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Managing Your Building
Neighborhood Enterprises can handle the management of your
building or buildings. From tenant services to maintenance to
accounting, our professional staff can provide the full or customized
service that you require.
Tenant Services
Buying and rehabbing buildings is the easy part. Managing the
tenants who are living in the units is the challenging part. This is
especially true of low-income housing where the normal problems of
tenant management are made more difficult by the marginal incomes
of the tenants.
For Neighborhood Enterprises staff, the goal of providing decent,
affordable housing is at the heart of all we do. This means finding and
renting to good tenants. It also means sometimes helping problem
tenants to become better tenants. When the behavior or
housekeeping of individuals or families is less than acceptable and
they refuse to change, it means that we must evict those tenants--
something we do reluctantly but without hesitation when required.
Landlord and employer references and credit reports need to be
checked thoroughly. The tenant's housekeeping skills have to be
evaluated before and during tenancy. Behavior problems must be
handled fairly but firmly.
Director of Tenant Services, Mechelle Dunlap, brings 20 years of
experience with NE to her work with tenants. Under her guidance
vacancy rates have consistently been below 10% of rentable units.
NE's website list of available apartments is updated daily. Printed
lists are also kept in a pocket outside the office door for those driving
by the office when we are closed.
NE does not generally run rental ads in newspapers or other media.
For the most part, it does not need to. From time to time when
vacancies rise, general rental ads are placed in the Post-Dispatch or
Riverfront Times.
Maintenance
Neighborhood Enterprises employs a full-time maintenance staff of
six to perform routine maintenance and some upgrades on our
apartments. We also have speciality contractors whose services we
engage on a regular basis. All NE maintenance employees and sub-
contractors are covered by Workman's Compensation Insurance.
Usually billing charges are a 100% markup of the payroll employee's
hourly wage. This markup enables us to cover the cost of billing,
supervision, transportation, tools, holiday pay, vacations, sick leave,
social security, workman's compensation, and down time. Work by
independent contractors is marked up 3%-10%.
Unless otherwise agreed, Neighborhood Enterprises may spend up to
$3,000 or two month's gross rent, whichever is less, for building
repair. Owners may set other limits and specify what type of work
may be done. Owners may do all the work themselves. We cannot,
however, manage property for owners who neither authorize us to do
work nor do it themselves.
Accounting
Neighborhood Enterprises uses the Yardi property management
software. Management clients receive a of
income and expenses and a detailed breakdown of billing for repairs
and materials purchased. On a yearly basis, clients receive 1099's
and any other required tax information. NE will make mortgage
payments for clients or they may choose to do it on their own. FEC
insurance is available through NE's group plan.
Management Fees
The standard management fee works out to approximately 10% of
collected rent per month. This is an average fee that may be slightly
higher or lower depending on the building in question. The fee
includes soliciting and selecting tenants, collecting rent and dealing
with delinquent payments, handling tenant housekeeping and/or
behavioral problems, annual adjustment of rental rates, payment of
authorized bills, and general observation of tenants and property. It
does not include newspaper ads, repairs, evictions, or janitorial
services.
The one-time management set-up fee per building is $10 per unit.
The one-time "rent up" fee per unit is $150. Any vacancy after the
first vacancy is filled at no charge.
As much as possible the details of a management contract will be
negotiated to meet the needs of individual owners and the demands
of their respective properties.
