Our Approach to Full-Service Property Management

More than 90% of Pyramis’ residential property management business is full-service management.  Full-service single-family property management is where we started almost 40 years ago.  Too many in our industry have cannibalized and over-complicated property management, all for the sole purpose of either charging more or heavily discounting.  At Pyramis, our philosophy is simple: provide the best quality property management at a fair price.  For that reason, we provide better service with more value-added features than anyone in the area.  Sure, you can find property management services for less.  But, be careful, you’ll likely get exactly what you paid for.

Here’s what full-service property management entails:

Property Presentation

• We present your property to the largest available rental market.
• We are always aware of current market conditions. This allows us to rent your property at its maximum realistic value.
• We use a broad range of advertising media, including signs and Internet marketing syndicated to 75+ rental sites.
• We are members of the San Antonio Board of REALTORS®. We share our vacancy listings with other members through the use of the MLS.

 

Tenant Screening

• We lease only to qualified, responsible tenants.
• We are experienced in judging creditworthiness. We have designed a point system similar to what banks use to qualify their loan applicants.
• We do a thorough credit and reference check before the lease is signed. This includes checking history with the credit bureau, verifying employment, and checking all appropriate references including past landlords and a criminal background check.
• We provide you with protection through the use of proper lease agreements, late notices, and other legal documents.
• We take fair, appropriate security deposits.

 

Property Protection

• Our comprehensive screening procedures assure you of desirable tenants.
• We maintain and update an inventory of all the personal items that are part of your property.
• We perform spot checks and, upon client request, routine inspections, in addition to Annual Property Reviews.
• Our key-control procedures protect you and the tenant against unauthorized entry.

 

Repair and Maintenance Services

Timely, competent maintenance is the key to protecting your investment. Our goal is to provide you with this important service at a reasonable price using only the best-qualified personnel.

In addition, it is our aim to prevent major repair bills. We accomplish this through constant supervision, routine inspection, and regularly scheduled maintenance.

• We provide qualified, reasonably priced personnel who will get the job done right.
• We are maintenance experts. Since we deal with this daily, we know what repairs should cost and how long they will take to complete.
• Maintenance work is controlled and supervised. Because of the large volume of work we give local firms we have the necessary recourse to correct poor performance.
• We help avoid costly repairs through routine, preventative maintenance inspections.
• We protect the value of your investment by maintaining your property at current neighborhood standards.

 

Accounting Services

We pride ourselves on our thorough, accurate record-keeping. Our property management system allows us to provide services that would be difficult or impossible with a conventional, manual accounting system.

We do all the bookkeeping chores for you. Our system keeps complete, accurate records of every income and expense that affects your property. Our convenient monthly cash flow statements provide you with a full, itemized record of all transactions.

Key Points:

• Every transaction affecting your account balance is recorded and explained. Accounting is done on a double-entry cash basis with an income and expense ledger maintained for each property.
• Copies of all invoices are kept on file throughout the year.
• As required by Internal Revenue Service regulations, we prepare and submit a 1099 MISC form showing the total gross rent income that we collected on your behalf during the year. A copy of this form will be sent to you with your January statement.
• Funds are sent to you electronically through our secure banking services.

 

Insurance

In addition to your normal homeowner’s Fire and Extended Coverage insurance policy, we require you to maintain an “Owner, Landlord, and Tenant” (OL&T) liability policy as well. This Coverage protects the tenant, you, and us against a wide range of losses caused by unintentional hazards or unsafe conditions on your property. If you do not currently have (OL&T) coverage, we can arrange to purchase a competitively priced policy for you.

 

Rent Collection

All rent is due on the 1st of each month and is considered late if received after the 3rd of the month. Late notices are sent on the 6th, and eviction proceedings are initiated if the tenant does not make immediate arrangements for rent payment.

 

Management Fees

Our monthly management fee is payable when the rent payment is received. It is automatically deducted from your account at the time the rent payment is posted.

However, since one of our jobs is keeping your property occupied, we will not take our management fee as long as your property remains vacant — if you’re not getting paid, neither are we.

 

Vacancies

Vacancies are expensive for both of us. We make every effort to keep our vacancies to a minimum. Properties are marketed as soon as we’re able to in an attempt to secure a new tenant as quickly as possible.

Key Points:

• Our computer system enables us to monitor our lease expiration dates carefully. 
• Any lease going into a month-to-month status will incur an automatic increase in rent until a new lease is signed.
• This also gives us the opportunity to re-negotiate their rent on a lease renewal.

 

Leasing

We want good tenants just as much as you do. We pride ourselves on the quality of tenants we are able to attract. Our extensive tenant screening and leasing procedures help to ensure this.

Key Points:

• Applicants are required to complete our Rental Application and to provide credit information and references. A credit check, criminal background check, and past rental history are performed on every prospective tenant.
• An application fee is taken at the time the Rental Application is made. This is an act of good faith by the tenant and covers the cost of the credit check if the applicant proves to be unqualified to lease your property.
• Before your property is released to the tenant, we perform a thorough move-in inspection to include photos. 
• We also begin a series of emails to the tenant about their lease, about Pyramis, the importance of on-time rent payments, discussion and instructions for maintenance requests, how to get their deposit back (never too early to plant that seed), and their resident benefits package.  Our goal is to properly set expectations from the very beginning.

 

Resident Benefits Package

Resident Benefits Packages (RBP) have proven to be another way to increase tenant satisfaction.  A happy tenant typically stays in the home longer, thus reducing your turnover costs.  Our RBP offers a lot of value to the tenants, some of the highlights include:

• Quality HVAC filters delivered to the tenant’s door every 60 days reducing the overall maintenance costs of the HVAC system.
• Resident rewards service that pays tenants for on-time rent payments.
• Credit reporting service further rewarding tenants for on-time rent payments.
• Tenant liability & renters insurance giving you greater piece of mind and protections.
• Identity theft protection policy that covers up to 6 months of rent in the event their identity gets stolen.

 

Security Deposits

As additional protection, appropriate security deposits are always collected upon completion of a Rental Application by a prospective tenant. The amount of deposit is based on the monthly rental rate and the creditworthiness of the tenant applicant. 

All security deposits are kept in a special trust bank account, as required by state real estate regulations until they are either refunded to the tenant upon the successful move-out inspection of your property or are forfeited to cover damages.

Move-out inspections are never conducted with the tenant present. We use the same move in property condition report that was used when the tenant moved in. We compare carefully for discrepancies, missing items, and additional damage.

 

Property Reviews

Our main job is to protect your investment property. We do this in two different ways: We make frequent drive-by reviews on the various properties we manage. Exterior reviews are very important because a property that is well maintained on the outside is normally being taken care of on the inside, too. In addition, our vendors all know the property we’re sending them to is a rental—if they see anything we should be made aware of, they always do so.  We also conduct annual Property Reviews of our properties, complete with a very thorough report of the property’s condition.

Key Points:

• The right for us to make routine, announced reviews is part of the tenants’ Lease Agreement. Tenants are always notified in advance of a pending Property Review.
• At the same time, we check for preventative maintenance items that are your responsibility.
• Tenants who are doing a poor job are notified in writing of the items that must be corrected immediately.