Owner FAQs

Our management agreement has a repair limit of $300 for any repair. If the estimated cost exceeds $300, then we must get your approval to proceed. This applies only for non-emergencies. If there is an emergency repair, we will handle immediately based on our judgment and experience in order to protect your property from suffering any further damage and to prevent damage to the tenant’s property or person.

Yes! We ask that you keep in mind that the tenant is protected during the term of the lease agreement. We may need to add a special clause to the lease agreement if you think you might want to sell during the lease term. If you can’t wait until the lease term expires, we have put in the “60-day notice clause” which still gives you the option to sell the property even though the lease hasn’t expired. Our management agreement places no limit on you selling the property to someone other than the tenant. You can sell it yourself or list it for sale with another broker.

Yes! If you sell the property to a tenant that Market South Management placed in the property, our management agreement provides for a brokerage fee of 4% of the purchase price.

Market South Management files the eviction for you and there are no additional charges levied by us. However, you are required to pay all filing fees at the courthouse and we add this to the amount the tenant owes. If it is necessary to file a writ of eviction and physically put the tenant’s property out of the house, then there will be additional charges for an eviction crew. This varies depending on the amount of time it takes.

NO! As any experienced landlord will tell you, there are inherent risks in owning investment/rental property. Retaining Market South Management will help reduce the number of problems related to rental property. Those problems that can’t be avoided must be solved. While we can’t offer any guarantees that you won’t have any problems, our expertise will help reduce the aggravation and potentially higher expenses in the event there are problems.

We compare your property to similar properties that are in the rental market much the same way a sales agent would compare the property to comparable sales and listings. We manage several hundred rental homes so much of the data is already in our office. We also have access to listing information on many more units through the internet. We will also make recommendations to enhance the marketability of your property.

We make every effort to ensure that we are putting the most qualified tenants in our rental properties. We follow all fair housing guidelines when placing tenants in your property- to include Federal, State, and local laws.

Each person 18 years of age or older who will be living in the property is required to complete a very comprehensive application. We then run a credit report, criminal background check that includes the Sex Offender List, and a nationwide evictions report.. We also verify employment and income as well as prior rental history by verifying tenancy with prior Landlords.

A thorough background check is crucial to avoid costly mistakes with your property. While no background check can eliminate the risk of a problem tenant, our thorough examination of their rental history can significantly reduce your risk.

The tenant makes all payments to Market South Management.

The tenant contacts us to report all maintenance issues. We require the tenant to place routine maintenance requests via their Online Portal. By utilizing our portal, we are able to track all maintenance requests timely and efficiently. In the event of an after-hours emergency, we are available 24/7!

Market conditions vary and we can't make any guarantees as to when we will get a qualified applicant. However, we make every effort to price the property appropriately and competitively so that we can attract a qualified prospective tenant within 30-45 days. We will provide you with updates as we get feedback from the market so that we can modify the price or terms as necessary.

Our tenant procurement fee (leasing fee) is ½ of one month’s rent. Should the Tenant not stay for the full term of the lease (for example, they are in the military and exercise their military clause) then we will not charge a second leasing fee during the initial 12 month term.

Our normal management fee is 10% of the rent we collect, or $75.00, whichever is greater. However, we do offer a discount on management fees for multiple property Owners. If gross rents collected total $3500.00 per month, the fee is 9%, if over $5,000.00 the fee is 8%. If the property is vacant, we do not charge a management fee. If you don’t get paid - we don’t get paid!

Roughly 90% of our applicants find us on the internet! We will post your property on 20+ websites to include Zillow, including our company site. We also use yard signs and printed company lists/flyers to promote properties we manage. As market leaders, we also receive numerous referrals from local businesses and Realtors.

The tenant’s rent is due on the 1st of each month. We give our tenants a 2-day grace period which means they must pay rent before the close of business on the 3rd. If the rent remains outstanding on the 4th, we assess a late fee of 10%. We then post each tenant who is late with a 3-day demand letter. If the tenant has not paid rent plus late fee by the 10th and they have not contacted us, then we begin the dispossessory process.

If the tenant makes the payment on time (1st – 3rd), we send out Owner checks and statements on the 10th or first working day after the 10th. If they pay late between the 4th and the 10th, we send owner checks on the 15th or the first working day after the 15th. Rent payments received after the 10th are processed as they are received. Many of our multiple property owners request their disbursements to be made at the end of each month.

Our tenant procurement fee (leasing fee) is ½ of one month’s rent. Should the Tenant not stay for the full term of the lease (for example, they are in the military and exercise their military clause) then we will not charge a second leasing fee during the initial 12 month term.