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Q: How is my property marketed?
A: We will place a for lease sign at your property once we have confirmation your property is
ready for leasing. In addition, we will list your property for lease with the local association
of realtors, the Houston Association of Realtors (HAR) or the Austin Board of Realtors (ABoR).
And we will advertise your property on our website,
www.zingpm.com. Our Zing Realty agents will
have access to your listing information too and may refer a client to us. You will have additional
listing exposure through realty websites such as trulia.com, zillow.com, homesnap.com and others
as they will add our listing through the local realtor association to their sites. Please keep in
mind we have no control of how your property is marketed on these sites.
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Q: Is there a charge to lease my property?
A: You will be charged a full month’s rent so that the realtors who assisted us in leasing your property receive a commission.
The realtors may have shown your property to the new tenant, prepared the lease documents, collected the security deposit and
first month’s rent, etc. and must be compensated for their work.
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Q: What if my property needs work before it can be leased? Can you help with that?
A: We certainly can. We work with a number of independent contractors – they are not Zing staff members –
who can provide you with a “make ready” bid. And these contractors guarantee their work.
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Q: How do you determine the rent amount?
A: Reviewing data obtained through the local association of realtors, we compare the recent leasing rates
of properties similar to yours, i.e. similar square footage, same number of bedrooms, same number of
bathrooms, and in the same neighborhood. We will price your property to be competitive with the market
and to get you a qualified tenant soon.
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Q: How do you screen applicants?
A: We work with a thirty-party vendor to obtain a current credit report and background check on every
occupant over the age of 18. We also confirm income information for the past 60 days to ensure the income
to rent ratio is 3:1. In addition, we will verify rental history or mortgage payment information to confirm
the applicant has been prompt with payments in the past.
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Q: What is the deposit?
A: We base the security deposit on the applicant’s credit score. Typically when the applicant has a credit
score of 600 or above, we require a security deposit equal to one month’s rent. With a credit of less than
600, the applicant may be required to pay a security deposit equal to two times the monthly rent. You though
as the owner of the property can stipulate the deposit amount.
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Q: Do I have to allow pets?
A: You can certainly make your property pet-free. However, under the Fair Housing Act and the American with Disabilities
Act, you must accommodate tenants with service animals and comfort animals. You cannot require a pet deposit/pet rent/pet
fee nor renter’s insurance. For comfort animals, you can though ask for documentation that the tenant has been “prescribed”
a comfort animal and the animal has been properly trained. If the tenant cannot provide the documentation, you do not
have to allow the comfort animal at your property.
With your approval, we allow up to two pets at the property. According to the lease, a pet is a
mammal, reptile, bird, fish, rodent, or insect. For dogs, we limit the weight to 50 lbs. and we do
not allow an aggressive breed. While we usually require a $250.00 non-refundable pet fee per pet,
you can determine the amount of the pet deposit (which could be refundable) or an addition to the
rent amount or the amount of the pet fee (which would be non-refundable).
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Q: Do I have a say in who leases my property?
A: Absolutely. While we cannot provide you with the detailed information we obtained in our applicant screening,
we will provide you with a summary of that information and make a recommendation. You will actually determine
who will rent your property.
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Q: When do I receive my rent money?
A: You should receive your monies – the rent amount minus our management fee minus expenses –
within seven business days after the tenant pays the rent to us. We prefer to direct deposit your
rent to your bank account for more immediate access to you but can mail a check to you if you prefer.
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Q: What happens if the tenant does not pay his rent?
A: If the tenant has not paid the rent by the day after the grace period, we will notify
him to pay the rent immediately or “vacate” the property. If the tenant has not paid the
rent within another ten days or contacted our office to make payment arrangements, we will
contact you for approval to file for eviction.
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Q: And if we have to evict the tenant, how do we do that?
A: We will first complete the required paperwork and file it with the courthouse. We will
then appear on your behalf on the court hearing date. Assuming there are no additional
delays, we will receive a judgement in our favor. The tenant will have five days to pay the
judgement or we will file for a writ of possession. Once the writ is issued, a law enforcement
officer will execute the writ and give possession of the property back to us for you. We will
confirm the tenant’s personal property has been removed and will re-key the property.
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Q: Can I visit my property while a tenant is living there?
A: Certainly. According to the lease, the landlord can enter the property at reasonable times and without
attempting to contact the tenant and without notice to review the property’s condition. However, please
contact us first and we will inform the tenant when you will be at the property.
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Q: Will I know how the tenant is taking care of my property?
A: Definitely. As part of the services we provide, we will inspect your property at least twice annually.
We will first inspect the property after the lease begins and then again three months before the lease expires.
Please keep in mind we schedule the inspections subject to the tenant’s confirmation. We want the tenant at the
property during the inspection. We will then send you our inspection report that includes pictures and comments.
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Q: What do I do if I receive an HOA violation?
A: Notify us immediately. If the violation is within the tenant’s control, e.g. mowing the
grass, we will contact him. On the other hand, if you would be responsible for correcting the
issue, e.g. power washing the exterior, we will need to dispatch a contractor soon. We want to
eliminate future violations and/or fines.
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Q: What about repairs?
A: According to the lease agreement, the tenant must submit all repair requests in writing.
We have made that simple and quick for the tenant to do from our website. He would just log
into his Zing account and complete a “Contact Us” message. We actually receive those immediately –
even after hours – and will dispatch a contractor to the property and notify you by email. If the
contractor can make the repair for $300.00 or less, he will complete the repair. On the other
hand if he determines the repair will cost more than $300.00, he will submit a bid to us which
we will send to you for your approval. Only when we have your approval, the contractor will make the repair.
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Q: Can I use my own contractor?
A: Yes, you can but please let us know that you might want to do that. You will also need to
make arrangements to pay the contractor. We encourage you though to let us take care of the
repair We will send the best contractor for that particular repair. And remember our contractors –
they are independent contractors and not Zing staff members – guarantee their work. We retain
all the communication between the tenant and us and between you and us. And we will have a copy
of the bid, if one was submitted, and a copy of the invoice for the completed work provided by the contractor.
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Q: How do you handle lease renewals?
A: Approximately 75 days before the current lease expires, we will contact you with the move-in date
for the current tenant, information about his payment history, and the expiration date of the current
lease. We will also provide you with the current market leasing rates for properties similar to yours
and make a recommendation requiring the renewal rate. Please keep in mind we are only making a
recommendation. You will decide if you want to renew the lease and determine the new rent amount.
And when we contact you, we do not yet know if the tenant will renew the lease.
If I do not want to renew the tenant’s lease, what do I do? Let us know as soon as you have
decided you do not want to renew the tenant’s lease. We must provide him with at least 30 days’
written notice. We are sure though he would appreciate more notice if possible.
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Q: If the tenant does not want to renew the lease, what does he have to do?
A: According to the lease, the tenant must provide at least 30 days’ written move out
notice. Once we receive his notice, we will contact you by email.
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Q: How do you handle a tenant move out?
A: The tenant should leave the property in the same condition as it was in when he moved in. He
should also provide paid receipts to prove he had the property professionally cleaned, had the carpet
professionally cleaned, etc. We will schedule re-keying the property and a make ready bid as soon as
the tenant confirms he has vacated the property.
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Q: What about the tenant’s security deposit? Is it automatically refunded to the tenant? What if the tenant has damaged my property?
A: Approximately one week after the tenant confirms he has moved out of your property, we will
send a contractor to your property. The contractor will submit a bid on making the property ready
for re-leasing. The bid will include cleaning and/or damages for which the tenant is responsible,
normal wear and tear items, and improvements you may want to make. We will send the tenant an itemization
of deposit within 30 days of his confirmed move out, identifying charges for which he is responsible
and any refund of his deposit.
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Q: How soon after a tenant moves out will you re-lease my property?
A: Once the contractor confirms the work from the make ready bid is complete, we will list your property for re-leasing.
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