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Have you asked your property management company about the importance of days?

Dustin Edwards • March 5, 2021

Each Day Counts with Your Property Management Company

Property Management Days
Everyday is valuable….whether that means you are looking to enjoy the outdoors or you are talking about your real estate portfolio. Of course when it comes to your real estate portfolio the value of each day can take on an entirely different meaning.  

We encourage our clients to understand the long-term benefits of holding their Long Beach rental properties. There is a cost to each day. When you have a property management company it is important to understand how they approach key activities to understand the costs.

Whether you are going to manage your rental yourself, interview a Long Beach Property Management Company, or even call us to manage your property we encourage you to get the answers to the following questions to help you understand the costs of ownership.

How many days to get the property rental ready?
As soon as a property is vacant the clock is ticking. Your property goes from an asset (i.e. an object that produces income) to an expense (i.e. an object that costs you money). Whenever a tenant vacates a property there are inevitable items that must be done such as:

  • Clean the property
  • Identify items that need repair
  • Prepare property for the next tenant
  • Re-shoot pictures for advertising
  • etc.

This list may seem small. We encourage you to ask your potential property management company how long they will take to complete tasks when a tenant vacates a property.  

For example you could simply ask “On average, for a single family home in the Los Altos neighborhood, how long does it take you to get it rental ready?”.  

Regardless of how many days they share, dig deeper to find out what scope of repairs/preparation they handled and even ask “how long was your longest time period before a rental was ready to market?”. These questions aren’t designed as a gotcha, rather they are designed to help you understand the best case and worst case scenario when it comes to a vacant rental property.

How many many days to schedule a repair?

You might not think that the days to schedule a repair are that big of a deal but that can entirely depend on the tenant. Repairs are a big deal in California as consider just the basic two items:
  • Landlords are required to provide a liveable premises
  • Tenants can withhold rent if the property doesn’t meet minimal conditions
While we could go into much greater detail the fundamental truth is repair requests need to be responded to quickly and with a great deal of documentation to avoid potential conflict with your tenant. One person’s “not a big deal” is another person’s “emergency” and trying to understand the difference is futile which behooves you to understand from the property management company what are their time periods of response for a repair to ensure you can simply keep collecting rent.

How many days to get the property leased?
Once a property has started to be marketed for lease...how long is it before a tenant is occupying the property? Some property managers track their data better than others and if your property management company can’t give you an idea of how long it takes to lease up a property by property type (i.e. duplex, ADU, condo, single family home, etc.) then you might want to consider different alternatives.

If you think you can be flexible on the number of days that a property can sit vacant while being ready for lease consider the following:
  • If your mortgage on your rental is $2,800 a month
  • On average each day costs you $93+
  • If their average lease up period is 20 days, then that cost of that vacancy could be $1,866 to you.

If you find competitors are average 12-15 days then each day is more money in your pocket. The key is to ask the question and even have them provide you with the listings of their last 10-12 leased up properties to allow you to see for yourself the listing to lease up period for yourself.

Finding the right property management company that understands the importance of each day can be a challenge. When you would like to understand more about our timing standards for these situations and more we invite you to call us today at (562) 888-0247 as we’d be happy to help. When you want a quick check to see how much your property could fetch in rent we invite you to fill out our Free Rental Analysis where we perform a comprehensive comparison to share your rental stacks up to the competition.


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By Dustin Edwards January 10, 2025
Having clear communication with your tenant is essential for maintaining a healthy landlord-tenant relationship. By being transparent in all relevant interactions, landlords can prevent misunderstandings while resolving repairs and disputes efficiently while improving tenant satisfaction. Having good communication with your tenant is beneficial for landlords too. Effective communication also protects your investment property. Remember that while your tenant is living in the property, landlords need to take care of the repairs. Below are the three best things to do during tenant communications. Prompt Responses Addressing tenant concerns quickly is essential for building trust and maintaining a positive relationship. Tenants feel valued when landlords respond quickly, knowing that their needs are being prioritized. Building this trust not only enhances your tenant’s satisfaction it lowers the possibility of conflicts or misunderstandings to arise. This ultimately creates a healthy and successful rental experience for you and your tenant. Some of the most common inquiries will oftentimes include repair requests, among others. As an example; if your tenant reports a leak under their faucet and the repair is delayed, this can be damaging to your landlord-tenant relationship, as well as your property. If left ignored, that leak can result in hundreds of dollars in water damage and a vacancy . Which can further affect our bottom line negatively. For landlords with multiple properties, this can become difficult to keep track of. A property manager can help with scheduling repairs and communicating with your tenant on your behalf. Document Everything Keeping a detailed record of all interactions with your tenant is an important element when managing a property. There are many choices for documentation including email, text, or written notices. Although many property management companies and landlords have opted to use apps or dedicated tenant portals to log communications. A great example, for instance, a tenant may claim they’d reported a repair issue that was never addressed, if everything is to be documented, both you and the tenant would have a copy of the request. Maintaining transparency with tenants. Having thorough documentation ensures agreements and requests between all parties are clearly tracked. Documenting communications with your tenant provides landlords with a foundation for addressing misunderstandings, or disputes if and when they arise. Provide Regular Updates Regular updates show tenants that their landlord is organized and has an attentive approach to managing their property. Giving tenants ample time for maintenance, inspections or policy changes is a simple way to build trust with your tenants while showing your professionalism. Giving tenants advanced notices reassures them that you’re aware of how changes can affect them and you understand that time might be needed in order to adjust. Surprises are best kept for birthday parties. Proactively notifying tenants of changes helps clear the communication channels and minimizes disruptions which helps tenants feel valued and satisfied. These small yet consistent efforts can contribute to a positive tenant stay, which can encourage lease renewals and long-term tenancy. Additionally, having a good relationship with your tenants can give you a great reputation which can provide you with leads when looking to fill a vacancy . It cannot be understated the importance of communication for a healthy landlord-tenant relationship. Even if your tenant may not agree with some of the decisions a landlord needs to make, by giving your tenants ample time to process the change tenants generally are more accepting of said change. If you’re having trouble communicating with your tenants or if you need help managing Beach City rental property, we invite you to call us today at (562) 888-0247 or complete our Owner Application online .
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