Our Process: Why It Pays to Have an in-house Leasing Agent

As a full-service property management company, we handle every aspect of our owners’ properties. That means one of our biggest responsibilities is to fill vacancies. Whether a tenant leaves a property or an owner brings us a vacant property, it is in our best interest to fill vacancies as quickly as possible to ensure maximum profits for our owners.

That is why we’ve brought on our own in-house leasing agent, Gretchen Devine.

The difference between in-house and third party

Most property management companies will help their owners fill vacancies, but not all of them have in-house leasing agents. This is an important distinction as it can make a big difference for owners.

Many property management companies will simply outsource their brokerage to third party leasing agents. That means when a vacancy occurs, they send it over to a leasing agent outside of their company to handle it. This is a common tactic that smaller companies will use to avoid having to pay for a full-time leasing agent. If they’re not managing a lot of properties, they may not need a full-time leasing agent because vacancies will be few and far between. But outsourcing this stuff can cause problems, as you’ll see below.

An in-house leasing agent, on the other hand, works directly for the property management company to handle all their vacancies and get qualified tenants in the door quickly. Their number one priority is to make sure that every property managed by the company is filled, and they spend all their time on this one objective.

Why “in-house” is so important

This distinction between an in-house and third party leasing agent is important because it affects how quickly vacancies are filled as well as the quality of tenants. That, in turn, directly affects owner revenue.

At MerGo, when the time comes to rent a property, Gretchen steps in to handle every step in the process of finding a new, qualified tenant. That means she is exclusively listing the unit, conducting all the showings, and communicating with both current and prospective tenants.

To put it simply, this means we are in control of every step of the leasing process. That provides three major benefits for our owners…

First, it ensures that vacancies will be filled as quickly as possible and reduces the potential for vacancies occurring in the first place. It is in our best interest to get these properties filled quickly so that we can get more money into our owners’ pockets and keep them happy. Gretchen is also well-versed in all of our processes and systems, meaning there is no “hand-off” period and she doesn’t have to spend any time “getting up to speed” with the situation.

When property management companies outsource their leasing, there’s no incentive for the agent to get the units filled quickly. They may also be working with many other companies and juggling different priorities, meaning your property could fall to the bottom of the list. At MerGo, Gretchen’s number one and only priority is to fill our properties.

Second, we want to get the best possible tenants in our units because we’re the ones that will be managing them. If we can find great tenants that will stay for multiple years and not cause major issues, that’s great for both us and our owners. It means less work on our end, fewer headaches, lower maintenance costs, and less risk for our owners.

Once again, third party leasing agents have little to no incentive to find high-quality tenants. Once the tenant is in the unit, their job is over. It doesn’t matter whether they stay for one year or five years—they just want to get someone in the door so they can move on to their next gig.

And third, Gretchen understands how we operate. She is well-versed in the units we manage, how our leases are structured, and all the processes we use for vetting tenants and getting them in the door. That means there’s never any confusion when tenants or owners are communicating with us.

She always knows what is going on with each unit we manage, and can provide accurate time frames for when vacancies will be filled. And because she understands our leases in-depth, she can quickly and accurately answer questions from prospective tenants to keep things moving and get tenants in the door quickly.

Meet Gretchen

Gretchen is a real estate rockstar who has been involved (in one way or another) in the industry her entire life. From flipping houses with her father and brother to closing over 200 rental transactions in the Greater Boston Area during the last four years of her career, we’re excited to bring on such a talented professional to our growing team.

Interested in working with MerGo? Need help getting qualified tenants into your properties? Looking to maximize profits on your vacation rental? Click here to request a proposal today.