Q: Is Ziprent Licensed?
A: Yes, we have a valid broker’s license in Alabama, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.
AL #165209 | AZ #LC705421000 | CA #02095462 | CT #REB.0795328 | FL #CQ1069533 | GA #80835 | KS #CO00003807 | LA #BROK.995718039-CORP | MA #424735-RE-LC | NC #C37989 | NE #20230304 | NV #168178 | OR #201246358 | TN #266710 | TX #9012018 | UT #13598613-CN00 | VA #0226038125 | WA #22006203
Q: What kind of insurance does Ziprent have?
A: We carry both Errors and Omissions and General Liability for $2M
Q: How many properties do you manage?
A: We currently manage thousands of units, with a combination of multi-family and single-family homes.
Q: What are your fees?
A: Tenant Placement: $1500 (after a tenant is placed)
Q: Do you offer a discount for multiple units?
A: If you have 10+ units, we do offer a discount on both our tenant placement and property management. Please reach out to [email protected] for further information.
Q: What kind of contract do you have for the owners?
A: Our property management agreement can be used for both tenant placement and property management.
Q: Is there a contract minimum to work with you?
A: We have a no-commitment contract; you can cancel at any time.
Q: What happens if the contract gets broken?
A: At any point in time, you have full access to the lease and tenant contact information, so you can simply communicate with them to assign a new property manager or take over the rent collection/management.
Q: I just need you to find me a tenant. Do you have a different contract?
A: Our property management agreement can be used for both tenant placement and property management. Our property management fee is tied together with rent collection, so if we aren’t collecting rent through our platform, then we aren’t charging our property management fee.
Once we have a signed lease agreement and the security deposit initiated to your account, we hand off the lease agreement and the tenant contact information to you.
Q: Are you familiar with Section 8 voucher programs?
A: Absolutely, our portfolio includes properties that participate in Section 8. We are familiar with the ins and outs of the various housing authorities. If you do not currently have a voucher, please contact 211 to connect you to your local social services for assistance.
Q: When do I receive my rental income?
A: Tenants are responsible for paying rent on the 1st of each month. As soon as the tenant initiates the deposit electronically via ACH, it will take up to 1-3 business days for the rent to be deposited into your account.
Q: Do you take the management fee out of the rent?
A: No, we send you 100% of the rent to you. We then initiated a separate transaction for the management fee.
Q: How do you handle maintenance issues?
A: When a tenant submits a maintenance request, our Repairs department will do their due diligence to identify the issue and make sure it warrants a visit from the appropriate vendor.
We will surface the bid to you for your approval and then coordinate with the vendor and tenant to get the issue resolved.
We do not charge a maintenance fee, so we are cognizant of finding vendors who provide the right balance of quality vs price.
Q: Should I have tenants be responsible for landscaping?
A: No, we recommend owners pay for any landscaping services. We’ve found that placing the responsibility of landscaping on the tenants will not meet the expectations you may have.
Q: Will I have a dedicated property manager?
A: We have structured our operations so that all of our property managers have visibility into all properties. Should you or the tenant reach out to us, any of our property managers can answer any question you or the tenant may have. We found this allows us to provide the highest level of customer service.
Q: What is your eviction experience and what is the process?
A: We handle all of the noticing (3-day, 30/60 day, etc.) however will refer you out to a lawyer we recommend should the case end up needing a complaint filed at the courts. We can also work with any lawyer that you’d like to work with as well. We’ve never had a tenant we’ve placed in a property end up in an eviction but have had to help landlords navigate the process after bringing us on board with a bad tenant.
Our tenant placement process is 100% guaranteed. Should a tenant we place end up in an eviction case we will refund our fee to help with the associated legal costs.
Q: What is the process to take over from another property management company?
A: All we need is the following information:
Copy of the existing lease agreement
The full name, phone number, and email address of all the current tenants
Any additional notices and/or documentation pertaining the current tenants.
Q: Do you rent single rooms?
A: Unfortunately, we do not take on single room placements. Given our current model it requires too much time and resources for us to coordinate.
Q: Do you do in-person showings?
A: If our smart lockbox showing method cannot be utilized, we can only offer in-person showings in San Francisco currently, for $2500. We would perform 2-3 1 hour showings per week. Additionally, proof that our smart lockboxes are not permitted per HOA regulations will be required.
Q: Should I rent my property furnished or unfurnished?
A: Generally speaking, the majority of tenants prefer the property/unit to be completely unfurnished. Should you wish to show the property furnished, we do require you be willing to remove the furniture if the future tenant wish to rent it unfurnished.
Q: Can I use my own lease?
A: While we could use your lease, you would need to draft it and counter-sign which takes away a lot of the efficiency gains and benefits our leasing process provides. We can add any clauses you want specific to your property under the Ziprent Addendum.
Q: Do you work with Home Warranty companies?
A: We can / do work with home warranty companies; however, there are certain aspects that we cannot assist with:
What we can do:
Help schedule once a vendor is chosen and forwarded to us
Follow up with the vendor and tenant to ensure issues were resolved
What we cannot do:
Initiate requests
Pay premiums of fees
Negotiate with your policy
Q: Do you use a standard CA lease or a custom /specified depending on certain city?
A: We utilize a standard CA lease and have the ability to add custom property-specific addendums.
Q: Do you do short-term rentals?
A: We primarily focus on long-term rentals. We do, however, have a Vacation Home Rental department and can selectively offer this service depending on the location of your rental. As of now, we service Sonoma County, South Lake Tahoe, and Santa Barbara.
Q: Who handles repairs/maintenance for general turnover items that need to be addressed prior to finding new tenants?
A: For general turnover items such as cleaning, painting, and minor handyman fixes, we can typically handle and coordinate with our network of vendors. If there are larger items that need to be addressed, such as flooring replacement or any other larger rehabs, we require the owner to take care of those projects. We are more than happy to provide our list of vendors whom we work on a regular basis.
Q: How do you handle squatters?
A: There are risks in any business venture; however, we mitigate it by properly vetting the tenants and keeping good care of them and the property so they remain responsive and cooperative. It only turns bad when you have non-responsive or aggressive tenants. In fact, we’ve placed thousands of tenants since starting and have had less than 1% (20) not pay rent, leading to some sort of eviction action.
Q: Can I keep the water bill in my name instead of the tenants?
A: Regarding the water bill, we can have you send a copy of the bill to our management team as soon as it arrives. They will then add the amount to the tenant’s rent portal, labeled as a utility bill, for payment. Once the tenant pays, the amount will be transferred to your account via our ACH system. We’re experienced with this process, as many of our property owners use a similar setup. Alternatively, you can upload the bills directly to Ziprent, allowing tenants to make their payments there.
Q: What platform do you use to collect & process rent?
A: We use ACH to collect the rent. We do verify automatically using a 3rd party service called Plaid, but we also offer manual bank verification.
Q: How do you determine the amount of rent to charge?
A: We provide each owner with a comprehensive market analysis, which includes data on comparable properties in your area, along with insights from our experience working with other owners in the same market.
Q: Do you choose the tenant, or do I get to choose?
A: Ultimately, the decision is yours. Ziprent screens and runs background checks on all applicants and provides a ZipScore based on certain markers our system checks for. We then propose an applicant or an applicant group for you to consider.
Q: What is the ZipGuarantee?
A: Our ZipGuarantee is tailored to address the concerns and uncertainties that come with being a rental property owner. You can read more here.
Q: How does Ziprent compare to its competitors?
A: With its affordable pricing and flat-rate model, Ziprent offers a more comprehensive and cost-effective solution compared to our competitors. To see a detailed comparison, click here.
Q: Does your property management contract include any additional fees or long-term commitments?
A: No hidden fees, ever. Our flat-rate pricing remains at $150/mo ($100/month for every additional property), with no surprise costs. Additionally, our property management agreements don’t require long-term commitments - you can cancel at any time.
Q: What if I want to sell my property?
A: If your property has tenants, you cannot terminate a lease and evict a tenant simply because you want to sell the property. Proper notice will need to be given to your tenant(s). Listing your property may be difficult with tenants, and most buyers or investors prefer to place their own tenants. Every state has different regulations and you’ll need to be aware of any local ordinances.