Owners FAQs
Foursquare Property Management has proudly served real estate investors and property owners in the Triangle area since 2013.
Yes. We are a fully licensed North Carolina Real Estate Firm specializing in residential Property Management.
Intentional investor with 1-5 units continuing to grow and looking for a trusted advisor. Typically, our clients are professionals looking for passive income to diversify their retirement portfolio.
At Foursquare, we know the relationships built between tenants, owners and vendors are what will give you long term financial freedom.
At the surface, managing properties appears relatively simple. However, there are small nuances that add up and ultimately determine an Owner’s long term success. At Foursquare, we believe that begins with relationships. Here are a few things we do differently that allow for you to easily navigate in a litigious and regulated environment:
- We know tenants, toilets and termites better than anyone in Raleigh. Our consistency ensures a predictable outcome that allows a focus on results and your bottomline.
- Maintenance- Annual preventative maintenance inspections to catch problems before they become emergencies. We build real relationships with local vendors for preferred vendor rates and the advantages of economies of scale
- We're so confident that you won't leave us that we have a guarantee that you can get out of your contract at any time without any penalty.
- High occupancy rates to keep vacancy low through systems and processes
Yes. There are multiple laws governing rental real estate, including federal and state fair housing, habitability, tenant rights, applicant screening, rent-ready standards, etc. As your property management company, we'll ensure your property and the management experience are fully compliant with all rules, regulations, and laws, locally and federally.
At Foursquare Property Management, we pride ourselves on providing a turn-key property management experience with fair, no hidden fees pricing. Click here to view our honest and transparent pricing.
No. We believe in an "owner mentality" approach, which means we should only be paid if you get paid, so our management fee is a percentage of the actual rent we collect. If we do not collect any rent or the property is vacant, you don't pay us anything.
Our goal is to obtain a highly qualified applicant as quickly as possible. We provide a competitive rental price analysis which combines market data with our professional knowledge of current market conditions to give you the most competitive and accurate pricing. Our goal is to be realistic and effective at the same time so we can maximize your rental income.
We have professional photos and video tours done for each of our properties. These professional photos and videos result in renting the property much faster. We partner with other listing platforms (such as Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, Rentals.com, Triangle MLS, etc) to ensure your property is receiving the exposure it needs to stay occupied.
When homes are rent-ready, we are able to market within (48 business hours) of the listing appointment! For existing clients, we start pre-advertising your property within 30 days prior to the tenant moving out to keep the vacancy of your home at a minimum.
Properties that show well and are priced appropriately should rent in 30 days or less.
To contribute to the efficiency of the rental process, we ask that you respond to our requests for information, clarification, or approval as quickly as possible. We will give you price recommendations and weekly activity feedback to ensure we minimize vacancy time.
In-depth tenant screening is the foundation of a good property management experience. Our in-house screening process utilizes technology plus good old-fashioned 'landlords references' to ensure we place high-quality tenants in our properties. (Click here for details)
While we appreciate your desire to help, the answer is no. Our applicant screening process is comprehensive, so you can trust us to minimize risk by locating high-quality tenants.
Although you are not required to accept pets in your rental, over 70% of all tenants come with pets. If you choose NOT to accept pets, you reduce your prospective inquiries by 70%. We do recommend that you allow pets. In turn, we will provide you with a $1,000 damage guarantee. (click here for details)
We use an in-house, custom, attorney-prepared lease agreement designed to be fair and provide maximum legal protection to all parties.
No. As your legal agent, Foursquare Property Management signs all of the legal documents on your behalf.
You will have 24/7 access to financial reporting via our secure online portal.
We close out the monthly accounting cycle at the end of each month and will direct deposit your funds between the 1st-5ths of the following month.
Although our high screening standards reduce most lease violations and damages, regular inspections are essential to maintain these standards and identify maintenance issues before they progress. A preventative maintenance inspection is performed for a nominal fee. This service is optional for owners but highly recommended.
We handle the entire rent collection process. Although it is rare - should a tenant not pay rent, we will handle the entire legal eviction process on your behalf.
The quality of a property is equal to the quality of the tenant it will attract. Therefore you want your property to be updated and CLEAN! We can take care of getting your property rent-ready to ensure it meets the state habitability requirement to attract high-quality applicants.
As the landlord, you must maintain any personal property you leave behind. That means that if you provide… you must fix it when it breaks. Therefore we recommend you do NOT leave any personal property (including washers & dryers) behind.
We will handle all repair requests, provided it isn't personal property (even the middle of the night emergencies), using pre-screened, quality vendors.
Yes. We will collect a $300 escrow reserve from you. This is your money and it will be deposited into our trust account as the reserve for your property. We could potentially use these funds to pay for expenses that may arise between the time we send your rental income and the time we collect the rent from the tenant the following month. But we will always maintain this $300 reserve as long as we manage your property. When our agreement ends, it will be returned to you.
Foursquare Property Management will hold all tenant security deposits in our security deposit trust account. This is done in compliance with NC State security deposit and trust accounting rules and regulations as determined by the North Carolina Real Estate Commission.
We will do a property inspection and complete the security deposit return process when a tenant moves out. We will withhold any funds from the tenant's security deposit that are legally due and allowable. It is at the sole discretion of Foursquare Property Management what will be withheld.
While a property is vacant, you are welcome to do whatever make-ready work you would like to do on your property. When a tenant is living in the property, we need to screen who is accessing the property for your protection and the tenant-residents protection. Therefore we will use pre-approved vendors. If you have a favorite vendor, please give us their contact information – we are always looking to add new high-quality vendors to our group!
We strongly discourage the use of home warranty companies as they typically provide a poor experience, outcome and longer response times.
Our relationship-first property management approach works best for owner-clients looking for a full-service experience. We're the perfect solution if you are looking for a property management experience that reduces risk, frees up your time, and treats your property like our own.
The short answer is no. But here's why. Our property management agreement gives you maximum flexibility, using a month-to-month term with no termination fees or penalties. We've designed our agreements this way because it allows us to provide a high-quality, full-service management experience every time.
Yes. We offer sales services exclusively to our owner-client group!
Simply call us at (919) 977-6508 to schedule a free rental analysis or complete our rental analysis form online. Click here to access the form.
We will provide the next steps during our call or after the completion of the rental analysis.