Prospective Owner FAQ

Our management agreements are typically 1 month long and automatically renew at the end of each month. You have the option to cancel at any time, with a 30-day notice.

Lets start with a conversation! Renting your property is a great way to build equity and wealth. And we want to make sure we will be able to meet and exceed your goals and expectations.

We ask all our new owners to fill out the "New Owner Form" on our website which can be found under the "Owners" tab. This will provide us with the information needed on the property and the information necessary to prepare your paperwork.

If the property is vacant, we will schedule a time to walk the property to get a better idea of the condition and what needs to be done prior to listing it for rent.

Our monthly management fee is 10% of the collected rent per month. To advertise, screen, and place tenants we charge a 75% placement fee for long term leases (longer than 6 months) and a 50% placement fee for leases 3-6 months.

More details on our fee structure can be found here and is contained in the management agreement.

We will post your proeperty on our website and syndicate it to high traffic sites such as Zillow, Trulia, Hotpads, Dwellsy, RentalSource, and more.  

We will also market them to other agents in the community and through our various relocation and professional networks.

In a typical month, rent is due by the 1st on the month, and tenants have until the 5th to pay before incurring a late fee. 

Owner distributions are made after funds clear on our end, which normally occurs between the 12th-15th of the month. When we set up your portal, you will receive an email where you can choose to receive disbursements by either check or ACH transfer.

If you receive your disbursement late, typically this means that the tenant paid late and the money has not yet cleared our bank account. For example, if your tenant paid on the 13th, then the funds will not have cleared into our account before the 15th rolls around. If this occurs, you will be paid when the money clears.

As part of the application process, we request background checks via TransUnion, paid for by the applicant's application fee. This includes criminal history, eviction history, and a credit report to ensure we bring in the best tenants.

We also require past landlord and employer references to ensure we are only renting to the most qualified tenants.

We thoroughly verify all information provided by the applicant and request additional documentation when needed to ensure we are renting to transparent, honest and quality tenants.

Yes, you will have your own, personal, owner portal. From here you can view maintenance requests, expenses, and download accounting statements for your property.

In order to ensure fair housing compliance, we will make the final decision on who is approved to rent your property. We have seen owners get into hot water by restricting tenancy to tenants without kids, tenants without a service animal, etc. These are all fair housing violations and would subject you, and us, to hefty fines and potential lawsuits.

We place a huge emphasis on fair housing compliance, while striving to protect your investment with solid and ethical tenant screening criteria.

This depends on numerous factors such as the price point and condition of the property. With our robust networks and marketing, we are usually able to find a qualified tenant within a few weeks. Sometimes we have a great tenant in mind before your property hits the rental market.

We require our owners to maintain an owner deposit of $500 per property in our escrow account. This is your money, but it gives us cash on hand if we need to make repairs, or if a bill comes in after your monthly funds have been disbursed.

Yes. If the tenant is responsible for utilities, then you should keep the utilities on in your name until the tenant transfers service prior to move-in. We highly recommend that you roll into the "revert to owner" program. This allows for the utilities to automatically revert back into your name at the end of a tenancy. To learn more, please call Duke Energy at 800-777-9898.

If your property includes utilities in the rent then you will need to keep the utilities in your name throughout the duration of the tenancy and pay for them yourself.

You will still be responsible for paying the mortgage, property taxes, insurance, and any HOA dues for the property.

You will need to make sure that you have a landlord's policy on the property and not homeowner's policy. We highly recommend that you carry at least $1,000,000 in liability coverage. The difference in premium between $500,000 and $1,000,000 is nominal, but the extra protection is well worth it.

We also ask that you have "Doss & Spaulding Properties LLC" listed as a certificate holder/additional interest on the policy.

When we take over management of your property we will request a W-9 Form from you. This will provide us the information needed to issue your end-of-year 1099 form for tax purposes. We will also issue you a Year-End Owner Statement so you can itemize your deductions for your tax return.

Owners have the option of being paid by check or EFT (electronic funds transfer). This will be established once you setup your owner account on the portal.

We conduct biannual property walkthroughs for all rental properties. We try to time these walkthroughs to coincide with other routine maintenance such as an HVAC tune-ups or pest control treatments. These normally occur in the spring and fall seasons.

If the repair is less than $500 then we will have it addressed immediately without having to involve you in the decision process. The cost will be deducted out of the next month's owner disbursement.

If a repair is required that is over $500 then we will seek your approval first. If it is something like an HVAC or roof replacement then we may obtain multiple quotes to give you options to choose from.

The tenant has until the 5th of the month to pay their rent without incurring a late fee. If the tenant has not paid rent by the 6th of the month then we charge a late fee and issue them a notice to pay or vacate by the 10th of the month. 

If the full rent and late fees have not been paid by 5 PM on the 10th then we will file eviction papers on the 11th.

Once eviction papers are filed, we will appear in court before a magistrate on your behalf and present our case. If eviction papers are filed on the 11th, a court date is usually scheduled within a few weeks.

If judgment is given in our favor then the tenant has 10 days to move out, pay up or appeal the court's decision. Once the 10 days are up then we are able to file for possession at the court house. Once we file for possession, the sheriff will schedule a time to meet at the property in the next week or so to change the locks. After lockout, the tenant still has 7 days to reclaim any items left behind in the property before they may be disposed by the landlord.

The entire process can take up to 4-6 weeks if everything moves along at top speed. Our fee for handling the eviction is $650, which covers court fees, filing documentation, and appearing in court on your behalf.

If the tenant appeals the magistrate's verdict, then the case will go to disctrict court and we will need to involve an attorney that specializes in landlord/tenant disputes. Eviction appeals would be subject to additional attorney's fees.

The contractors we use on your property are the same ones we use for ours. These are contractors that we know and trust. We place a huge emphasis on using contractors that are reliable and do high-quality work.

Yes, it will be your responsibility to keep up with these operating expenses.

Yes you are more than welcome to use your own contractors but you will be responsible for managing and paying them. Because we are not directly working with those contractors, we will not be able to track those expenses for your owner statements.

We try to retain our great tenants in order to minimize vacancy for your property. We will reach out to the tenant approximately 60-90 days before the end of the lease to see what their plans are. 

If they wish to stay then we will discuss new lease terms and a potential rent increase (if the market can sustain it). 

We will begin marketing your property 2-4 weeks before the tenant moves out so we can minimize vacancy.

After move-out we will perform a move-out inspection and make any repairs necessary to return the property to rent-ready condition. If the property has been well-cared for, the security deposit should be able to cover any minor damage caused by the tenants. 

If the property needs additional work that would not be covered by the deposit or exceeds the deposit then we will get estimates and work with you on returning it to rent-ready condition. This will be your financial resposibiity, but we are here to ensure it gets done with velocity and with a high level of quality.

Yes! We would LOVE to help with that. Both of our company's founders are licensed real estate agents with Berkshire Hathway Yost & Little Realty in Greensboro. Our passion is helping owners build wealth through real estate and this includes with buying and selling. We would love to have you as a client!