Occupied Home Visits, Re-Rental Showing & Access Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

We respect privacy as much as possible but the home is owned by someone who needs to be up to date on information to avoid stress and fear that often turn into major headaches for you and us.

 

• Am I required to crate my pet? Why?
  
  • Yes. Dog bites are statistically the most likely way for our staff to get injured and animals are unpredictable in their own homes.
    
    It's very clear in the lease this is always required, but we are mainly concerned with the time we are in the home.
    
    We've also had cats slip out. Our staff, and especially vendors who are often in and out grabbing tools, simply cannot be relied on to keep your pet safely in the home. While work is being done cats can get injured.
    
    Other types of pets are even more unpredictable and at risk of those issues and more.
    
    Do your pet a crucial favor and keep them safe while we knock out what is usually at most a twice-a-year owner requirement, and of course, during those maintenance inconveniences we all deal with.
    
    
• What's proper procedure according to the lease to handle my pets?

Before the door is opened to invite a vendor or staff member into your home, all pets should be safely crated.

It's imperative to understand a crate is always required. The nature of these visits means a door could accidentally be opened, and we cannot have our staff's safety, nor the safety of your pets in a position to be so easily compromised.

All pets should stay safely crated until the vendor or staff member has communicated that they are complete and leaving. They may miss you, and you're welcome to text for confirmation. Also, our third-party vendors will be less drilled and trained on this method, so again to be certain in the face of any doubt please text / call them.

• Who is scheduling this home visit?

Your account manager is your customer service expert, advocate, and the person best suited to help you with any problem aside from something physically on site.

Our operations, or field division handles home visits and most of our various in-the-field tasks. As you might imagine that adds efficiency and expertise at both phases of the process.

We note in the question on rescheduling that operations will first try to schedule a simple quick visit by text and email. They attempt twice and if that doesn't work out for any reason they send it back to the account manager to handle from there since that is their primary role.

It's much easier and smoother though if you'll let operations run through this process on their schedule. Ironically the residents who are most concerned with how this process plays out are the ones who end up making it a legitimate hassle for themselves.

All of our staff are background checked at hire and deeply committed to being an important part of a company that tries hard to deliver a one-of-a-kind experience.

We also have a technical support division you may hear from at times for something like say a portal reset or a general email to the company.

• What if I need to reschedule?

No problem! Our policy is to have our operations division try to schedule the first two appointments with simple text and email. 95% go smoothly in this manner and are completed with all sides happy within a few weeks. If that doesn't work we pass it to your account manager to handle.

We will always report to our owners on the condition of their homes whether you're moving out or not. They need to know about how much a re-rental process will cost them.

If we haven't completed our inspection within 30 days of our first attempt you will be sent a notice to vacate when your lease ends, which is usually 90 days away at this stage. There will be a sizeable added fee to renew after that, and the odds of it happening decline dramatically. We don't let concern about move-outs affect how we handle much because we're exceptionally good at filling our homes. If you are making this process a pain you risk not having the option to renew, and we use this approach for a very small but vocal subset of our residents.

No one likes to change their oil but they do it without complaint. This is the same thing. We will report to our owners, it is expressly allowed without exception in your lease, and we have aggressively enforced it in the past with ease.

Let's not play a fruitless game and instead make it low-stress with a speedy usually very convenient and discreet process.

• Do I have to be home? Why should I feel confident in letting your staff go alone?

No, you don't have to be home, but you can be if you require. We do them all the time with a key. It's possible we don't have a key, that was a big issue during COVID and if not we'll throw you a $10 credit to provide us with one. You can hide it and we'll pick it up on arrival.

Our staff are background checked at hire. We also train them from day 1 to assume they are always on camera, and they do. That alone is a powerful safety mechanism.

We discussed the actual inspection policy and how we usually don't go in bedrooms (not a guarantee see why might my inspection be expanded) in other questions and that is also an effective method to make this process less of a pain, or risk. There's no reason for our staff to linger in any home unless we find an active water leak or something clearly obvious in photos that need to be immediately addressed, and they are required to notify the general office channels if that occurs.

We also have a great team. Still, you can never be too safe so before anyone ever steps foot in your home please safely lock up and hide valuables and heirlooms. You want to be safe and discreet, especially with the most important things.

• Is there a charge if I no show 2 appointments?

Yes, $75.  More importantly there's a good chance that will end up with a notice to vacate. To reverse a notice to vacate, if possible, requires a much larger fee.

You can reschedule with a text message.  Use it please.

A no show includes less than 1 hour advance notice of cancellation.See how we handle multiple cancellations in other questions.

• Do you give additional notice if a home visit ends up requiring a full housing condition report for the owner?

No.  This process is already one of the most resource intensive that we do, and limiting miles driven is truly one of the top focuses for our operations division.

In an inflationary environment, you have to be efficient and minor inconveniences in the field cannot pile up or they become major, relentless costs.  We finalize our task on arrival no matter what.

You should therefore always be prepared that a home visit will be completely expanded. We outline a multitude of ways to prepare for or completely head off that happening and most do.

If you aren't caring for the home though there are no options and we will limit discussion completely.

• Is this a great time to report minor mainteance that would be a bad idea to save until move out, even if I don't care about it getting fixed?

Yes! That is one of the best benefits of how we do things.

See the question on reporting normal wear and tear for more details. That is a less clear issue.  

Your lease specifically says you must report full maintenance items to us immediately. If you don't we don't take it personally, but the owner probably will.

The main reason people don't report maintenance is to "not be a pain" and that often stems from not wanting to have your rent increased.

That is admirable, and we try very hard to point that out when this issue arises, but at that point, their emotions are running high and it is too late.

We can have our cake and eat it too. If you keep a solid dialogue with your account manager (or submit a help ticket if you feel they may not be hearing you) we can report minor wear and tear and maintenance in a favorable light when it is completely on our terms. Again the emotion is not running high, and the process goes smoothly.  It's usually in the context of a whole home report, which is why we spend most of our time looking for costly exterior issues like rotten wood and pest problems when we do home visit reports.

Not demanding repairs will help motivate owners not to jack up the rent, but that is not the same as not reporting them. That's the key point. If you don't care about having it repaired tell us, and that will completely disarm the owner.  Some owners insist on repairing things. We know that is often not your favored outcome. Let us know and we'll try, but it is ultimately not in our control.

We are not implying you should not have things repaired but it's common sense that a large amount of trivial costs will always motivate an owner to raise the rent.

Another aspect of cost is frequent visits. If we send a vendor to your home three times a year for a multitude of needs versus 8 for that same number of needs, the cost will be much lower. Not only that the estimates, approvals, and repair discussions that tend to stress owners out and make them less willing partners also increase dramatically.You're right to think that maintenance is a touchy subject, but take our guidance on how to best handle it and things go much more smoothly. This method we've outlined is effective at both limiting your inconvenience as well as renewal and move-out challenges.

• Should I mention something that seems to be wearing down faster than one might expect?

Yes! That is one of the best benefits of how we do things. We try to make these home visits a benefit to you, and very few things are a bigger benefit to you than documenting normal wear and tear. We've had decent owners lash out (legally very hard for us to control) at great residents who've been in place for years because there was a fair amount of maintenance at move-out.

Despite the fact they reported almost no maintenance the entire time they were there. We try to explain that isn't the worst thing, but the move-out process is so emotional for some owners that it's a lost cause.

We need to make sure we're legally covered, but also emotionally prepare owners long before the move out occurs. The issue of wear and tear is a relatively clear-cut and well-documented matter. The problem arises when owners are forced to deal with "the whole picture" after move out, and the costs to rectify them all in a short period.

Also if we send photos after several visits of something wearing down quickly over time, it completely disarms their ability to complain and especially levy charges.

This is a service a lot of residents fail to take advantage of. Move-outs and deposits are the worst part of our business without question. We build these procedures specifically to try to limit that for you (and us).

Take advantage of it. Even if you aren't going to be there direct us to it when you confirm the visit.

While not as effective, you can always send us reports and photos of something you consider to be wearing down more quickly than expected.

Let us send photos of broken or worn things with every visit report and your move-out will go much more smoothly, bottom line.

 

• Are you going to take a few quick photos of the common areas, or do a thorough full condition report for the owner?

See the question "why might my home visit be expanded?" for a lot more detail.To summarize, if we arrive and the home is in great shape, 99% of the time we snap a few very general photos of the interior, do a thorough exterior report because that helps tie the owner to the reality of normal wear and tear, and then we're on our way.

A very convenient process for all.  In offices where we have a full operations division they'll even be offering small free services like an HVAC filter or bulb change. That will one day be standard procedure and is being tested now.

All home visits run the risk of being expanded if we find photographable problems in the initial areas we check.  For example a wet spot in the living room ceiling is often coming from the primary bathroom sink, and we would need to go through that room and spend time in the bathroom cutting off the water.  Or simply hunting for whatever is above the water spot so we know what vendor to dispatch.

A good way to avoid a surprise is to thoroughly report anything along those lines to your account manager, with great photos, well before the scheduled day.

• Why might a common area inspection be expanded to a full inspection?

A lot like bread crumbs we follow issues if we find them. If we find water damage on the first floor, it might be from the ceiling, attic, a bath, or more and we would have to hunt that down immediately. Of course, it should have been reported on your schedule and still can be.

If we see clear issues in the common areas that are clearly pictured and will lead a reasonable owner to demand more information, we will have to expand the scope.

The most important point is that you must be prepared for a full inspection to happen as it could with no additional notice.

If we see one minor stain on a living room floor for example, that probably won't be an issue.  If we see several that would be and we'd need to know the overall carpet condition throughout the home. If there are drawings on several walls, we'll have to know if there are drawings on other walls. (If they're washable just mention that in advance, and you can leave a note as well).  We'll have to check every room, including bedrooms and bathrooms. Essentially the whole home including closets for particularly bad situations which rarely occur.

We avoid closets in particular as much as possible and you are welcome to keep them closed.

We will photograph any room with visible issues. Paint, carpet, pest, windows. All water damage and pest issues in particular, and that at times requires us to go inside cabinets and closets.

• What should I expect if you have to expand the scope to a full inspection?

We'll have to check every room, including bedrooms and bathrooms. Essentially the whole home including closets for particularly bad situations which almost never happen. We avoid closets in particular as much as possible.
We will photo any room with visible issues. Paint, carpet, pest, windows. All water damage and pest issues in particular, and that often requires us to go inside cabinets and closets.

• What does the exterior portion of the visit entail?

We tend to spend more time outside since privacy isn't in play, and rotten wood, roof issues, and pest issues are some of our biggest concerns.

The most important point is that we specifically inspect windows and door frames for water intrusion, so close blinds before we arrive.

When possible we knock and meet with you before doing our exterior report, but it's possible you might miss the knock / bell and should be prepared to see someone poking around outside around the scheduled time.

We spend a lot of effort on the exterior portion of the home visit.  Water intrusion, wood rot, erosion, and pest access can all get very costly fast, and that stresses owners out which is bad for us both.

This also allows us to report an interior report which is usually glowing, alongside an exterior report that almost always shows a consistent decline in condition because the outdoors are hard on materials.

The idea here is to juxtapose how great their resident is maintaining the interior, while the exterior which is well outside their control (usually and for the most part) marches toward inevitable costs.

Of course, there are interior costs but they are usually minor and a lot less likely to stress owners out when provided with the perspective that things degrade with time, and that is part of being a rental investor.

Since privacy is rarely a concern around the yard, we are more likely to poke around and linger. If there's a concern with that please let us know in advance.  Please be aware though that they will be walking by first-floor windows and inspecting them for water intrusion.

As with the interior of the home, pets must be safely crated if outdoors as well.

• Why do you test smoke and carbon monoxide detectors? Is it optional?

We're an extremely safety-conscious company. To be clear your lease makes this your responsibility since we don't want to rely solely on any one person, including our staff.

We feel redundancy is important with such a high-stakes issue, and we like to test the system out as well.

We understand that due to sleep patterns and pets that can be a major inconvenience and that is fine.

• Do you open closets and "fixed" cabinets like vanities and under sinks?

Not typivally no. We especially want to avoid closets but a crucial point is that any inspcction, could result in a full housing condition report if we find problems.  Water damage in particular is often coming from under a sink, and obviously we  would need to investigate that and take photos.

• Should I open closets, cabinets, and pantries?

No. If water appears to be originating from a closet (almost unheard of) we would still enter the closet. We don't need to look in them for problems though in large part because they are rarely the source of problems like water leaks etc.

If there's some water damage under the sink it would be a great idea to leave it open. That's very common, and probably already documented so we just want to keep reminding the owner with a quick photo. 

 

• What rights or options do I have to decline someone coming in my home?

We don't want to infringe on anyone's privacy. We have a proven track record on that topic.

However, if we can't competently keep an owner informed regarding what is often their biggest investment by far, we are not doing our job and they will find someone who does every time.
So rather than let it be a pain, we try to outline a very convenient process.

For those who still push back, obviously, we explicitly outlined our right to "reasonable notice right of entry" and you can find it in your lease along these exact lines (states and years vary a bit but not materially).

There are no exceptions noted, which means no matter what your situation may be, we have a legal right to know the situation in the home. Bottom line. While we often get a lot of pushback on this, no one has ever actually tested us in court because it's such an obvious issue, so let's just save the push back and it is a much more pleasant process.

If you delay our home visit process more than 30 days our company policy is to issue a notice to vacate for the end of your current term. That is not your account manager's decision.

We don't renew leases ever without a relatively recent home visit report to the owner. This means we must have created a reasonable report while there, not just dropping by and not a vendor visit.

We don't negotiate or handle minor maintenance if we are struggling for reasonable access and it will eventually end in eviction if extended past 60 days at most.