FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q: Are you an agent?
A: We are not agents, we are local entrepreneurs. We don’t work on your behalf, we are your tenant – and we think that’s a good thing.

Instead of renting the home to an occupant tenant through the assistance of a property manager, you rent your home directly to our company (the Master Tenant). Next, we rent to the tenants who will live in the home (the Occupant Tenant). This method of doing business is often called a “lease with right to sub-lease”; another name for it is a “Master Lease”.

Q: Do you handle all tenant complaints and maintenance calls?
A: Yes.  We work hard to help insulate you from the day-to-day business of running a rental property, so all you need to do is cash our checks!

Q: How am I notified of maintenance expenses?
A: You will typically receive an email for any maintenance requests by tenants before we complete the repair. For any expense estimated to exceed $250, we must get your permission before we begin, unless it is an emergency repair. For example, if a water pipe bursts and we cannot reach you, we will go ahead and make the emergency repairs required to get the situation under control.

Q: How do you select your tenants?
A: We advertise heavily though rental websites, social media, and road signs. We start screening a tenant even before they start their rental viewing. Once a pre-qualified applicant has viewed the home and submits an application, we check rental history, employment, and credit to determine that they are the right fit for the property.

We don’t want tenants who are camping out while they look for something better. We want tenants who will make your house their home – tenants who will maintain and improve the house and grounds, pay the rent on time, get along with the neighbors, and stay for a while.


Q: How does your program work?
A: In our Guaranteed Rent program, we’ll do a market analysis to determine how much the property should rent for. Remember – we don’t set the rent, you don’t set the rent, and your mortgage payment certainly doesn’t set the rent. Market conditions set the rent that a good Occupant Tenant will gladly pay, stay a while, and treat your home with the same tender love and care as a proud home owner would.

From that amount, we subtract 10% for management expenses. We budget for vacancy and maintenance, and subtract those too – you would have these expenses anyway, even if you were managing the property, and as experienced professionals, we can keep these expenses lower that you can. Finally, if we’re going to put our name and reputation on the line to make a guarantee to you, we believe that’s worth something – no one else in the business is doing this – so we subtract a percentage for this as well.

Every case is different, so we’ll work with you to design a customized solution.

If you still like the traditional management model from a financial standpoint, we can handle it. We’ll take 15% off the top, and pay you 85% of whatever we collect. That means you are still responsible for all maintenance expenses, and if there is a vacancy, you won’t have any income that month. But, if you’re not making money, we’re not making money – we don’t hide our profit behind miscellaneous fees.

Q: How long will it take to rent my home?
A: If the home is in good condition and priced right, usually about two to four weeks.

Q: What are the advantages of Master Leasing, compared to traditional property management?
A: There are several advantages.

One of the things we’ve noticed about the way many property managers do business is that there are often a lot of fees associated with their services. You’ll pay the industry-standard 10% management fee, a setup fee ($250 to $300), about 25% to renew a contract with the tenant annually, and – the one that gets me – 50% to 75% on the first month of a new lease. Sometimes you’ll even pay empty-house fees.

Turnover is the SINGLE BIGGEST expense you as a landlord will ever have. That’s when your property is vacant for a month or two and you’ll have to re-paint and re-carpet. This could cost you several thousands of dollars (trust us, we have our own rentals as well). Why is your property manager making FIVE TIMES the amount he normally makes, to put you through this?

We don’t want to charge you fees. We want to pay you – every single month, starting on day we sign you up, whether the property is occupied or not.

Think about that – with the other companies, you’ll pay a set-up fee on day one. With our Guaranteed Rent program, you’ll walk away with a check in your hand.

A second advantage of our program is how we handle maintenance. As owners of our own properties, we know how to maintain property effectively, with independent, licensed contractors who give us the best rates possible. We are confident of our ability to keep these costs down, and we pass these savings along to you. And, in our Guaranteed Rent program, we agree to take responsibility for the first $100 of any maintenance expense that occurs in a given month.

Another advantage is that this structure protects you better legally than using a traditional property manager.

Did you know that you, as an owner, are responsible for the mis-deeds of your agent? An owner in Washington DC recently got hit by a $2.2 million dollar lawsuit, due to the actions of his property manager. As it turns out, the manager refused to rent to a family with children. That’s a pretty expensive Fair Housing violation!

As Master Tenants, we are not your agent – we are principals in the transaction. Legally, because we represent ourselves in dealing with the Occupant Tenant, you are shielded from liability in any lawsuit that a tenant might decide to bring. Don’t let a tenant who decides to get rich on a slip-and-fall get rich at your expense!


Q: What is Master Leasing?
A: Master Leasing is a technique that has been in existence for hundreds of years; in technical terms, it is a “lease with right to sublease”.  Instead of renting the home to an occupant tenant through the assistance of a property manager, you rent your home directly to our company (the Master Tenant).  Next, we rent to the tenants who will live in the home (the Occupant Tenant).

Q: What is the first step to get started?
A: The first step is to call our office at (770) 301-6379.  We will set up an appointment to answer all your questions, view your rental property, and sign a lease with you.  It’s that simple!