VerraTerra roughly translates as “truth in real estate.” The industry as a whole does things in ways that no longer make any sense. We are all about finding better ways than just what’s “normally” done or at least give you (the consumer) choices, which is our core philosophy.
This includes the way we go about Seattle area property management. Typically, there are two phases to Seattle area property management – the tenant placement phase and the monthly management phase.
Seattle Area Property Management - Tenant Placement
With most Seattle area property management companies, the tenant placement phase is charged an amount equal to one month’s rent or some percent of one month’s rent to be negotiated. Much like the sales side of the business, the standard method ties OUR compensation to the value of YOUR property. In other words, the more you rent or sell YOUR house for, the more money WE make regardless if it takes any more effort, time or cost on our part. How is that right?
VerraTerra has a different approach. We offer two options for tenant placement – a flat fee option of $995 or 1 month’s rent. We let the you (the property owner) choose what option best suites your needs. We started out by offering just the $995 option but added the 1 months’ rent option to cover Seattle area homes that rent for less than $995 per month. This may sound a little contradictory to our philosophy, since the lower rent homes pay less, but it was necessary in order to stay competitive for those homes.
Seattle Area Property Management – Monthly Management Services
The traditional monthly management model is a percentage of the gross rent per month. Most common is 10% of each month’s gross rent, but you can find Seattle area property management companies that do 8% or 9%. We offer this option at 10%, but we also offer a semi-flat rate – $50 per month for bookkeeping, limited property management and an hourly rate for any service above the bookkeeping and limited property management (defined in the contract).
Seattle Area Property Management – Semi-flat Rate
Basically, we provide the essential Seattle area property management services each month for the $50 flat rate including: rent collecting, issuing statements, being on-call, keeping records, dealing with HOA notices (if any), etc. The hourly rate kicks in once there’s a need for us to do something other than the usual. The water heater is leaking … okay we need to get someone out there and then go inspect the work once it’s done. Most stuff doesn’t require a lot of time, a lot of phone calls or coordinating, but all that is billed hourly. If the house is problem free for the entire year, there’s no good reason, except to pad our pocket, to charge you a 10% fee every month unless you want to pay that.
Seattle Area Property Management – 10% Model
The 10% model for Seattle area property management does cover everything, so even if we’re spending hours dealing with issues on your property every month, the fee is still just 10%. If you think the house is a low-need home, then the flat rate + hourly is probably the best way to go. However, if you simply don’t want to worry about anything, the percent model is the way to go. Our service is setup so that we basically handle everything and all you (the owner) need to do is pay your mortgage, taxes and insurance.
Rent money, after our fees, is deducted and automatically deposited into your bank. We will email you a statement that covers the breakdown of that month’s income and expenses. For tenant placement, we do pictures, a slew of online ads, showings, tenant applications, screenings, move-in reports, explaining the lease and collecting the move-in money and holding the security deposit (requires a special account).
Check out our FAQs for Owners and Tenants
Greater Puget Sound Area Real Estate Specialists
We specialize in Seattle area property management for property owners and Seattle area real estate services for buyers and sellers in the following areas:
- Seattle Real Estate - Seattle waterfront homes, Seattle, luxury homes, Seattle single-family homes, Seattle townhomes and Seattle condominiums
- Bellevue Real Estate - Bellevue waterfront homes, Bellevue luxury homes, Bellevue single-family homes, Bellevue townhomes and Bellevue condominiums
Bothell Real Estate - Bothell waterfront homes, Bothell luxury homes, Bothell single-family homes, Bothell townhomes and Bothell condominiums - Kirkland Real Estate - Kirkland waterfront homes, Kirkland, luxury homes, Kirkland single-family homes, Kirkland townhomes and Kirkland condominiums
- Redmond Real Estate - Redmond waterfront homes, Redmond luxury homes, Redmond single-family homes, Redmond townhomes and Redmond condominiums
- Mukilteo Real Estate - Mukilteo waterfront homes, Mukilteo luxury homes, Mukilteo single-family homes, Mukilteo townhomes and Mukilteo condominiums
- And all surrounding cities
If you are looking to buy Seattle area real estate as investment property or need Seattle area property management services for your existing property, we can take care of tenant placement and monthly management for you. For more information about VerraTerra real estate services and how we can best serve you, please fill out the online contact form or give us call at 425.223.4828.
