Home Rental Services, Inc.

Homeowners’ Association Documents Recently Updated!

Posted on June 18, 2019 Updated on June 18, 2019

Many of the homes we rent are in neighborhoods with a homeowners’ association (HOA). These kinds of associations are a governing body for the neighborhood and have the power to enforce the rules and bylaws agreed to by all members of the neighborhood.

Typically, rules and regulations apply to the exterior appearance of homes, fences, vehicle parking, additional structures like sheds, noise levels, pool use and more. We continually update the homeowners’ association documents when we receive them. We also work hard to obtain HOA documents for new houses when we begin to manage them for our owners.

We’ve added more HOA folders in the last few weeks! That takes us up to 270 HOAs that we have in our list.

We’re happy that we can make them available for our owners and renters so they can better understand the rules and regulations for their homeowners’ association. When renters move in, we ask them to review the HOA documents for their neighborhood. This is done in an effort to protect our owners and make sure the renters understand the rules for their neighborhood.

Please click on the HOA Documents link below to view the list of all neighborhoods that we currently have HOA information for. Once you find a neighborhood that you are interested in seeing, simply click on the folder to see the PDF documents we have that contain specific information about the HOA rules and regulations.

Click here for the list of HOA Documents

Technical note: We are using a web service called Dropbox to store and share the HOA documents. Dropbox makes it very easy to share any folder in your “virtual locker” with anyone, including people that don’t have Dropbox installed. We upload the HOA PDF files to our Dropbox account and link to the public view of those folders from our web site.

Top 5 Tips for Preparing Your Home for Spring!

Posted on April 2, 2019 Updated on March 19, 2019

We’re all usually very busy. Because of that, we thought it would be a good time to give you our Top 5 Tips for Getting Your Home Ready for Spring! A lit bit of preventative maintenance can go a long way and potentially help you avoid major hassles or cost in the future!

This list is geared towards our current renters, but applies to anyone maintaining a home!

1. Change your furnace filter
   This should be done on a regular basis, at least quarterly.
2. Check (and change if necessary) batteries in smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
   It’s a good idea to check all of your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors on a yearly basis.
3. From the ground, inspect your gutters for leaves hanging over the sides.
   If your gutters are full and need to be cleaned out, please submit a maintenance request.
4. Walk around your house and make sure all gutter downspouts have splash guards.
   If you are missing some splash guards, please submit a maintenance request.
5. Put down new mulch in your yard as needed to prevent weeds and protect plants.

For a complete list of Renter Responsibilities, please visit the page we’ve dedicated to this topic on our website.

We hope that at least one of these reminders comes in handy as you think about maintenance items you might need to address as we get ready for spring and summer!

Security Deposits: It’s a Process.

Posted on March 5, 2019 Updated on March 6, 2019

By Oretta Croushore, Property Manager for Home Rental Services

Have you ever played one of those “spot the differences” games?

My mom is a whiz at them. In the blink of an eye, she can tell you the dog in the first picture has two spots and in the second picture has three. I was always more of a hidden objects girl, myself. I still pick up the Highlights Magazines in the doctor’s office to see how many I can find before they call me back. However, over the past few years, I’ve gotten much better at finding the differences. That comes from processing security deposits after renters move out.

I’m sure you could ask a dozen different property managers how they assess damages after a move out and you would get a dozen different answers.

Since we have 200 plus photos from each move in and move out inspection, I start there.

First, I go through the move out photos.
I keep a spreadsheet open on my other screen to make notes. If I see something that seems like it’s out of place, I make a note on the spreadsheet. Is the oven dirty? Was that wall damaged at move in? Was there always a TV mount in the living room? I’m also looking for burned out light bulbs and checking to make sure cleaning was done as required in the lease. Renters are required to provide a receipt for professional carpet cleaning. If they don’t email it to me before the inspection, it should have been left on the kitchen counter. Additionally, the garage door remotes, house keys, and mail box keys should be on the counter.

Next, I go through the move in photos.
Here’s where the game begins. I strike through anything on my list which I see was present at move in. I’m also looking for anything which was present at move in and not there at move out. Did the renters remove the refrigerator? Are there interior doors missing? Do we have the same number of garage door remotes we started with?

When I’ve finished reviewing the photos, I look at the paper inspection.
Renters are provided a copy of the inspection when they move in. They are asked to add their own notes to the inspection and return it to us within a few days of move in. We use the copy on which they made notes for the move out inspection. That way, all the notes are in one place. The third party inspector uses a red pen to make move out notes. I’m looking for anything in red that I might have missed in the photos. Occasionally, I find something in the inspection notes which I thought was going to be renter damage, but I find it was actually part of the move in inspection.

Once I feel I have sufficiently assessed all renter damage in need of repair, I put work orders in to our vendors. I will await the invoices from the vendors so that I can charge the renters’ security deposit the exact amount which was charged by the vendor. There are occasions where the security deposit has to be returned to the renters before I can get the invoice back. In those situations, I ask the vendors to provide an estimate so the charges are as accurate as possible.

By law, we have 30 days from the move out date to have  the security deposit back to the renter. That doesn’t mean we can mail it out on day thirty. The renters are to have it in their hands, along with a statement of charges, by day thirty. Our software keeps a calculation of the number of days since the move out. I use this feature a ton!

It’s a process.

As you can see, this is a lengthy process. Renters are always anxious to get their money back as quickly as possible. However, this is a process I refuse to rush through. I work diligently to make sure the renters do not have any reason to dispute the charges. I often reach out to other members of the HRS team when I’m unsure about charging something. It’s not always as black and white as we would like it to be. The question we always ask ourselves is,“would this charge hold up in court?” It can be quite costly for an owner if a judge rules in favor of the renter on a security deposit dispute. The owner could end up refunding the renter 1 ½ times the amount of the full security deposit!

Typically, renters submit their disputes in writing to HRS. Then, I go back through the whole process to make sure nothing was overlooked. I have a fantastic template I use to show before and after pictures of move in conditions versus move out conditions. I find this usually helps the renters better understand their charges.

Next time you see one of those puzzles that ask you to find twenty differences, think lovingly of your favorite property manager.