Houston Rental Property Management

Houston Property Management Services Areas

Houston Rental Property Management Proposal

Landlord Portal Overview

Houston Property Management Key Services Review

Marketing Vacant Properties

Ashoka Lion is a registered real estate brokerage with the State of Texas, and our properties are marketed on the MLS for our single family and smaller multifamily properties. In addition, our rental property management marketing teams market and syndicate to other rental sites like Zumper, Apartment.com, Facebook Marketplace, Youtube, and more.

Houston Properties Available For Rent >>

Screening for Tenants

Ashoka Lion rental property managers screen for quality tenants through a thorough vetting process. While we admit that no screening is fool proof, our Houston property managers make every effort to weed out tenants who will not pay the rent or take care of the property. Our tenant screening process that our property management company in Houston utilizes include: 

  • Presceening leads who inquire about our home prior to showing the home,
  • Showing Home 
  • Requiring a thorough written application the provides tenants with our leasing criteria and expectations 
  • Confirming current employer 
  • Verifying with current and past landlords
  • Reviewing all documentation provided to insure that tenant declarations match reports and provided documents
  • Running reports that provide credit, national criminal, landlord disputes from a landlord database, judgements or evictions, and credit report
View Our Tenant Screening Process >>

Repair Coordination

Our Houston property management team has a maintenance line that is manned by our property managers 24-7 for emergency repairs. Our property management team uses VOIP technology to route calls to our managers. Our property management team members are also able to monitor the system on the night shift for emergency repair calls that may arise.


In addition, our Houston property managers have outlined to our tenants what our expectations of what our Houston property managers consider to be emergencies.


Ashoka Lion has create a maintenance library of common issues that may affect the home that our tenants in Houston and Dallas handle. 


Our property managers alert owners of repair request and items that are below discretionary amount ($400) , but these items can be handled  if below the discretionary, and in the case of a emergency at the property that our property managers in Houston determine to put the home, the community, or the lives of others at risk.


Our Houston property managers will allow owners to provide list of reliable vendors who we will onboard as part of the transition. These vendors are required to adhere to our policies and expectations of quality vendor services.

Maintenance Care Library >>

Tenant Compliance

To help insure that tenants are aware of expectations for our property management company in Houston. Our Houston property managers have a thorough on boarding for new tenants that includes a online orientation that is recorded for quality review and assurance purposes.


In addition, our Houston office provide a tenant guide with our lease packet with policy and expectations of how tenants should handle certain procedures.


In addition, our Houston property management team will work to insure tenants keep up with their responsibility to the property including lawn care, interior video walk through assessments of the home, tenant must maintain renters insurance, animal status audits, and a annual maintenance assessment to help insure that tenants are educated on proper care of common items and how to handle certain situations.

Tenant Hub Area Including Tenant Compliance >>

Choosing a new property manager? 

Key Questions for a Landlord to consider when choosing property management?

When a landlord is deciding on a Houston property manager; real estate owners need to evaluate why they need a property management firm in the first place. For example:

 

  • Do you have a active career or family obligation that limits how much time you can invest in handling day to day issues ?
  • Do you struggle to keep track of the numbers and bookkeeping for rents and expense that arise in the year?
  • Do you want to avoid chasing tenants down for money?
  • Do you want to avoid coordinating repairs with tenants on holidays or weekends? 
  • Do you want to avoid handling move in and move out inspections?
  • Do you want to avoid handling tax compliance issues like sending 1099's to vendors?
  • Do you want to avoid navigating changes to local laws and issues regarding landlord and tenant?
  • Do you want to avoid showing the home when it is vacant? 
  • Do you want to have a solid, experienced team screen rental applicants?


What do my answers tell me about my need for property management ? 

If you answered, "Yes" to all these questions, then you are ready to have a property manager. 


If you are answering "Yes" to some of these of these questions, then we should understand what your concerns are with a free consultation with our Houston property management team.


If you answered "No" to all these questions, then you may not want to engage a property manager. 



High level summary of property management services by rental property cycle or processes

Ashoka Lion as your Houston property manager is representing the landlord as an agent for them.  Our Houston property management team provide services handle many key aspects of managing your rental property. The monthly property management fee is paying to have this team on retainer and ready to handle these various services if the need arises.   Landlords gain comfort that they have boots on the ground to handle various issues that may not arise normally and need to be handled by a local Houston property management team.

Cycle of Rental Property Service 1 Service 2 Service 3 Service 4
Vacant Home Rental Analysis Marketing Of Home Fielding Calls Coordinate Showing
Preparing Lease Screen Applicants Prepare Lease Tenant Orientation Collect Move In Funds
Move In Move In Inspection Owner Shared Report Tenant Shared Report
Tenant Point Of Contact Rent Collection Repair Coordination Renewal
Move Out Receive Notice Move Out Inspection Itemize Deductions Coordinate Security Deposit Refund if any
Bookkeeping Rent Recording Expense Recording Monthly Reporting Package Tax Compliance (1099)
Collections Rent Reminder Quit or Pay Notice Filing Hearing Coordinate Eviction
Administrative Services Online Portals Scans of Invoices E-Deposits of Funds Copies of Lease Documents
Meet the Ashoka Lion Team

Services that we provide

  • Property Management Client Benefit Programs

  • Marketing Program

    Our Houston property management teams vacant property marketing efforts include:


    • Market on the local MLS- our Houston property management teams put the home on the local MLS where it syndicates to several sites 
    • Market on Ashoka Lion website: In addition, our property management team also markets our properties available for rent on our website, and our listing syndicates to several rental classified sites. 
    • Market listing on Social Media:  In addition to placing rental listing on the MLS,  our Houston property management marketing team will post on social media sites like the Ashoka Lion Facebook page.  We also market on Facebook marketplace our  rental lsiting.
    • Direct Marketing to Active Real Estat Agents who do leasing: Our Houston proprrty management team also host a Facebook group for Houston real estate agents who lease homes to promote our rental listing to real estate agents who work in the leasing area of real estate. 

    Our Houston property managers understand that our owners expect us to put a strong effort towards marketing, and we have built a property leasing program that accomplishes these goals for our Houston area landlord clients. 

  • Tenant Screening

    Since 2006, Ashoka Lion has screened tenants for our vacant properties. Over time, our property managers have realized the need for a strong tenant screening program  that grows and evolves over time as there are increasingly many reports by property managers of  fraudulent applications  across the industry and that our property managers in Houston have received over the years. Our Houston property management firm has built a screening program that has 20 steps, and our tenant screening programs goes beyond just running screening reports.  


    Our 20 step tenant screening efforts include:


    1) Request copies of 2 months paycheck stubs

    2) Request copy of current lease

    3) Request copy of a identification

    4) Compare address on identification to application

    5) Compare address on paycheck stubs to address provided in the application

    6) Compare address provided by tenant on application to last reported address on credit reports

    7)  Compare landlord contact information to lease

    8) Verify ownership information for private landlords or contact information for apartment complexes

    9) Compare Landlord Contact informaton on application to lease if provided

    10) Search public records for criminal, aliases, liens or judgements

    11) Verify Current Employment by Contacting Employer

    12) Verify Current landlord and prior landlord

    by doing landlord information verification

    13) Scan Credit Reports for deliquency related to prior utility bills and prior residences 

    14) Review if tenant's prior landlords reported payment disputes 

    15) Review eviction reports obtained from our property management software

    16) Review Criminal reports from screening reports obtained from our property management software

    17) Google current employer to confirm address, business name, and other information are accurate and not fraudulently being submitted

    18) Verify deposits for self employed, direct deposits for employees by using a bank deposit verification program

    19) Manually verify income equals 3x rent as take home pay, check for inaccuracies on submitted paycheck stubs

    20) Compare ID address to paycheck stubs, application, and credit reported addresses to determine if there is any discrepencies for resident history






  • Tenant Compliance Programs

    Ashoka Lion Houston has developed a robust tenant compliance program to help weed out tenants who may not take care of the property and also insure with our current tenants that they work to protecting the home.   Our property management company in Houston has developed several programs including: 

  • Repair and Maintenance Coordination

    Our property management team will handle coordinating repairs with vendors to help owners avoid tenant calls on weekends or holiday.  Our voice of IP systems are routed to multiple members of our team in Houston to insure a emergency call is routed to a  Houston property management team member to handle the call.

  • Collection Programs

    Our Standard Collection Policy: Tenant are required to pay the rent on the 1st. However, tenant do face difficult times  then we have to work with tenants to make payments. This includes text and email.  


    Tenant on time rental payments are being reported to the credit bureaus:  Our property management company is reporting tenant on time rental payments to the credit bureaus to encourage tenants to make their payments on time to help build credit.  Our property management team believes our tenant credit builder will provide positive reinforcement to encourage ont time payments. 


    Tenant installment payment loan provider: Tenants can on months where there payment not come in on th 3rd to avoid late payments take a installment loan from a provider to pay rent that we are partnering with. Landlords get paid on the 3rd, but tenants are given flexible terms to repay the provider.  It saves tenants from late fees and collection calls. 


    Collection Effort Post Eviction: If a tenant fails to pay and is evicted, then we have collection firm that will pursue collections. If they collect, then they take a percentage of collection. 

  • Bookkeeping and Reporting Packages

    Ashoka Lion's property management teams in Houston and Dallas have built excellent bookkeeping and reporting tools for owners. 


    1) Tax compliance  for 1099 : Our property management company will provide 1099 for vendors who services the properties. and our property management team  provides a 1099 misc for owner for gross rents collected as per IRS reporting requirements. .

    2)  Monthly Reporting Package:  Our property managers provide monthly reporting packages with copies of invoices attached to the monthly reports for landlords to review every month.

    3) Monthly Financial Reporting Analysis: Our property management staff will review the reports to discuss your account and review things that happened that month or are pending. 

    4) Periodic Reporting from Property Managers: Our Houston property managers to consolidate communication will send a report to owner usually every 2 weeks (on a weekly basis if possible) to discuss key issues. and recap pending items. 

  • Inspection Programs

    Our Houston property management team perform various property inspections or review and our property managers can share those reports with landlords:

    • move in property assessment
    • move out property assessment
    • Vacant property visits every 2 weeks 
    • Annual Inspection or Tenant Self Guided inspections : During COVID 19 we are not sending staff to in person annual assessments. 

  • Tenant Move In Process

    Our Property Management company in Houston performs a very thorough tenant move in process: 


    • Tenant provide proof of utilties turned on
    • Tenants provide proof of renters insurance
    • Tenants are enrolled in a AC filter delivery program
    • Properties are rekeyed to meet Texas property code requirement
    • Move Photo assessment reports of property condition are taken
    • Tenants are required to do a orientation prior to move in where our managers go over the lease and basic information regarding expectations.

  • Tenant Compliance & Incentive Program

    Our property management company in Houston works hard to retain good tenants. To help encourage tenants to stay at properties, our property managers have developed a extensive series of benefits for our current tenant who reside at Ashoka Lion properties:


    • Online Payment Platform with free ACH
    • Tenant property management app available for IOS or Android to help report issues and keep copies of lease and other documents
    • Easy to obtain renter's insurance with Roost Insurance from their resident portal
    • Tenant Credit Builder program for tenants to pay rent on time (enrollment and additional fees do apply)
    • Tenant  Installment Loan for Rent: Tenants can avoid late fees for a monthly fee of $20 and sign up to have their rent paid by a installment loan provider on the 3rd to our property management team and they can avoid late fees and collection efforts with flexible payment terms from the provider. 
    • Contactless Move In and Repair Coordination: Tenants who are moving in after 2020 were allowed to use a lockbox. This would give tenant freedom to move in at their convenience and  if a repair happens they can use the lockbox to coordinate with vendors. 
    • Free Tenant Utility Concierge: Tenants are provided a utility concierge to help turn on utilities and other services for free by our firm to make their move in process smoother. 

  • Tenant Renewal Program

    Ashoka Lion property management diligently works to have tenants sign renewals. The idea being it creates a sense of predictability. In addition, the stability for tenants and owners gives tenants chance to update their renters insurance, self guided inspection, maintenance requirement reviews, etc.


    Our goal is to renew our commitment to our owners to have high quality tenants for their homes. 


    Update: During this uncertain period during COVID 19, our Houston property managers have suspended lease renewal. Instead, we encourage tenants to keep up with tenant compliance and avoid month to month rate increase. Our property management firm has decided with the uncertain economic times and legal difficulties of removing tenants during the COVID 19 pandemic that  to protect our landlords that we would suspend long term renewals. 

  • Tenant Move Out Process

    Tenants who move out of our homes will be instructed in advance of the things that need to be done to successfully have their security deposit returned. Our Houston property managers have detailed tenant move out process aimed at making the process smoother for our tenants, property managers, and our landlords. 

    • Proper Notice will be required
    • Forwarding Address will need to be required
    • Compare move in and  any other assessments in advance to compare to the move out inspection.
    • Tenant will surrender key with our contactless key return policy.
    • A thorough photo assessment of the property will be done that involves 60 to 150 pictures per report. 
    • Property managers will review inspections deduct damages from the security deposit. 
    • Deposit will be refunded if damages are below the cost of repair or were within our expectations of "normal wear and tear"
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