Owner FAQs. Answers to your pressing questions
After you are done reviewing our information, complete the agreement and email it to hello@sunstonepm.com.
Once we receive your information, we will set up an appointment at your earliest convenience to view your property and to complete the initial property inspection.
We will meet you at the property, take digital photos of your home, answer any questions you might have in person, install rental sign in the yard and place the lockbox on the door. Please make sure your home is in picture ready condition...if not, please give us a call and we can give you a bid for any rent ready work necessary. Mission complete.
We require all keys for the property at time of initial inspection. Please make sure to provide SunStone representative with three (3) copies of the main key, garage remotes, mail keys (if applicable), and if the unit is in an HOA with community features, Rules & Regulations pertaining to any keys related to those areas.
About 45 minutes to an hour on average but it will vary depending upon how many questions you have for our representative. Normally, we can give you as much time as you need!
Please be sure to read this information thoroughly as well prior to any appointments.
Not a problem!
You can mail your keys into our corporate offices at:
285 E. Holt Ave
Pomona, CA 91767
You can also leave them at the property or with a neighbor...whatever is the most convenient.
We will begin advertising when we have received the signed agreement back in our office, and after we have gone to inspect the property, taken the pictures, and we have the keys. It is ideal if the home is vacant and ready to go!
The most important factor to lower your “day on market” is pricing! We cannot stress this enough. When you were searching for management companies, I’m sure price was a major factor for you regardless of how awesome our service is. Tenants are the same way...no matter how great your home is, it all ultimately comes down to price and the more competitive you can be the better chance you will have of leasing your home quickly. On average, it takes about 30-45 days to lease a home but if it’s priced right we can lease it in a matter of days.
We will do a complimentary market analysis for your property based on its size, age, & location. In order for a quick turn around, your property should be competitively priced against the competitions. If it’s the highest on the market, there’s a good chance it will sit longer as well. Again, our goal is to rent your property in 30 days or less and we will set a price that will most likely achieve that goal while still keeping within market rates. If the home does not lease within a 2 week period, we will begin making rental reductions.
We continue marketing until it’s leased no matter how long it takes! But, in our vast experience in leasing homes if your property is getting exposure but not leasing, meaning people are seeing it but just not moving forward with the application...it’s most likely priced too high. It’s extremely important that you don’t base the amount you expect for rent off your mortgage payment, what your neighbor's tenant is paying or what you’ve heard here and there. The market and supply and demand dictates the rent, not much else. To avoid delays and wasted advertising dollars, we strongly recommend you list your home for the rental amount we suggest
We are looking for stability in income and employment along with longevity at their previous addresses. We do not look for perfect credit but do not want to see numerous open collection activity or multiple late’s in the past 12 mos. Tenants are required to supply pay stubs, bank statements, past landlord information, as well as their current employer’s information and any other documents that we request in order to issue an approval.
Choosing tenants carefully is part of our job and we can be faster and more efficient using our own judgment and discretion. Our goal is to find you the best tenant possible and choose the most qualified applicant from the pool of applications we receive on your property.
Yes, of course! Have them give us a call and we will do all the screening and coordinate the move in. You will still be charged the 50% leasing fee if a lease is executed.
There is a lot involved! We handle all the day to day operations of your property including but not limited to: handling tenant issues, phone calls, emails, rent collection & accounting, tenant / owner billing, owner customer service, maintain a 24/7 emergency call service, maintain tenant/owner trust accounts , receive and issue service repair orders, maintain and operate a full service maintenance department, home warranty coordination, delinquent account servicing, & eviction coordination, lease renewals, lease executions, move ins / move outs, and more!
No. We only charge on actual rents collected. If you’re not receiving any income then neither are we!
Owner checks are sent out every Friday for funds received from the previous week. We direct deposit the funds right into your account! All statements are sent via email.
It’s normally the smallest check you will receive. From your first check we hold a $400 reserve, we deduct our commission for leasing your home depending on the plan, and any pro-rations of the rent since they may not move in exactly on the 1st of the month. Normally, you receive a full check by the 2nd month of leasing.
GOLDEN RULE: Never count on this month’s rental income to pay this month’s mortgage This creates unnecessary stress on you and us. Investors should always have a healthy reserve of 6 months mortgage payments on hand to cover emergencies, repairs, evictions, etc.
No. All rent payments go directly into our broker’s trust account which is a non-interest bearing account. We do not make money or benefit off keeping your rent payments longer than necessary.
By CA BRE regulations , a trust account is never allowed to go into the negative so the $400 is there as a pad so you will have a balance, otherwise your account would be at $0. This is in case there are outstanding invoices or repairs on your account and no rental income. This reserve money is returned to you when we close out your account providing you have no outstanding balances.
You are also required to keep an additional amount of funds equivalent to the rental amount. This can be comprised of the security deposit and owner funds if deposit does not equal the rental amount.
The deposit is normally equivalent to the rental amount and an additional $200 for pets. The deposit is held in our Broker’s trust account until the tenant moves out and we have inspected the property. If there are no damages, we will refund their full deposit. If there are issues we will begin deducting accordingly at our discretion.
By the end of the same month they are delinquent, if no terms have been made or they have defaulted from a payment arrangement we will forward the tenant’s file to our eviction attorneys. The process takes about 4-6 weeks and we will coordinate the entire transaction, make court appearances, and attend the sheriff lock out.
Yes. We send out a 1099 statement for tax reporting purposes. The 1099 will be in the name of whom the checks have been made payable to through the course of the year.
No. When you lease a property you guarantee the tenants “quiet and undisturbed use” of the property. They are the current legal owners while in possession and you are not able to enter the property or do anything without their consent. Also, when you’re using property management the whole idea is to keep an arm’s length distance from your tenants and avoid getting involved personally. Contacting your tenants & visiting the property while occupied defeats this purpose and tends to confuse the tenants as to who their point of contact is and also undermines the authority of the manager.
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The property should be freshly painted on the interior (neutral or white tones are best).
a. There need to be window coverings on all the windows.
b. A smoke alarm in every room and a carbon monoxide alarm in the hallway near the bedrooms and on each floor.
c. 2 earthquake straps on the water heater, and of course everything needs to be in proper working order and of relatively good condition. Just remember, your tenants will look like your property and the nicer it is, the better they will take care of it.
We will give you a list of all necessary repairs at time of inspection.
We take service calls from tenants and qualify all repairs prior to making the trip to the property. For qualified small repairs, under $400 we take care of right away without calling you. Emergency repairs also need to be completed right away and do not require authorization. All cosmetic repairs requested by the tenant need to be authorized by the homeowner and you will be given an estimate and need to sign off before any work is started.
We can work with your home warranty company on issues they cover.
You will receive an invoice for repairs as well as an itemization on your monthly statement. You will not receive individual receipts for paint, parts, etc. because we pull most parts and supplies from our own warehouse or service trucks. Copies of service requests are mailed out on a monthly basis and normally follow your owner statement.
Please email info@sunstonepm.com and one of our friendly customer satisfaction team members will be happy to walk you through any questions.
Yes!! Almost everybody has pets and to restrict them will greatly lessen the possibility of renting your property in a timely manner. We allow up to 2 pets per property and we do not allow dangerous breeds, such as Rottweilers or Pit Bull breeds, for insurance purposes.
Yes! Realty 365 (our Realty company) is your fabulous, one-stop BUY, SELL, RENT real estate shop and we are here to make whatever your real estate goals are a reality. We are always your best choice to sell your home because we are already familiar with your property, can easily work with your renter and we utilize all of our resources to close the deal quickly and efficiently. At anytime you can request a complimentary market analysis to check on the values of your home.
Whew! That’s a lot of information!! If there is anything that we have forgotten or overlooked, please do not hesitate to contact us