Welcome to Bay Property Management Austin!
We recently sent a message to all our clients announcing the merger of Stone Oak and Bay Property Management Group Austin. The new company is Bay Property Management Group Austin, and comes with the resources, knowledge, and experience of two well-oiled organizations. You can learn a little more about us here.
There has been a lot of change over the last month since we started the process in early January, however overall, we believe you will see the benefits of bringing these two companies together to provide you with better service.
One of the first changes made was to start sending out rent disbursements to our clients a few days earlier. Going forward, the first disbursement will be on the 6th of each month. If that falls on a weekend or holiday it will be on the next business day.
We are also moving some clients to new property managers to reduce their workload and allow them to provide more individualized services by being your primary point of contact for your account.
As we get things changed up and settled into a new paradigm, we welcome your feedback. If you have any questions, concerns, compliments, etc., please reach out to your property manager or one of the owner's email addresses in the merger announcement letters.
Rental Market Condition Update
In the fall we covered this topic several times, and our broker, Jason Huval, made a short video summarizing the summer market that you can view here. The market continues to reflect several factors that are making single family home leasing extremely competitive in a way that we have not seen since the early to mid 2010s.
A report released in January that looks at single family rentals indicates that the market continues to shift away from the highs we saw during the early 2020s with YOY rent rates declining in the Austin market. Additionally, with more apartment inventory coming online from a construction boom and other factors, the competition for renters continues to increase.
Our strategy to keep our clients’ properties occupied has moved towards aggressive pricing, strong incentives and concessions, and frequent review of competitive properties to adjust as needed to keep vacancies as low as possible.
1099 Tax Forms for 2024
The 2024 tax forms were published to the documents section of your portal and mailed in the second week of January. Those were issued by Stone Oak and should have been received by now for anyone who opted for a paper copy. The 2024 year-end reports were published at the same time. They can be found in your portal's statements tab and are identified easily by looking at the report's dates.
The 2025 tax forms will be issued by the new company, Bay Property Management Group Austin.
Landlord Insurance
We are partnered with Andor Insurance to help our clients ensure they have the best options and coverage for your investments, home, and other insurance policies. Please reach out to Ryan who is happy to help you review your current policies, evaluate your coverage, or search out other options.
Data Breaches and Scams
In our last few posts, we have covered several data breaches, and it seems every day a new one is being announced publicly or by mail to affected parties. In the context of being a client of Bay Property Management Group Austin we want to continue reminding our clients about these breaches because a lot of this data can be used in social engineering and phishing attacks, which could involve your data being used by someone who poses as your property manager or other contact as part of a scam. We see these attempts internally as scammers send us email posing as fellow employees or managers of Stone Oak and Bay Property Management Group Austin.
That said, we want to remind you that we will never call you to confirm or provide your bank info, social security number, or other personal information on the phone or by email. We will also never ask you to pay for anything with gift cards, cryptocurrency, etc. Our property management software includes a texting service that will not match our office number, but if you try to call that number it will go directly to our primary office phone line.
We recommend freezing your credit with the big 3 firms - Experian, Equifax, and Transunion. This is offered as a free service to all consumers and can help protect you from identity theft. It is easy to unfreeze if you need to allow a lender, bank etc. access to pull your credit. This is an essential step to make sure your credit is not at risk of being damaged or ruined by nefarious 3rd parties in our modern world.
Here is some helpful information about Caller ID Spoofing, and other common scams. Also, the US Federal Bureau of Investigations resources about common scams are good to be aware of.
Please stay vigilant, maintain a healthy amount of skepticism, and contact us directly with the number on our website or our direct emails if anything looks questionable.
HOA Compliance Notices
If you receive an HOA violation or other notice pertinent to the tenant, it is particularly important that we receive a copy of that to share with the tenants. We do receive many notices directly, but if you receive a copy, please confirm with your property manager.
Did you know your HOA can send important notices and compliance letters directly to Bay Property Management Group Austin to enforce? Yes! We can take care of that for you! Please be sure to provide your HOA with Bay Property Management Group Austin’s direct contact information so we can ensure timely delivery of notices.
Please contact your property manager for more information.
Thank you for being a client! Please don't hesitate to contact us if should you need anything at this time.
Reminders:
Maintenance Approval Process Changes
In addition to the info below about funding repairs, we want to notify all owners that we are modifying our escalation process when we cannot reach our clients to ensure we are complying with property code requirements. In bonafide emergencies we are acting within our authority to mitigate damages, however after it has been contained or in non-emergency situations, we reach out to our clients for work authorization that is required above the limit set in the management agreement. In those cases, we now have a strict process going into effect that will have a time-based escalation if we cannot reach you. The protocol will be that if we cannot reach you by the 3rd day from when we first reached out, we will then reach out to your emergency contact who can aid us in getting authorization or contacting you. If you want to update your emergency contact on file, please contact your property manager. Keep in mind that this contact should be someone outside of your immediate household who can help us reach you or that you trust to make decisions on your behalf if you cannot be reached by them or us.
Funding Make-Readies & Maintenance for Your Property
Please note that it is Bay Property Management Group Austin 's policy that the owner has reserve funding on hand with Bay Property Management Group Austin to help us commence work faster when it comes to make-readies and maintenance on your property. Bay Property Management Group Austin cannot perform maintenance without first receiving authorization and funding, which can slow down the turn-around times of our vendors and their availability in this market. This can also potentially create a negative experience that tenants will remember when it comes time to renew, and we always want to avoid turning over the tenants. Any time we request authorization for work on your property, the best practice is to immediately fund your account when you provide written authorization to move forward. This is as simple as going into your owner portal and using ACH for a free transfer, or if you prefer a credit card the processor charges a fee as part of the transaction.
Keep in mind that tenant charges on your account are not considered an offset to this amount as we keep a strict accounting system for both our and our client's benefits. Any tenant chargeable items will be posted to their account, and once they are paid it is immediately credited to your account. If you have any questions about this reserve amount held with Bay Property Management Group Austin, please contact your property manager.
