Owner FAQs

• Do you live further than 30 miles from your rental property?
• Are you familiar with the laws that regulate landlord-tenant relationships?
• How about credit reporting laws, fair housing laws, lead based paint laws?
• How about laws that regulate military tenants and state and federal discrimination laws?
• How about local zoning laws, fire and building codes?
• Are you comfortable in contentious situations?

It is important to distance yourself from your tenants and take emotion out of a landlord/tenant relationship. That can be a difficult thing to do for owners who have an emotional connection with the home they are about to rent out. Having a knowledgeable property manager will keep you out of legal trouble and ensure a stress-free, enjoyable time as a landlord.

Wow. Good question. Some of the bigger property management companies handle nearly 2000 properties. It’s possible that you may feel lost in the system with an organization that big. We utilize the same systems and cutting edge technology, but because we have a smaller staff and manage fewer homes, you can count on a more personal level of service.

We pride ourselves on communication and transparency – you’ll receive regular updates, inspection reports with photos, and you can reach out and talk to a person who is familiar with what's going on at your property, not a call center worker reading off of a script. Our mission is to care for your home as if it were our own, and our long-term clients and low tenant turnover are a testament to that commitment.

Absolutely. Even with one home, being a DIY landlord can run your life with extra work. Our clients often find that we save them money by reducing vacancy time, avoiding costly mistakes, and handling maintenance efficiently. Plus, what price do you put on your own time and peace of mind? We make owning even a single rental truly hands-off and rewarding for you.

Yes, we can step in at any stage. We’ll introduce ourselves to your tenant and handle everything going forward – rent collection, inspections, maintenance, and any tenant requests while following the existing lease. You’ll still get the benefits of our service immediately (and probably a big sigh of relief).

The way that your home is presented significantly impacts how quickly it will get rented and the way that a tenant will treat it. We only manage homes that are in good condition. If your home needs a little bit of love before going on the rental market, we can help by identifying the issues and coordinating the work to get it ready.

We define rent ready as:

• All utilities on
• Professionally deep cleaned including inside of appliances
• Carpet professionally cleaned and smelling fresh
• All walls painted to professional standards
• No holes in walls or unpainted patches
• No missing, broken, or cracked outlet or switch covers
• All bedroom and bathroom windows must have blinds
• No personal property or items in the home. This includes furniture, decorations, toiletries, kitchen or bathroom items, soap dispensers, pictures, etc.
• No lawn equipment including mowers, tools, etc.
• Garage floor swept
• No exterior debris or trash
• Lawn cut and trimmed
• Trees cut back off of roof
• Gutters reasonably clean
• Smoke detector on each floor and not expired
• All light bulbs installed and working
• Doors open & close smoothly and doorstops installed on all doors
• Bathroom caulking must be fresh and free of any mildew
• All systems and appliances working as designed. If it's in the house, it must work as it was supposed to work without any “tricks”.
• Safety railings secure
• Decks in safe condition
• Wood-burning fireplaces must be either clean and functional, or permanently sealed.

Can you? Sure! Should you? Probably not. Let us explain…

We are constantly leasing homes and have a solid relationship with contractors that excel at getting properties ready to go. We get excellent pricing for the work, they give us priority scheduling, and turn them over quickly. We’ve had multiple clients insist on doing their own repairs and then take over a month longer to get the property ready than we could have. That few hundred dollars that they “saved” because their cousin or friend who is a DIYer offered them a deal is WAY LESS than the month’s worth of rent that they missed by having their property sitting empty waiting on repairs. We want you to succeed. Please let us help you!

We recommend not leaving a washer and dryer in the home unless the space requires a stackable or an uncommon size. They break down easily, and a lot of tenants have their own. By leaving them, you’re introducing one more set of appliances that can break down that you are responsible for repairing or replacing. If a tenant applies and wants to bring their own, now you have to figure out what to do with the units. Storing them doesn’t make financial sense, and the tenant won’t want them to be left somewhere at the property, so we just encourage you to get rid of them from the start.

Systematically. We follow a checklist. If the request is an emergency, we respond immediately. We have an emergency number that tenants can call anytime if they have a fire or a flood situation.

If the request is not an emergency, we typically respond within one business day and a repair takes place within a few days. Of course, some situations are more urgent than others, and we take that into account.

We talk with the tenant and try to diagnose the problem as accurately as possible by phone. Many times we can help the tenant solve the problem without dispatching a technician.

Most repairs that require actual work can be taken care of by our regular repair people. We rely on all purpose handyman type labor to save you money and have tradesmen we call if needed.

Occasionally we have a major issue that requires building permits and contractors (usually an insurance company is involved.) Whatever the scope of the maintenance, we can handle it.

When we dispatch a maintenance technician to your property we will let you know. If the repair is minor, the technician will handle it on the spot. If the repair is more extensive, we will discuss it with you before proceeding. Once the repair is complete and we are invoiced, we will let you know the final cost and you will see that reflected the next time you receive a distribution.

We tried. We really did.

Omyra does not work with home warranty companies. The process is just too cumbersome. A very simple maintenance request that could have been completed in an hour the next business day was taking four to seven business days. Meanwhile, the tenants are waiting for the repair to be completed and getting increasingly frustrated and upset with every passing day.

Instead of a simple work order submission to one of our regular vendors, we had to contact the warranty company, wait on hold for 10-40 minutes, then contact the vendor assigned. Frequently the vendor would not call the tenants so we would have to make 3-4 more calls to set up the visit. And often the service fee was more than we would have paid the vendor.

Home warranties are overpriced insurance policies and they protect relatively low cost repairs. Take the premiums and put them in a savings account. Use the money in that account to handle repairs. We promise you will be better off in the long run.

If you have a general contractor’s license – maybe. Otherwise, no.

This is one more thing we have tried and found it does not work for many reasons.

No. If you have a great contractor or handyman, introduce us. We can always use more great vendors. If we start using your guy, we will try to use him or her on your property. But no guarantees.

Speed of repair is critical, and our network of vendor partners lets us fix things quickly, which keeps your tenant happy and makes them want to renew their lease. Keeping a tenant in place saves you thousands of dollars, so given the choice of using a specific vendor versus maintaining your bottom line, we will choose your bottom line every time.

An escrow account (also called a trust account) is a specifically designated account registered with the real estate commission where we, as your broker, hold funds that belong to you. The Georgia Real Estate Commission requires that your portion of the escrow account NEVER dip below zero. So what does that mean? When we set up your management services, you will deposit money in your escrow account as a maintenance fund. This money comes out of rent that is paid when a tenant is placed so you don’t need to cut us a check. In most cases this is $500. If a maintenance item arises that will cost less than your escrow funds, we can have the work done and pay for it out of escrow. When we collect the next rent check, we refill the maintenance fund. If, however, the maintenance cost exceeds the funds in escrow, we will work with you to make satisfactory financial arrangements that comply with the law.

No. The psychology of renting a home is quite different from the psychology of buying a home. Prospective tenants tend to look for homes in $200 rent windows. They frequently say “I am looking for something between $1600 and $1800. If you have priced your $1800 home at $1900 to allow for negotiation, you have missed the boat on these particular tenants.

Another problem with this strategy is that in a hot market, great prospects often come from sign calls. Recently we have had applications on a home prior to putting it into the listing service, just from sign calls. Sign calls come from passers-by, but lots of them come from neighbors with friends or relatives ready to move. When they hear your inflated price, you have lost them. They will never know that the price has been corrected a week or a month later.

Price your home based on what similar homes in the neighborhood or school district are being rented for. Don’t try to rationalize that you have nicer carpet or a fancier countertop. Time is money. Each day that your home sits empty is a day that you pay interest, taxes, insurance and utilities with no income to offset them. Over the course of a 12 month lease, the $50 you are holding out for adds up to $600. How many days does it take you to spend $600 on your empty house? Probably not that many!

If you are determined not to take less than your advertised price, then just hold firm. If your home is priced correctly, it will rent to good tenants without a reduction.

No. Seriously. Why would you want to do that? We know, we know. You are trying to keep your expenses down. Here’s the thing – the utilities in an empty house are not going to break you, but having them off will definitely affect the rentability of the home.

When prospective tenants go into your home, they are imagining themselves living there. In fact, if they bring their kids, the kids are going to almost always pick out their bedrooms. They do it in every house they look at. The adults imagine where the furniture will go. The chef imagines himself working in the kitchen. The reader mentally picks out a spot for solitude. If those mental images are pleasant, the application process begins. If not, they move on to a home where they get a better first impression.

If your utilities are off, the home is hot in the summertime. In July and August it is both hot and wet (We could hardly be the Best Atlanta Property Management Company and not know that!). In addition to the temperature, the lack of air flow through the home leaves it smelling musty. Cobwebs that would be swept away by normal ventilation expand. Rooms that need artificial light look gloomy.

The same is true in the winter time - it’s hard for someone to imagine themselves living in a home when they’re bundled up and shivering. Additionally, when the temperature drops below freezing, you are just asking for a burst pipe. In a vacant home that is not being monitored constantly, this will turn into a very expensive problem very quickly.

We cannot market your home unless all utilities are on.

To an extent, yes. Prior to renting your home we will discuss the applications with you and explain to you why we are planning to approve or disapprove a candidate.

If there are multiple applications we will help you select the best fit that is in line with your goals.

At the end of the day we almost always come to an agreement with our owners on who we should rent the property to.

Unfortunately, no. Over 50% of renters in Georgia have at least one pet. If you list a home as not allowing pets, you are missing out on at least half of the possible tenants in the area. As a company policy, we only list homes as pet friendly.

Our experience has shown that responsible tenants are responsible with their pets. We are very particular in our selection process and only rent to well qualified tenants. The result is that we rarely have any major pet damage.

Still have concerns? Our pet damage guarantee is included with our Premium and Ultra plans and will reimburse you up to $5000 in the event of a pet doing damage in excess of the security deposit.

No. Georgia landlord-tenant law requires security deposits to be held in escrow accounts established for that purpose. Owners who own 10 or less rental units between themselves, their spouse and their children combined are excepted. The law goes on to say that the exception does not apply if you pay someone to manage your property for you, including collection of rent. The law further says that violation of this particular section removes the right of the landlord to withhold any part of the tenant’s security deposit. All the best Atlanta Property Management companies hold security deposits in escrow accounts and Omyra is no exception.