Journalist, Stacker

Head Of In-Lease Experience

It says everything about their value system and why the difference between homeowners and residents is actually no difference at all.

This Property Manager Just Wrote an Open Letter to the Local Community

Dear Residents, Homeowners, HOA members, and Neighbors,

We’ve heard both sides of the story — anecdotes from renters and HOA members alike, about the tension that often develops between people who own homes in the community and people who don’t. 

There’s a perception that renters don’t contribute to the communities they reside in, because they aren’t really part of those communities.  They can’t possibly care about the neighborhood the way a homeowner would, because they aren’t homeowners.

That’s dead wrong and perpetuates a negative stereotype that polarizes a community when it needs to be brought together.

The truth:  you have no idea what people can contribute to a community if you make them feel part of it.  Make them feel like they belong.

That’s a good hint for how we came up with the name of our company, and our mission: to help instill in residents of all kinds a genuine sense of belonging.  It’s a feeling that starts with their relationship to the house they live in and spreads from there.  The more they feel at home in their homes, the more they feel at home in their community; the more they feel motivated to improve it, invest in it, and be the best neighbors they can be.

It starts with the first time we meet potential residents.   We have a real conversation, one which goes far deeper than a simple background and credit check.  

Then, after they move in, we provide them with concierge-style service and access to our Belong Pros — a hand-selected team of craftspeople employed full-time by Belong, who are at the ready 24/7 to fix any problems that may arise over the course of their lease. 

The result is happy, prideful residents living in beautiful, pristinely maintained houses that they love as much as the homeowner does. 

From there, it’s only a short step to caring about your neighborhood the same way you care about your house. 

That’s why HOAs in the places we serve – San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Diego, and Orange County - are so excited when Belongers move in. 

Care to learn more?  Watch this video — and then check out our website.  Or email us any time if you want to work together to make your community even stronger.

We hope the songs compiled here trigger within you, as they do within us, the power of home – especially relevant after Thanksgiving and before Christmas.

A Playlist to Get You in a Homey State of Mind

We here at Belong are constantly obsessing over all things home-related.  Our ears — and hearts — perk up whenever we hear the word.  Which is probably why we respond so immediately and emotionally to the songs collected on this playlist -- songs that communicate what we feel when we help connect people to the places where they live -- and the people they live with.

Without further ado, our favorite songs about home from the 60s and 70s:

1. Homeward Bound — Simon and Garfunkel

2. Our House — Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young 

Sure, boomers got a lot of things wrong — we’re not going to position ourselves on the unfashionable side of that argument — but it’s hard to deny the appeal of these two songs, which we’ve always thought of as two sides of the same coin.  The Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song revels in the comfort and stability promised by home, while the Simon and Garfunkel tune longs for those very qualities. It’s the difference between being there and wanting to be there. 

3. Wouldn’t It Be Nice — The Beach Boys

The other thing about boomers is they know from their harmonies.  Though the word “home” never appears in the lyrics of this song, the bliss they describe is specifically domestic.  It’s the joy of living with someone you love, in a house that you love, that makes this song so timeless. 

4. The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest — Bob Dylan

Surrealistic, yet earthy, it’s difficult to pin down the exact meaning of this song (as is often the case with Dylan’s lyrics).  Though when Dylan sings “It’s not a house / It’s a home” we know precisely what he’s talking about.  In fact, it’s this idea that Belong is built on — the idea that a house only becomes a true home through the relationship its residents develop with it. It’s love and familiarity that make a house a home: without that emotional component, it’s just wood and cement.

5. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere — Neil Young

The title song of Young’s breakthrough as a solo artist, “Everybody Knows” expresses how meaningful home is to the singer, by telling us how unimportant everywhere else is.  If he’s not there, he’s nowhere, drifting in the void.  A powerful thought, set to a jaunty, gutbucket guitar figure.  And something you can imagine exerts a powerful lure to a musician who spent so much time on the road.

6. Take Me Home, Country Roads — John Denver

Though Belong doesn’t yet operate in West Virginia – yet! –  we still relate to the warm, ecstatic love for home that this song expresses, and the sense of yearning we feel when we’re anywhere else but home.   

Having spent Thanksgiving week in a tryptophan dream watching Get Back on Disney Plus, we are fonder than ever of this acoustic ditty that finds Paul McCartney and John Lennon duetting for one of the very last times.  Like the John Denver song, it has a homey tug, a nostalgic vibe perfectly suited to the subject matter.  Which is the beautiful thing about a home you love — you feel wistful thinking about it, but unlike most things that make you feel that way, it’s always there waiting for you at the end of the day.

Like Robert Frost said, “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.”

8. Looking Out My Back Door — Creedence Clearwater Revival

One of the Dude’s favorites — and one of our favorites, too — this Creedence classic tells the story of a man coming home and immediately feeling so comfortable there that he stumbles into a surrealist fantasia.  From his porch he sees a giant doing cartwheels and a statue in high heels, imploring the listener to “look at all the happy creatures dancing on the lawn.” Rarely has the surreal and psychedelic felt so comforting and familiar. 

We’d be remiss if we didn’t list this roots-rock staple, which proves that home isn’t only where the heart is, but where the imagination thrives. 

10. The House I Live In – Frank Sinatra

And to conclude, something a little different – this classic ballad sung by the inimitable Frank Sinatra, that broadens the definition of home, taking in not only the building you live in, but the neighborhood, the state, and the country.  In these trying times, it is songs like these that remind us of the spirit that unites us all.

This holiday season, we hope that this collection of songs makes you feel the way we do -- like you Belong somewhere.

This Q&A guide will walk through some of the most common questions around becoming a landlord and the time commitment of self-managing your own rental property.

How Do I Manage My Own Rental Property? Your Questions Answered

Homeowners new to the rental market often ask "how do I manage my own rental property?" This Q&A guide will walk through some of the most common questions around becoming a landlord and the time commitment of self-managing your own rental property. 

Question: How do I find quality tenants without a property manager?

Finding the right tenant is the single most important task a homeowner has. Generally this is handled by a property manager, but if you're going it alone, you will need to get a real understanding of the way that real estate platforms work, like Zillow, Trulia, and  Realtor.com. 

You will also need high-quality, professional images of your property and for maximum results, a video walkthrough or virtual open house. This will help hook prospective tenants. 

Once you’ve mastered the underlying processes, you will have to post your property, review applications, show the house, and make your decision. All that can eat a couple of hours a day, for as long as it takes to rent your place. 

During the “find and secure a tenant phase,” depending on whether you have a broker to show the property or if you are doing it yourself, you should budget between 15% and 40% of your time to the task, with the expectation that the process will take at least a month.

Question: How can I screen tenants myself?

Before accepting a new tenant and having a lease drawn up, you will need to spend the necessary time and money on credit and background checks and identity verification as well. 

Your tenant screening process needs to address the following:

Reviewing applications and looking out for errors and omissions

Investigate and verify self-employment financials 

Arrange a background check to look for a history of evictions or criminal activity

You can hire a tenant screening company or use software to assist with these tasks, which we have outlined in this post.

Question: How much time does it take to manage my own rental property?

The answer of the time commitment for self-managing a rental isn't a straightforward calculation. The amount of time you need to set aside for property management not only includes the time required for the expected obligations you will have, but also for the unexpected.

The expected requirements are reasonably obvious to everyone who has owned a rental property; they range from having to find great tenants and screen for them, to making necessary updates and repairs, to collecting rent and maintenance. But it is the unexpected demands that are the most troublesome and vexing for homeowners and managers, because they appear unexpectedly and can disrupt your daily life.

Whether it is something you can plan for – or otherwise – every responsibility you take on has sub-tasks and sub-sub-tasks beneath them. It is these layers of work that many homeowners fail to take into account when they are deciding whether to hire a property manager or take the task upon themselves.

Question: How long will it take to prepare my property for rent? 

We all know the complexities involved in renovations and repairs; even relatively minor “freshening” tasks like painting, or having the floors done, or deep cleaning of kitchens and bathrooms, takes time: you have to find contractors, check their backgrounds, and then manage the process. 

During the most intense period of this work – when you are getting your place in shape, and are under pressure because the longer your place remains vacant, the less money you’re taking – you should allocate for as much as half your time on a combination of taking bids from contractors, supervising the work, and acting as a mini-general contractor, as you manage painters, plumbers, and electricians.

During the renovation and repair phase, time demands vary wildly, depending on how much work the property needs, or how much staging is required. If the property only needs some light work and staging, you could be away with 10% of your time. But if you’ve inherited a place that hasn’t been touched for years – or if it needs a ton of work to bring it up to market standards – it could take half your time for a month, or more.

Question: Is their software for landlords I can use to self-manage my rental?

Yes,  there are a number of platforms out there that can assist self-managed landlords. For example, Quicken offers a landlord package, as do dedicated platforms like Doorloop.

Keep in mind, though, that like any software, it takes time and effort to learn and acclimate yourself to these systems. And it is not going to eliminate the manual work since many local contractors don’t have e-billing, so you will need to manually enter the paperwork, and scan the invoices into the system. Accurate record-keeping is essential to make sure you’re prepared when tax season rolls along; we’ve heard many stories about “shoebox” filing systems, and how homeowners who tried to save time during the year-end up spending hours upon hours organizing a year’s worth of records for their accountants.

Once the tenant is in place, assuming your work will involve collecting the rent and normal maintenance, you should get by with between an hour and two hours a week.

Question: Is there an alternative to hiring a property management company without doing all the work myself?

There’s a lot to keep track of as a landlord, so getting into that business solo isn’t for the faint of heart. Belong is redefining what it means to work with a property manager. We’re not a traditional property management company, but rather a long-term rental platform dedicated to reinventing the home rental experience.

So if you’re ready to become a successful landlord, but don’t want to deal with all the time-consuming nuts and bolts from tenant screening and property taxes to understanding the rental market and bookkeeping, let’s get started.

Renters are just people looking for a place to call home. Here's how treating them with a more humane approach can have better results for your rental property.

Renters Are People Too, Let's Treat Them As Such

Renters are more than just ‘tenants’ — they’re people looking for a place to call home. It’s time to ditch your property manager for a company that can see beyond the numbers and take a human approach to finding a person who will adopt your home as their own. 

Even if you’re currently a homeowner, there was probably a point in your life when you were on the other side of things — when you were living in a rental. Think back to what life was like then. Did you act as if your home belonged to someone else? Did you ever invite a friend over to see “the landlord’s house?” Or did you simply say “let’s have dinner at my place”? 

Belong thinks it’s important to keep that dynamic in mind — to remember that when you own a house or apartment on the rental market, you’re not leasing out a dead space. You’re inviting someone to make themselves at home. 

The danger in property managers that treat people like numbers

Property managers rarely refer to the people behind the financial transaction. They’re known simply as ‘prospects’ or ‘tenants’. If your property manager is viewing people this way, they’re not seeing the big picture. Property managers that treat people like numbers won’t find the right people to occupy your home, because they’re not considering the emotional connection that people have to the places they call home. If you experience this when meeting with a property management company, we suggest you run the other way! 

Taking a human approach to renting your home

Looking for great tenants means taking a human approach to renting your home. By treating people in the rental market with the respect they deserve and inviting them to make themselves at home, they’re more likely to treat your house as their own. 

This creates a win-win situation for everyone involved. Renters can feel safe and comfortable in a space that feels like home. As the landlord, you reap the benefits of having a stable rental income from people that are in for the long haul and are in no hurry to move.

That’s why Belong refers to people who rent homes as ‘residents,’ to underline the fact that these are places in which they reside. Residents adopt a home as their own. Similarly, Belong refers to you not as “the landlord”, but as a homeowner. Belong tries to create a mutual respect between our homeowners and residents, with a shared appreciation for a property you’re both invested in.

Turning the rental experience into a hospitality service

Think about the lengths that large hotel brands and even vacation rental services like Airbnb go to make people feel comfortable and even “at home” when they’re staying with them. And yet traditional property management services — the very businesses who are supposed to be finding everyday living accommodation for people — do the complete opposite. 

Belong’s changing that. Its human approach is turning the rental experience into a world-class hospitality service for both you and your residents. Unlike traditional property management services, Belong provides a complete end-to-end service with full transparency. Belong matches houses with residents that are looking for a long term place to live — somewhere to call home. Belong currently offers services to homes in the Bay Area, the LA area, Orange County, Seattle, Miami, Orlando, and Tampa (with many more to come!). See if you qualify today at Belong.com.

Belong

Jordan Newsom

Lauren Slagter

Harrison Kelly

Tamara Epelbaum

Lucas Hanft

Jordan Newsom

Lauren Slagter

Harrison Kelly

Tamara Epelbaum

Lucas Hanft