FAQ

Do you work with out of state clients who own rentals in the city, but live far away ? 

Yes. We not only work with out of state investors for managing their existing portfolio , but most of the times we also help them at acquisition of these properties . Some of the investors have never set foot in Cincinnati , but are able to easily reap benefits by investing in Cincinnati .

IS FORTUNE VINE REALTY ( FVR ) LICENSED to DO PROPERTY MANAGEMENT ?

Yes FVR is  licensed and Insured Brokerage to do Property Management in states of OH and KY .

WHAT MAKES FVR unique and COMPETENT in Property management ?

FVR positions itself to manage a wide variety of properties both single and multi , residential and commercial , in a wide variety of neighborhoods across the city . FVR has years of experience dealing with different kinds of situations and handling them efficiently . Our staff is also very experienced , empathetic and easy to deal with .

HOW DOES general ONBOARDING LOOK LIKE ?

General Onboarding included the following steps

 
Going through PM agreement with owner and execution
Sharing property details with FVR ( leases , access details , keys and tenant information )
Sharing any other specific details about property and tenants

        FVR walkthrough the property/ies.

   FVR sends welcome letters to the tenants .

 

what are the fees that fortune vine charge for property management ? 

FVR charges a very reasonable fee for property management , which is negotiated at onboarding , we have a % model as well as a flat fee model .We do not charge " Lease Renewable Fees " and " Inspection Fees "


What criteria does FORTUNE VINE REALTY use to qualify applicants  ?

Applicants should have 3X the rent as their household income , we also look at no Evictions , Bankruptcies or Felony in the applicant .


How do you handle evictions ? 

In the rare event we need to pursue an eviction, we have a team of lawyers who assist us in the process. Evictions generally  are filed when tenants are back on rent . FVR sometimes does take a humane approach to see if there are certain ways we could work with the client ( applying for rental assistance programs , payment plans etc ) so that evictions can be avoided . As our client and owner of the rental property, you will not need to be involved in this process.  We will take care of all the work required to handle the eviction (post physical notices, documentation, and appear in court) for you.  We pass the attorney fee straight through to our clients.  The attorney fees for a typical straightforward eviction is ~$200-$350. 


HOW often do you do inspectons of the property ?

Our properties are regularly inspected whenever there is a maintenance request , also we have regular maintenance around every 6 months for a property . Properties that have CMHA ( section 8 ) tenants have to adhere to CMHA rules and regulations and are subjected to additional inspections . Properties that are vacant get extra attention from our staff , so they could be turned over ASAP for the client  . Properties that are occupied / vacant  we are dependent on the tenant and the owner as well to bring to our notice anything that needs attention .


Will OWNER be contacted for every single maintenance request ? 

Yes our owners are notified automatically by Buildium whenever we are working on their properties , you will be able to see before / after pictures of what work was the maintenance request for and what work was done . Only for bigger expenses as specified in the PM agreement , the property manager will contact you for approval and to discuss options , otherwise all the information will be for your information only and no action is needed from your side .


What is rental registration and who does it ?

Rental Registration is a process in city of Cincinnati and some other counties to notify them that the property is a rental property , We encourage all our clients to know about this , generally city reaches out by mail to the owners with rental registration forms , also they can go to the corresponding city website to register , for contact information if they wish all the city communications to be handled by FVR they can put our name and Office number in there , if they want all communications to go to them they can put their contact info.


DO YOU HOLD RESERVES FROM THE OWNERS FOR MAINTENNACE ?

Yes we hold 1 months rent /unit or as mentioned in the Property Management Agreement  as reserves from owners for maintenance and repairs .


WHO HOLDS THE SECURITY DEPOSITS OF THE TENANTS ?

Security deposits are held by the Property Management company in a trust account as oer law in OHIO  , these are returned back to the tenant after the tenant moves out , in case of damages to the property by the tenant some portion or the full  SD could be withheld and released to the owner .


HOW ARE THE DISTRIBUTIONS HANDLED to the owners ?

Distributions are done every 15th of the month , distributions are send as direct deposits to the owners bank account .


HOW ARE THE EXPENSES HANDLED and BILLED TO THE OWNERS ?

Expenses on the properties are billed back to the owners every 15th of the month when we process the rents , we use in house maintenance personal ( Maintenance Tech) and trusted Subs so that we are able to offer reasonable pricing to our owners , also we procure material in bulk or from discount sales to we can offer a competitive overall pricing to our clients . In case the account is negative owners have to contribute funds immediately by logging into their portal and sending us the required money .


DOES tenant HAVE TO hold RENTERS insurance and does owners need to get property insurance ?

Yes we recommend every tenant that signs our lease is required to hold Renters insurance , Owners also need to hold Property Insurance for the property for complete coverage and add Fortune Vine Realty as additionally insured . In case of any insurance claims we work with the insurance company directly if needed and get the owner's  claim processed in time.


Can OWNER receive a copy of the applicant’s credit report ? 

No. Due to Fair Housing laws we are not permitted to share this private information.




HOW DO YOU SCREEN TENNANTS ?

Our general qualifications include

 

Credit
HH Income greater than 3x the rent
Able to pay move in Deposit

No Felonies or Convictions
No Bankrupties or Evictions in Last 3 Years


For Low Income neighbourhoods/ Section 8 tenants  some of the qualifications like Credit and Income may be relaxed  as they will be receiveing rental support . Also FVR might take a humane approach in considering some applicatons at its own descretion ( eg . Eviction dismissals still on record , life events etc )




HoW does Owner get receipts for all the work done for records and for filing taxes ?

All  our owners get  access to the OWNER PORTAL in buildium , in there they can print receipts for any expense they have been charged . All receipts will be generated by FVR to the client . Also  1099 's will be issued to all clients at the end of the year  in  JANUARY for tax purposes.




HOW DOES AN OWNER KNOW HOW MUCH EACH REPAIR WOULD COST ?

While onboarding any owner , FVR shares the rental expenses cost guidelines , which cover guidelines regarding  general maintenance tech hourly rate , turnover scope and rates etc.




ONCE ONBoARDED HOW DOES OWNER COMMUNICATE WITH FVR ?

Property Owner can communicate with FVR or directly with the Property Manager as and when required , along with the personal number/email  of the Property Manager , owner will have also have access to Office Number , Office Email , Buildium Communications or any other means like whatsapp etc.




IS YOUR PROPERTY MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT BINDING FOR THE TERM PERIOD ?

NO our property management agreement gives an option to offboard which can be initiated by either parties with minimum of 30 Days notice . 




HOW DOES The GENERAL OFFBOARDING LOOK LIKE ?

General Offboarding would involve

 
Handing over all the leases and tenant details to the owner if not already with the owner 

   Handing over any keys or unit access details 

        Informing Owner to download final ledger before losing access to buildium due to account closure

        Releasing the final payment to the owner ( inlcudes deposits + rents + reserves etc )

Updating on any other specedic information as required