Most people understand their options when selling their property through a real estate agent, a lot of attention is given to this segment of the real estate market.What often gets overlooked, and is not quite as understood, is what a landlord’s options are when using a real estate professional for renting their property and what the benefits are to him/her.There are essentially two types of listing compensation, finder’s fee and management fee with the managed fee having two options as well.In a Finder’s Fee arrangement, the landlord will compensate the agent a one-time fee of one month’s rent for securing a lease of one year or longer.The length of the lease has no effect on the fee unless it’s shorter than one year, in which case it’s ½ month’s rent. In a management fee arrangement, the landlord will compensate the agent 10% of one month’s rent for the length of the lease for finding the tenant, rent collection and ongoing management. Another way to compensate for this type of service is to pay the agent ½ of a month’s rent for securing a tenant and 7½ % for rent collection and ongoing property management.Some of a professional real estate agent’s services are common to both forms of listings, with property management being more long term and comprehensive. In both cases an agent will:1) Offer informed advice on matters such as market value and suggest improvements to help maximise your return and rent quicker.2) Market your property through multiple tools such as print media, internet, social media, and of course their extensive one on one network.3) Find a tenant. One of the most important things we do is place the appropriate tenant into your property through a thorough tenant review and background check.4) Execute a rental lease once a tenant has been selected. We will prepare a professionally written lease to ensure that not only the tenant’s but also the landlord’s interests are covered. We collect the security deposit, first month’s rent and stamp duty payable upon execution of the lease. Original documents are distributed after this process is complete.When using a real estate agent’s property management services, additional duties to the above include:1) Maintenance and inspection. All maintenance calls are handled efficiently and professionally.Property inspections are conducted regularly to ensure that tenants are complying with the rental agreement and that they are happy.We will work with your preferred contractors or we have a pool of service providers when maintenance issues arise.We will even arrange to pay those and other property expenses from the proceeds of the rent.2) Rent collection and distribution. We ensure that clients receive their rent on a set monthly schedule as per the lease and follow up with tenants in arrears. Security deposits are paid to the agent and held in trust accounts.These deposits are held until an inspection has been carried out at the end of the lease and is paid to the tenant only when the agent/landlord is satisfied that the terms of the lease have been met.A professional real estate agent understands that a homeowner wants to maximise the return on their investment and is there to offer advice from current market value to ongoing maintenance problems and improvements to increase value.This week’s column was submitted by Debbie Moura, rental & property manager with Moura & Associates; 441 535-1400 or email Debbie@mouraandassociates.com.