We manage single family homes up to four-plexes.

We do not manage any properties that have more than four units. We do not manage commercial properties or apartment complexes. We do not manage any properties with conditions that will affect the health and safety of a tenant.

Yes, we are licensed Realtors and have our full brokerage.

We are members of:

• Houston Area of Realtors
• Texas Association of Realtors
• National Association of Realtors
• Houston Chapter of the National Association of Residential Property Managers
• National Association of Residential Property Managers (NARPM)
• Better Business Bureau (BBB)

Your Dream Real Estate has found that the Internet receives tremendous exposure.

MLS Listing – We have found that the Multiple Listing Service is the best way to advertise the property. Over 23,000 agents use this service and over 50,000 people access the site daily. Your Dream Real Estate uses power phrases of descriptive words, wide-angle pictures and video when listing a property. Your Dream Real Estate is one of the few agents who upload video for rentals. The latest data from Internet marketing shows more people are looking at video.

Craigslist – Your Dream Real Estate uploads your property to craigslist daily so that it goes back to the top of the list.

Your Dream Real Estate Website – We upload the property to our website. Our website spiders out to 100s of websites including popular ones like Trulia and Zillow.

Signage – Your Dream Real Estate displays “For Rent” signs prominently. Signs promote calls.

Your Dream Real Estate will display bandit signs throughout the area if a property is having problems renting. Bandit signs are only displaced in lower income areas as higher income areas will take down the signs and fine us. There is a charge for this service. Service is for 10 signs, this includes material and labor.

Newspapers and Publications – Your Dream Real Estate will put an ad in the Green sheet for properties that are below $1,000 in rent and having a hard time renting. This is an additional cost to the property owner. Your Dream Real Estate has found this will generate a lot of phone calls, but very little good leads. Your Dream Real Estate uses this as a last resort.

Your Dream Real Estate utilizes an online application. Any prospect who would like to submit an application can do so 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year. The prospect pays for the application with a credit card at the time of submission.

Thorough screening is crucial to successful Property Management. Your Dream Real Estate requires all applicants to fill out a detailed application and submit it for processing/approval. A credit check is NOT enough! Our company conducts a careful review of their credit, income, and tenant history or ownership.

All applicants must submit verifiable information on their income to show they can support the property. Rental history or previous home ownership is carefully checked. Cross-referencing all three areas – credit, tenant history, and income provides the answers to qualify or disqualify prospective applicants.

The following criteria are used when screening a resident:

• Must make three times the amount of rent
• No evictions
• If there is a broken lease in the last five years, must have re-established rental history
• No Felonies
• Credit is on a case by case basis. The higher the rent the more weighted the debt to income ratio becomes.
• Bankruptcy MUST be dismissed or discharged
• Must submit the last three paycheck stubs, if self-employed must have last year tax return
• Must submit a copy of driver’s license
• Must submit a copy of social security card
• Pets are a case by case basis. No dangerous breeds
• Anyone who is 18 or older MUST submit an application
• The total number of occupancy must not exceed two persons per bedroom

We pay owners through e-payment starting on the 5th of the month. We make payments each day until the 10th of the month. We then make payments on the 15th, 20th and 25th of the month.

E-payments take between 3 – 5 business days to get into your account. Some banks take three days and some banks take five days. Payments are not made before the 5th. This means if the 5th is a Saturday, payments will go out on Monday the 7th.

Even though rent is due on the first, legally we have to give the residents a grace period before we charge late fees. Even if a resident pays rent on the first, it typically does not clear our bank until the 4th or 5th of the month.

There are times when a rent payment is pending and we still send the payment to the owner. If the payment becomes NSF, we inform the owner to send us back the money. Luckily this happens very infrequently.

The first month rent is the leasing charge that is split between the listing and buying broker. This is a standard commission in Houston.

By law, the security deposit is not the owner’s money. It is a deposit on the property. Your Dream Real Estate holds the security deposit in our deposit trust account. If you are holding the security deposit on an existing property, it is highly recommended you send it to Your Dream Real Estate once we take over management.

We send all payments through electronic transfer. Your Dream Real Estate believes that this is the best way, although the bank charges for the ACH transfer, we pay the transfer fee for you.

We can also send a paper check. All paper checks are not distributed until the 15th of the month.

This is not a typical setup for us. We can send your check FedEx. There is a one-time $20 set up fee and all costs associated with the FedEx delivery will be passed on to you.

Your Dream Real Estate emails a statement each time a payment is made to your account electronically. At the end of the month, Your Dream Real Estate publishes the month-end statement to your Owner Portal. You can view all past statements for as long as you have been a client with Your Dream Real Estate in the Owner Portal.

We pay your lawn service, utility bills when your property is vacant or if the owner is responsible for services. We pay any invoice generated due to maintenance on your property.

We do not pay HOA, mortgage, taxes or insurance.

Putting in the right resident is the first line of defense in making sure your property is being taken care of.

Secondly, we schedule a nine month property inspection. The inspection allows us to walk through the property to determine if the residents are taking care of the property and if they are abiding by the lease agreement.

Our seasoned inspectors look for signs of unauthorized pets, unauthorized people staying in the property, and any lease infractions. The inspectors are also looking for any maintenance issues that can be fixed before becoming a major issue.

Our property manager will allow the tenant to rectify the situation. Each situation is different. We will use our experience and expertise to handle each situation accordingly.

There are a few reasons why we perform the inspections at nine months. We want to determine if the resident is taking care of the property. If they are not taking care of the property, we will not send them a lease renewal. Also it allows us to determine if there are any maintenance issues that can be taken care of. If the resident is taking care of the property we want to make them happy. Fixing a bunch of small maintenance items will make the resident happy and want to renew their lease. The lease renewal goes out to be signed at month ten. It is important to gather information and take care of anything prior to the lease renewal.

You can request your property to have an inspection anytime you want. Just remember, Your Dream Real Estate uses a third party company for the inspections and the cost is passed on to you.

Your Dream Real Estate uses a third party company for a couple of reasons:

Your Dream Real Estate has an internal maintenance department. Your Dream Real Estate feels it is a conflict of interest to be the company who manages the property, inspects the property and maintains the property. Having a third party inspect the property solves this issue.

Your Dream Real Estate property managers use to walk a property in twenty minutes, produce a handful of pictures with no write up to the owner. The third party company uses trained professionals, takes numerous photos and produces a 30+ page report.

Your Dream Real Estate does not schedule the inspections. The inspections are scheduled by the third party company. Your Dream Real Estate is only notified once the inspection is completed or if the tenant is not being responsive to get the home inspected. Since Your Dream Real Estate is not notified regarding the schedule we do not inform the owner.

Also, the inspector has asked that the owner not be present when inspecting the property. It is difficult enough to inspect the property with the resident present.

We encourage you to go view your property every one or two years. We require a few days’ notice so that we can make arrangements with the tenants. Often the trip to view your property is tax deductible. Check with your CPA.

Collecting Rent: Rents are due on the 1st day of the month and late if not received in the Your Dream Real Estate office by the 3rd of the month.

Your Dream Real Estate recognizes that many things can happen where it concerns rent; rent can really be lost “in the mail”, employers can delay the tenant’s paycheck, there are real tenant emergencies, and more. Therefore, we make a serious effort to determine why the tenant is having a problem. If Your Dream Real Estate receives the rent prior to issuing owner funds, Your Dream Real Estate does not contact the owner unless the Your Dream Real Estate management team determines there is an ongoing rent issue.

Your Dream Real Estate can and will accept credit card payments from tenants.

Notice to Pay or Quit: If Your Dream Real Estate does not receive rent by the due date, Your Dream Real Estate prepares and delivers a timely notice to pay or quit, as the law allows. Your Dream Real Estate makes every effort to mail and post notices properly should legal action be required. If Your Dream Real Estate determines the tenant is not going to pay the rent during the notice to pay or quit period, or shortly thereafter, Your Dream Real Estate contacts the property owner and works out a plan of action.

The court charges $101 to file an eviction. This is for a single lease holder. The court charges an extra $67 per lease holder. At this time there is no charge for occupants.

Your Dream Real Estate charges $200 to process an eviction. This fee covers the following:

• Your Dream Real Estate going to the courthouse and filing the eviction
• Your Dream Real Estate going to the courthouse for the court case
• Your Dream Real Estate going to the courthouse to file the writ
• Your Dream Real Estate going to the property to meet the constable to obtain possession

This charge does not cover appeals or paupers. If Your Dream Real Estate needs to go to the county courthouse to represent the owner in an appeal or pauper, then section 11G of the management agreement would be initiated.

This completely depends on the court system and if the constables are backlogged. We use to see about three weeks for an eviction; we are currently seeing forty-five days up to two months at times.

The resident can enter a maintenance request through the resident portal or by calling. The resident can enter an emergency maintenance request by dialing the main number and selecting the emergency extension. Your Dream Real Estate will contact the resident within 24 hours for a non-emergency and within two hours of an emergency. Your Dream Real Estate will send a licensed and insured vendor for any work that requires a license. Your Dream Real Estate maintenance service technicians perform non-licensed work, are insured and have had a criminal background check. The vendor will contact the resident and coordinate a date/time to enter the premises. Someone over the age of 18 must be present for the vendor to access the premise.

Your Dream Real Estate management will send updates regarding the work order to residents and owners through the portals.

Your Dream Real Estate staff takes before and after photos of all work completed and has the resident sign off on the work order.

We hold a $400 reserve amount per property. The reserve amount is negotiable depending upon the number of properties you have. The reason for the reserve is to pay our vendors quickly. Your Dream Real Estate receives discounts on pricing and preferential treatment from our vendor partners because of the amount of business, but more importantly because we pay our vendors very quickly.

When a work order is created, our computer system auto-generates an email informing you of the request.

Our assistant property manager will assign the work order to a vendor and reach out to the tenant.

Our assistant property manager will periodically get updates from the tenant or the vendor. Each update is sent to you through our conversation thread. The conversation thread will be in your portal. An email will alert you that a new conversation has been generated.

Once the work order is completed, the owner will be notified via the conversation thread.

Our residents have a special phone line they can call for emergencies. Our property manager will determine if the call is truly an emergency. A partner vendor will be dispatched or one of our internal maintenance technicians will be dispatched ASAP. Dispatch typically takes about two hours.

If the emergency is under $400 to fix, the property manager will approve the work. If the emergency work is more than $400 then, the property manager will contact you via phone, text and conversation portal. If the owner does not answer, the property manager determines if the issue can be patched up for a short time to relieve the issue. This will give us time to work with the owner and receive the funds to fix the emergency completely. If the issue cannot be patched, the property manager will make a decision based on numerous factors.

Your Dream Real Estate has a 24 hour answering service that will contact us after hours. Our property manager will contact the resident to determine if the issue is an emergency or just a standard maintenance request.

If the issue is an emergency, we will handle it just like we handle any maintenance emergency (see How Do You Handle Maintenance Emergencies?).

Your Dream Real Estate does not spend any amount greater than $400. This is our contracted price and it is equal to the reserve amount we hold for your property. Our Vendors have been trained to contact Your Dream Real Estate for any issue that is going to cost more than $400.

The property manager does not approve any work greater than $400 without written approval from the owner. Furthermore, the property manager will typically not approve the work until the owner deposits the money into the property account.

Only during a maintenance emergency where the property manager cannot contact the owner will the property manager approve work greater than $400.

To prevent the owner from incurring a service call, we always try to contact the owner while the vendor is at the property to complete the work.

We do not, but we will if requested. We have been working with many of our vendors for years and there is a trust that has been built up. We trust that our vendors are giving us competitive pricing and that they are evaluating the situation correctly. However, there are times when a second or even a third bid makes complete sense. Examples of this might be an AC system needs to be replaced or an underground pipe needs to be replaced.

We prefer that you use our vendors. If you want to use your own vendor we have specific guidelines.

You are the one who coordinates between your vendor and the resident.

We close the work order and we do not get or give updates on the work order.

We do not pay your vendor.

If a resident calls and complains that the work has not been scheduled or completed within 48 hours we re-open the work order, inform you that your vendor did not do anything for two days, and dispatch our vendor.

You can invite your vendor to join our vendor list if they are qualified and insured. However, we cannot promise that a specific vendor will be dispatched to your home for specific repairs.

Our reputation, with both tenants and owners is largely determined by how well we handle maintenance.  Our maintenance vendors are a big part of our team. They are insured, bonded, licensed and have gone through training and an approval process on how to work with Your Dream Real Estate. This ensures that work orders will be done quickly and to Your Dream Real Estate guidelines.

NO! Not only do we say it, but we show it. All invoices are uploaded to your owner portal for you to review.

We HATE home warranty companies. We advise you to not use home warranty companies.

Your Dream Real Estate has personally lost clients because of home warranty companies. Every time we coordinate maintenance with a home warranty company it is one problem after another. First, they never respond in a timely fashion, getting them on the phone is difficult and then there is the “he said, she said” between the resident and the home warranty company.

Next, they deny service either on grounds of lack of maintenance or abnormal wear and tear. When it comes to exclusions and small print, warranty contracts say a claim can be denied for lack of maintenance, improper maintenance, improper installation, pre-existing problems, code violations and numerous other reasons.

Warranties are typically purchased by home sellers or their real estate agents to avoid lawsuits if something breaks in the first year. Not to be confused with a builder’s warranty, a so-called home warranty — actually a service contract — is typically purchased for existing homes, especially homes sold by real estate agents. These service contracts generally cost $300 to $600 for a year-long basic coverage plan that includes items like ceiling fans, water heaters and furnaces.

The contracts come with loopholes. You need to carefully read your service agreement to determine what is and what isn’t covered. Coverage for plumbing, for example, typically ends at your home’s foundation, so leaks or breakages beyond that would be your responsibility. “Pre-existing” problems typically aren’t covered, nor are breakdowns that result from poor maintenance or improper installation. The contract also may require that a system be upgraded to current building code standards — at the homeowner’s expense — before they agree to consider repairs. People who have had problems with the home warranty companies say that the more expensive the repair or replacement, the more likely home warranty companies are to invoke these exclusion clauses.

You don’t have control over who does the work. The home warranty provider contracts with local service companies to perform the actual inspections and repairs. You don’t get to choose and scheduling repairs can sometimes be a trial. The service technician may also try to sell you unneeded services.

No. We only use our qualified vendors. We are not able to use you for liability reasons to perform work on your home unless you are licensed.

We will only manage the property, the owner is responsible for all pool and spa maintenance. We have seen too many times where the resident does not care for the pool and it costs the owner too much money and stress.

Your Dream Real Estate can find a pool company for the owner, but we would rather continue to use the company that is currently maintaining your pool.

Your online owner portal is the primary communication between you and Your Dream Real Estate. It is a web based product that is very easy to use. There is all the information you need:

• You can create or update your e-pay bank account information
• You can update your contact information
• You can see all conversations between you and your management team
• You can see all uploaded documents – lease, agreement, invoices, etc.
• You can see your portfolio balance
• You can make e-payment contributions
• You can view all work orders
• You can view your monthly statements

For information on how to set up your portal download our Owner Portal Guide.

Always be courteous, but kindly tell them that you have hired a professional management company to manage the property and they should contact the management company. If they state they have tried contacting the management company but no one will ever pick up the phone, understand that this is a ploy to engage you. They feel that when they are talking to the owner, they can negotiate whether it is maintenance or rent payments. You hired us to manage your property and ultimately to create a firewall between you and the resident. Allow us to do our job for you.

Our management fee are flat base charges and are based on the number of the property you have. We do not change a percentage of the rent.

Our system is set up to notify our owners on many aspects of their property. Just to name a few:

• Rent payment has been received
• Rent is past due
• Notice of Lease Expiration
• Lease Renewal Notification
• Vacancy Notification
• New Tenant Notification
• Tenant Move-Out Notification
• New Work Order
• Owner Statement published
• Document published to portal
• Low on funds
• When there is a scheduled showing
• When an agent leaves feedback on a vacant unit

Not only is our system set up for notifications, Your Dream Real Estate truly believes in customer service.  We believe customer service is keeping our owners and residents updated. Our motto is “our owners should know everything about the property, but not have to do anything”.

• Online access to your account
• E-payment to your bank account
• Resident online access and payment portal
• Volume based discounts from our preferred vendors
• All communication with your tenant including phone, email and regular mail
• Use of 24 hour toll free maintenance hotline and answering service
• Book keeping and reporting
• Uploading all documents including management agreements, lease agreements, invoices and utility bills to the portal
• Move-in, Move-out pictures and videos sent via YouTube and Dropbox
• Debt collection and credit reporting for delinquent tenants.
• Vacant property mass marketing through multiple advertising web portals
• Online application process and tenant screening
• Complete follow through on all work orders including photos
• Maintenance surveys of residents
• Keeping up to date on local and federal laws and regulations

We do not charge a setup fee. We do not charge a markup on maintenance. We do not charge expense reimbursements for copies, faxes, long distance calls, mailing letters, mileage, tolls, photos and video or notary fees.

There are some expenses that do get reimbursed, for example, FedEx mailing expenses and parking expenses.

We charge the following fees:

• Lease Renewal Fee ($75)

This is the cheapest rate you will find. Most management companies will charge half month rent. Some will charge a flat fee. We have not found one lower than $100.

• Process Utility Bills ($10 per bill)

At Your Dream Real Estate we take the extra time to turn on your electric and water utilities. We do not turn on gas unless it is needed for an inspection. It is very time consuming to turn on the utilities. There are times when we have to physically go to the water district. We also scan the bills in and upload them to your portal for you.

If the owner asks us to do things outside our normal management services we try to accommodate, but there are times when we charge.

Example – Owner asks us to send their check via FedEx. We charge a $20 setup fee and pass on the FedEx charges to the owner.

Example – Owner asks us to attend an HOA meeting. We charge $150 per hour.

Example – Owner asks us to mail out agreements, invoices, lease, etc. All of these documents are located on your owner portal for you to download. If you require Your Dream Real Estate to mail you a hard copy there is a service fee for this. We charge $50 for this service.

Example – You want us to go to a property to meet an inspector, appraiser or take photos of the property. We are happy to do this for the owner, but it is very time consuming, therefore there is a service fee of $50 per hour for this service.

Example – Your Dream Real Estate has to go to the property to meet the utility company, vendor or delivery to allow access. There is a $50 per hour service charge.

Absolutely! Your Dream Real Estate partners with different agents who have been trained by us on what makes a good investment. These agents will be more than happy to look for investment properties for you.

Absolutely! Your Dream Real Estate has contacts with many investors looking for investment properties. Your Dream Real Estate typically markets their client’s investment properties to their buyer list prior to even putting the property on the MLS.

All questions you have regarding your property should be directed to your property management team using the owner portal conversation thread. This thread is extremely important for communication. First, it timestamps the conversation and it is saved in the software. Second, it alerts all team members. Should an owner have an issue with response time, it allows the managers of the company to review the request with certainty.

If you feel that you need to contact your property manager directly, you may call our main line at (832) 404 -2030 or toll free at (844) 35 DREAM.

For a complete list of emails, phone extensions and responsibilities please review the owner manual.

We can start the process immediately. Contact us today so we can find out more about you and your property and see if we are the right property management company for your needs.