Winner - 3 Night Stay in Island Park

Rett Smith was the winner at the Utah Association of Realtors Convention in St. George, UT.  He beat out all other throws with seven in a row.

Utah Association of Realtors Anuual Convention 2012 in St. George, UT

Thanks to everyone who stopped by our booth at the Utah Association of Realtors Annual Convention in St. George, UT. Our property management team had a great time at his event. Check out our quick video and good luck to everyone who entered. At this time the record for the bean bag toss is a 7!!!!!! We will announce the winner through our website, facebook, and twitter on Monday.

Our St. George BMG Rentals Property Management office is growing and owners and tenants are happy with our great service. We appreciate all our customers in the St. George area and look forward to serving you.

Local owner wonders why her home won't rent

Is your rental home sitting vacant? See what we recommended to this home owner to get it rented.

Clint Collins response: To Julie,

I would review the price, presentation, and exposure. If she emails me the stats on that home I will send her a comparable report for the homes we have in that area and similar. (clint@ifrentals.com) See below:

If a property is not rented within 30 days it is typically due to price, presentation, and/or exposure. All 3 of these should be reviewed weekly while listing a vacant property:

Price: Develop a rental price based on comparable properties in the current market with a goal of having it rented within 30 days or sooner. Track the number of calls, showings, and applications for each vacant property. Lots of calls but no showings is a great indicator that the price is high if the price is not listed in your marketing. With this data we are able to adjust the price as needed.
Presentation: We will make recommendations based on our experience, and feedback from showings. If the property needs more cleaning the do it. Cleaning is more effective than most other move-in incentives. If there are other improvements that would help with presentation then weigh out the cost and determine what could be done. If the property is getting a lot of showings and no apps then it is most likely a presentation issue.
Exposure: Give your vacant properties maximum exposure through a full marketing program. This includes websites, local media, tenant referral program, yard signs, and local top ranking websites. More exposure gives you more options for screening for good tenants, less time vacant, and increased rental income. Use lots of pictures and even video tours so the showings you get are more interested and you waste less time. If you are not getting traffic on the property it is most likely an exposure issue.

If you visit the property weekly and review these 3 factors and make regular adjustments, your property won't be vacant for long.

More feedback from Jake:
I would re-iterate Clint's approach.

1. Ask yourself: how many phone calls have you received? How many showings? Applications? (Indicates Exposure)
2. What are 5 things you can do to improve Presentation? Examples can include changing burnt out bulbs, cleaning windows, trimming some bushes, addressing any odor, etc.
3. Price: Keep checking those comparables. Objectively compare property benefits/drawbacks with comparables. Sometimes drawbacks are difficult to notice such as cleanliness of neighborhood. It sounds like your exposure is good. If the place is looking good it may be time for another price reduction.

Original email:
Jake, could you forward to members?

This has been advertised for about 3 months. Did 1 month in post register, photo ad. plus craigslist the whole time trying to remember to renew every 2 days. Competition looked really stiff this summer, lots of homes for rent. It looked like rents had come down, just looking at the ads. Started at $1100 which was what I was getting for years. 3 bed 2 bath newer home in Cortland Ridge by Crowley and 45th S. 1200 sf, living room is really small, so limits possible tenants. Lowered to $1070. I had 2 other homes turn over during this time. One in a few days, the other in about a week. Do you guys have any suggestions? I know it has to come down to rent. What do you guys think? Is it overpriced or something else?

craigslist ad: http://eastidaho.craigslist.org/apa/3249588768.html. In case that link changes, title is $1070 / 3br - Newer East Side Home with AC (Cortland Ridge, Ammon)

With all the news floating around on the housing market and everyone trying to predict a recovery, here are some solid numbers, especially when considering the rental market.

BMG Rentals Property Management Attending the 2012 Convention - Utah Association of Realtors - Dixie Center, St. George

Join BMG Rentals Property Management in St. George for the 2012 Utah Association of Realtors Convention

BMG Rentals Property Management is scheduled to attend the trade show in St. George, UT from September 15^th through September 17^th.  Our booth will showcase our property management services and provide a general overview of our management techniques.  The booth will be staffed with experienced property managers from St. George and other locations who will be answering questions and explaining more specific procedures used in our business. 

Through our unique management style, we maintain a retention rate of 96%.  We have been in the business over 10 years and pride ourselves on our exceptional customer service, screening process, and marketing programs.

St. George BMG Rentals Property Management Office

BMG Rentals property management works with tenants and property owners to provide a great renting and investment property experience. Tenants can search for rental homes and apartments, view pictures, and watch video tours at our website. Property owners and investors enjoy our easy to read statements, regular inspection program, online portals, custom accounting reports, and our great customer service. We specialize in working with investors to improve cash flow and protect their investment. For more information on our management services download our owner information packet from our website. Also check out our property management videos and forms. We manage homes, apartments, plexus, condos, town-homes, and more. Our property management services are currently available in Utah and Eastern Idaho, with offices in Salt Lake, Idaho Falls, Pocatello, and St. George.

20 Percent of Property Management Companies are Less Than 2 Years Old

Who’s Managing Your Property?

In 2011 alone, according to RealtyTrac, 1.2 million investment properties were purchased. That’s up 60 percent from the 749,000 properties purchased in 2010. And the trend is continuing this year as investment property purchases account for 20 percent of all home sales.

This boom in rental properties has created a growing market for property management companies. All Property Management (APM), an online property management network, specializing in single family home rentals recently reported that one fifth of its clients have been in business for less than two years. The median number of properties they manage is 175, although 17 percent are currently managing over 500 properties. 70 percent of APM’s managers expect to see continued and increased growth.

Can a newly created property management company hope to protect you and your property with little to no experience in the industry?

There are a number of tricky situations and technical legal issues involved in managing properties. A recent survey found that on average it takes one to two months to evict a non-paying tenant, and the costs average between $1,000 and $3,000. Now imagine what would happen if your property management company mishandled the eviction due to a lack of experience in the area.

How much time, money and energy could an inexperienced property manager end up costing you?

With our many years of experience and education we are able to handle the legal issues and other situations that occasionally happen while managing properties. Not only is BMG experienced enough to handle an eviction quickly, while keeping costs down, but our pricing structure does not benefit from a vacant property. We only make money when your property is being rented.

Our Gurantee-

We maintain an owner retention rate above 96 percent. We like happy customers and do our best to keep them that way. We want them to use our services because it works for them NOT because they are tied to a contract. Either party in our management agreement can cancel the agreement with a 30-day notice with or without cause. We require that our entire management team provide you and your tenants with prompt and satisfactory service. If you ever have a question or concern, you can contact us at any time. If you are not satisfied with our service, we will allow you out of your contract, free of penalties and fees.

Diagnosing Vacancies

What keeps a property from renting?

Tenant turnover cannot be prevented. Renters will eventually move. Although the economy may be taking baby steps toward a recovery with national vacancy rates on the decline, regional rates continue to outpace the average. The national rental vacancy rate dropped to 4.9 percent the first quarter of 2012, its lowest rate since 2001.[1]

While Idaho’s rate has slowly been declining as well, down to 6.2 percent, it is still well above average. Utah jumped from 5.9 percent fourth quarter 2011 to 7.2 at the end of first quarter this year. [2]

Since an empty property does not generate income, what do we do to keep vacancy rates down?

Pay careful consideration to the current environment. If a property is not renting it is typically due to price, presentation, and/or exposure. Our entire team meets weekly to review each vacant property and address each factor for our owners.

Is the price right? - If your property is listed too high then it will take longer to rent and in most cases the extra rent you were trying to get was lost in the time the property was vacant. We run rental comparables for your property and area and use that information to determine a starting price, which we then review weekly and make adjustments as necessary based on the traffic, phone calls, showings, and applications.

How is the presentation? - We make recommendations based on experience and feedback from showings. Obvious maintenance or cleaning issues could repel potential tenants. If the property needs more cleaning or other improvements that will help the presentation, we will discuss these items with you.

Who knows about it? – If renters can’t find information on your property for rent, how will they know it is available? We give our vacant properties maximum exposure through our marketing program. This includes websites, local media, tenant referral program, yard signs, and our own top ranking website. More exposure gives us more options for screening for good tenants, less time vacant, and increased rental income. If you want even more exposure, ask about our marketing fund.

Unlike a lot of property management companies, we do not make money on vacant properties. Our system is designed to reduce vacancy rates and maximize rent potential. Most owners who have switched to our system have seen a decline in their vacancy rates.

---

[1] http://www.thedaily.com/page/2012/04/05/040512-news-apartment-vacancy/

[2] The Quarterly Vacancy and Homeownership Rates By State and MSA Table 1: Rental Vacancy Rates by State