Of all the core property management tasks a landlord has, tenant placement is arguably among the most tedious ones. Regardless, it is integral in any rental business, as it is what puts tenants in your rental property. Rental property owners often opt for tenant placement to take a chunk out of their workload. It's important to understand what tenant placement services offer if you plan on considering it.
Key Highlights:
- Tenant placement services handle core tasks such as property marketing, tenant screening, open houses, lease drafting, and coordinating the move-in process.
- These services reduce vacancy periods by using effective advertising methods and connecting landlords with reliable tenants quickly.
- Thorough background checks during screening ensure that tenants are financially stable, responsible, and less likely to cause turnover issues.
- Tenant placement services help landlords remain legally compliant by following landlord-tenant laws when drafting leases and screening applicants.
- By outsourcing these responsibilities to find new tenants, landlords can lighten their workload and secure long-term investment returns through trustworthy tenants.
What Tenant Placement Services Include
Property Marketing
Finding suitable tenants begins by making your rental listing visible to potential tenants. Tenant placement services will post your listing on online platforms, social media, MLS, or any platform that puts your rental business in the local rental market, and will use professionally-taken photos.
Many rental management companies already have a website of their own, allowing prospective tenants to find the rental listing and the online application form all in the same place. It may depend on the kind of tenant placement services a property manager offers.
Tenant Screening
Reaching potential tenants is just the first step in the tenant placement process. To ensure that you have responsible tenants who will follow your lease or rental agreement, they need to go through the screening process.
The tenant placement service will use comprehensive criteria, such as credit check, rental history, debt-to-income ratio, and criminal history. They will also verify employment, contact previous landlords, and review eviction history.
Open Houses
Suitable tenants might want to see the rental property in person before they sign a lease agreement, which is a reasonable ask. Property owners will either need to create virtual tours or host open houses for applicants or interested parties.
With tenant placement services, all the aspects that go into property showings, such as coordinating schedules, conducting property tours, and creating virtual tours, will be taken care of. It's best to inquire about a company's tenant placement services first to learn what's included.
Lease Agreement Drafting and Signing
Even after finding reliable tenants, a strong lease agreement is still required to outline the rules they have to follow and the responsibilities they have. Tenant placement services typically include the handling of lease preparation and signing.
Property owners can add their own lease terms, such as methods for paying rent, pet restrictions, and so on, but the basic lease terms are drafted by the tenant placement service.
Move-In Process
With the last part of the service comes the move-in process, where the security deposit and rent would be collected. The property's condition upon move-in will be carefully documented, and tenant communication will be established.
This is where the tenant placement service ends and your role in rental management begins. You will handle day-to-day operations like collecting rent, handling maintenance requests, and addressing tenant issues.
Benefits of Tenant Placement Services
- You will have reduced vacancy periods. With finding reliable tenants being the main goal, the service will use both modern and traditional advertising methods to fill vacancies as fast as possible.
- The thorough screening process will help you avoid tenant turnovers. A reduced vacancy period is one thing; keeping long-term tenants is another. The thorough background checks will ensure that the renter can pay rent on time and avoid any rental issues in the future.
- You will be legally compliant. Tenant placement services are designed to follow rental laws to avoid legal issues. Of course, you will still have to learn the landlord-tenant laws that affect overall property management.
- It significantly helps you with your property management workload. Since tenant placement services offer assistance with various aspects of property management, such as marketing, tenant screening, showings, lease preparation, and the move-in process, property owners can place more attention on other duties.
- They provide you with long-term investment returns. As you get trustworthy tenants, your property will be taken care of and your rental income will not be disrupted, contributing to the long-term benefits for your rental business.
Signs That You Need Professional Tenant Placement
- You are struggling to find qualified tenants for your property, or you keep finding the wrong tenants. It can be due to bad marketing practices, or you're missing key background checks like rental history or employment verification.
- It's becoming harder to juggle your property management duties, especially if you have multiple properties. Tenant placement services will help with many of your duties.
- Your rental income is suffering due to vacancy periods. Placement services are both for finding tenants and for finding them fast. Many landlords are reluctant due to the property management fees that come with it, but it often pays off to hire professionals in these scenarios.
- Your tenant continued to violate your lease rules. Placement services offer you a better chance of finding qualified tenants who will abide by rental rules and avoid property damage.
Tenant Placement Services FAQs
What do tenant placement services include?
- Typical placement services help you with marketing, tenant screening, property showing, lease preparation, and the move-in process.
How much do tenant placement services cost?
- The costs will vary, but most companies will either charge a flat fee or a percentage of the first month's rent as a leasing fee. The percentage can go from 40% to 100% of one month's rent.
What is the difference between a full-service property management and tenant placement services?
- Property management services include ongoing responsibilities like rent collection, addressing maintenance issues, conducting inspections, and handling evictions. Tenant placement is simply for finding quality tenants for your property and helping with the move-in process.
How long does the tenant placement process take?
- This can depend on the location of your property and the rental demand in the area, but the average time to find tenants for your rental is 1-3 weeks.
Explore Your Choices With Harland Property Management
Whether you need services for tenant placement or overall property management, you can count on a team of professionals from Harland Property Management to keep your rental business profitable.
We offer a variety of services that can propel your investment in the right direction. We understand that being a landlord can be a full-time job, so we are here to help you with whatever you need.
Just give us a call, and we can discuss how you can achieve stability and profitability.
