There are many types of insurance that people get to properly manage risks associated with living. Auto insurance, home owner’s insurance, health insurance, and life insurance are a few common types of insurance. But what if you’re renting a home or an apartment? Renters insurance is a perfect way to protect your personal belongings.
So, what are the main benefits of renters insurance?
1. Renters insurance protects your belongings
The main purpose of renters insurance is to safeguard your belongings in case of fire, theft, loss, or damage. In the event that something does happen to your personal belongings, renters insurance will reimburse you for that loss. Generally, the policy will have a maximum amount they can pay out on a particular item. Check with your insurance broker for a detailed policy coverage breakdown to ensure you are fully covered.
2. It’s not crazy expensive
Seriously, it’s one of the cheapest insurance policies out there. Renters insurance typically comes out to between $150 an $200 for the year but can be as low as $90 per year for the most basic coverage. (That’s $7.50 per month!)
3. You can transfer it if you move
If you move while your policy is still valid, you are able to transfer it over to your new address. Plus, your belongings will be covered for the move! Just be aware that your rates may change slightly when you move, due to being in a different location.
4. Most policies will cover computers!
This means if your screen dies or you need to replace that $1500 computer, you should be covered. Just check your policy or talk to your insurance agent to make sure this is included.
Renter’s insurance may seem like an additional cost, but it can (and likely will) save you money in the long run. If something were to happen to your belongings and you did not have any coverage, it would end up costing you more. And while we just explained how renters insurance will generally cover your belongings from theft, damage, and loss — depending on your policy, it can cover more even more. (Even things that happen outside of your house!)
Our advice? Ask your auto insurance carrier to give you a quote with a coverage breakdown. We recommend Titan Insurance. Titan is an independent insurance brokerage located on Boylston St in Boston, and they provide great service and competitive pricing. You can visit them at www.titaninsured.com
The City of Cambridge is certainly well-known. Home to Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, this education and technology hub is also a fun and lively city that has a lot to offer to residents and tourists. Central Square, Kendall Square, and Harvard Square are just a few of Cambridge’s main neighborhoods located off the Red Line.
Inman Square is one of the most unique neighborhoods in Cambridge. Bordering Somerville, this neighborhood is just a few minutes from Union Square and ten minutes from Harvard Square.
With its low-key atmosphere, this neighborhood offers plenty of things to do and has the best of both worlds. There are plenty of restaurants to choose from — Olé, Wit’s End, and Puritan & Company are some of our favorites — while still being close the hustle and bustle of other Cambridge neighborhoods. Located on the MBTA bus route, Inman Square also has access to the Greater Boston Area. And for fitness folks, Inman Square has The Cambridge YMCA, Boston Sports Club, and Art & Soul Yoga nearby!
Inman Square is by far one of Cambridge’s most underappreciated areas, but if you’re looking for a new place in the Greater Boston Area, you might want to consider moving there. MerGo Manages 4 buildings in the square and we are expecting to have more rental units available. Give us a ring for more info!
“My apartment building doesn’t have amenities. What do I do!?”
This is a common question for many people who live in a building that don’t have amenities such as a gym, laundry services, or parking. The good news is there are plenty of services that will give you the same amenities of a full-service building but at a lower cost.
In our experience, the immense cost savings of living in a non-full-service building greatly outweigh the cost of a gym membership and laundry service. In fact, research shows that a building with amenities will be between 20-30% more than a comperable building without amenities.
Laundry options
In the Greater Boston Area, there are plenty of laundromats. But what if you don’t have time to sit at a laundromat and do your laundry? Well, laundry services such as “Life Without Laundry” and “Dependable Cleaners” will pick your laundry up, service it, then deliver it to you the next day. These wash/fold services are generally less than $30 for two weeks worth of laundry.
Gyms and health clubs
One of the benefits of living in and near a city is that there are plenty of options for health clubs. Healthworks, Boston Sports Club, Equinox and Planet Fitness are a few health clubs that offer monthly memberships and are located throughout the Greater Boston Area. There are also more boutique options such as Barry’s Bootcamp, Orangetheory, Barre, Flywheel and Title Boxing that offer specialized classes and memberships.
Not able to commit to one health club? ClassPass is a great option that gives you credits to try out different gyms across the city — even across the United States. Even though these memberships are expensive, the cost savings of not living in a full-service building will almost always outweigh the cost.
The bottom line
You will save between 20-30% by living in a building that does not classify itself as “full service.” These cost savings can be huge when living in one of the most expensive cities in the United States!
With years of multifamily property management experience under our belt, we’ve seen the lucrative returns it can bring for property owners. And while the vast majority of our multifamily property management clients are pulling in impressive numbers, a select few are pulling in incredible numbers.
Why? Because they’ve figured out how to utilize every inch of their building—both literally and figuratively. So, whether you’re a first-time multifamily property owner or you’ve been doing it for years, here are our best tips to help get the maximum return on your investment in the Greater Boston area (or anywhere else).
Multifamily property management can be tricky. Let us help!
Consult a multifamily property management specialist
The simplest way to know you’re getting the most return on your investment is to get your rental pricing dialed-in from the beginning. Most people who venture into multifamily properties without consulting an expert end up pricing their rent far too low. Especially in the Boston area, rents are always fluctuating and you need to make sure your pricing reflects that.
Local real estate professionals are well-versed in the current market rates for multifamily properties, and they can help you get the absolute maximum rates for your building. It’s a no-brainer.
Opt for separately metered utilities
By separately metering your building’s utilities, you can have your tenants pay their own utilities. This lowers your expenses and makes your revenue stream much more predictable. And if you think paid utilities can make a big difference in your appeal to prospective tenants, you might want to think again. In our experience, the difference is negligible—our clients who opt for separately metered utilities have no problems finding tenants, and they always make more money in the end.
Start your leases in June or September
Around 65% of all lease cycles in the Greater Boston area turn over on September 1st, and of that remaining 35%, most turn over on June 1st. Your building’s location usually determines which date is best, so you’ll want to consult with your local real estate professional to decide which one is best for you.
But the lesson here is simple: if your lease isn’t turning over on one of those dates, you’re missing out on a whole lot of demand. More demand means you can charge more and you’ll be guaranteed to fill your building on each lease cycle.
Coin-op laundry and multifamily property management go hand-in-hand
If you own a multifamily building, coin-op laundry can provide a nice incentive for prospective tenants and a boost to your returns. We often find that units with coin-op laundry get rented faster than those without.
Our pro tip? Find a company (like Maytag, CoinMax, or others) who will lease the equipment to you, install it, and handle all repairs. These companies often have no up-front costs, and instead, opt for a monthly fee or a split of the proceeds. AKA, you’ll never have to think about those machines.
Provide rental storage
If you have extra space in your building, consider converting it into storage space for your tenants. In crowded city areas like downtown Boston, tenants are often unable to fit all of their belongings in their apartments—so extra storage is a welcome addition. In our experience, property owners can charge up to $75+ more per month by offering storage space for their tenants.
Take advantage of parking spaces
Parking spaces might just be the most sought-after pieces of land in any city, and Boston is no exception. Here’s why we love parking spots:
• They require no maintenance. • You can charge shockingly-high monthly rates for them. • They’re always in demand. • If your tenants don’t want them, you can rent them to other people in the area, or a company like Zipcar. • They can be a huge incentive for prospective tenants.
Depending on your location, a single parking spot can fetch upwards of $300 per month. Honestly, if you wanted to skip the properties altogether and invest solely in parking spots, it wouldn’t be the worst idea.
Use the 3% rule
Standard practice in a busy area like Boston is to raise your rent by 3% every year to account for inflation, higher cost of living, and increased demand. If you’re not already doing this, you really should be. It might not improve your returns by all that much, but it will always prevent you from losing money.
We’ve seen it too many times. A new property owner gets in over their head and calls the first rental property management company they hear about, only to realize a year later they’ve made a terrible choice. A good rental property management company will help you get the best return on your investment property and alleviate a whole lot of stress. Unfortunately, they’re not all as great as they might seem.
If you don’t ask the right questions during the initial vetting process, you may end up with a company that doesn’t have your best interests in mind. In order to avoid that, try asking these six essential questions to make sure you’re dealing with a professional.
Boston Rental Property Management
1. Ask for references!
Any rental property management company worth their salt will have plenty of references on hand. But for some reason, new owners are often hesitant to ask for references or would rather take a company on their word.
Property management companies get asked for references all the time, so you should never feel bad about asking—especially if you’re new to the industry. Always ask for references from current landlords and tenants in addition to reading any online reviews you can find. If a company is struggling to find a reference or if something seems fishy, look elsewhere.
2. “What kind of fees do you charge?”
Unfortunately, a lot of rental property management companies can be shady in the way they charge for their services. They’ll sneak in management fees, invoice markups, and even add on a percentage to all repair services. Some will also charge a flat monthly rate, which might sound nice from your perspective, but means they have no incentive to get the best rent for their tenants or make sure the rent is collected.
Be sure to ask specific questions about their pricing, including what fees are involved in various situations. If their pricing seems too good to be true or it’s so complicated they can’t explain it in a few sentences, you might want to stay away.
3. “How many units and employees do you have?”
This is a great question to ask because it will give you an idea of how quick their response times will likely be. A company that manages a lot of units could be good because they have plenty of experience, but if they only have a few employees, it could spell disaster.
Look for companies that have a considerable number of units with enough employees to reasonably manage them. Smaller companies are not necessarily bad; the important thing is that they have enough people to handle all of the units they manage—including yours!
4. “Do you have a property management system?”
Some rental property management companies aren’t much more than a few guys working out of vans with a to-do list on a notepad. Pro tip: you don’t want that company looking after your investment property.
Any qualified property management company will use a legitimate property management system, just like a store uses an inventory system or a sales team uses a CRM. You can start by asking them if their system tracks maintenance issues, tenant communication, and financials. If it doesn’t—or if they start telling you about how they don’t trust computers—you’ll want to steer clear.
5. “How many tenants have you evicted?”
This is an important question that most people don’t think to ask, but the response can be very telling of what kind of company you’re dealing with. If they’ve never evicted anyone, that’s a red flag. They’re either lying to you—which is problematic—or they’re telling the truth, in which case you’d be better off with a company who has experience with evictions, just in case you ever needed it.
On the other hand, if they say, “Oh, we’ve evicted tons of people,” that could also be a red flag. In our experience, it’s better to be in the middle than on one side of the spectrum here.
6. “Do you have an in-house maintenance crew?”
Some property management companies utilize in-house maintenance crews while others contract out all of their work to outside vendors. In our experience, in-house maintenance crews have faster response times, are more reliable, and can be held more easily accountable when things go wrong.
Property management companies that rely solely on outside vendors are often more expensive, as they charge a markup on their services. But more importantly, because they’re at the whim of the vendor’s schedule, your tenants might experience long wait times for repairs. As you can imagine, this can cause problems down the line.
7. Review the contract!
Okay, this isn’t a question, but it’s extremely important. You absolutely must review your contract—and be extremely thorough about it—before you sign on with a rental property management company! All contracts are different, and some can have stipulations that might not coincide well with your property.
For example, some contracts may lock you in for the calendar year instead of coinciding with your rental lease, which is not ideal. You’ll also want to look at how much notice you have to give before quitting, so you don’t have any surprises when it comes time to move on.
And finally, be sure to keep a record of everything the company has told you over the phone, in person, or via email. Once you get the contract, make sure it all matches up to what they’ve told you. If they try to pull a fast one on you, that could be an indicator of bad things to come.
So whether you’re currently looking for a property management company or you’re considering switching, we hope these questions will help you make the right decision. If you have additional questions or you’d like to hear about our property management services, feel free to drop us a line! We’d love to hear from you.
Looking to get into Boston Property Management on your own? Make sure to avoid these costly mistakes.
Boston property management is a competitive business that attracts investors looking to make a quick buck in a budding market. But the reality is that owning and self-managing rental properties in Boston isn’t nearly as glamorous as it may sound. Between tenant issues, scams, and urgent maintenance problems, a lot of people quickly find they’ve bitten off more than they can chew.
But in the same vein, there’s a reason Boston property management has the reputation it does. With the right attitude and the right knowledge, it is certainly possible to make a lucrative business out of owning and self-managing properties in the Greater Boston Area.
We’ve seen a lot of people succeed and a lot more fail. If you’re thinking about self-managing a rental property in Boston, here are a few mistakes to avoid.
Mistake #1: Not getting the right repair services
There are a lot of home repair services in the Greater Boston Area, but as a property owner, you need to be extremely selective. Obviously, you’ll want to find a reliable company that does good work and can handle quick turnaround times. (Trust us, you will have tenants calling you day and night asking when their sink will be fixed.)
What might not be so obvious is that, as a self-manager, you could be missing out on the discounts that every other property management company is getting. When a property management company establishes a relationship with a repair company, they get a heavily discounted rate. As a self-manager, you’ll want to do your best to get those discounts.
That might mean forming your own LLC or just having a candid conversation with the service to let them know you’re serious about property management and you’ll be bringing them more business in the future. You could also lie to them about how many properties you have, although we’d strongly advise against it.
Mistake #2: Not knowing Massachusetts tenant-landlord laws
We’re not going to beat around the bush here—Massachusetts is one of the most difficult states for landlords to operate in. In order to avoid wasting your time and money on lawsuits and scams, you’ll need to get clear on a lot of state-specific laws.
Without going too in-depth (that’s for another post), let’s cover a few basics. First and foremost, there are strict anti-discrimination laws that will determine what questions you can and can’t ask on an application and restrict you from discriminating against many types of prospective tenants. People with good intentions will often screw up here, and just one small mistake could mean a costly lawsuit.
Additionally, you’ll need to comply with laws surrounding when tenants must receive their security deposits, how much the security deposit can be, and when you can begin the eviction process. There are still more laws when it comes to how you construct your lease, how you evict a tenant, and what information you must disclose to your tenants.
We’ve just scratched the surface here, but know that you’ll need to do plenty of research and, most likely, hire a lawyer before you even think about self-managing a property in Boston. If you have questions about this, feel free to drop us a line.
Mistake #3: Being too nice to your tenants!
You’re a nice person, right? Well, being a nice landlord could be your downfall. Unfortunately, there are a lot of ways tenants will try to get out of paying rent or avoid paying for damage they’ve done. We guarantee you’ll get plenty of sob stories, illegal tactics, and even a fake lawsuit or two.
In order to avoid being taken advantage of, you need to be strict and direct with your tenants. Your livelihood depends on it.
Mistake #4: Missing crucial times of the year
Timing is crucial for property owners and managers in Boston. When it comes to putting your property on the market for rent, starting a lease and sending renewals, you need to be on your game and make sure you’re doing everything at the exact right time. If not, you might take a financial hit or, even worse, you could face legal troubles.
Property management companies are well-versed in these dates—because they deal with this stuff day in and day out—and can make sure their property owners are complying with the law and getting the most out of their rental property. When self-managing, you’ll want to do your research or get in touch with someone in the industry to make sure you’re doing things right.
Mistake #5: Inconsistent procedures and protocols
Property management companies might get a bad rap for having too much red tape and formal processes, but there’s a reason why they’re set up that way. When managing a property, you need to be sure to follow a standard set of procedures and protocols with all tenants. This becomes even more important when you’re dealing with multiple properties.
If you simply try to handle everything on a case-by-case basis, you’ll quickly run into troubles. When legal issues arise, you need to be able to clearly explain—and prove without a doubt—what happened and how you dealt with it. Creating standard procedures and protocols means you’ll be able to handle every situation the same way and you’ll have a clear paper trail of everything that happened.
Ultimately, self-managing properties in the Greater Boston Area can often be more headache than it’s worth. For only a small fee (we charge a flat 5%) you can take all of these problems (and more) off your plate. If you want to see what we can help you with, submit a proposal! We love chatting about this stuff.
When Boston residents want to escape the city, there is one place that immediately comes to mind: The Berkshires. Over the past few years, the Berkshires have become an increasingly popular destination for those in the Greater Boston Area looking to explore the more rural areas of Massachusetts.
With this increase in popularity, many people are also becoming interested in acquiring a second home and turning it into a passive investment through websites like Airbnb and VRBO. So let’s take a look at why the Berkshires are exploding in popularity and how everyday people are using this time to turn their second homes into income-generating businesses.
Berkshires: The go-to getaway for Boston residents
The Berkshires have always been a prime getaway destination for Boston residents looking to get out of the city, but over the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this dramatically. With lockdown rules limiting interstate travel, the Berkshires has become one of few places that Boston residents can “get away to” while staying properly quarantined. Just a few hours outside of the city, it is now the go-to destination for a weekend getaway.
It’s no surprise! Small towns like Great Barrington, Stockbridge, Pittsfield, Lenox, and Sheffield are premier destinations for tourists year round. In the warmer months, these areas have some of the best hiking trails and swimming holes in Massachusetts. In colder months, there are a number of alpine ski resorts and plenty of opportunities for snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, and other winter activities. In recent years, the food scene in the Berkshires has also improved, with restaurants catering to city-dwellers looking to get away while experiencing the same quality of food they’re used to in the city.
To accelerate things even further, many city dwellers are now realizing they can essentially work from anywhere with an internet connection. Taking a two-week working vacation is now possible for many of Boston’s office workers, and the Berkshires is an ideal location.
The booming vacation rental market
With this influx of people to the Berkshires, there has been an overwhelming demand for lodging. Hotels are few and far between in the Berkshires, and most people looking to escape the busy city aren’t interested in staying at a hotel in the first place. They want somewhere they can call home for the weekend—a cabin in the middle of the woods or a cozy one bedroom home in a small town.
Just take a look at the numbers: Between 2019 and 2020, internet searches for the Berkshires increased by 30%. In the summer of 2020, an Airbnb spokesperson was quoted as saying, “As guests search for cottages or pet-friendly retreats with plenty of outdoor activities nearby to continue safely social distancing, listings in the Berkshires are specifically popular among families, as listings meet their new, emerging needs for increased cleanliness, privacy and control over their travel experience and environment.” Weeklong rentals are becoming more common, and pet-friendly destinations with WiFi and kitchens are more sought after than ever.
The result of all of this commotion is that many people are realizing they can turn their second home into an income-generating property, while others are looking to buy a second home with the interest of turning it into a profit center while also using it for their own vacations.
Making the decision to buy and monetize a second home
Making the decision to buy a second home, either for personal use or as an income generating property, can be an exhausting and complex process. It might sound like a fun side project, but the reality is that the process of finding the right home, completing updates and renovations, making sure that it is marketed to the right audience, pricing, and keeping track of guests can be tiring and exhausting.
While the idea of owning a second home may seem cumbersome and overwhelming, monetizing a second home, when done correctly, can be both personally and financially rewarding. This is where we are seeing a shift in the market, where individuals who may have been scared of owning a second home are now able to not only purchase their dream home, but also monetize it and ultimately have an additional source of revenue. Websites such as Airbnb and VRBO have become the norm for people when booking vacations and getaways, making the vacation rental market even more accessible and enticing.
Now, more than ever before, individuals are buying second homes, in specific vacation destinations, with the intention of listing them as vacation rentals. For anyone considering this path, you should understand your options when it comes to managing it. If you’ve never managed a vacation rental before, doing things like calculating optimal nightly rates and marketing your home can be challenging and confusing.
Finding your management solution
Ultimately, there are three ways you can go about monetizing a vacation rental. You can manage it yourself, you can partner with a management property management company to split up the responsibilities, or you can utilize a full-service property management company that will take care of everything.
We fall into the latter category. As a full-service property management company, we take all the guesswork out of buying and monetizing a second home, with a focus specifically on the Berkshires. We manage all aspects of running a vacation home from marketing and pricing to booking to guest communication and any on-site services. And for those that don’t currently have a second home to monetize, we assist in finding and purchasing the right Berkshires home for your needs.
We understand that some owners want to manage the property themselves or they may want someone to handle one aspect of the process, like booking or marketing. But regardless, we think it’s important to understand all of the options out there. If you’re interested in learning more about how we can help you make your dream of a second home not only a reality but an income-generating investment, just click here for your free proposal. We’d be happy to discuss your goals and show you how we can help you achieve them.
As the coronavirus continues to affect our daily lives, we’ve all had to make major changes. For all of us at Mergo, that means working from home as much as possible, conducting video tours of properties, and working with our tenants who have been financially affected by this crisis.
But as June 1st came closer, we soon realized there would be an even more important change we’d have to make involving how we clean our properties during turnovers. In the current climate, a simple vacuum and dusting job isn’t enough to ensure a property is free of COVID-19. So over the past few weeks, we’ve worked with our cleaners to totally revamp our turnover system to ensure that all of our properties are completely safe for our new tenants.
We thought we’d share a bit about what we’ve been doing to improve our cleaning process for both turnovers and common areas at all of our properties.
Getting Up to Code
The first thing we did when this pandemic hit was to work with our cleaners to verify that all of their cleaning products complied with the EPA’s criteria for use against COVID-19. According to current research, the virus can live on many hard surfaces for up to 72 hours—so it is extremely important to make sure you’re using the right chemicals and cleaning routinely touched surfaces. During turnovers and regular cleaning, our cleaners are equipped with N95 masks and gloves which are replaced between every home to ensure they are not spreading the virus between properties.
Our cleaners have also gone through training on how to disinfect for coronavirus and are following the CDC Guidelines for Cleaning and Disinfecting Community Facilities in our multifamily properties. All common spaces are cleaned and disinfected regularly, with special attention to doorknobs, keypads, buttons, and light switches.
Placing Notices
When you have multiple people going in and out of a multifamily property and using common facilities, there is a high risk of contamination. Even if everyone is doing their best to be safe, there are still some little known situations where the virus can be spread without you even realizing it.
To combat this, we’ve placed notices in many of our common areas to help inform and remind our tenants of how they can limit the spread of coronavirus. In properties with shared laundry facilities, for example, we’ve put up notices to avoid shaking out laundry prior to putting it in the machine (which can spread coronavirus pathogens in the air) and to use the warmest possible water when cleaning clothes.
We also have general notices on many of our properties that cover the importance of:
Handwashing frequently, and for at least 20 seconds.
Washing produce after returning from the grocery store.
Cleaning hard surfaces with an approved cleaner or 60% alcohol solution.
Wearing masks and gloves whenever possible.
These notices also have phone numbers and contact information for various local facilities if a tenant does suspect they have coronavirus.
Deep Cleaning During Turnovers
Our biggest priority at the moment is to ensure that all of our properties are safe during turnovers, as old tenants leave and new tenants move in. Most of our turnovers have already occured in the first week of June, but we’ll be seeing many more properties turn over in September and sporadically throughout the next few months.
We’ve always used a thorough turnover process that includes maintenance checks, property walkthroughs, and a deep cleaning. But these days, “deep cleaning” has taken on another meaning. We’re now focused on sanitizing in addition to cleaning.
As a result, we’ve broken our cleaning procedure into two parts. First, we clean as we normally would—with soap, water, and other household cleaners—including cleaning carpets with a professional carpet cleaning company. We’re also making sure to clean deeper, going into all the hard-to-reach places where COVID could stay hidden like the tops of window fans, areas behind refrigerators and stoves, and window blinds.
Once the cleaning process is over, we disinfect. This is done by either using disinfectants from the EPA’s list of disinfectants or by using a 60% (or higher) alcohol solution. In many cases, we spray hard to reach areas with an alcohol solution to ensure that every square inch of the home is disinfected.
Need Help?
This is just one of many ways we’re working to make life easier for both our tenants and owners during these difficult times. Feel free to incorporate these cleaning tips into your own management process, or if you’d like to see what Mergo can do for you, just get in touch for a free proposal. As a full-service property management company, we can help with everything from finding tenants to cleaning, evictions, and more.
In today’s rental market, vacation rentals are becoming more and more common. Websites like Airbnb, VRBO, and Booking.com have made vacation homes a viable option when looking for housing for a vacation, weekend getaway, or even for a business trip and have created a fast-growing vacation rental market.
As a result, many people are either turning their second homes into vacation rentals or buying new properties with the goal of self-managing and making a quick profit on the side. But while managing a vacation rental property may seem like a straightforward income generating undertaking, any small misstep can cause a loss of bookings and ultimately revenue.
This is where we play a key role. With more than 7 years of experience in the property management field, we are well-equipped to handle every aspect of the vacation rental management process. From updating and remodeling to listing and managing the property, we take a start-to-finish approach to ensure that our clients are getting the most return possible on their second homes with little to no involvement on their part.
Curious how we do this? Let’s take a look at our process.
Preparing the home for listing
Our process starts far before the first guests book your home. We always start with an exploratory meeting where we discuss your goals, wants, and needs as they relate to operating and managing a vacation rental.
Are you only interested in maximizing your return on investment? Do you want to use the home yourself, and if so, how frequently? Are there certain times throughout the year that you’d like to have it to yourself?
These are all questions that will help us better serve you and come up with the correct plan of action.
From there, we take a look at the house itself. Updating the property with new paint, appliances, furnishing, and decorations can significantly increase your revenue generation. We are equipped to handle every aspect of this process, but ultimately defer to you on how much you are willing to change the property. We will do as much or as little work as you’d like, and we are ready to advise you on the most cost-effective upgrades that will affect your revenue.
Once the house is set up for guests we determine the optimal nightly rate, bedroom layout, and guest amenities. We use a dynamic pricing model that is regularly adjusted in order to keep the property competitive within the market while maximizing revenue. This includes running software that advises our pricing model as well as staying updated on local events to optimize bookings and generate the highest possible revenue.
Properties are listed on multiple direct booking sites and third-party channels such as Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com and MerGo’s own direct booking site. We also use our proprietary Superhost profile which is awarded to hosts that receive consistently good reviews and feedback from guests (only 17% of Airbnb hosts have this credential). This alone can dramatically increase the price and frequency of rentals.
Managing the property
Once the property is listed, we take over all aspects of the day-to-day management of your vacation rental. That means managing booking and rental requests, communicating with guests, managing any onsite services (cleaning, maintenance, trash collection, landscaping, pool/spa cleaning, snow removal, etc.), collecting rent/fees, managing all guest turnover, and financial reporting.
To put it simply, we provide a turnkey solution so that owners can sit back while their property generates revenue for them. We communicate with guests before, during, and after their stay to ensure their satisfaction. That means sending check-in instructions, directions to the home, checking in on them during their stay, and following up to gather reviews and feedback.
These are the types of things that make a huge difference in revenue generation for vacation rentals. If you’re not putting effort into every single booking that comes your way and doing everything you can to ensure your guests’ satisfaction, it can and will hurt you in the long run. There’s no way around it—quality and customer experience are absolutely vital to the success of any vacation rental property, and that takes time and effort.
We also handle any issues that may arise with guests. From complaints to insurance claims, if anything goes wrong we stay on top of it while keeping you informed.
Owning a revenue generating home
The rest of the process is quite simple. We collect all booking revenues, as well as any charges or other amounts received. We then remit payments to you on a monthly basis, once fees and additional expenses have been deducted.
We also include a monthly account statement for all of our owners that outlines all revenues and expenses incurred over the month. This paints a clear picture of how much profit you’re generating from your vacation rental property.
And that’s it! As of the time of writing this post, all of our vacation rentals have turned a profit within the first year of managing, which includes covering the cost of all upgrades and furnishings.
We are currently managing vacation rentals in the Berkshires and on Cape Cod, with more areas to come in the future. The Berkshires in particular have been shown to be exceptionally profitable, with low upfront investment and high returns in both the winter (ski season) and summer.
If you’re interested in learning more about how MerGo can help monetize your second home or get into the vacation rental market, just click here to request a free proposal. There is no better time to start monetizing your second home or purchase a home to use as a vacation rental!
The key to Brookline property management (or any location) is finding the right tenants
It’s no secret: Brookline has become a residential hotspot for young professionals, families, and everyone in between. With a lower cost of living than downtown Boston or Cambridge, a quick commute, upcoming restaurants, and a quieter atmosphere—it has a lot going for it.
As such, Brookline property management is attracting new investors, property owners, and a whole lot of tenants. But with all this activity, we feel the need to point out one thing to the newcomers out there. Ask any experienced property manager what the most crucial, make-or-break part of renting a property is, and they’ll all tell you the same thing…
FINDING GOOD TENANTS!
(Especially in bustling neighborhoods like Brookline!)
Good tenants will make your life a breeze. Bad tenants can turn your life into a living nightmare. Seriously, we sometimes have nightmares about bad tenants, but thankfully, they’re only in our dreams. In real life, our clients have great tenants because we do our homework and have a number of built-in precautions that weed out problems before they occur. This allows us to easily select the best tenants available.
Curious how we do it? Read on to find out.
Incentives for rental agents
To find the best tenants, you need a rental agent who has a vested interest in putting the right tenant in your unit—not just the first one that applies. Your average rental agent is going to disappear after they’ve found someone for your unit, so it doesn’t make a difference to them whether the tenant is destroying your house with massive parties or relaxing every night in front of the TV.
The best way to avoid this is to work with a full-service property management company who has a vested interest in putting the right tenants in the properties they’re managing.
At Mergo, we handle all brokerage in house. This means that when we look for tenants, we know that we’re going to have to deal with them for the entire year. As such, we are always looking for the best tenants to make our lives easier. In fact, bad tenants don’t even affect our clients because we’re the ones that have to deal with all the issues they create. So it’s always in our best interest to find the absolute best tenants for your properties.
Getting your message out there
In order to find the best tenants, you need to cast a wide net. It’s pretty straightforward—you’ll never find the best people if you can’t reach them. That’s where marketing comes in. When renting out a Brookline property, you need to be hitting all of the outlets available to you—that means posting them on the MLS (multiple listing service), as well as services like Zillow, HotPads, Zumper, Apartments.com, Trulia, and more.
When it comes to Brookline—and any location in the Greater Boston Area—posting on the MLS is most important, because it puts your property in front of every licensed agent in the city. The only catch is that you have to be a licensed agent yourself to post it!
At Mergo, we post all of our units on the MLS and use software to post to every major online service automatically. From there, we scan all applicants and work to find the best ones. This is a significant advantage of working with a full-service property management company, as this can be a time-consuming and expensive process to handle on your own.
Our vetting process
Once we’ve found some strong candidates, the vetting process begins. This is where you might find some surprises. It’s easy to make a good impression for a walk-through, but the real truth comes out when you get everything down on paper.
To properly vet our candidates, we get a photo ID, credit report, income verification, tax statements, Rental Housing Association (RHA) application, past landlord references, and a deposit for the first month’s rent. Yeah, it’s a lot—but it’s worth it.
Once we have all of that, we review everything to look for potential issues. If anything feels off, they’re not the right candidate. There’s no beating around the bush here—this is an intense process that takes time. But time spent here is well worth it because it prevents bigger problems from occurring in the future.
This is yet another reason that many property owners opt to work with a full-service management company like Mergo. We handle this entire process for our clients and send them a short synopsis of each qualified candidate after we’ve reviewed all of the documents mentioned above. That way, our clients can pick whomever they prefer while knowing that every candidate that crosses their desk is already going to be a good fit.
If you’re interested in getting involved in Brookline property management or need help finding the best tenants for your property, get in touch! We’d love to help you find a great tenant and take property management off your plate.
