll be listening Ready Set Sold with your host Bryan Vogt. I’ve got Rene Wittenauer with Cecil property management we will be back in just a few minutes and talk about maybe it’s not such a great idea to go to long talks.