RentWise Property Management

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(208) 949-3083

      

Things to Know About Owning Rental Property in Idaho

Have you been thinking of owning rental property in Idaho? There are many reasons that people choose to become owners of rental properties. Some people want extra income to save money or pay down debt. Others also enjoy possible tax advantages that come with rental income. Homes appreciate in time, and holding ownership and renting is an excellent option for those that know what they are doing. If you are new to owning rental property we suggest you seek guidance and use property managers such as us to help.

There are different types of residential homes to invest in, such as single-family home, condo, or a townhome. The option is yours, especially in Idaho. Moneyinc.com shared an article on top places to live in Idaho that you can check out, and Boise was named top places to live in 2019 by Livability.  But what should you know about owning a rental property before you buy? Here are three (3) things you should consider when owning a rental property that we hope you find helpful.

 

Do your research on location. 

Before you purchase a home with the intention to rent it, make sure you do plenty of research. A couple of things you want to look into are if the property has the potential to generate income. Or, for that matter, be highly rentable. Take into consideration to look at the neighborhood, the current market for rentals. You also want to consider the age of the home as well. Consider doing a thorough evaluation of the property in question first before you buy. 

 

Set aside money for expenses.

Old homes aren’t the only homes that might require you to invest in more than just the mortgage. Depending on your research, like we talked about above, there will always be things that might come up that would be the owner’s responsibility. Some may come at the beginning of your investment. Simple repairs or upgrades like paint, new carpet, or new landscaping can help make your property easier to rent and increase property value. 

 

Understand the landlord-renter rights/laws. 

Owning a rental property is different, and guidelines can change from state to state. There are laws you should be aware of and understand when becoming a landlord in Idaho. Make sure if you know them and follow them if you are renting out on your own. Working with a property manager like RentWise Property Management can help alleviate any additional time and stress you might have when it comes to this. Consider allowing someone to manage your property if you are new or looking for a little more of a turn-key experience. 

 

These are just a couple of the things we find a lot of first-time homeowners find themselves asking. We find that many potential landlords spend time researching and trying to understand the opportunities behind owning a rental property. If there are questions we can answer, we would love the opportunity to help you in your decision-making and answer any questions that might make you feel uneasy about purchasing and managing an investment property. Contact us today at (208) 949-3083.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paying Rent Online

Paying rent online has become the norm across the board these days however; the convenience of doing so comes at a cost for most tenants. While we here at Rentwise can’t control what the credit card companies and banks charge we do our best to mitigate any expenses we can. We do not upcharge these fees or charge any other fees related to paying rent online so having options is just one way we try to serve our tenants.

3 Ways to pay rent online:

Pay your rent with a checking account:

This is the most cost effective way to pay rent because it’s FREE! Simply log in to your tenant portal, plug in your checking account and routing numbers and you are all set! You can even set up auto pay if you don’t want to worry about paying your rent on time each month.

Pay your rent with a credit card:

This method comes with a 2.99% fee of the transaction amount. So if you rent is $1500 per month you would pay a fee of $44.85. We know some of our tenants like to rack up those air miles or maybe they are just short on cash one month, so this option is great for those satiations.

Pay your rent with your debit card:

This is a new feature that Appfolio just rolled out that enables a tenant to pay rent with a debit card, any amount, for a flat fee of $9.99. This is much more affordable than paying with a credit card so we are super happy about this change for our tenants.

If you would like to know more about how we can help make renting LESS HASSLE, MORE HAPPY please reach out to us! We are here to help! Call 208-949-3083 or email us at office@rentwisepm.com.

 

What will my property rent for?

What will my property rent for? The most asked question of any property manager I would venture to guess. (It’s either this or how much do you charge? That is an entirely different blog) Every investment transaction hinges on this factor so you can imagine how important it is to have the most accurate information as possible. We know there are a plethora of resources on the internet to assist any investor in determining what rents could be however, we would caution against making an investment decision based solely on the internet numbers alone.

Here are the 3 resources we recommend:

Rentometer – this website offers a rental estimate based on percentile and requires very little information about the property making it a quick and easy referral point, it is free to use up to a certain number of inquiries. We are not directly affiliated with this site but we do utilize it via a subscription service as a professional property manager which allows us unlimited access.

Zillow – oh how we have a love/hate relationship with Zillow but they are the largest resource for available rentals so it is a necessary evil to take a look. We find that Zillow is usually $50 to $100 within range.

A Real Life Property Manager – this is ultimately the BEST way to determine what your property will rent for. We as property managers have the most accurate real time knowledge and expertise to determine what a property will rent for based on the location, age, size, upgrades and nearby amenities. While online resources can consider a limited amount of these criteria, a local property manager who knows the area you are investing in is the best resource by far.

If you want to know more about our services or how we can help you get the most out of your investment reach out to us at 208-949-3083 or courtney@rentwisepm.com. Less Hassle. More Happy.

 

Self Showing Lockboxes

Self-showing lock boxes became very popular after several agents where attacked and even killed in our industry as well as the real estate industry. Unfortunately this has become something that happens more often than people probably know (or want to know) so we initially started using self-showing boxes for the safety of our staff.

Most property managers do not have the staff available to have more than one person at a showing at a time. I will admit that I have definitely felt a little “uncomfortable” during a showing from time to time. We also found that utilizing the self-showing services helped us rent properties much faster than before. We had a pandemic if you will, of missed appointments, no shows and difficulty coordinating schedules with all the other responsibilities we have as property managers.

Utilizing this technology enables us to be more efficient with our time and energy, focusing on qualifying tenants, managing maintenance and being more available to our existing clients and tenants.

Below are the questions and answers from an existing client who was concerned about our showing method. His reply: “Thanks for clarifying things for me. I can see both sides. It makes me more comfortable that you are able to work the lock remotely. It seems to provide some assurance that the access for people is not unlimited. Let’s continue the process as is. Thanks Mike”

Q & A’s:

Do you change the code after each showing? Each person that accesses the property is given a unique code to do so after they answer a series of questions about themselves and uploads a copy of their photo ID to the system. That is how we track who/when someone accesses the property.

Do you have to go there physically to do that or can you access the digital lock remotely? We assign lockboxes to the property remotely, and codes are assigned remotely.

Are there any cameras recording and/or warning visitors that they are being monitored? There are no cameras. There are several signs hung throughout the property to ensure that lights are turned off, doors are locked and they key is placed back in the lockbox. When we perform vacant house checks we have a checklist of several items we monitor to ensure all things are the way they need to be.

If someone duplicates the key while the rest in his party is viewing the house, would that allow them access at a later time? I can not say that this is not a potential issue however it has never happened. The viewing code is only good for 1 hour. When we perform vacant house checks one of the items we check is if there is a key in the lockbox. Typically several people are viewing this house over the course of a day or few days so we would be notified very quickly if a key is missing. Again, that has not happened. A potential applicant must go through a process to receive a code and most criminals do not go to that kind of trouble.

I am sure there are many more possibilities that I am not thinking about right now, like squatting, cooking up meth, stealing the appliances etc. Who would be liable for the damages and any claims arising from those activities? Either your home owners insurance or our liability insurance would handle any issues that would arise on that front. If we were to find a squatter in the property we would take the steps to have them removed asap obviously. Idaho does not have laws that “protect” squatters. We have not had an negative incidents to date using the self showing boxes. We have heard all of the stories and which is why we have taken steps to ensure that these things do not happen. Once an application is approved the lockbox is disabled and only vendors or staff can access it. That typically takes between 3 to 10 days lately.

Maybe things haven’t happened around here yet, but the “Big City” is moving into Boise as we speak. Watching Portland, Seattle,Chicago ……. inner cities and now suburbs burn and get looted without consequences makes me wonder how much to trust anyone. I have to assume that I bear all the risk? You do not bear all the risk, our insurance is aware of our practices and they are quit common across the united states with property managers. We have taken every precaution we can to ask the right questions, set the limitations on showings and we check our vacant properties on a regular basis.

If you would like more information about this or how we can help make owning an investment property Less Hassle, More Happy, we would love to speak with you. Give us a call at 208-949-3083 or email courtney@rentwisepm.com.

Building credit as a renter

Do you wonder how you can build your credit as a renter? Have you ever heard the saying; you must have credit to build credit? In order to get a loan, you need credit history; however, the only way to build credit history is to take on debt with credit cards and/or loans. What if your one of many who do not want to start off in debt in order to build your credit? Here at RentWise Property Management, we feel the same way! We are excited to say that RentWise Property Management has partnered with Appfolio and Experian RentBureau to report our tenant’s positive rental payment history to their credit without running up unnecessary debt. 

According to Experian’s RentBureau, they incorporate on-time rental payment data reported to Experian RentBureau into Experian credit reports. 

Rental payment information will be included as part of your standard credit report and may be incorporated into certain credit scores. The inclusion of positive rental payment history within Experian credit reports allows you to establish or build credit history through timely rental payments.

What this means for our residents is for every on-time payment made, within 24-hours Experian RentBureau receives a notification of another payment made. This data can be accessed by other management companies during the tenant screening process for payment verification’s and most importantly continuous on-time rental payment data may be incorporated within Experian credit reports used by credit granting institutions like banks, credit unions, auto finance companies, and telecommunication providers.

This partnership is just one of many programs that RentWise Property Management provides to our residents. So if you are asking yourself how can I get started building credit while renting a property, head over to our available property page by clicking here to see if there is a home that works for you today and start building your credit with your first on-time payment. 

If you would more information about this or any of our services contact us at 208-949-3083. Less Hassle. More Happy.

NARPM Q2 2020 Vacancy Survey

This quarters NARPM survey was published a little later than expected but the numbers are in and they are interesting. This year has been curious to say the least and housing is just one area that has been affected by this years pandemic. 19 property managers participated in this quarters survey of almost 7,700 single family and multi-family properties throughout our Treasure Valley. Take a look at some of the numbers below. To read the full report, click here!

 

Unit Managed Number of Vacancies Vacancy Rate
Ada 5569 238 4.27%
Multiple

Single

Canyon

 3681

1888

2117

 161

77

80

 4.37%

4.08%

3.78%
Multiple

Single

 1740

377

 51

29

 2.93%

7.69%
 

Grand Total

  

7686

  

318

  

4.14%

The data collected indicates that the trends in both Ada & Canyon county vacancy rates increased 1.32% from 2.82% in
the 1st quarter of 2020 to 4.14% in the 2nd quarter of 2020. Ada County increased 2% and Canyon County increased
.78% this 2nd quarter of the year.

If you would like more information about this survey or how RentWise can be of assistance with your rental needs please reach out at 208-949-3083 or email courtney@rentwisepm.com. Start living with Less Hassle, More Happy when it comes to your investments!