The challenge to efficiently find the right tenant at the right price is a tall order. It begins with a comprehensive marketing strategy that provides maximum market exposure and ends with a successfully closed lease transaction. With so many rental properties on the market, many owners ask “How do you make my property stand out from the crowd?” It’s not uncommon to find many rentals being advertised ineffectively. Poor photography, inadequate property descriptions, and minimal internet syndication all affect advertising efficacy. You can stop worrying about the marketing details when you list your investment rental property with Sarasota’s leading property management company. Lindsay Leasing will shoot quality photography, write eye-catching copy, and produce a 360° panorama tour¹ to professionally market your rental property. Furthermore, we expose your property to our ready-to-rent base of prospective tenants and advertise on popular real estate websites like Zillow, HotPads, Realtor.com, FlipKey, MLS, and many more. We personally manage all inquiries, answer questions, qualify prospects, and perform showings.

Leasing your rental property should provide a steady source of income and someone to look after the property. However, with an unreliable and irresponsible tenant, your rental property can quickly become a nightmare. ComplyTraq, a FCRA compliance and credentialing firm, has certified Lindsay Leasing to conduct tenant screening in accordance with procedures established by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). We qualify every prospective tenant by running credit and background checks, verifying income, and querying prior landlords. We perform these services in house to ensure expediency and reliability. By choosing only qualified, trust-worthy tenants for your property, Lindsay Leasing is proactive in preventing future complications.

Once we have an accepted offer and approved tenant we start preparing the lease. The lease will contain the terms and conditions you and the tenant are agreeing upon. It will contain the basics like rental term, rental rate, security deposits, pets, due date and what’s included in the rent. In addition, it will have language around fixtures and alterations, use of premises, smoking, utilities, vehicles, maintenance and inspections, vacating, right of entry, disputes, and other legal matters. While it may be tempting to use a DIY lease, many legal problems can arise where you’ll regret not having an attorney-prepared lease. If an eviction or a dispute needs to be settled in court, having a strong lease protects your interests. Hopefully, that never happens, but if it does, it is our responsibility to make sure you’re protected. A attorney-prepared lease is the single most important document in protecting your investment and ensuring you have a contract that reflects current laws and regulations. In addition, the full legal resources of the law firm who prepared the lease are available–just in case. This reason, along with many others, is why Lindsay Leasing has never had an eviction or been to court regarding a dispute.

The purpose of a property inspection is to document the property’s condition noting any defects, as well as recommending further inspections by appropriate trades. As a residential property manager, we perform inspections before listing a property to uncover any deficiencies or minor improvements that may increase rent yield. While we do not always find every deficiency, often what we do uncover is quicker and less costly to correct prior to occupancy. Property damage is not only expensive, but also stressful. Often times a tenant can argue the damage was not their fault…maybe it was preexisting or ordinary wear and tear. Determining who’s responsible and more importantly, who is to pay, isn’t always clear. This is why Lindsay Leasing always performs a full property inspection before a tenant moves in, at renewal, and at move-out. This process documents the property’s current condition, including any preexisting damage relative to renewal or move-out conditions. Spot inspections during a tenant’s occupancy help identify routine maintenance needs and potential repairs.

Collecting rent consistently and expeditiously is dependent on many variables. Will the tenant mail the rent check on time? Will the USPS deliver it on time? Will you be there to receive it and deposit it promptly? All these steps have built-in delays making it difficult for you to plan your cash flow. Add in a property management company to collect rent and you may end up with additional delays such as withholding disbursements for cleared funds; weekly check runs; waiting for the mail; getting to the bank; and waiting for your deposit to clear. If the check you receive is out of state, you can expect more banking delays. Lindsay Leasing saves you time and money while also making it convenient for you and the tenant. Each month we will electronically deduct rent from the tenant’s bank account and deposit it into your account within two to four business days. This means your rental income is on time each month without making trips to the bank or being told “the check’s in the mail.”

Qualifying the various vendors required to repair and maintain your property is a time-consuming chore. Understanding the skill sets of each vendor and knowing whether to send out a handyman or a licensed tradesperson can determine if a problem is repaired right at a fair price. Due to the impact vendors can have on your rental property and our business, we invest a significant amount of time building relationships with reliable vendors. If you do not have the time or inclination to find vendors, you can leverage our efforts by choosing Lindsay Leasing. We’ve been working with our vendors for years. They are trustworthy, dependable, affordable, insured, and appropriately licensed. Our vendors recognize our goal is to keep good tenants happy so they renew their lease, thereby saving you money on lost rent and commissions.

Inevitably, something will go wrong at your investment rental property. Managing tenant complaints, qualifying vendors, diagnosing problems, and coordinating appointments consumes time. Should a handyman or a licensed tradesperson be dispatched? Is the item in question under warranty? Must the air conditioner be fixed this weekend? Who should pay for the plumber’s service call? All these questions and more come up when something goes wrong. How these issues are handled will determine an owner’s out of pocket expense and tenant satisfaction. As an experienced Sarasota property management company, we have the know-how, contacts and processes to effectively handle maintenance requests. Tenants can conveniently request maintenance through our website, email or phone. We try to resolve the issue without a service call. If necessary, we will dispatch one of our reliable vendors to diagnose and correct the problem as soon as possible. Together we will establish pre-authorized repair limits. We keep you in the loop so there are no surprises. As a convenience to you, we can pay vendor invoices and get reimbursed through rent. By keeping the tenant’s experience in your property positive, they are more likely to take better care of the home, continue making rent payments on-time and renew their lease when the time comes.

There’s a lot of paperwork involved in property management and you can easily misplace important documents. When tax season arrives searching around for expense and income documentation can be a big hassle. Not knowing what appliances are under warranty or forgetting that you have a maintenance agreement can result in unnecessary expenses. Maintaining all the details related to your property is important yet time-consuming. As your Sarasota property manager, we provide you with an online portal where you can access all your property-related information, view quarterly statements, review vendor invoices, see photographs and much more. This keeps you up to date on everything pertaining to your property without phone calls, filing cabinets or faxes.