Our Services

Our Services

Would you like us to manage your home in San Diego county?

The following policy and procedure highlights are guidelines under which we operate our full service property management program.

Locating a Suitable Tenant

Office & Staff
Our office is open Monday – Saturday. This enables prospective tenants to view your home at their convenience and to ensure prompt response to maintenance requests. Each member of our full time staff is experienced and trained to favorably promote your home on the phone and during showings.

Promoting Your Property
Because of our stringent screening of prospective tenants, we must rely on a comprehensive
marketing program to attract as many good quality prospects as possible. Within the first week a number of important actions are taken to expose your home to a large number of prospects.

Some of the largest and most supportive real estate and relocation agencies receive details about your home. We offer a finder’s fee to any real estate agent or current tenant who provides us with a lead that results in a signed lease.
Information about your property is listed on the Military Housing web site.
Internet marketing at RentHomes.com as well as several other high activity sites.
“For Rent” signs posted on the homes that are currently on the market.
Several of the larger employers in the San Diego area are provided availability information about your home.
Any additional fee based marketing will be at the homeowner’s expense.

Vacancy
Our vacancy rate is consistently lower than the San Diego average. Nonetheless, we are continuously exploring new strategies to help reduce vacancy time without sacrificing quality.

Screening & Approving the Tenant

Landlord, Employer and Credit Verification.

Once an application is received, we immediately begin verifying residence and income information. Current and previous landlords and employers are contacted and interviewed by experienced property management staff members. As an on-line subscriber to the Experian Credit Bureau, we have the ability to verify credit information immediately.

Homeowner Approval

Tenants are approved by the homeowner. After an application has been received and all verifications have been completed, a call is made to the homeowner. Information about the applicant is conveyed to the homeowner along with a recommendation. The homeowner then decides whether to accept or reject the applicant.

Results

Thorough screening procedures help us place quality tenants. Since 1997 when we began tracking, our eviction rate has been less than one percent.

Leasing & Occupancy

The Lease

Our lease and other legal documents are undergoing continuous review to ensure that it provides the most effective and comprehensive protection to the homeowner. In addition to the lease, tenants sign a document containing rules and regulations. These rules and regulations have been developed over many years in management to insure that Tenants are fully aware of their responsibilities. Our continuing relationship with Landlord/Tenant Attorney – Kimball, Tirey & St. John, keeps us up to date of the latest legal changes that are relative to the type of management we provide.

Preserving Property Condition

Move-in Inspection

Before a tenant occupies your home a two-part inspection is conducted which includes a video documentation of the property as well as an extensive written report. This inspection procedure is repeated between future tenant’s occupancy.

Neighbor Watch

The homeowners of homes near yours are notified by letter that we are managing your property. We have asked them to keep our name and phone number handy so that in the event they see anything they feel might need our attention they can call us. This provides additional security for the home.

Maintenance

Maintenance Personnel

American Heritage Properties coordinates the maintenance and repair on the properties we manage. Over the years we have developed relationships with tradespeople in various fields that we rely on for high quality, low cost work.

Homeowner Selected Repair Personnel

As an alternative, we are happy to accommodate homeowners who prefer that we contract with maintenance and repair personnel they choose. Responding quickly is very important to good tenant relations and to the maintenance of the home.

Lock Changes

Due to the great risk involved, it is our policy to re-key the locks at each turnover. The homeowner and our staff share a responsibility to protect the tenant’s health, safety and well being. Re-keying the locks at each turnover of your home is considered essential. Furthermore, an unforced entry that involves the loss of property or the injury or death of a tenant is almost certain to result in litigation.

Finance and Accounting

Our accounting system relies on a sophisticated property management software program that provides easy to understand monthly statements. At year-end a special account analysis report is provided to the homeowner for use in preparing income taxes. All monies received from the homeowner or tenant are placed in a trust account and all disbursements are made from that account. There is no charge for establishing or maintaining this account, nor are there any other accounting fees.

Our Property Managers collect rent on a monthly basis.

Typically rents are due on the first of each month, with a grace period until the fourth.

Management Fee

Our management fee is based on the rental income

Our policy is to collect no fee until the rent is received

Tax Advantages

We have written our management agreement and designed our service to allow you to claim your property as one in which you have an “active” participation for tax deduction purposes. This is considerably more advantageous than if it were a “passive” participation. As a result our management fee as well as mortgage interest, insurance, taxes, repair costs and depreciation are tax deductible for most of our homeowners. To insure that you are entitled to these benefits you must contact your tax preparer for verification.