Charleston Property Management
Let Us Manage Your Charleston Rental Property
Here at Oak Trust, we offer a hands on property management experience. Our services can be tailored to your needs and the needs of your individual property portfolio. We understand the importance of your investments and your peace of mind, so we treat each home as if it was our own. We offer the following services for every property in our portfolio:
- Advertising
- Lease Renewals
- Property Repairs
- Rental Valuation
- Lease Negotiations
- Inquiries & Showings
- Semi-Annual Inspections
- Documented Initial Walk-Thru
- Prospective Resident Screenings
- Monthly Maintenance Management
- Final Walk-Thrus Upon End of Lease Term
- Lease Signing & Collection of Rents & Deposits
- Bookkeeping Services: security deposit management, owner’s reserve account management, monthly statements, annual reports, & 1099s
- And Much More!
Plus, you don’t have to pay anything until your property is rented! That means no upfront cost for you, because you’re not paying until your Residents are. You can now enjoy the benefits of increased revenue, growing investments and greater free time. That’s what our professional management services are for.
What Our Clients Say
Why Choose Oak Trust Properties?
Our property management services can help you:
- Reduce Vacancies & Turnover
- Find better Residents
- Reduce maintenance costs through our extensive contractor network
- Maximize your ROI
- And many other factors
The Benefits of using Oak Trust Properties
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1. Quality Resident Placement GUARANTEED
Here at Oak Trust Properties, we are extremely confident that we can place quality and reliable Residents through our comprehensive screening and background checks. Because of this we offer that if ANY Resident placed and managed by Oak Trust is evicted for any reason, or skips within 12 months after placement, we will find a replacement Resident for FREE! When it comes to Resident screening and placement, we do our homework so you can have peace-of-mind knowing that your property is in responsible hands. This is the absolute BEST Resident guarantee in the industry!!
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2. Reduce Vacancies and Turnover
Our Residents appreciate our prompt attention to their issues. Our comprehensive screening and background check process, is the reason why we have such a low vacancy rate. Our average turnover is only 6 days! We list our properties on over 90 websites for maximum exposure. We also return EVERY phone call and email promptly from all interested Residents assuring that your property rents as quickly as possible.
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3. Excellent Customer Service
We pride ourselves on excellent communication with our owners and Residents. We are the most responsive property management team which means faster results, happy Residents, and satisfaction guaranteed. If you need us, we are here!! We will respond to your calls, emails, and texts within 1 business day or that month's management fee is waived! Our online owner statements are provided monthly so you can see each and every action taken on your property.
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4. Minimize Maintenance Costs
We find that the best way to keep maintenance costs down is by paying attention to the details and recommending preventative maintenance. Our licensed and bonded handymen are trained to provide you with the best service at the lowest overall cost. No maintenance surcharges!!
BOTTOM LINE: We reduce your costs and increase your profits!
Here is how
- Vacancy periods are significantly reduced with our extensive pool of prospective renters.
- We have relationships with maintenance contractors and receive discounts on work done, thereby passing the savings on to you.
- REGULAR interior and exterior inspections to ensure your property is properly maintained.
- We perform extreme due diligence on our renters backgrounds to minimize your overall vacancy rate and potential non-payments of rent. (criminal, credit, work/landlord history, and check personal/professional references)
- We save you all of the time that it takes dealing with maintenance and Resident hassles, not to mention accurate monthly activity statements, saving bookkeeping time costs.
- Handle all evictions and court appearances
What else do property managers do?
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Evaluate the property and determine an accurate rental rate.
- Perform detailed documentation of the interior and exterior including photos
- Offer recommendations on repairs and cosmetic improvements that maximize monthly rent while providing good ROI.
- Gather data on rental rates in the area and work with owners to determine the optimal rental rate. Rent research will vary, but should include looking at the recently rented comparables according to size and type.
- Discuss with owners the pros and cons of different policies such as accepting pets, allowing smoking etc.
- Install a lock box
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Market the property for rent
- Prepare home for rent
- Clean home and optimize interior appeal
- Manicure landscaping to increase curb appeal
- Create ads tailored to the property and advertising medium. Some of the mediums commonly used are:
- Paid and free rental listing websites
- Print publications
- Signs
- MLS
- Fliers
- Work with other realtors and leasing agents to find a Resident
- Field calls from prospects for questions and viewings
- Meet prospective Residents for showings throughout the week and weekend.
- Provide prospective Residents with rental applications that are legally compliant with fair housing laws
- Collect applications with application fee
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Resident Screening and Selection
- Perform a background check to verify identity, income, credit history, rental history, etc.
- Grade Resident according to pre-defined Resident criteria
- Inform Residents who were turned down
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Resident Move In
- Draw up leasing agreement
- Confirm move in date with Resident
- Review lease guidelines with Resident regarding things like rental payment terms and required property maintenance
- Ensure all agreements have been properly executed
- Perform detailed move in inspection with Resident and have Residents sign a report verifying the condition of the property prior to move-in.
- Collect first month’s rent and security deposit
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Rent collection
- Receiving rent
- Hunting down late payments
- Sending out pay or quit notices
- Enforcing late fees
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Evictions
- Filing relevant paperwork to initiate and complete an unlawful detainer action
- Representing owner in court
- Coordinating with law enforcement to remove Resident and Residents possessions from unit
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Legal
- Advise in the event of a legal dispute or litigation
- Refer owner to a qualified attorney when necessary
- Understand and abide by the latest local, state and federal legislation that apply to renting and maintaining rental properties.
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Inspections
- Perform periodic inspections (Inside and outside) on a predefined schedule looking for repair needs, safety hazards, code violations, lease violations
- Send owner periodic reports on the condition of the property
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Financial
- Provide accounting property management services
- Make payments to vendors on behalf of owner
- Detailed documentation of expenses via invoices and receipts
- Maintain all historical records (paid invoices, leases, inspection reports, warranties, etc.)
- Provide annual reporting, structured for tax purposes as well as required tax documents including a 1099 form
- Advise owners on potential tax tax deductions related to their rental property
- Provide easy to read monthly cash-flow statements which offer a detailed breakdown of income and itemized expenses
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Maintenance, Repairs, and Remodeling
- Provide and oversee maintenance crews
- Establish a preventative maintenance policy to identify and deal with repair needs
- Provide a network of licensed, bonded and fully insured contractors who have been vetted for good pricing and good work that is up to code.
- Assign jobs to different parties (in-house employees, handyman and professional contractors) based on who will do the best job for the best price.
- Maintain outdoor areas
- Landscaping
- Removing trash and debris
- Maintain and monitor a 24 hour emergency repair hot-line
- Larger renovation or rehab projects
- Provide recommendations on how the project can maximize rental income.
- Prepare preliminary cost estimates
- Get multiple independent bids for the work
- Act as general contractor overseeing the work
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Resident Move Out
- Inspect unit and fill out a report on the property’s condition when the client moves out
- Provide Resident with a copy as well as estimated damages
- Return the balance of the security deposit to the Resident
- Forward any portion of the owner’s portion of the Resident deposit to the owner or hold in owner reserves for repairs.
- Clean unit and perform and needed repairs or upgrades
- Re-key the locks
- Put the property back on the market for rent
- And much, much more!
Charleston Area Information
Charleston is the oldest and second-largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston–Summerville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline and is located on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean formed by the confluence of the Ashley and Cooper Rivers, or, as is locally expressed, "where the Cooper and Ashley Rivers come together to form the Atlantic Ocean." Charleston had an estimated population of 132,609 in 2015. The population of the Charleston metropolitan area, comprising Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester Counties, was counted by the 2015 estimate at 727,689—the third-largest in the state—and the 78th-largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States. Source From Wikipedia
Areas We Serve