Everything the property needs.
Plus the part nobody else does.
The operational work below is table stakes and every competent firm should do it. The difference is the last section.
Getting the right tenant, at the right number.
Pricing the property
Rent is set against actual leased comparables, not an automated estimate. On the Peninsula the spread between a good number and a lazy one is often two hundred dollars a month, which is a lease term worth thousands.
Marketing and showings
Professional photography, syndication across the major rental portals, and showings run by us. Your property is presented the way a Sotheby's listing is presented, because the same standards apply.
Screening
Credit, income verification, employment, rental history and prior landlord references. California limits what you may charge for screening and how applications must be processed, and we follow it.
The lease itself
California Association of Realtors forms, plus the addenda your specific property needs. Every required disclosure and, critically, the written exemption notice that preserves your rent cap exemption where it applies.
The day to day, without the markup.
Rent collection
Online payment through the owner and tenant portal, with a legally required non electronic option available. Owner disbursement on a fixed monthly schedule.
Maintenance, at cost
You see the vendor's actual invoice. We take nothing on top. Minor repairs up to $250 are handled without calling you, and anything above that is your decision.
Inspections and documentation
Move in and move out inspections with full photographic records. California now requires photo documentation to support any security deposit deduction, and a deposit dispute you cannot document is a deposit you return.
Emergencies
A twenty four hour line for active tenants, and a vendor bench that answers on the Peninsula rather than dispatching from over the hill.
Accounting
Monthly statements, year end summaries, and 1099s. Everything your CPA needs without a request.
Renewals and turnover
Renewal negotiated against the current market, not rolled over out of habit. No renewal fee. When a tenant does leave, turnover is scheduled to minimize vacancy rather than to suit our calendar.
Keeping you legal in an unusually strict market.
- Rent increase limits and the single family exemption, including the written notice the exemption depends on
- Just cause requirements and relocation assistance where they apply
- Security deposit rules, including the photo documentation requirement and the ban on routine cleaning charges
- Application screening fee rules and the refund or first come obligation
- City of Monterey annual rental registration, filed on time
- Short term and vacation rental permitting, including whether your property qualifies at all
- Water permit questions before you commit to a remodel
- Renewal calendars that fall on four different dates across the cities we cover
Asset strategy.
Once a year, and any time the situation changes, we put your property against the alternatives and tell you what we would do.
What the property is worth on the open market today, using Sotheby's comparable sales rather than an online estimate. What five more years of holding produces after fees, vacancy and capital expense. Whether a furnished thirty day strategy beats the annual lease at your address, and by how much. Whether a permitted accessory unit pencils once the water permit and coastal permit are priced in. Whether the tenant you have is worth keeping below market to avoid a turn.
Most owners have never had anyone run that comparison for them, because their property manager is not licensed to and their agent is not paid to. It is the reason this firm exists.
What should your property actually earn?
A written rental analysis, delivered within one business day. Real leased comparables, the fee you would pay in dollars, and a straight recommendation.
- Recommended rent, supported by comparables rather than an online estimate
- What a furnished thirty day tenancy would produce at your address
- Current market value, using Sotheby's comparable sales
- An honest answer, including if the answer is that you should not hire us
Request your analysis
Free, and no sales sequence afterward.