Owner Summary

At its core, property management is financial compensation in return for a service. The property owner gives money to the property manager in exchange for a promise to perform. Ask yourself: What is that promise worth? Do you have confidence in the promise? Confidence presupposes two prerequisites:

1. Trust - Does the property manager share your values? Are they ethical? Will they keep your best interest at heart?

2. Credibility - Are they competent? Are they backed by years of successful experience? Do they have the people, processes and systems to manage your property?

The promise mentioned above is only as good as the people backing it. Can they back their promise with the ethics and experience that give you, as an investor, the confidence to entrust them with your biggest asset?

At Au Terre, we understand that trust and credibility are the essence of property management. It is the foundation on which we build everything else that creates value for our clients: People (who care), defined processes (so no detail is overlooked), and state-of-the-art systems (that provide speed and efficiency).

At Au Terre, we provide:

Peace of Mind

We understand that our biggest value to you, our investor clients, is peace of mind. Our clients know we have their best interest at heart. We manage all our properties as if we own them ourselves. We create confidence in ourselves through our ethics, responsiveness, know-how, high standards, systems, and, most importantly, great caring people. Our investors know that their properties are meticulously cared for and maintained.

Convenience

A second value investors see in our services is convenience. We take over all the hassles and headaches. We deal with tenant relations, marketing units, screening tenants, negotiating leases, providing maintenance, responding to emergency calls at all hours, and staying compliant with federal, state, and local laws.

At cocktail parties, most successful real estate investors reserve bragging rights to the great property deal they negotiated, the profits they created, or the leisure time activities these profits finance. Few brag about fixing toilets at 3:00 am or dealing with irate tenants.

These successful investors understand their core competencies and outsource secondary skill sets, preserving their time and energy to where they have the biggest profit impact.

Value-Added Services

A third reason real estate investors seek us out is for our value-added services. Au Terre Properties, Inc. works closely with real estate investors to execute the strategic property plan. We focus on preserving and enhancing the asset, maximizing cash flow, and increasing the future value of the property. We scrutinize property operations for additional financial savings and operating efficiencies. Maintenance is reviewed for vendor pricing, capital expenditures, and pro-active/preventative solutions. Marketing, leasing, and advertising activities are reviewed to assure the property is getting maximum exposure and is advantaged against competition.

Additionally, we do tenant outreach to create a warm and positive atmosphere between tenants and property managers. Au Terre Properties, Inc. preserves a high tenant retention rate while strictly enforcing all lease terms.

As experienced property managers, we keep a laser-like focus on the two most significant property cost drivers: unit turnover and maintenance.

Minimal Unit Turnover

Constant unit churn is devastating to cash flow. Units are expensive to turn over. Painting, cleaning, flooring, carpeting, and repairs cost money and wear on the property. To mitigate this issue, we examine and survey competitor rent rates and devise pricing and marketing strategies. We perform thorough tenant screening (employment, rental and criminal background) which ensures lower tenant turnover and fewer collection problems. Lease terms are strictly enforced, especially regarding the care and maintenance of the property. Tenant retention is the greatest where pro-active and responsive management is the strongest.

The above, and many more processes than can be listed, contribute to increased cash flow to the property.

Pragmatic Property Maintenance

Maintenance costs can rapidly spiral out of control due to deferred and improper maintenance on one hand, or excessive and unnecessary repairs on the other. Both over and under improvement weaken cash flow and drain equity. We quickly evaluate the property for safety issues (mitigating liability) and aesthetics (rental demand). Additionally, all vendor contracts are evaluated based on price and quality of work. Any inflated contracts are renegotiated or replaced.

Sustainable Relationships

Au Terre understands that managing property is a service business based on relationships. We value our relationships with tenants, vendors and our investors.

Underpinning those relationships is the element of trust -

Trust that our tenants have in our caring attitude, responsiveness to service issues and creation of great communities.

Trust that our vendors have in being paid promptly for high-quality, well-priced services rendered.

Trust that our owners have in the financial and operational stewardship of their property.

We achieve that perfect balance between these stakeholders that delivers the largest, most sustainable, long-term return on investment to our property owners.

We set high standards, take pride in our work and deliver excellence in our service. We strive to exceed all expectations in a world where mediocrity is the norm. We believe that a property manager should be very approachable, highly efficient, pro-actively focused and budget minded.

Landlords walk a fine line between hiring the best help possible and obtaining the most competitive price on their management fees. Each property, just like each owner, is unique and may require more or less work depending on its situation. Previously mismanaged properties offer a great profit opportunity for many investors.

Advanced Technology

We have built our business model around an enhanced, interactive website that allows tenants, prospective tenants, vendors and owners to search for information and communicate with us. We have tied the website to a state-of-the-art, cloud-based financial and administrative system that provides information at the touch of a key anytime, anywhere.

This business model is designed to keep property managers in the field seeing property, asking questions, overseeing vendors, making inquiries, etc. Property issues are discovered on-site, not by sitting behind a big desk in an office. Learning and discovery occurs in the field. We believe in leading from the front lines where we can uncover problems and affect change rapidly and effectively.

We believe this technology, along with our field-based property management approach, automated processes and caring, competent, highly skilled and passionate people make us effective in delivering financial returns from each property we manage.

Competitive Pricing

We believe Au Terre Properties offers tremendous value for the high level of services offered at a competitive rate. We provide real strategies, real results and real profits.

Savvy real estate investors understand that great property management pays for itself. A poor tenant, eviction, improperly priced unit and overpriced or unnecessary maintenance can create enough drain on the cash flow over time to pay for our property management services many times over.

Our values and approach may be considered old fashioned by some, but we would not have it any other way. Hard work, honesty, straight-forwardness, stewardship – It's the way we were raised. It's what we believe. It's what we do. It's what we do. It's how we live our lives and run our business.