Realty Revolution LLC Receives 2013 Best of McKinney Award

realty-revolution-llcRealty Revolution LLC (the property management division of The Branch Team) has been selected for the 2013 Best of McKinney Award in the Property Management category by the McKinney Award Program.

Each year, the McKinney Award Program identifies companies that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and our community. These exceptional companies help make the McKinney area a great place to live, work and play.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2013 McKinney Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the McKinney Award Program and data provided by third parties.

Click here to visit the Realty Revolution LLC website.

About McKinney Award Program – The McKinney Award Program is an annual awards program honoring the achievements and accomplishments of local businesses throughout the McKinney area. Recognition is given to those companies that have shown the ability to use their best practices and implemented programs to generate competitive advantages and long-term value.

Tom and Gina Signatures

Source: McKinney Award Program

Does Maximum Rent Equal Maximum Cash Flow?

For Rent Sign in Front of Home

I was out finalizing a lease for one of my clients yesterday. The listing agent was not available so I met with the owner of the property. My clients got stuck in traffic so we had some time to chat.  The conversation turned to investment homes.

Many investors confuse rental rates with cash flow assuming that getting the maximum amount of rent equals maximum cash flow. I’ll argue the opposite is usually true.

There are at least two hidden costs that need to be factored into the cash flow equation. The first is vacancy rate and the second is the cost to lease. Both subtract from long-term cash flow.

Any time a property is vacant it’s not producing revenue. Limiting vacancies should be a factor in rental pricing. Let’s assume I have a property rented for $1500 a month on a single year lease. If the tenant vacates the property after the lease ends, I incur the loss of revenue while the property is vacant and I have the cost to lease it. The other “cost” is realizing that most damage to a home happens during turnover. If I can get a good tenant to renew, I avoid all three losses.

While you may need to raise the rent on a renewal to cover increased expenses, this increase may cause our tenant not to renew. If I raise the rent on my $1500 property to $1600, I hope to generate another $1200 a year in cash flow. If the tenant moves out and the property takes 30 days to lease, I’ve lost $1500 plus I have the cost of leasing the property. The best time to consider raising rental rates is in between tenants.

The other place to consider this concept is when a tenant is asking for a reduced rental rate on a multi-year lease. On my $1500 rental, I will often reduce the rent to $1450 for a two-year lease. Why? Long-term cash flow. I know I will not have any downtime after a year and I will not have the cost to lease it again. The $50 a month reduction is $1200 over the two-year lease. If I have 30 days of vacancy and I have to lease it, my loss of revenue and expense to lease it can reach $2400 in my market. Additionally, I have to pay for utilities and lawn maintenance while I’m leasing it.

Maximum rent does not alway equal maximum cash flow.

Want to work with an experienced team of agents on your next investment property? Contact us at 214-227-6626.

Photo licensed from iStockPhoto

Investors, Do You Really Want The Highest Possible Rent? – Part 2

Modern Home for Rent

In Part 1 we discussed how rental price impacts occupancy rate and the impact that can have on annual cash flow. In Part 2, we’re going to explore how rental price impacts the quality of applicants.

Let’s say you have a rental property where the fair market rent is $1500 a month. If you list the property at $1600 a month, not only will you receive fewer applications, we’ll argue that those applications will be of lower quality.

Applicants with good credit and clean backgrounds do not have to overpay for a rental home. Since they can easily qualify, they will spend the time to not only find a well-maintained rental home, they will not pay more “just to get in.”

At $1600 a month, you’ll likely find that your applicants have credit or background issues. They want a decent place to live, understand they have issues, and are willing to pay more. It’s no different than a mortgage applicant who is willing to accept a higher interest rate because they have credit issues.

In some cases the extra cash flow may be worth the risk. That’s a call you have to make based on the total application.

Our recommendation is to price the home at market value to attract the largest number of quality applicants. One bad tenant can eat up lots of time and destroy a property. That little bit of extra cash flow just isn’t worth it in the long run.

Have questions or want to work with an experienced real estate team on purchasing or managing investment properties? Contact us at 214-227-6626.

Photo licensed from iStockPhoto

Investors, Do You Really Want The Highest Possible Rent? – Part 1

Modern Home for Rent

As a property manager I often have this conversation with my investor clients. I understand trying to get the most possible cash flow out of a property but this has to be tempered by two issues–occupancy rate and quality of tenants.

You might ask, “How are they related?”

In part one, I’ll discuss occupancy rate.

Occupancy Rate is defined as the amount of time a property is rented over a period of time. If your rental is vacant for one month out of the year you have an occupancy rate of 91.6 percent. You arrive at the occupancy rate by taking the time the rental is occupied and dividing it by the total time available.

As an investor you should never plan on a 100 percent occupancy rate. We typically use 85 or 90 percent just to be conservative in our approach.

If your rental list price is set too high the property will sit vacant for a longer period of time. Let’s assume you have a rental unit that would quickly rent for $1500 but you list it at $1600. If it takes you an additional 30 days to find a tenant willing to pay $1600, you actually lost $400. What?

While the $1600 rent generates an additional $100 in monthly revenue, you lost $1500 for the month the property could have been rented at the lower price. So, over the course of a year you generated $1100 in additional revenue but lost $1500 due to the vacant month. This results in a loss of $400 during the year!

A higher rental price is usually only profitable if you can rent the property in a similar amount of time. Otherwise you typically wind up losing money.

In part two, I’ll discuss how rental price also impacts the quality of tenants.

Have questions or want to work with an experienced real estate team on purchasing or managing investment properties? Contact us at 214-227-6626.

Photo licensed from iStockPhoto

Having Trouble Selling Your House? Consider Leasing.

For Rent Sign in Front of Home

Even with housing prices rising in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex, many homeowners are still unable to sell their houses. Many of those impacted have refinanced or did 100 percent financing, others are simply in pockets of homes that have seen a correction over the past few years.

Either way, they are unable to sell at a price high enough to cover the mortgage and the closing costs. That leaves the homeowner with a couple of choices. Take to house off the market and wait a couple of years for some more appreciation or consider leasing the house.

Leasing and property management is not right for all homeowners.

If you are considering leasing your home, the first step is to do the research. You really have to know the numbers to make sure that leasing makes good financial sense. You need to know the following:

How much rent you can reasonably charge? A local real estate professional should be able to give you details on comparable leases in the area. I usually advise clients to work on an 85 percent occupancy rate meaning the property is only leased and generating rent 85 percent of the year. On a monthly basis, simply use 85 percent of the projected rent as your base rental income.

How much are your monthly costs (including the mortgage, maintenance, taxes, insurance, HOA dues)? It is critical that you accurately project these costs.  Not only are there expected monthly costs, but you have to factor in maintenance and repairs as well. I usually recommend a Residential Service Contract for houses I manage.

How much will it cost to lease? You can advertise and lease it on your own or you can hire a real estate professional to market the property for you. Real estate professionals usually include tenant screening and lease preparation in addition to marketing the property. If you decide to go it alone, you need to figure in the costs of advertising, tenant screening, and document preparation. Proper and legal leases become critial if you have to evict or take other legal action against a tenant.

How much is ongoing property management if you decide not to manage it yourself? Like everything else, the cost to have professional property management varies. Cost is not the primary factor in my opinion. What you’re looking for is a company that will find good tenants and take care of your property.

Once you know the potential income and expenses, you can do the math. Most of our owners are generating positive cash flow from renting their houses while they wait for housing prices to climb some more. Others are losing money each month, but they have decided that losing a few hundred dollars each month is better than selling at a loss or facing foreclosure. 

As mortgage approval criteria tightened, the demand for lease and rental homes have risen along with it. Not only is demand up, but rental and occupancy rates are climbing as well. If you’re having problems selling your house, you might want to look into leasing it.

Tom Branch, Broker, CDPE, SFR