FAQ

Management Services and Fees

Is openworldproperties.com licensed?

Yes, we have a valid California Corporation Brokers License: DRE# 02016149

What kind of insurance does openworldproperties.com have?

We carry both Errors and Omissions, and General Liability insurance. We are also bonded.

How many properties do you manage?

We currently manage an extensive portfolio across many Northern and some parts of Southern California, with a combination of Multi-Family, Commercial, HOA, Condos, and Single Family homes. Our property manager's handle specific segments, areas, and locations evenly.

Residential monthly property management fees

Our monthly management fee equals 6% of one month's rent. For example: If your rent is $2,500 per month, your monthly management fee would be six percent of $2,500 or $150 per month, which is also our minimum monthly management fee.

Leasing fees

Our once per tenant leasing fee is 6% of one year's total rent. For example: if your property leases for $2,500 per month, the leasing fee would be $2,500 x 12 x 6% = $1,800. There are NO UP FRONT FEES or CHARGES. This fee is only charged to locate "new tenants." However, we do require a $400 deposit in a "trust account" for any incidental maintenance repairs that may come up. For example: changing the locks to your property for a new tenant, yard cleanup, house cleaning, etc. Our in-house leasing agents lease about 98% of the properties we manage in-house, and about 2% are leased from leads from the MLS, brokers, and agents. You can learn more about our fee structure here → openworldproperties.com/pricing

Do you offer a discount for multiple units?

If you have 5+ units, we offer a discount on our tenant placement and property management fees. Please reach out to team@openworldproperties.com for further information.

How many employees do you have?

Currently, we have 10+ employees and affiliates in many cities and counties around California.

What kind of contract do you use for rental property owners?

Our property management agreement can be used for both tenant placement and property management. The contract we use was written by attorneys for the California Association of Realtors. 

Is there a minimum contract to work with you?

We have a no commitment contract, you can cancel your contract with us at any time.

What happens if the contract gets broken?

You have full access to the lease and tenant contact information at any point, you can communicate with them to assign a new property manager or take over the rent collection / management yourself.

Tenant Placement

If I need you to find a tenant, do you have a different contract?

Our property management contract can be used for both tenant placement AND property management. Our property management fee is tied together with rent collection, so we aren't charging our property management fee if we aren't collecting rent through out platform. Once we have a signed lease agreement and the security deposit initiated to your account, we hand off the lease agreement and tenant contact information to you.

Are you familiar with Section 8 voucher programs?

Absolutely, our portfolio includes properties that participate in Section 8.  We work with HUD, Bay Area Community Services(BACS), Hamilton Families and many other Affordable Housing Providers in California.  If the pandemic taught landlords one thing, it's that the government will pay they rent! We are experienced and registered with the ins and outs of the various housing authorities.

Describe your on demand showing process?

When your property is move-in / photo ready, we will schedule a member of our team to come by the property to take photos, perform a walk-through, and install our Bluetooth enabled lockbox. We will syndicate your posting within 24-48 hours of receiving the photos to all major listing sites. Any prospective tenants will select a 2-hour showing window to view the property.

We collect their name, phone number, and email address. We schedule group showings to save time. We market to the whole internet. During each tenant showing, a leasing agent is always present at your property. If tenants want to apply, we can do an electronic application and lease on the spot via mobile phone or internet.

We can usually schedule to come out to take photos, do a walk-through and take keys within 24-48 hours. We prefer to take pictures when the property is empty and move-in ready and can generally get a listing online within 24-48 hours of taking pictures. So, in general, we can have your listing up within 2 to 4 days of your inquiry about our services.

When do I pay the tenant placement fee?

The tenant placement fee is charged once we have a signed lease agreement and the security deposit is initiated to your bank account.

What if I found a tenant, but want openworldproperties.com to do the vetting and lease generation?

• Our fee for applicant vetting and lease generation is $500
• Our fee to generate the lease without applicant vetting is $400

What are your general qualifications for applicants?

Our general qualification for applicants:

● 3x income to rent ratio (industry standard)

● Qualifying credit score of 650+ (we can use 700 if that is your preference)

● Clean rental history and background check (no evictions recorded)

● Two (2) months worth of paystubs or offer letter

For us to do the applicant vetting and lease generation, we charge a tenant placement fee of $500. For us to generate the lease with no vetting, we would only charge $400. We provide a rental analysis for every property that needs tenant placement shortly after signing up for an account. After gathering the necessary information about your property, we look for comparable properties and analyze them based on many factors.

What if my outgoing tenants (or myself) live in the unit, and I need to find a tenant when the property empties?

Due to our on-demand showing method, we can fully handle showings of an occupied property with assistance from the occupant. However, we can certainly work with the circumstances to reduce vacancy and find a tenant shortly after move out. We ask that the property be as clutter free as possible for photos. Once we have taken pictures, we'll need a few 1-hour windows per week, generally 2 to 4 where the occupant / owner will be present to show the unit (we won't be physically present).

Subsequently, we'll go ahead and schedule prospective tenants to come by and view the unit during the pre-arranged windows. We'll handle all coordination and communication and provide the occupant / owner with a complete list of prospective tenants who will be coming by to view the rental property.

While we can work with any availability time frame, we recommend Tues/Thurs 6-7 PM for open house showings of occupied properties and Sat/Sun 12-1 PM, anytime for Vacant.

How long does it usually take to get the house rented?

• "Our average vacant-to-lease time is 21 days depending on price and location. We work closely with our clients to ensure units are priced properly within market standards

How long do you recommend a lease term to be?

We recommend one year as part of our property management contract.

 

Who keeps the security deposit?

Landlord’s Choice. But if you want complete full service management, then we will hold it in our secure FDIC Insured Trust Account on your behalf. 

Where do you advertise my rental after the photos have been taken and the listing is live?

We understand that the most effective way to advertise a rental is to list as many places as possible to ensure we receive the most significant number of leads. As such, we have more direct partnerships with listing websites than anyone else in the markets we operate in. Our direct syndications are as follows -

• Zillow Network (Zillow, Trulia, Hotpads, etc.)
• Zumper (Zumper, PadMapper, FB Marketplace, etc.)
• RentPatch (Rent.com, Rentals.com, etc.)
• Costar (Apartments.com, etc.)
• Craigslist.org
• Realtor.com and local MLS
• Google

We syndicate your property to all significant marketing hubs on the internet.

How do you come up with the suggested rent price?

We provide a rental analysis for every property that needs tenant placement shortly after signing up for an account. After gathering the necessary information about your property, we look for comparable properties and analyze them based on many factors.

What is your definition of move-in / photo ready?

It depends on the location of the property. But at the very least, it needs to be free of clutter, cleaned and devoid of trash, it needs to have been professionally cleaned or cleaned to that quality standards. Here are additional items we outline to be mindful about:

● Flooring

We recommend replacing the carpets with new carpet or laminate wood flooring if the property has carpets. They can also be professionally steam cleaned if they are in decent condition.

● Painting

A fresh coat of paint goes a long way in making a unit feel refreshed

● General Maintenance

It is all about viewing the condition from the eyes of the tenant. If there are any idiosyncrasies with the property that you have put up with because you've lived there, you'll most likely want to get them addressed.

Should I have tenants be responsible for landscaping?

We recommend that owners pay for any landscaping services unless tenants prefer. We've found that placing the responsibility of landscaping on the tenant will probably not meet your expectations.

Property Management

Will I have a dedicated property manager?

Yes! We have structured our operations to have an assigned property manager(s) to have visibility into all properties. Should you or your tenant reach out to us with any questions, any of our property manager's can answer any questions you or your tenant(s) might have.

When do I receive my rental income?

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.

Do you take the management fee out of the Rent?

Yes, we will take our management fees from the rent collected, then we send your funds electronically the same day!

What is your eviction experience, and what is the process?

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.

What is the process to take over from another property management company?

All we need is the following information: Copy of the existing lease agreement, the full name, phone number, and email address of all current tenants, and any additional notices or documentation about current tenants.

Do you rent single rooms?

Unfortunately, we do not take on single-room placements. Our current model requires too much time and resources to coordinate.

Should I rent my property furnished or unfurnished?

Generally speaking, most tenants prefer the property / unit to be entirely unfurnished. Should you wish to show the property furnished, we require you to remove the furniture if the future tenant wishes to rent the unit unfurnished.

Can I use my lease?

While we could use your lease, you would need to draft it and countersign, which takes away a lot of the efficiency gains and benefits that our leasing process provides. We can add any clause(s) you want specific to your property under the openworldproperties.com addendum. We are licensed with the Department of Real Estate. We are members of many landlord associations. We write the best leases.

Do you work with home warranty companies?

We can and do work with home warranty companies, however, there are certain aspects that we can and cannot assist with:

We can:

• Help schedule once a vendor is chosen and forwarded to us
• Follow-up with the vendor and tenant to ensure issues were resolved

We cannot:

• Initiate requests
• Pay premiums of fees
• Negotiate with your policy

Do you use a standard CA lease or custom/specified depending on a specific city?

We utilize a standard CA lease and can add custom property-specific addendums.

Do you do short-term rentals?

We primarily focus on long-term rentals. We do, however, have a Vacation Home Rental department and selectively can offer this service depending on the location of your rental. We service Sonoma County, South Lake Tahoe, San Diego, Monterey, and Santa Barbara.

 

Who handles repairs/maintenance for general turnover items that need to be addressed before finding new tenants?

We can typically handle and coordinate with our network of vendors for general turnover items such as cleaning, painting, and minor handyman fixes. We are a full-service firm.

How do you handle maintenance issues?

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.

What type of property management accounting do you offer when you manage my rental properties?

We use AppFolio, a platform that offers real-time flexible reporting featuring an extensive collection of reports for landlords whether you have one property or a diverse portfolio. 

With AppFolio you can get insights from 80+ customizable reports, including:

• Owner statement
• Income statement
• Cash flow statement
• Balance sheet
• Rent Roll
• CAM Reporting
• Delinquency Record
• And More! 

For Tenants

What are your leasing qualifications?

Below is our general qualification for applicants:

● 3x income to rent ratio

● Qualifying credit score of 650+

● Clean rental history and background check (no evictions recorded)

● 2 months worth of paystubs or offer letter

Do you accept Section 8?

Yes we accept section 8, and you would still need to meet our general qualifications.

Can just one application for all tenants be filled out?

Each adult living at the rental property must submit a completed application and pay the application fee. This allows us to run a background and credit check on each tenant who will be on the lease agreement.

Can the rent payment be split among roommates?

Payments must be made in full through one account. Whoever you designate to pay the rent can link their bank account through openworldproperties.com account.

How does a tenant submit a repair request?

https://www.openworldproperties.com/tenant-portal or please submit an email to team@openworldproperties.com.com. Make sure to include a detailed description of the issue along with photos or a video. Emergencies dial 911!

What happens if I need to replace a roommate?

Get permission first! Please send an email to team@openworldproperties.com.com outlining who will be leaving. We will need all parties on the lease to acknowledge the removal of one roommate and the subsequent replacement. The replacement roommate will need to fill out our application and be approved by the owner.

What happens if I need to break my lease?

You are responsible for the entire duration of your lease. Should you need to break the lease, you will be charged our tenant placement fee of $1000 and will have to cooperate with hosting showings while we find a replacement. This usually entails a few 1-hour showings windows throughout the week and weekend where interested parties can view the property.

What is the repair process if I sign a lease with openworldproperties.com?

openworldproperties.com does not own any of the properties it manages. As such, all repair requests must be approved by owners and owners pay for the repairs directly.The step by step process for any repair is as follows -

1. Identification of Problem: Tenant reports the problem to our staff and may need to provide photos, videos, serial numbers, and dimensions (in case of appliances), we document and send it out to both tenant and owner.

2. Source Bids: openworldproperties.com sources bids from partners in the region

3. Owner Approval: Owner must approve the bid before openworldproperties.com can move forward with coordinating the work. Without an owner's approval, openworldproperties.com can not move forward.

4. Scheduling: openworldproperties.com often puts tenant and vendor in touch to coordinate a time. If needed, openworldproperties.com gets involved to help out.

5. Repair Verification: openworldproperties.com reaches out to tenants to confirm the issue has been resolved before closing the repair and coordinating billing between vendor and tenant.

Given the above, depending on the work, the repair may take as little as the same day or several weeks to complete. Some quick examples below -

Appliance replacement: Oftentimes appliance replacement requires two repair inquiries as an appliance repair company will need to go out and assess the appliance and then an appliance needs to be ordered. Given that both work orders require owner approval, oftentimes, it may take a week or longer to initiate a new appliance order and given the availability of the specific size, model, etc. of the appliance at major retailers, delivery may be weeks out.

Pest Control: As pest control is a multi step process, we want to make sure tenants are aware of the steps involved in eradicating pests from the premises. In conformance with the above procedure, owners must approve a pest company bid which will include:

1. Exclusion: Blocking off of all entrances and exits into the building.

2. Eradication/Removal: Biweekly or Monthly visits to catch and release and set new traps

While the initial approval may be quick pending Owner response times, the entire process may take months and is dependent on the number of pests, the location of pests, building setup, etc.

Home Warranty: Some openworldproperties.com owners have home warranty policies which means that all requests must go through home warranty. Home warranty companies often assign a vendor to repair the issue after it’s been identified. Depending on the size of repair and the vendor assigned, there may be further delays in the repair being completed as larger repairs will need home warranty approval and vendors assigned by home warranty are often booked-out weeks in advance.