Owner FAQs

Owner disbursements go out on the first business day after the 10th of the month, by mail or direct deposit. Your monthly statement follows, showing the income and expenses for the month.

Rent is due from residents on the 1st, and our lease assesses a late fee if it has not arrived by the 5th. We have to wait for rent payments to clear before we can send yours, because trust accounting rules do not allow us to disburse funds we have not actually collected. That gap is why the 10th, rather than the 2nd.

We do. Residents pay us, we run the month’s operating costs out of those funds, and what is left goes to you.

We can also handle the recurring bills on the property: HOA dues, a lawn contract, pest control, and similar. During a vacancy we pay the utilities so the home shows properly and nothing freezes.

Management is 8 to 10% of collected rent, depending on the property, and onboarding is $250. We tell you which end of that range you are at before you sign.

For context, management fees in Pierce County generally run 8 to 12%.

We follow a set process: the notice Washington requires, then direct contact with the resident to try to work it out. Most rent problems get solved at that stage, and that is the outcome we push for, because it costs you far less than the alternative.

If it becomes clear the resident cannot or will not pay, we call you to talk through the options before anything goes to court. Court steps are handled with an attorney, not by us alone.

Every applicant is screened against the same written criteria, and we build the same profile every time: written verification of employment, a spoken reference from the current landlord if they are renting now, a credit report with an analysis of their finances, and a background check. Our recommendation to you comes out of that record, not out of a feeling about someone.

The criteria are published, so you can read exactly what an applicant has to meet before you hire us. Rental screening criteria

It goes into a separate trust account and stays there for the whole tenancy. It is the resident’s money until there is a documented reason it is not.

After a resident moves out, Washington gives the landlord 30 days to provide a full and specific written statement of anything withheld, with documentation, along with any refund due. That deadline was 14 days for years and was changed by the legislature, so if you have seen the old number somewhere, 30 days is current.

Our standard management agreement gives us consent to act on an emergency, and authority for non-emergency repairs up to $500. Anything above that, we do not start without your approval.

Everything appears on your monthly statement either way, and receipts are behind it.

Most of it is done by Kalles Maintenance LLC, our own company, so the crew answers to us rather than to a vendor’s schedule. Specialized work goes to outside trades, and we check their licence and insurance before they touch the property. If a job comes back wrong, the person who sent them out is in our office.

Residents get our number for urgent problems and can reach a person at any hour. Before they get keys, they come into the office and we go through the handbook with them, including what counts as an emergency and what does not.

The line is 253-848-9393, and after hours they follow the prompts and press 5.

A move-in inspection at the start of every tenancy, documenting the condition of the home. An interior inspection about 90 days after a new resident moves in. Then general interior and exterior checks through the tenancy.

Once a year, on request, we will survey the property and give you a written report on its condition with interior and exterior photographs, for $150. It is a manager’s assessment rather than a licensed inspection, so it is not a substitute for having the property professionally inspected.

Anyone can call themselves a property manager. The NARPM Code of Ethics and its continuing education are what a member is actually held to, and they cover the things that get owners into trouble: how applicants are screened, how trust money is handled, how notices are served, and how the landlord-tenant rules differ from one city to the next in this county.

Kalles Properties, Inc. also holds the CRMC designation, which NARPM gives to a company rather than a person. It requires a Master Property Manager on staff, 500 verified unit-years of experience, and passing an outside audit of financial handling and legal compliance. That audit is the part that is hard to fake.

No, and that is deliberate. We manage investment property and we do not list homes for sale, so we are never choosing between managing your rental and earning a commission on selling it. When you do decide to sell, call us and we will refer you to a local agent we work with.