By Real Pinellas - Local experts serving Palm Harbor, Tarpon Springs, Dunedin, Clearwater, Seminole, Largo, St. Pete, and all of Pinellas County.

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You might get some unwanted anxiety if you were to calculate the amount of money you're losing for every single week a rental property sits empty. Between the obvious expenses like a mortgage, utilities, any HOA dues, lawn care, and maintenance, there is also the opportunity cost with lost rental income, inflation, and time in the market. Vacancy gaps are something even the best investors have to deal with, but that doesn't mean they take these periods in stride. They work with the best property management companies who do the work for them to get the property rented again as quickly as possible. 

Real-world case study:

In Palm Harbor, Pinellas County, a standard 3/2 SFH in moderate to decent condition will command a monthly rental income of $2,600, on average. Let's say after a tenant leaves, the property sits empty for 3 weeks. This is on the best-case scenarios for most self-managed owners; between their day jobs, finding time after work, eating, household chores, relationship time, kids, and all of life's other obligations, most would be lucky to get a property turned over in 3 weeks, let alone fully leased. But for this example, let's say they got it rented out in 3 weeks total.

For a $2,600/month rental, that is approximately $1,800 in rental income lost, not counting the opportunity cost and financial implications of doing all the repairs, cosmetics, showings, lease preparation, and listing legwork. 

When Real Pinellas gets a vacant property, it is our top priority. We immediately begin the turnover process so you can start maximizing rental income once again. The best part for owners is that we do not charge a fee while the property is vacant, meaning the legwork is just part of the exceptional property management services that we provide.

This may come as a surprise to some readers, but the reality is that most owners do not keep up with required maintenance. When you don't manage real estate professionally for a living, it is difficult to make the justification to do small things like touching up caulking or trimming vegetation back from a stucco siding. But these issues can be so much more expensive than the labor & materials cost seen on the surface.

Poorly maintained rentals will scare tenants off - it's a fact. The worst part about deferred maintenance is that you won't know the extent of your financial losses until the tenant has decided not to renew their lease. Now, on top of having no more rental income, you have to act quickly to make the required repairs and get the property presentable and market ready. It sure would've been nice to take your time with these things in advance instead of having to pay inflated expedited handyman/contractor costs, right?

For Real Pinellas clients, this is not a part of their rental portfolios. Between our meticulous due diligence of our managed properties, our partnership with a licensed Florida Certified Building Contractor, and vast vendor network to secure the lowest prices per job - we are proud to say that our owners are never hit with surprises they didn't know were coming.

You've probably heard this before, and you may or may not agree with it, but the fact is, managing rental properties takes time. If you spend zero hours a month on your rentals, something is not right, someone is not happy, and the party is going to end very soon. Even for the smoothest operations, it is extremely easy for a self-managing owner to rack up 10-20 hours a month between calls, texts, emails, scheduling vendors, property visits, exterior property inspections (you're doing those, right?), and bookkeeping. If you have a W2 at $30/hour, that's $3,600 - $7,200 annually in "invisible" costs - often much more than property management fees. Double or triple this number if you're a high-earner, and the number you see in your calculator will be terrifying.

For example, I worked with a local investor who had a W2 as a warehouse manager. He told us he spends nearly 15 hours a week dealing with tenants for his 3 rental properties. It ate up time with his wife, his children, his dog, his boat, and his friends. Apart from those feel-good aspects, he was also missing out on valuable time he could've spent finding more cash-flowing rental properties. 

Since partnering with Real Pinellas, we have eliminated this from his life and given him the time and freedom to enjoy being a rental property owner once again. As a bonus, because we are licensed, active Realtors with experience in transacting income-producing single-family, multi-family, and other types of properties in Pinellas County, we are now actively searching for his next investment property that we will be managing for him. We offer a concierge real estate experience from start to finish, and beyond. 

Florida's landlord-tenant laws are extremely strict and updated often! Missing a deadline or serving an improper notice can lead to costly disputes or even lawsuits. For instance, failing to return a security deposit in the correct way or issuing a non-compliant 3-day notice can cost you the entire security deposit, on top of court fees and, sometimes, even the cost of the tenant's attorney! Better hope they didn't hire Saul Goodman!

Self-managing landlords often don't keep up with updates to the Florida Statute Chapter 83, which governs rentals. Understandably so, it is not exactly the most exhilarating read. But it is so, so important if you want to stay in the rental business and be a true real estate investor. Not knowing these rules leaves you exposed in a way where one incident can make your break your financial outlook beyond just your real estate holdings.

Real-world case study:

A Clearwater landlord found our website and reached out to us about placing a tenant and providing management services for her 1 rental property. I asked what happened to the old tenant. The story she recounted was right out of a DIY landlord's nightmare. She used an outdated lease from 2023 and accidentally left herself wide open to a loophole - which the tenant took advantage of. The eviction process cost her 7 months of income and $3,500 in legal fees. She was very happy to hear the level of attention we pay to the FS Ch. 83 and our diligence when preparing leases. 

This is one of the most commonly discussed topics in property management and while it's universally agreed upon that it is extremely important, landlords and other property management companies don't seem to make it a priority. We won't discuss here what can happen with a bad tenant as we all know the horror stories, but we will go into what Real Pinellas does differently.

A typical showing at your rental property will go like this: Manager meets tenant at property. Notes are taken of whether the tenant was late to the appointment. Tenant is invited in to tour the home uninterrupted. While the tenant is inside, we view the inside of their vehicle to see if it is unkempt - if the vehicle they spend hours a week in is messy, how do you think their living space will be?

After that, if the tenant is interested, we screen for income, tenancy verification, credit, criminal history, and sexual predator status. Our background check process uses TransUnion and Experian for a full range of their credit. We require them to provide paystubs to prove income. Once they pass that, we visit the rental they are currently living at. For tenancy verification, we want to speak to the landlord they rented from previously, not their current one - if the current one wants them gone, they will tell us they're amazing tenants!

This lengthy and time-consuming process helps us keep our proud track record if little to no evictions for the tenants we place.

This is a very overlooked line item on most landlord's ledgers. Have you ever noticed that these policies only go up, and never down? It is always worth taking a few minutes a year to shop around for different homeowner's insurance policies to see if another company will write you a quote lower than what you have now. Remember, insurance is a very competitive industry, and many companies will lower their price to attract you as a client.

We're a property management company, of course we're going to talk about this! Real Pinellas strives to maximize net income for our clients, period. That is the goal. We do this in many ways:

• Simplifying accounting
• Not up charging on vendor invoices
• Not charging for trips to the property
• Not charging for lease renewals
• Securing reliable, quality, long-term tenants
• Expert real estate and construction advice
• Careful diligence and maintaining a maintenance schedule
• Monthly exterior inspections
• Quarterly interior inspections

Real Pinellas has studied the property management industry in Pinellas County and surrounding areas, and we have decided to excel in areas that others lack - those areas that really matter to landlords and investors.

A bad property manager can cost hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, and for some with larger portfolios, hundreds of thousands of dollars both in direct income lost and the opportunity cost of future earning potential. If you're currently using another property management company, you need to audit them to make sure they are doing what they say they are, and that the quality is what they promised. Property management can make or break your real estate investing career, whether you do it on your own or professionally.

Investing has many different avenues to both acquire and lose money. It is imperative to keep a watchful eye on your business and ensure no funds are going to unnecessary expenses. At Real Pinellas, we take pride in being the #1 property management company in Pinellas County. 

If you would like to schedule a consultation, please use the "Schedule a Call" button or email [email protected]. Thank you for reading and we look forward to working with you.

FAQs:

Property Management FAQ - realpinellas.com