Owner FAQs

Section 8, or Voucher Housing, is a commonly exercised program in the DMV area that helps provide affordable housing options for qualified participants. Fair Housing prohibits discrimination based on a potential tenants source of income … so yes, in order to treat all potential tenants fairly you must as a landlord consider tenants who participate in the Voucher Program. In many areas of DC the Voucher Program allows landlords to collect guaranteed rental income that exceeds the market rate!

You betchya! Our team of property managers are all required to obtain a property manager license but also a real estate license for the jurisdictions they operate in. As your representative we want make sure we operate at the highest professional level and stay abreast of changes to the rules and regulations.

Our clients are welcome to reach out with questions/requests via email or phone at any time of the day and we will promptly reply as soon as possible the following business day. We understand that certain situations can’t wait for an evening or a weekend to pass so we maintain a 24/7 call service that is routed to the manager on-call. We’re here for!

Yes … in fact we prefer to! Once rent is collected and any outstanding bills/invoices are paid we will electronically disburse owner’s proceed to their account of choice. Holidays and weekends outstanding we schedule our owner’s dispersals to occur on the 10th of each month.

Absolutely. Our job is the protect your investment and make sure you have the information needed in order to make an informed decision. You are the landlord and you make the final decision on lease terms and who to rent to, and this includes being the final signer of all leases and addendum.

While many of our property managers hold a real estate license for the regions they work within we do not sell real estate at GROVE. This business was designed for the specific purpose of making the owning of an investment property smooth and stress free for landlords. We work hand-in-hand with countless agents in the DMV market and they know GROVE is a trusted partner in the care of their clients, not a competitor. Let us know if you need an agent … we work with many fantastic real estate agents and would be thrilled to make introductions.

Weekends and holiday outstanding, we schedule our owners payments to go out on the 10th of each month. You will receive an email informing you that your payment has been sent out and within a few hours (this varies depending on where you bank) your proceeds will appear in your bank account.

Any way a tenant wants to pay it! We joke that we would accept a bucket of coins if that is what our tenants preferred. Our goal is to make sure tenants pay the full amount on time, we don’t care what method they use. That being said, we have a fantastic tenant portal that allows tenants to schedule automatic payments from the bank account of their choice. 99% of our tenants opt to pay using the portal.

This is up to you. We encourage owners to accept nothing shorter than a six month lease as vacancy and turnover costs can eat into your net returns. Most of our owners do one or two year lease terms. We’ve even had a few leases with five year terms!

One full months rent. This can be paid upfront as a lump sum or, if the tenant prefers, they can instead utilize our partner Obligo and instead make small monthly payments. The coverage for you as an owner/landlord is the same either way. Obligo is an option for tenants who may not want to part with a full months rent for the duration of their lease and would rather pay a small monthly fee …. Which is sually around $15.

Is tomorrow too soon? Typically it takes two weeks for us to onboard new owners, but we can certainly expedite the process when the situation call for it.

The GROVE management portfolio consists primarily of single family homes and condominiums. We also handle a few multi-unit buildings and the portfolios of a few professional investors, but the majority of our clients have one, maybe two properties.

On a monthly basis you will be updated on any maintenance expenses as well as a statement for that months proceeds. In preparation for tax season you will receive in January of each year a 1099-misc as well as a P&L statement detailing all debits and credits throughout the course of the previous year. Need anything else? Just ask! Our detailed accounting allows us to generate just about any report you could dream.

Yes … without question or expectation. The lease agreement all tenants sign clearly outlines their responsibility to procure a renters insurance policy. Prof of the policy is required prior to their move-in.

We STRONGLY encourage all owners to allow us to hold any security deposits in our escrow account. Accounting and cash flow are the most common blunders that DIY landlords make.

The most effective tool we have to make and keep our tenants happy is to be responsive to any question or maintenance request they might have. We also offer tenants some fantastic programs which include, but are not limited to:

• Improving their credit score by reporting their on-time payments
• Allowing them to achieve full security deposit coverage through a small monthly payment, instead of having to cough up a months rent at the start of the lease term
• Discounted rental insurance coverage through GROVE
• Effortless onboarding at the start of their lease term with scheduled move-ins, elevator reservations, parking permits, and initiation utility accounts

Do you have a bank account and access to the internet? If so, then the answer is yes. This is the DMV after all! We have clients literally based all over the world … some of them relocating on a regular basis. We routinely work with owners who we never meet in person!

Every situation is different and each jurisdiction within the DMV has a different process for eviction. Step one is to try and avoid a situation that necessitates an eviction. If all efforts have failed we will work with you to create a plan, making sure the proper parties are involved and each step is done by the book.