Property Management Services

Our goal is to turn your rental property into a hassle-free, cash-flowing investment.

Our Approach

We strive to raise the bar in the real estate industry by delivering the highest quality service and results. We’re not here to be the biggest firm — we’re here to be the best. That means ensuring we impart value within our products, keep our residents safe and happy, and foster rewarding experiences that benefit our clients. Whether it is finding that quintessential property or overseeing all aspects of property management, from maximizing rents and minimizing expenses to delivering timely and accurate accounting — we are here.

What We Do

Rent Collection

  • Collect rents
  • Apply any fees and track down late payments
  • Properly deliver notices to pay or quit
  • Develop and implement alternative strategies for non-payment of rent (i.e., cash for keys)
  • Advise in the event of a legal dispute or litigation
  • Refer owners to qualified attorneys when necessary
  • Understand and abide by laws and ordinances specific to properties in the Chicagoland area

Lease Enforcement and Evictions

  • Negotiate resident settlements
  • Align with experienced, professional, and pragmatic eviction attorneys
  • File relevant paperwork to start and complete the eviction process
  • Enlist Special Process Servers to ensure proper delivery of legal notices
  • Represent owners in court
  • Strive toward results that benefit all parties

Building Violations and Court Appearances

  • Receive city notices regarding building violations and promptly notify owners
  • Develop strategy for completing necessary repairs
  • Represent owners in court to reduce or dismiss fines and penalties

Financial

  • Set up utility accounts and landlord reversion agreements
  • Ensure all utilities are in the resident’s name prior to a new lease start
  • Ensure any/all move-in fees are paid prior to residents taking possession
  • Produce Cash Flow projections
  • Generate annual property budgets
  • Calculate monthly Owner Funding disbursements
  • Make payments on behalf of the owner
  • Ensure proper approval is obtained from Ownership prior to executing or paying for larger capital expenditures or repairs
  • Analyze and prioritize bill payment
  • Detailed documentation of expenses via invoices and receipts
  • Maintain all historical records (paid invoices, leases, inspection reports, warranties, etc.)
  • Provide annual reporting, structured for tax purposes as well as required tax documents including a 1099 form
  • Advise investors on relevant property tax deductions related to their rental property and assist in submitting proper documentation
  • Provide easy-to-read monthly profit and loss statements which offer a detailed breakdown of income and itemized expenses

Evaluate the Property and Determine an Accurate Rental Rate

  • Tour properties and document interior/exterior conditions with photos and notes
  • Make recommendations on repairs and cosmetic improvements that can maximize rents while improving ROI
  • Gather, process, and distribute data on rental rates in the area and work with owners to determine the optimal pricing and marketing strategy

Premarket 

  • Prepare homes for rent by cleaning and optimizing interior appeal which includes painting, professional cleaning, and in some cases remodeling and/or staging
  • Write apartment advertising copy that gains potential renters’ interest with call to action to generate interest
  • Hire professional photographers to produce high-quality property photos and/or floor plans, virtual tours, or aerial photography that enhance advertising efforts

Marketing

  • Advertise the property on a variety of popular paid and free rental listing sites such as Zillow, Trulia, Hot Pads, Zumper, Pad Mapper, Apartments.com, Realtor.com, and many others
  • Advertise properties via Multiple Listing Service (MLS)
  • Create e-flyers for social media and install For Rent signs on site

Ongoing Dynamic Pricing 

  • Continually evaluate information such as lead flow, traffic, agent feedback, and neighborhood comps to make adjustments – increases or decreases – to rents

Showing The Property

  • Utilize an appointment scheduling software that includes a 24-hour hotline where prospective residents find detailed information about available properties and schedule appointments on the spot
  • Prequalify all potential applicants, field calls, answer questions, and schedule showings
  • Meet prospective residents for showings throughout the week and weekend
  • Sell the features and benefits of each property and turn prospects into applicants
  • Provide bi-monthly sales training to leasing team and meet regularly with agents to discuss inventory, market news, and other important info

Resident Screening, Selection & Negotiation of Terms

  • Perform a background check to verify identity, income, credit history, rental history, etc.
  • Apply the same stringent criteria across the portfolio to set approval, conditional approval, or denial standards no matter what
  • Utilize third-party insurers to secure rent payments for atypical applications
  • Negotiate lease offers and other terms on behalf of investors

Facilitate Resident Move-Ins

  • Draft and execute lease agreements in accordance with all local laws and ordinances
  • Send welcome letters and resident portal access to new residents  
  • Collect any/all fees and pertinent information prior to move-in
  • Follow up with residents regarding key pick-up, move-in coordination, and general questions

Lease Renewals, Sublets, Relets, Resident Additions, Extensions

  • Study past and current rental market conditions to determine market rental rates and renewal rates
  • Work with investors to ensure objectives are met with the renewal plan
  • Set renewal rates and send offers to residents in accordance with local laws
  • Proactively communicate with residents to truly understand motives for either staying or vacating
  • Negotiate renewal terms on behalf of investors to achieve best possible outcomes
  • Enforce lease terms and properly facilitate administrative leasing activities such as sublets, relets, resident additions, extensions, etc.
  • Negotiate early lease terminations with investor input along the way

Task Management and Resident Communication

  • Field incoming maintenance requests or inquiries by promptly communicating with residents
  • Quickly categorize and assign tasks to property managers and maintenance staff  
  • Dispatch in-house maintenance technicians to address repair requests as fast as possible
  • Follow-up with residents to provide timelines and once completed, ensure quality assurance and satisfaction

Emergency Maintenance Management

  • In-house maintenance team is on call for emergencies 24/7/365
  • Notify owners of emergencies and react quickly to solve problems, mitigate damage and ensure resident safety

Turnovers (Move-ins and Move-outs)

  • Thoroughly inspect units, generate condition reports (with pictures) and send to owner with bids for general turnover items such as minor repairs, painting, and deep cleaning. This is done well in advance of lease expirations
  • Document any and all damage beyond normal wear and tear and enforce the lease when necessary
  • Execute turnover plan and ensure speed, timeliness, and quality of service.  
  • Capital Improvements
  • Assist investors in identifying and prioritizing building improvements such as roofing, tuckpointing, gutters and downspouts, windows, plumbing, electrical, mechanical, and other building-related work
  • Schedule meetings with multiple contractors on site to review scope of work
  • Gather multiple bids for building improvements and send to owner with recommendations
  • Negotiate bids and ensure the best vendor is chosen for the best price
  • Oversee projects: adhere to timelines, ensure vendors stay within budget/scope, and make arrangements for deposits and final payments after quality of work has been verified

Remodeling

  • Assist investors with unit improvements such as new kitchens, appliances, bathrooms, lighting fixtures, flooring, laundry installs, drywalling, painting, carpentry, and more  
  • Schedule meetings with multiple contractors on site to review scope of work
  • Gather multiple bids for building improvements and send to owner with recommendations.
  • Negotiate bids and ensure the best vendor is chosen for the best price
  • Oversee projects: adhere to timelines, ensure vendors stay within budget/scope, and make arrangements for deposits and final payments after quality of work has been verified

Property Inspections

  • Thoroughly inspect properties twice annually to identify potential safety hazards, building improvements, and repairs
  • Prioritize inspection results based on urgency and budget
  • Present investors with findings and collaborate to execute bi-annual improvement plans

Interior/Exterior Cleaning, Lawn Care, Land Scaping, and Snow Removal

  • Maintain outdoor areas, including:
    • Mowing, blowing, edging, removal of trash and debris, etc
    • Clean rear porches and maintain yards, if any
  • Maintain indoor areas, including:
    • Common spaces, laundry rooms, vestibules, entryways, etc.
    • Obtain bids for larger landscaping projects and execute on behalf of investors
    • Ensure contracts are in place for bonded and fully insured snow removal services

Tour the Property
Conduct initial inspection at onboarding to assess overall building condition.

Develop an Appropriate Maintenance Plan

  • Proactive –  Develop an approach that aims to identify and fix the reasons equipment fails before it happens, with the goal being to increase asset reliability and reduce the risk of downtime.
  • Corrective –  Planned corrective maintenance happens in one of two ways. First, waiting to conduct maintenance on equipment and systems once they break down, aka run-to-failure maintenance. The second way is when scheduled maintenance or inspections identify specific issues that need attention.
  • Preventative –  Preventative maintenance uses three approaches:
    • Time-based  strategies use inspections and regular intervals to identify maintenance needs
    • Usage-based  maintenance is performed according to equipment-use benchmarks such as hours of operation.
    • Condition based  approaches require everyone to monitor an asset to determine maintenance needs.

Produce Budget

Work in conjunction with Investors to develop annual maintenance budget that aligns with Investor objectives.

Communication

Regularly report status of repairs, turnovers and capital expenditures.

All Maintenance Techs are In-House

Employ large team of experienced, closely managed maintenance technicians who report to the office every day for work orders. The objective is to respond quickly and accurately complete resident maintenance requests which include:

  • HVAC
  • Plumbing
  • Electrical
  • Appliance repair/replacement
  • Flooring
  • Drywall
  • Carpentry
  • Masonry and Tuckpointing
  • Roofing
  • Gutters/Downspouts
    Window repair/replacement
  • Keys/Doors/Locks
  • Pest Control

What Happens When It Can’t be Fixed In-House?

High Fidelity has grown to include many trusted 3rd party vendors for almost any type of repair or improvement. The standards are high, and we don’t cut corners. Vendors we’ve grown to trust and depend on count on us for a fair but competitive bidding process, top level communication, and prompt payment once jobs are verified completed to our satisfaction. In return, we get priority service, secure discount pricing due to volume, and better quality assurance throughout the process.

How We Measure Success

90%

of our business comes from referrals

96%

of real estate investor clients renew each year

99%

overall occupancy maintained

96%

of rental income collected annually

65%

of residents renew

100%

focused on increasing net income

Examples of Success

investor real estate services

400 N. LaSalle

An investment firm hired us to take over a fractured condo deal where they owned 105 units out of 400 units in a large downtown high-rise in River North. When we took over in 2014 from a prominent Chicago management firm, there were many vacancies, some delinquent rents, and neglected maintenance issues. Since then, we’ve shrunk annual vacancy to <1% and increased rents by over 30%. We’ve been instrumental in the group’s ability to maneuver between leasing and selling off individual condo units. We credit this to proactive communication and a collaborative approach with the client.

Exclusive Leasing for Mid-Sized Investment Firm

In 2018, a mid-sized apartment investment firm hired us to lease up and stabilize 6 apartment buildings totaling over 150 units. When we assumed duties, there were a lot of vacancies that needed to be filled at top market rates. As of today, we’re still their exclusive apartment marketing firm and we continue to work closely with ownership on overall strategy, market positioning, and pricing.

investor real estate services
albany park multifamily

Albany Park Leasing Assignment for Local Rehabber

A local apartment investor/rehabber hired us to stabilize 4 buildings totaling over 25 units. When we took on the assignment, our client relied on us for guidance on pricing, marketing, and stabilizing what was at that time an unstable portfolio. We were able to lease up all units at the target price point, with minimal market time. We now lease and manage all of his properties exclusively.

New Construction Lease Up in Lincoln Park

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we were tasked with leasing six new construction 3-bed, 2-bath apartments in the heart of Lincoln Park at top dollar. We leased all six at the target price in a month. Today, we lease and manage this client’s portfolio ranging from Forest Park, Andersonville, Gold Coast to Lincoln Park.

2513 N. Halsted

Reach out for an assessment of your property