Author: GroupMTL

4 Reasons Why You Need A Trustful Property Management Company

Post author By GroupMTL
Post date October 19, 2020
No Comments on 4 Reasons Why You Need A Trustful Property Management Company

Suppose you stay in Greater Montreal and look for a professional management company looking after your property. How do you find the best property management company in Greater Montreal?

Generally, there are several reasons for hiring a trustworthy property management company in Greater Montreal, which will add significant value to your investment. So before proceeding further, let us look at the significant four aspects of hiring a reliable property management company, which will benefit you.

1. The shorter period in finding a Tenant

It is observed that many property management companies in Greater Montreal have a fundamental criterion for finding a tenant; they are genuine. For filling up the vacant position, a trustful property management company has written hundreds of ads and understands what to demonstrate and where to advertise. They tend to get a larger pool of candidates within a shorter period. Besides this, they are quite familiar with the sales and how to close them. Ascertaining the best price requires knowledge about the local market and access to rental rate tools to rely on. Property management companies do this the best way.

2. Spending less amount on the maintenance

Keeping good maintenance and repairing from time-to-time helps you keep your tenants happy and maintain your asset’s value. So, hiring a property management firm will surely help you have the hold on both their in-house maintenance staff and their bonded contractors. They have already been evaluated for reasonable pricing and quality work.

3. Selection of faithful and reliable tenant

Tenant screening is the most crucial part of many landlords. Apart from this, it is impossible to get a bad tenant out of your home once they are in, but it’s a real hassle if this matter is also looked after by your property management company. So, the majority of the property management team conducts a screening test before hiring a tenant on the factors listed below:

Pay the rent on time
Create less damage to the unit
Agree to the rent norms
Cause fewer problems

Trustworthy Management Company goes through thousands of applications and is well aware of quickly digging the real facts about candidates and analyzing them.

4. Benefits for the Property owners

You have to face less stress, such as avoid dealing with the middle of the night emergencies, chasing for the rent, and evicting people who wreck your property, etc. Once you have found a good management company in Greater Montreal, then it hardly matters if you live in the same state or not. Additionally, you have more time to spend with your family, friends, and relatives doing things you enjoy. You can live your life the way you want, can easily travel without always being available in the event whenever your tenants require you.

Conclusion

Overall, these things can be expected if a property management company is proficient and trustworthy. A poor choice of a property management company can produce many headaches of its own.

Rental Property

Furnished Vs. Unfurnished Rentals: Which Is Best For You?

Post author By GroupMTL
Post date October 16, 2020

It is observed that furnishing a property for rental is quite expensive. The most confusing question is, before renting your property, should you spend money on furnishing it or let your tenants furnish it? So, before proceeding further, here are a few guidelines which you need to follow when deciding whether you should rent out your unit furnished or unfurnished to the people.

So, let us explore the benefits of renting out the furnished or unfurnished property to your tenant.

Here are the benefits of renting out a furnished property:

While allocating a furnished property, you can demand a higher rent from your tenant. Well-furnished property rents are 50 % more than comparable to the unfurnished property.
Secondly, being a landlord, if you are targeting to be involved in a short-term rental business for approximately 12 months, then the surely furnished unit will work for you as it attracts more short-term rentals as renters don’t have to move their belongings.
Furnished units get rented more quickly as tenants can save their costs and time associated with furnishing.
Apart from these things, if you attractively decorate your apartment, it will definitely demand better treatment from your tenants.

Now, let’s have a look at the benefits of renting out an unfurnished unit:

Firstly, tenants may stay for quite a long period as they have furnished the apartment as per their needs and space. Furnished properties are usually rented for a short period, whereas unfurnished units allow tenants to make their own apartments.
Most of the tenants are quite happy because they have decorated and designed or customized the space as per their requirements.
All the tenants’ personal belongings are not required to be insured as all the furniture belongs to them, and they are solely responsible for the same.
Needless to worry, if any damage happens to your tenants’ personal belongings, it will be taken care of by them only.
Whenever any unit gets furnished, the tenants will bear the cost; otherwise, if you want to carry the cost, you can increase the rent, which will cover the furnished cost incurred by the tenants.
Additionally, the unfurnished property requires less management than the furnished ones since they experience more frequent tenant turnover.

Conclusion

To sum up, furnished properties attract younger tenants who are more likely to enjoy a furnished apartment’s convenience. Also, it is easy to furnish such properties inexpensively. While landlords having larger apartments leave them unfurnished since tenants having bigger families are likely to decorate and customize them as per their own choice.

So, I would advise you to evaluate the entire market before deciding about the same.

Real Estate Buying

Successful Home Buying Tips That You Must Follow

Post author By GroupMTL
Post date October 6, 2020

Real estate buying is not an easy job and can be daunting, especially if it’s your first time as a home buyer. If you are stepping yourself to buy a new house for the first time, you need to go through this complicated process by following proper steps.

There are plenty of things to consider when deciding on buying your dream house, but you are already overwhelmed with the mess of searching for an ideal home, finance handling, budget, and a lot more.

How will you be able to move further to investigate and land to an ideal home? Here are a few tips and tricks that you must follow and consider when buying your new home.

Find the right Moment

Before you buy a property, analyze your financial capacity. If you are in an unstable position, it is better not to hurry and just relax. Its worth to wait before you buy a new home, don’t compromise; you will find it somewhere soon. Acquiring real estate needs rational thinking.

Don’t go for a maximum budget

As you are planning to buy a new home, you may have decided on a specific budget. But the property you liked fits in a little tight budget that can take your maximum savings. It can be a wrong idea to spend all your money on that property. There are many things to do while buying a new house – the furniture, décor, paint, package moving all include costs.

Focus on Personal Debts

As an investor, you might carry your debts. And In between that, the decision of home buying is worst. You are simply adding financial burden, so take a break and clear away personal debts first.

Find Ideal Location

Your home should be such that it brings great value in the future too. Maybe you have selected a spot, but have you checked the school facility nearby, hospitals, hotels, trains and bus and even the market? Are these amenities nearby to your dream home? If yes, is it a great deal? If it’s an isolated spot, away from the chaos, it might look soothing but can be troublesome. As everyday travelling time might increase to reach the main road just to access basic amenities.

Plan Your Finances

Your budget should meet the capacity to buy a new home. The property’s price must not exceed three times your salary; this is what the expert says. Plan your finances well; if you can’t, seek help from a professional financial expert. They will analyze your current position and give you a reasonable budget to stick in. They consider all expenses along with the house price.

Pre-approved Mortgage Loan

If you have luckily found a financial institution that is ready and likely to do business with you, all you need a good financial option and one that suits best for you to get your loan approved quickly. Even before the negotiation process starts, the brokers or landlords will want to know your status on the pre-approval mortgage loan. Not all will seek the documents for it and your ability to pay, but few might want to know and be updated about it. If you are a serious buyer, you have to be one step ahead of all the chaos and be prepared mentally.

Get Set Visit

Nowadays, the Internet world has made us extremely lazy. We want to do things on our fingers’ touch that includes shopping, paying bills, etc. But, when it comes to making an investment decision, merely having a look at the property through your phone is not it. Pictures won’t do them justice. You have to visit the spot, discuss with the seller, ask neighbours, visit the neighbourhood, and then decide.

Property Management

Why Customer Service is the Key to a Successful Property Management?

Post author By GroupMTL
Post date October 2, 2020
No Comments on Why Customer Service is the Key to a Successful Property Management?

With a property management professional working with you, it’s important to realize that they are the first exposure to potential tenants. Plus, with them, all the property related issues, questions, concerns raised by a tenant can be solved in no time.

They are the middlemen and serve to be a crucial factor between a landlord and a tenant. There are ample things to be taken responsibility for, from managing your rental property, from tenant screening, lease creation to maintenance, rent collection, and the list goes on. However, the central part of all is the importance of customer service.

With every customer comes a varied set of personalities, and the real challenge is how things should be handled? If not handled with care, it can turn into a major conflict source, which is probably the last thing you would want to face.

Customers have Higher Expectations

More than 50% of the property owners move to a different property manager if the customer services come out to be poor. And more than 70% of the property owners are willing to spend more money on the property manager with exceptional service.

That’s pretty complex to impress every unique client but the challenge is worth it.

Pleasing customers is never comfortable. When it comes to the company’s lifeline, a property manager must put all the effort and dedication into serving customers with every need, be it small or big.

First Impression Matters

If a property management company makes a poor impression on their first day of interaction with a prospective client, chances are the client will never come back. Nobody wishes to risk buying, selling or renting property decisions to someone they are unsure of.

This is an outcome of your first impression, and you have to avoid all the chaos or unwanted behaviour that can ruin your company’s image. A single negative review holds a high weightage to that of the ten positive reviews on you.

Resolve Complaints

A great relationship doesn’t happen in a day. It takes time, skill, and energy to build strong business relationships. Successful property managers use their soft skills like communication, empathy to handle a tricky situation. If you use positive language during your communication, you are making a strong position in the clients’ minds.

Respond to complaints, and making sure you are proactive in all possible situations is equally essential. Being courteous, responsive are the two strongest pillars to customer satisfaction, and it shows that you genuinely care.

Be Transparent

You want to build strong relations with the owner, focus on maintaining transparency. Give personalized treatment, communicate, and help them to what they need for you. If you think you are unsure of something, speak out and not hesitate to share the bad news.

Keep them updated and informed. Your honesty is what they expect from you, so don’t overthink. A suitable successful relationship with clients starts with being loyal and transparent, so don’t overlook that. Stay in touch and keep your client updated with the smallest and most important details of a property.

Be there during their concerns.

Tenants pretty much want to be heard, especially when they are facing problems. Being a property manager, the relationship should be maintained with both the owner and the tenants, and you have to look through their concerns and be attentive.

A good property manager ensures all the concerns are heard, valid, and a matter solution is also considered. Listen to what they want from you and what they need more than empathy. They want a solution, so show your problem-solving skills.

Quality customer service is the key to successful property management. Customers are the king, and without which no business can run effectively or efficiently. Pleasing customers and providing them top-notch performance should be the first-ever motive of any property manager. Be honest, transparent, and problem solver, don’t be only sympathetic towards their problem but give them a valuable solution too.

Real Estate Buying

5 Real Estate Buying Tips for First Time Investors

Post author By GroupMTL
Post date September 24, 2020

Real estate is undoubtedly a tremendous investment opportunity, especially for those looking for benefits in the long run. But, when it’s the first time entering into the real estate world as an investor, you will have many questions. And the major one is where to start? Your decision to buy a property for investment is an absolute great step that you dive into, but there is more to do, and be prepared for getting an excellent opportunity.

Here are a few tips to consider that can help you have a great start. Your decision into real estate investment is the right choice, but caution is also equally important to go through the way ahead with caution.

1. Be full of goals

Be it your short-term investment or a huge long-term investment; you have to set realistic goals to make sure your investment is lined up with this. Applying goals has to be your only aim to achieve success in your real estate buying decision. Planning is always a great thing; it helps you make a smart decision and handle the finances. This way, while making a buying decision of property, you know how much to spend and where.

2. Know the Market

Market knowledge should be made the top priority before initiating your decision as a real estate investor. Ensure the area, local market, taxes, crime rate, school and colleges, health sector, and other amenities are considered well in advance. This helps you buy a property that gives you fruitful results and knowing this information is always better to be one step ahead. Investing in an area that is not just great in the current times but a lot beneficial in the future makes the smartest investment decision.

3. Researching is Everything

You will have to learn as much as you want to about your real estate investment and rental property handling. Brush up and learn everything about being a landlord, get some ideas by reading books, magazines, articles that speak about investment decisions and advice. There are many things involved in real estate, and to becoming a landlord, your eyes should meet the perfect property. Being prepared will help you avoid big pitfalls that will come your way in the future.

4. Seek Assistance

There are many steps or processes that require the assistance of the property manager who has experience in this field. They will surely give you a few of the best pieces of advice and help you make the appropriate decision in no time by actually evaluating the scenarios. People often think of choosing a cheaper one considering that there is not much to do or get help from property agents. However, in reality, they are the ones to handle the rentals, the bills, finances, seek monthly rents, etc.

5. Breathe, take some time

Many people invite a lot of problems clearly because they jump from one market to another without doing the necessary planning and research. Some people go by the deal, considering only a few factors and investing and later choosing other deals. Few properties are worth investing in for a longer time due to the increase in the area’s rates.

You should always be calm, in peace of mind, and careful before switching to any deals and finalizing the right one. Do not land up to a useless property that will leave you in big-time debts. Think rational and profitable, and make sure seeking assistance is done on a thorough basis every time you want to make the finance flow for real estate.

Real estate investing can be challenging yet profitable if done rightly and through the right mind. Take it slow and not be in a hurry until you are fully aware that the investment will make a big difference and become beneficial. Make sure assistance is taken correctly from a professional property management company.

Property Management

Here is Why Property Managers can be of a Great Help

Post author By GroupMTL
Post date September 22, 2020

businessman and buildings

While privately handling your property may initially seem like saving your money. It is essential to understand the pros and cons of it before making the judgment ahead. Without the right management, your property will simply sit in the market for too long and bring no good leads.

You need the right knowledge and peace of mind to bring the highest possible result without any headache, risk, or challenge. Having a property manager by your side adds to cost, but, it also appreciates the property value effectively and generate more revenue to make it a win-win situation.

Reliable Tenants

A professional property manager will give you excellent guidance and land you with a reliable tenant. These professionals will do their research and thoroughly screen the tenants before approving it for your property. A good tenant is the one that pays on time and looks at your property; they stay longer, so you don’t have enough burden or searching for new ones.

Rent Collection & Deposit

Securely receiving payments from the client can be challenging. It is awkward to ask rents repeatedly from them even though the money is yours, and you deserve it. Good property management companies ensure they do the collection and deposit work all by themselves. This way, even the tenants will be punctual and understand on-time payment importance. Collecting payment on time is crucial, and this is one thing you should be worry-free.

Laws are Complex

Real estate laws are very complex. How much do you know about these laws, and how well are you going to implement it? One most significant benefits of a property manager is the ability to avoid legal hassle. They can do systematic screening without discrimination; they will handle the payments. Plus, if the eviction becomes a necessity, they know how to handle a situation like that. The paperwork with legal jargon can be understood well by them, and you’ll be informed too.

Marketing Rightly

Through the apt and extensive experience that Property Managers possess, they have sufficient knowledge of advertising your property in the market. They know how to craft a compelling advertisement such that it lures people and creates attention. They have the skills and the network to market your property and show it to the right people in need. This way, you do not have to stress about your property being vacant for too long.

Vendor Relations

The best part of having a professional property manager by your side is, they know how to maintain a vendor relationship. This can be a crucial part as they are in good talking terms with suppliers, workers, and other vendors. Not only your property manager maintains good relations with them, but they will also work to get you the best price. They will see if your property requires any maintenance work and thus help you accordingly.

Property managers are crucial to hiring, and if you want valuable results on your investments, there is no way better than the help they provide you. They are available for you when you need them and give you sound advice, so you act accordingly.

Property Financing

Financing Options to Cover Your Home Renovation Needs

Post author By GroupMTL
Post date September 16, 2020

Is lack of finances holding you back from carrying out your home renovation? If yes, then this doesn’t have to happen to you. Fortunately, there are several financing options available to meet your home renovation needs. Given below are some of the most common ways you can avail funding for your home renovation project.

1. Savings or a Credit Card

If your home renovation project is small, then consider paying for it yourself. Use your savings or credit card to fund your labour and material expenses. But make sure you do not exhaust all your savings. Keep aside some money for unexpected expenses. However, if you are using your credit card for financing, be aware of its high-interest rate and try paying off the pending amount as soon as possible.

2. Personal Loan

A personal loan benefits you with a lower interest rate as compared to a credit card. Also, it has short-repayment options. After completing your personal loan, you are eligible to apply for it again if there is a need for more funds.

3. Personal Line of Credit

If your home renovation process is ongoing and will continue for a long, make Line of Credit your go-to option for financing. With Line of Credit, you can use funds as and when needed, and you will pay interest only on the amount you use. Thus, this financing option saves you from paying unnecessary interest on the whole loan amount. This option also provides you with the flexibility of using funds throughout the renovation process.

4. Secured Line of Credit and Home Equity Loan

These loans provide you similar benefits like personal Line of Credits and other loan types. But the major difference is that these loans require you to pledge equity of your home as collateral. Also, these loans attract some legal charges.

5. Mortgage Refinancing

If your renovation project is expensive and requires a considerable investment, then go for mortgage refinancing. This particular financing option provides you access to better interest rates and long term flexible repayment options. However, these loans are subject to loan set-up costs.

6. Financing Upon Home Purchase

If you want funds for the house’s renovation, you are about to purchase, consider financing your home purchase. This will cost you a lower interest than on credit card or other loan types.

7. Grant and Rebate on Energy Efficiency Renovation

If you plan to renovate your home to boost its energy efficiency, you are eligible for receiving grants or rebates from Federal, provincial, or municipal governments. To support this, many local utilities have also come forward. They also reward homeowners with a refund on energy-efficient home renovation financing.

8. Grants for Seniors

Seniors citizens are also eligible to avail of grants on their home renovation projects. These programs are aimed to help seniors improve the accessibility, safety, and energy efficiency of their homes.

Don’t let your ageing home lose its appeal. Opt for any of the financing options to fund your home renovation needs. If you want to efficiently assess your finance options for home renovation and need guidance, contact the right property financing company.

MTL GROUP is a property management and financing company, operating in the Greater Montreal area in Quebec. Our professionals are just a phone call away to assist you with your property management and financing needs.

Rental Property

A Guide to Tenant Screening For Rental Properties

Post author By GroupMTL
Post date September 12, 2020

Whether you are a property manager or landlord, finding the right tenant is overwhelming for everyone. While being able to find a suitable tenant is a significant achievement. The initial efforts you invest in screening the right candidate helps you go a long way. When you have the right tenant, you don’t have to run behind for rent, fixing property damage now, and then handling major disputes and complaints. As such, there are ample benefits that come with a comprehensive tenant screening.

Having a thorough screening plan enables you to find good candidates without wasting your time and effort. If you are looking for some guidance on tenant screening, this is the post you ought to read. This guide covers tried and tested tips on tenant screening that aid you reach out to authentic candidates.

Highlight Your Criteria in Your Listing

The first step to tenant screening is elimination. Filter out the pool of individuals who do not meet your desired renting preferences. And you can do this easily by incorporating detailed information in your listing. Include a line in your vacant property listing that every applicant needs to undergo a screening process. In addition to this, also include lifestyle items, for example –

Pet policy
Smoking Policy
Rent to income ratio standard

Doing so will help you filter out wrong suitors for your property easily.

Plan a Face to Face Meeting

When considering a candidate for screening, go and meet him/her in person. A face-to-face meeting will convey a lot about a person otherwise impossible to be revealed through a phone call. Before getting into any paperwork, ask them basic questions and verify their responses.

General questions that you may consider asking:-

What’s your monthly income?
When are you planning to move in?
Will you have regular parties at the place?
How many people will live with you in the apartment?

Since you will deal with each other for the long term, it is mutually beneficial to have a face to face meeting to foster a good relationship.

Conduct a Background Check

A background check is a must for tenant screening as you are likely to deal with the person for years to come. The person you choose as a tenant should have a clean criminal background and credit history. Moreover, the interested renter should abide by your proposed renting policies. If a person has red flags, they may not consider applying if you mention the background check. A thorough background check will protect you, your property, neighbours, and your other tenants.

Contact References

To look into the entire rental history of an applicant, speak to their current and former landlords. This will provide you with a better idea of your applicant’s character. Ask them if the person paid rent on time or not, followed the terms of the lease, or took care of the property. Having a word with rental references is the best way to know your potential tenant’s past behaviour.

Bonus Tip

Tenant screening is one of the most critical and time-consuming tasks in rental dynamics. Finding good tenants leads to long-term occupancy and less headache of maintenance and rent collection. A good property management company will ensure that your property is occupied faster with good tenants to generate steady revenue. It will also make sure that your property value appreciates more year-on-year, beating the average growth.

Property Management

5 Signs You Need to Change Your Property Manager

Post author By GroupMTL
Post date September 10, 2020

If you own a property, you are aware of the significant importance such investments hold. It involves two main things from you, one is time, and the other is money. As an income source, it is very remunerative, but only if it is in safe hands. You may have interviewed many property managers and figured out hardly a few qualified for the position. A good property manager has the trick to save thousands of your bucks.

Here are a few of the signs that show you’re dealing with bad property managers-

1. Communication Barrier

If your manager hardly attends your call or isn’t available whenever you need them. Ask yourself, are they of great help to you or not? If you are facing challenges to communicate and contact your property manager, it is time you switch to a new one. They should be professional and attentive and must respond within 24 hours. Unanswered calls or delay in communication is the sign you shouldn’t ignore.

2. Delayed Reporting

Professional property managers are punctual and give importance to strict deadlines for work and any sort of reporting. They must contact your tenants and be present, so you don’t have to face any unforeseen circumstances. They are meant to ease your work and not forget important dates for providing you with monthly reports.

3. Unable to Qualify Tenant

A bad tenant is riskier than a late tenant, believe it or not. They can soil your property because damage might trouble legally, or even disturb the neighbour. This is probably the last thing you’d want from them. Your property manager handles the tenant qualifying process. And if they are not doing their work correctly, they are of no use to you. A bad property manager only wants to fill the vacant space without researching tenants.

4. Vacant Duration is Longer

If your property is displayed and on the market for a very long time, about some weeks. It is high time to change your property manager as they are not doing enough to fill it fast. If your property is vacant for more than it is supposed to be, what benefit are you getting from the asset? Professional property managers regularly check the market and make contacts to fill the vacant properties.

5. Maintenance Charges Are Rising

If property rentals are cared for appropriately, maintenance issues are handled subjectively. The property manager ensures regular reviews are done on the rental space and how much maintenance is required. They also understand if the issue lasts longer, the problem will be uncontrollable later and much costly. If an issue arises, It needs to be fixed quickly with reasonable charges. But if your maintenance charges keep rising, it’s an alarm.

Property Management Rental Property

10 Important Tips for New Landlords – Rental Property management

Post author By GroupMTL
Post date June 28, 2020

10 Important Tips for New Landlords – Rental Property management

When you step into the shoes of a landlord the first time, it seems like a lot of work with unforeseen challenges. Marketing your property, meeting with potential tenants, screening tenants, preparing all the paperwork, and rent collection, etc. are overwhelming tasks, no doubt, but with the right knowledge and guidance, you can do it with ease.

We have some tips for first-time landlords to help them manage the rental property –

Run your rental property as a business – It doesn’t matter if renting your property is your primary source of income or secondary, always treat it as a business because it is, in fact, a business and a good source of income.
Look for tenants online with proper screening – List your property on the good property listing websites. You can even consider promoting rental property in Facebook groups. Keep in mind that you will need to filter the applications and do proper screening to select high-value tenants for further meetings.
Research the market to set the right rent price – Have a better understanding of the real estate market in the area. Research on rent pricing with similar property and set competitive yet confident pricing that you can sell to your tenants.
Do a background check – To keep bad tenants out, do a proper background check of potential tenants before renting them. A background check should involve credit history, work history, living history, family history, and so on.
Prepare a comprehensive rental agreement – Before renting your property, have a well written rental agreement in place. This agreement should have all the terms, conditions, rules, and regulations in accordance with local laws to avoid any legal problems later.
Enforce rental property rules properly – Make sure that your tenants follow all the property rules so that they don’t disturb other tenants and damage the property. Let your tenants know the strict consequences if they violate the property law or local laws.
Collect the rent online – Collecting rent online will save you time, energy, and hassle of visiting property every time you want to collect rent from different tenants. Either give them the option to deposit directly in your bank or set up an account with any payment service to give your tenants multiple payment options.
Maintain digital records – This is very important and will help you in many situations. Set a digital bookkeeping process. All records such as tenants’ information, leases, agreements, maintenance, rent collection, etc. should be digitally accessible anywhere and at any time.
Focus on good tenants – Identify good tenants who are currently renting your property and try to serve them better by resolving their complaints faster and providing them with anything they need from you. You want to keep them long-term for better revenue optimization.
Consider hiring a good property manager – Renting a property is a step-by-step process that needs to be managed efficiently and effectively to meet financial expectations. Every step matters and failing at any step can cause financial and legal problems.A good property manager will save you from lots of trouble by actively taking care of everything from marketing your property to resolve any legal case quickly.

On a final note, it is not hard to manage the rental property but it needs discipline and better execution if you want it to be a good source of income. If you need any consultation regarding your real estate matters, We are waiting to hear from you. Contact us today.

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Laws are Complex

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