Real Estate Agents: Renting Our Houston Homes   

As a registered Texas brokerage and members of our local MLS organizations, our property listings can be found on the MLS. Our property listing have the instructions on how to set an appointment.

Buyer Agents must show our rental properties in Houston or Dallas to earn full commission.  Our property management company will not pay full commission for agent who did not show the home. 

If an agent is wanting their clients to apply for one of our homes for rent, you can visit our Houston and Dallas property management listing page. Find the property that your tenants are looking to apply to. In the description on the property is a link. Aternatively you can have them go HERE. 

Our leasing criteria for our property management company is available for agents to review with their clients.

The criteria is also embedded into the first page of our rental application, and this helps our property management company meet the legal obligation to insure that the prospective tenants have acknowledged receipt. 

Our property manager have a extensive process to vette tenants for our Houston and Dallas property management clients.   Review our property management leasing process, if you need a more detailed explanation. 

• Our process involves obtaining, screening, and reviewing documents provided.
• Income Verification - invite sent from Payscore.
• ID Verification - invite sent from Payscore.
• Employment Verification - request sent employer after verifying contact information.
• Landlord Verification of prior rental history
• Review Credit Report
• Review Landlord Filings
• Review judgements for bankruptcy or liens
• Checking public records to validate information about employers and prior landlords

Email Confirmation of Application & Supporting Documents to Leads@AshokaLion.com  and indicate you are the agent for the prospective tenants. Note: When your clients apply they should receive a confirmation. We request you send the confirmation and a copy of supporting documents (proof of income, copy of Driver License or ID, copy of current lease, and TAR application page 4 release) that your clients also uploaded to the application.  This is how a buyer agent can confirm that our property managers associate your information with the prospective tenant application. 

Our Houston and Dallas property managers prepare the lease for our tenants, so all we will need from agents is a copy of the brokerages w-9 and a copy of the ABB. 

Our property management firm does not allow agents to pick up payments from our office, but our property management  staff will either mail the brokerage a check via bill pay or we can send the payment via ACH.

Our property management firms policy is that application fees are not refundable. 

In the online application, prospective tenants will submit their documents that our property managers in Houston and Dallas need such as: 

• Proof of income : For example -2 months pay check stubs for w-2 employee
• Current lease  
• Current ID (Drivers license, passport)
• Copy of Page 4 of TAR application or just upload the paper  TAR application if filled out out as we need it for employer and landlord verification.  

The processing fee after approval is to help for 3 items primarily:

• Move In Condition Report: The photo report assessment to be done before the tenant moves in. The photo assessment will be used as the primary move in condition assessment.
• Contactless Repair Coordination: The tenant will be allowed use of a lockbox to use while they are tenants.  The lockbox will have the move in keys, and it will be kept to be used if tenant wants to have repairs done but leave the home (Tenants should always secure valuables) to insure social distancing.
• Contactless Move Out Key Return:The tenant will also use the lockbox at move out to put keys in so that the property managers can 

Yes, our property management requires all new tenants and renewing tenants to maintain the appropriate status for their animals. 

The animal screening has 3 different status (No Pet, Have a Pet, and Have a Support Animal). The tenant must fil out the appropriate categories and pay those fees. The Ashoka Lion pets screening profile is setup in such a way tenants  share pet information with other owners in future rentals or boarding locations or new veterinarians.

Both our Houston and Dallas property management teams require the same kind of items for compliance:

1) Utilities turned on prior to move in

2) Renters Insurance with appropriate liability coverage

3) Monies paid prior to move in

4) Orientation with our property managers

5) Move in condition inspections done with full photo reports

Dallas properties have the items sent to the property manager prior to move in date, and the property manager will meet the tenants at the property to do a walk through of the home and orientation. 

Houston property managers have a a new tenant checklist to hlep our tenant remember all the compliance requirements, but we conduct our tenant orientations prior to move in day utilizing a recorded teleconference where we go over the lease and insure a understanding of the property management expectations and policies.  Our Houston property managers provide our tenants with a  "New Tenant" transition page dedicate to insuring we answer all pertinent questions.

Our property management team aims to complete review of a fully completed application within 3 to 5 business days.  Delays are often caused by landlord and employer verification delays. A completed application is when we have all requested documentation from the tneant. 

Our Houston tenants are required to change the AC filter on a regular basis depending on the system specification. Our Houston property managers enroll tenants in a home delivery program of AC filters to insure that tenants have no reason to delay completing their obligation. 

The program is $20 a month and is separate of the rent. The tenant can pay this fee with their move in fees and expect to have filter delivered prior to the next month.  

Tenants are also obligated to pay their utilities, and basic maintenance of the exterior and interior of the home such as tree trimming, pest control , gutter cleaning, etc.  If they prefer, then they can hire a qualified professional to do these duties as well. 

Some properties have special amenities that require fees, like pool access cards, those charges are property specific and are typically the responsibility of the tenant to pay.

This fee includes the following resident benefits:

1. Access to credit builder program.

2. Waived processing fee for tenants to access our tenant installment rent pay platform. 

3. Access to our tenant finance platform.

4. Monthly delivery of AC filters directly to the home.

5. Multiple Payment options - online through the portal, cash pay card, etc.

6. Leasing of a lockbox to allow contactless repairs.

7. And more - we're always growing our benefits package for our tenants.

Our duty is to protect our proeprty management and their properties in Houston or Dallas. Therefore, our property managers strive to find the best tenants and avoid issues of tenants who are not willing to comply with the terms of our lease agreements.  We balance this duty to also providing quality homes and a excellent experience to our tenants who live in our properties and comply with the lease terms. 

Our property management team charges $500 per animal. We also have options for people to opt into a lower pet deposit amount and instead pay a pet fee or enroll in additional deposit alternative like RHINO (click here for more information). This can be discussed with our Houston or Dallas property managers once we run application and review the petscreening profile. 

Experian E-Verification of Income: As our property managers are having increasing numbers of people  who are difficult to verify their income with the traditional methods. For example: 

• People paid with cash or independent contractors, 
• Cosigners, who are using alternative funds
• HR department that are not able to verify employment without paying a fee to verify employment (fees can range from $35) 
• Increasing incidences of peope presenting false documentation to support income

Our property managers in Houston and Dallas are using a income verification program that is provided by Experian to our property management software provider, Appfolio. 

NOTE: Our poperty managers do not have direct access to the account, but they receive the summary from their review of bank account deposits and expenses. 

Our property managers are using this program to make the income verification process faster for example: 

• Self Employed and Independent Contractors (tax returns are requested, but are not reflective of last few months of income)
• Prospections whos income is not derived from payroll : Trust Funds, Pensions, etc
• HR verification is not possible due to requirements of a paid service for verifying employment (unless applicant would opt into paying for this fee). 
• People whose checks stubs are not able to be verified by HR departments
• Uber drivers or others who are Gig economy type jobs

To verify your income, Experian collects deposits history data from your bank. To do so, you need to your permission and participation. You give them this permission by logging in to your bank through a secure channel provided by the software. Rest assured, your credentials never touch our servers and are securely transmitted directly to the financial institution.

It's very important that you login to all bank accounts where you deposit relevant income. For example, logging into your credit account will show no income when using our tool.