Owner FAQs

Not every property—or owner—is the right fit for professional management. The best property managers focus on long-term success, clear communication, and realistic expectations from the beginning. Sometimes a property needs repairs or pricing adjustments before it’s ready for the rental market. In other cases, an owner may prefer a management approach that doesn’t align with proven leasing and resident retention strategies. At Penny Realty, we believe honesty upfront leads to better results, fewer surprises, and stronger long-term relationships.

Most rental vacancies come down to four key factors: pricing, condition, marketing, and responsiveness. Today’s renters compare dozens of properties online within minutes, so professional photos, competitive pricing, and strong presentation matter more than ever. Even small issues like outdated finishes, deferred maintenance, poor cleanliness, or delayed follow-up can reduce interest significantly. In some cases, the market may simply require a pricing adjustment to stay competitive. At Penny Realty, we use data-driven pricing and proactive marketing strategies designed to help properties rent faster and attract qualified residents.

If you enjoy working directly with residents, understand California landlord-resident laws, live nearby, and have the time to manage maintenance and leasing yourself, self-management may be a reasonable option. Some owners with stable long-term residents prefer a more hands-on approach. However, many landlords underestimate the time, stress, legal exposure, and coordination involved in managing rental property effectively. Professional management often becomes far more valuable during vacancies, resident issues, maintenance problems, or changing regulations. The real question is not simply the management fee—it’s whether professional management improves your overall results and quality of life.

No. We are a relationship based property management business and we work with owner-clients who are looking for a full-service experience and believe in providing well maintained properties. We reject the idea of a landlord vs resident mentality. Instead, we believe that when property management is performed with integrity, both the resident and the landlord benefit.

At Penny Realty, we provide every property owner with a comprehensive Rental Analysis to help you make informed decisions. Our team carefully evaluates market data to recommend competitive rental rates designed to maximize your income while minimizing vacancy periods.

We believe in working collaboratively with our owners, combining our expertise with your goals to finalize the asking price that best positions your property for success.

If you choose to opt in for one of Penny Realty’s Guarantees, please note that Penny Realty will set the rental rate as part of that program. This ensures the property is priced correctly to qualify for the guarantee and to achieve the strongest possible performance.

Penny Realty selects residents using consistent, objective screening criteria that are applied fairly to every applicant. California and federal fair housing laws require rental applicants to be evaluated using consistent standards. Allowing individual owners to apply their own personal criteria could create fair housing concerns and unnecessary legal risk. Our professional screening process is designed to protect our owners while helping us place qualified residents.

You can only visit the property when it is vacant. When it’s occupied, we ask owners not to visit the property. It breaks the barrier between you and the resident and hurts our ability to effectively manage the property. Once the resident meets the Owner, the resident will invariably attempt to contact the owner for all issues. This defeats one of the main purposes of Property Management - which is to give you peace of mind and relieve you of stress. To make owners feel confident the home is being cared for, we do an annual inspection and take photos of the property.

Our 5-Step Marketing Process is designed to generate strong exposure for your property, attract qualified prospective residents, and minimize vacancy. Learn more about our 5-Step Marketing Process here.

Penny Realty has a comprehensive 11 Step Screening Process. For more details, please see our Resident Screening Process Page.

Penny Realty holds the security deposits in our Trust Account for safekeeping. By holding the security deposit ourselves, the move-out process with the resident goes smoother when it comes time to reconcile repairs, cleanings and return of the balance of the security deposit to the residents. By law, we must give a full accounting of the security deposit to the departing residents within 21 days. Having the funds in our Trust Account ensures that we do not miss the 21 day timeline.

No, Penny Realty does not have maintenance personnel on the payroll. We believe this is better for our Property Owners for a variety of reasons:

• We can hand select the best Vendors available, and ensure they have proper insurance and necessary licenses.
• Since we have "Buying Power" with our Vendors, they tend to be very responsive to our requests and provide us with good rates.
• If one of our Vendor’s performances slips and regresses, we can easily and quickly pivot to another well vetted Vendor that is performing at a higher level. This is more difficult when your maintenance people are on "the payroll."

No. We charge a 10% Vendor Oversight Fee. This covers our extra time and effort in coordinating necessary maintenance and cleaning services and ensures that we deliver value and high quality, responsive work from pre-screened, licensed and insured vendors.

We believe we have some of the best Vendors/Contractors available. They provide quality work at competitive prices. If you wish for us to use one of your own Vendors/tradesmen, then they can apply with Penny Realty to become an approved Vendor. If, for any reason, they are not an approved Vendor, then Penny Realty cannot work with them. As the Owner, you still have the option to have your own Vendor. This means you will need to supervise their work and pay them directly.

It is important that our Owners maintain proper insurance with adequate coverage. Consult with your Insurance Agent to ensure you obtain a "Landlord/Rental Dwelling Insurance Policy." We require that Penny Realty, Inc. is named as an additional named insured. This is a standard procedure with insurance companies and there should not be an additional cost to the Property Owner. We also provide additional secondary coverage for Owners through SureVestor Insurance. Ask for details.**

Yes, if a Property Owner resides outside of the State of California, Penny Realty, Inc. is required to withhold 7% of the rent collected and submit it to the state tax authorities on a quarterly basis. Withholdings are submitted quarterly by Penny Realty, Inc. on the Property Owner’s behalf to the California Franchise Tax Board with a FTB Form 592, Quarterly Nonresident Withholding Statement. Before January 31st of the following calendar year, we provide the Property Owner with a statement showing the total amount of income subject to withholding and the total amount withheld, using a FTB Form 592-B, Nonresident Withholding Tax Statement.

No, it is considered a Property Management "Best Practice" if the Owners do not meet the residents. This would defeat one of the great benefits of hiring a property Management Company; that is the Owner gets to maintain their privacy and not be bothered by resident issues. Once an Owner meets the resident, it is our experience that almost always the resident will attempt to deal directly with the Owner, and not the Management Company. It is better for all parties if we act as the buffer between the Owner and the resident.

We guarantee to find a new resident in 30 days or less or your first month’s management fee is waived.

Conditions for the 30-Day Guarantee:

• We must set the price based on our knowledge of fair market value
• The property must be vacant
• You must accept pets
• The 30 days start when the home is rent ready and in move-in condition and the photography is completed
• Guarantee is not available from October 15th through January 15th
• Valid for new clients only

Penny Realty offers an Eviction Guarantee through SureVestor Insurance. This coverage provides $5,000 in eviction coverage, plus $600 for any sheriff fees.

We use a large, National Pet Screening Company to screen all pets and their Owners. Each pet is rated and the residents are charged a fee according to the pet rating. We will pay for any pet damage that exceeds the security deposit, up to $1,000.00. Emotional Support and Service Animals do not apply to the guarantee.

The terms in our management agreement are designed into our management operations. It is difficult for us to change any terms without having to change our operations and processes. We typically are not able to change the terms of our agreement. However, if you have a specific concern, we are open to addressing it with you.

Yes, most of our residents pay their rent online and submit any maintenance requests through our resident portal. Owners also will have their own password to access the Owner portal. They can view their monthly Financial Statements here and more.

We carry General Liability, Workers Compensation, and Errors & Omissions insurance.

You and your property will be assigned to a highly experienced and Licensed Property Manager. They will be your main point of contact. Penny Realty has a skilled support team that backs up each Property Manager. This ranges from Assistants, Leasing Managers, and Maintenance Vendors for all trades, and Inspectors. Our main Accountant has a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and a Master’s Degree in Accounting to ensure that all financial matters are kept in good, clean order.

With our thorough 11 Step resident Screening Process, we tend to rent to highly qualified residents. Due to this, we rarely have residents who Damage a property beyond the amount of the Security Deposit. However, this still could happen (although historically there is less than a 1% chance). If this does happen, we will make every effort to collect the full amount owed. If legal action becomes necessary, Penny Realty can assist the owner through the process. If a judgment is obtained and remains unpaid, additional collection options may be available.

We mostly execute one year leases. However, we can consider special situations and do month-to-month, or 6 month leases. We have found we obtain higher quality residents that stay in place longer with 1 year leases. We also occasionally execute 2 year leases. We try to not have leases expire in November or December which are historically the most difficult months to find a new resident.

We highly recommend you remove all personal property from the residence. This is a potential deterrent to a prospective resident when deciding whether or not to rent your home. Your personal property could be taking away storage space for them. They also do not like the burden of being responsible for the Owner’s property. It is acceptable to leave a small amount of household items (paint, flooring, cleaning supplies, etc.).

Yes, this is possible, but may not be the best idea. Of course Vacation Rental properties need to be furnished. However, most Long Term Rentals on a 1 year lease should be unfurnished. There are many more prospective Renters looking for unfurnished rentals and they usually rent faster.

Most of our Single Family Homes or apartment complexes include a gardener/landscaper. The exception may be a property that is designed to have a very low maintenance yard, or drought-tolerant landscaping. The typical resident will not maintain the Landscaping at a satisfactory level.

If you decide to sell, please alert us before you commit. There are a number of things that we can do on our side to make it successful. You can sell a property while the resident is living there, but often that is not the best play. Occupied homes generally do not show as well as vacant, professionally staged homes. They are also harder to show as agents must work around the residents schedule and give 24-hour notice to show. If the resident has multiple months left on their lease, the only buyers will be investors. This cuts out the largest majority of buyers, the Owner occupant. If the lease is coming to an end, the resident keeps the home in great shape, and the resident is easy to communicate with, then it may make sense to list it for sale while occupied. We can guide you on the right approach for your situation.

Yes, we have someone on call 24/7 for emergencies. After hours we have trained staff that can assist with a property emergency. Non-emergencies should be addressed during normal business hours.

Yes. Our CEO and Broker of Record, Greg Flaherty, personally handles real estate sales for Penny Realty clients. He has more than 30 years of experience selling homes, condos, and multifamily properties and assisting clients with tax-deferred exchanges. Contact Greg for a complimentary market analysis of your property.

We have been a property management company in San Diego since 1965.

Penny Realty manages more than 600 rental units.

Penny Realty manages properties throughout San Diego County, with additional service areas in Riverside and Orange Counties.

Penny Realty is affiliated with professional organizations including the San Diego Association of REALTORS®, California Association of REALTORS®, National Association of REALTORS®, and maintains an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.

Penny Realty manages single-family homes, condos, townhomes, and multifamily properties throughout San Diego County, with additional service areas in Riverside and Orange Counties.

Yes, upon request.

Yes, we have many out-of-state property owners and international owners.

For new leases for new owners who just came onboard the fee is waived the first time, and then after its $250.00 for lease renewals or for the 2nd time around for new residents. Our $250 leasing fee includes a full annual inspection with photography to document everything and ensure the property is being well maintained and in compliance with the lease.

We charge a $250 premium marketing fee on the 2nd lease and beyond. No charge for the first lease.

We charge $175.00/month in between residents to continue to provide property management, accounting services, showing services, etc.

Yes. Our property owner Distributions are deposited in the client’s bank account between the 10th and 12th of each month.

We conduct inspections when a property becomes vacant and we also conduct Annual Inspections.

Your property will be syndicated through two different sources; A.) our Property Management software, and B.) the San Diego Multiple Listing Service (optional). This will feed your Rental Property to over a total of 50+ Real Estate/Rental Websites, including national Realtor branded websites. We also have an extensive network of returning residents, past Clients, Realtors, Investors and other Industry Professionals. All of these sources assist us in generating and receiving referrals and renting your home fast.

Yes, Monthly Financial Statements are provided, as well as the home owner has access to their account through an online portal. This portal can be accessed anytime to get an up-to-the-minute update of their account.

Residents are required to put all maintenance requests through a resident online portal. There is also a 24-hour emergency phone number where residents can reach us for after hour emergencies.