Owner FAQs

No. Many property management companies only provide limited services for discounted pricing; some firms are designed for owners who like to be very involved in the day-to-day management of their homes; and some firms (like Straight Up Realty & Property Management) are Full Service firms designed to give owner-clients a full service, stress-free, hands-off experience, where we handle ALL aspects of the property management cycle with professionalism and expertise. Property Management in Florida is legally complex, and you want a professional overseeing what may be your most valuable asset. As you consider partnering with a property management company, but sure to ask them the following questions:

• Is each individual property manager licensed? (All Straight Up Realty & Property Management are fully licensed and go through a detailed internal and ongoing training process)
• What if I want to cancel my service with you? (Most property management companies have long term contracts with expensive termination fees. We offer a 6-month management agreement with no termination fees or penalties; because we believe that we should earn your business every day and you should have the flexibility to leave if you want to.)

Yes. We are very experienced in taking on the management of a property with a current tenant in place. We often take over management in situations where a tenant may be delinquent in rent or the owners are having difficulty managing a current tenant. When this happens, we perform a full lease audit and work with the tenant to ensure that they either conform to the terms of the lease and bring their rent current, or when necessary, vacate the property.

No. We do not manage short-term rentals. We specialize in long-term rentals. In some instances, we will manage a property that is furnished.

There are multiple laws governing rental real estate including federal and state fair housing, habitability laws, tenant rights laws, applicant screening, rent-ready standards, and more. We ensure your property, and the management experience is fully compliant with ALL rules, regulations, and laws.

Our fees are clearly stated in the property management agreement. Click here to see a sample agreement.

No. We believe we should only be paid if you get paid, so our management fee is a percentage of the actual rent we collect. If we do not collect any rent, or if the property is vacant, you don’t pay us anything.

You must maintain any personal property you leave behind. That means that if you provide it, you must fix it when it breaks. For that reason, we recommend our owners only leave well-functioning washers & dryers in the property.

Properties that show well and are priced appropriately should rent in 30 days or less. We will give you price recommendations as well as weekly activity feedback to ensure we minimize any vacancy time.

In-depth tenant screening is the foundation of a good property management experience. Our in-house screening process utilizes technology plus good old fashioned ‘landlord references’ to ensure we place high quality tenants in our properties. We comply with all federal and state laws governing applicant screening.

No. You can trust us to minimize the risk of placing a poor-quality tenant. Our applicant screening process is in-depth and we know exactly what to look for in a high quality tenant-resident. We comply with all fair housing rules and regulations as well as Florida applicant screening laws.

Although you do NOT have to accept pets in your rental, over 70% of prospective tenants come with pets. That means that if you choose NOT to accept pets, you are reducing your prospective inquiries by 70%. We do recommend that you allow pets and we will collect either a non-refundable pet fee or increase to the required security deposit whichever you prefer.

Leases in Florida require an attorney to prepare the lease. We utilize Heist, Weisse & Wolk PLLC and they charge $45 for a new lease and $30 for a renewal lease. The lease is designed to be fair and provide maximum legal protection to all parties. Leases include a pet addendum (if applicable), EPA required lead-based paint disclosures and mold disclosures.

No. As your legal agent, Straight Up Realty & Property Management signs all the lease documents on your behalf.

Our owner-clients have a secure on-line portal which gives 24/7 access to financial reporting.

We close out the monthly accounting cycle and do a direct deposit of your funds on the 10th day of each month.

We perform an annual mid-lease property inspection (at no cost to you). The purpose of this inspection is to ensure the property is being well cared for, there are no lease violations, and to look for potential deferred maintenance issues before they become a problem.

We handle the entire rent collection process. Although it is rare - should a tenant not pay rent, we coordinate the legal eviction process on your behalf.

Yes, if we place a new tenant and they break their lease during the first 12 months – we will re-lease it for free.

Our owner-clients have a secure on-line portal which gives 24/7 access to financial reporting.

The quality of a property is equal to the quality of the tenant it will attract. Therefore you want your property to be updated and CLEAN! We can take care of getting your property fully rent-ready to ensure we attract the highest quality applicants.

We will handle all repair requests (even the middle of the night emergencies) and we use pre-screened, high-quality vendors.

Yes. We will collect a property reserve from you. The amount is typically $200. This is YOUR money and it will be deposited into our bank trust account as the reserve for YOUR property. We will potentially use these funds to pay for expenses that may arise between the time we send you your rental income, and the time we collect the rent from the tenant the following month. But we will always maintain this reserve as long as we manage your property. When we stop managing your property it will be returned to you.

Straight Up Realty & Property Management holds all tenant security deposits in our security deposit trust account. This is done to comply with State of Florida security deposit and trust accounting rules and regulations as determined by the Florida Real Estate Commission.

When a tenant moves out we will do a property check-out and we will complete the security deposit return process. We will withhold any funds from the tenant’s security deposit that are legally due and allowable.

While a property is vacant, you are welcome to do whatever make-ready work you would like to do on your property. When a tenant is living in the property, we do need to screen who is accessing the property for the protection of the tenant-residents. Therefore we will use our pre-screened and pre-approved vendors. If you have a favorite vendor please give us their contact information – we are always looking to add new high quality vendors to our group!

No. We are a relationship-based property management business and we work with owner-clients who are looking for a full-service experience and believe in providing well maintained properties. We reject the idea of a landlord vs tenant mentality. Instead, we believe that when property management is performed with integrity, both the resident and the landlord benefit.

Yes. We offer sales services to our owner-client group and we can help you buy another rental or sell your current property when the time is right.

Click the link below and one of our Executive Property Managers will contact you. Contact Us