Given the current mortgage rate environment and existing home inventory supply, homebuying season is looking less promising for many aspiring homeowners. As a result, more people are turning to rental homes—particularly in manufactured housing communities—to save money. Renting a manufactured home is typically less expensive than leasing an apartment and the experience delivers more independence and privacy as well. Whether renting homes on private property or in a community, or renting to own; it’s important for property managers to implement best practices when promoting and managing lots and homes. Here are several things to consider.
Post Rental Homes on ILS sites
Internet Listing Service (ILS) sites—online real estate databases—are a great resource for advertising the homes available for rent in your community. These sites allow you to reach potential residents, and they give prospects the opportunity to research opportunities in their desired market. Rent Manager ILS Marketing integrates with several sites—such as Apartments.com, Zillow, Trulia, and HotPads—to market available units.
Coordinate Showings and Tours
While prospective residents expect 24/7 availability to view the homes in your community, there are only so many hours in the day to make that happen. That’s where Rent Manager’s integration with technology providers like ShowMojo and Tenant Turner comes into play. With the scheduling of in-person showings and self-guided tours automatically coordinated for you, these solutions allow potential renters to visit your rental homes no matter how busy you are.
Conduct Resident Screenings
It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood when a prospect decides they want to live in your community. However, before that can happen, their application needs your approval. This process can be stressful and time-consuming for everyone involved—but it doesn’t have to be. With Rent Manager’s Resident Screening Partner, AmRent, all your background checks (criminal, credit, housing, and income) are handled quickly and efficiently.
Further, you can take your application process to the next level with the Apply Now feature. Apply Now allows your prospects to apply online, reducing the time it takes to convert them into new residents.
Offer Signable Documents
Give your approved renters the option to sign their lease electronically using Rent Manager’s Signable Documents feature. Signable Documents—available through the Tenant Web Access (TWA) portal—allows you to send, receive, and sign documents directly from your phone or computer. This saves them time from having to visit your office and expedites the leasing process.
Streamline the Turnover Process for Rental Homes
After approving their application, new residents are ready and eager to move in! To streamline the move-in process in your community, reach out to your incoming renters with some tips to make move-in day go smoothly. Then, use Rent Manager’s Move-in Wizard to organize their information such as lot/home, resident name, and move-in date. Having this data available in Rent Manager will simplify the process so you and your team can be ready for the big day!
While moving into the home will be coordinated by your renters, you are responsible for making sure everything is in perfect condition for them. Prior to their move-in date, address any maintenance issues, thoroughly clean the residence, and ensure that all utilities work properly. Our Make Ready Boards are available to help you schedule any service issues and inspections that need to happen as well.
Provide Renters Insurance
Once your residents are all settled in their new abode, it’s important that they acquire renters insurance and that you achieve compliance. Rent Manager’s partnership with LeaseTrack allows your renters to secure insurance through the Tenant Web Access (TWA) portal or be automatically added to a master policy via automated compliance tracking. This easy and affordable liability insurance option monitors coverage and compliance, reduces your risk of incurring out-of-pocket expenses from any resident-caused damage, and has the potential to generate new revenue streams for your business.
Simplify Maintenance Requests
When a tenant has an issue in their home, they’ll most likely submit a maintenance request or reach out to your team for assistance. While most renters understand that service issues are unavoidable, they do expect a quick resolution.
The Maintenance Scheduling feature in Rent Manager Express lets you create workflows to manage daily issues and the schedules of your maintenance technicians. Once assigned to a service issue, technicians can view their schedules in the rmAppSuite Pro mobile app, giving them immediate updates while in your community. And by using our TWA portal or the rmResident mobile app, your residents can select available time slots to schedule service requests on their own.
Utilize Afterhours Call Support
It’s inevitable that you’ll experience after-hours and weekend maintenance issues. So, be prepared with a service that provides evening, weekend, and holiday support and frees yourself and your staff from answering unexpected resident calls during your off hours. Call Center—powered by Anequim—handles emergencies, maintenance requests, leasing calls, dispatching, and more. Fully integrated with Rent Manager, the Call Center provides representatives who are fully versed in the software and the property management industry. This means you no longer have to field calls 24/7, giving you a better work/life balance and a dedicated team you can trust.
In addition to the best practices mentioned above, Rent Manager delivers customized features to help you efficiently manage your entire community—from asset tracking and loan management, to metered utilities tools and integrated billing. Take a closer look at our manufactured housing capabilities here.