Austin Property Management Blog

4705 Quicksilver Boulevard, Austin, TX 78744

1,618 SF | 3 Bed | 2 Bath

Contact our property managers to learn more about this Austin rental home today!

Looking for help with your property? Learn more about our Austin property management services.

8512 Woodstone Drive, Austin, TX 78757

1,040 SF | 3 Bed | 1.5 Bath

For more information, view this and more available Austin, Texas properties. 

Looking for a better Austin property management team? Contact Stone Oak today to learn more about our services - 512.615.7737.

Happy Holidays from Stone Oak Property Management

The staff at Stone Oak would like to wish you and your family happy holidays! We hope the end to 2021 is full of time spent with family and friends!

New Benefits Package for Our Residents

Stone Oak is introducing a new benefits package for our residents and we want to give you a sneak peek of the benefits offered from being a tenant in one of our properties. Soon our tenants will receive a package with a variety of benefits including $1M in identity protection, rewards programs, credit building for paying their monthly rent, A/C filter delivery service and so much more! 

Our property managers are working to finalize this package and we are excited to let you know more soon!

Healthy Living Tips

Check Your Carbon Monoxide Detectors

As the temperature lowers and we begin to crank up the heat and light our fireplaces*, ensure your CO detectors are working properly. 

Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless, extremely poisonous gas that causes 1,500 accidental deaths and more than 10,000 injuries each year. CO is slightly lighter than air and mixes throughout the atmosphere. It is a by-product of incomplete combustion, produced when fuels such as natural gas, propane, heating oil, kerosene, coal, charcoal, gasoline, or wood are burned with insufficient air.

*Prior to using fireplace each year, you will need to have it professionally inspected and cleared for use.

Changing the Filter on Your Dish Washing Machine

As the Holiday rush begins, so does the work that comes along with it. Get-togethers with family and friends mean forming new memories full of laughter, some great food, and even more dirty dishes! The appliance that cleans is often the last appliance that we remember to clean, and this is evident with the dishwasher. Unfortunately, the dishwasher that cleans our dishes does not simultaneously clean itself, leaving most of the dirt, debris, and bacteria building up in the dishwasher filter and causing our dishes to come out dull, grimy, and still covered with food particles.

If you have found your dishes are not as sparkling-clean as they once were, check your dishwasher filter. Chances are it needs cleaning. For step-by-step instructions visit this blog post.

To keep your dishwasher working at peak performance you will need to take care of it well! Be sure to always:

• Periodically run a dishwasher cleaning product
• Avoid using 'pod'-type soaps
• Be sure to scrape your dishes before putting them into the dishwasher

Maximizing Energy Efficiency

You should change the rotation of your ceiling fans twice a year to increase energy efficiency, putting less strain on your heating and cooling systems. Running a ceiling fan properly in the winter can help you save on your electric bill. When you change the direction of the fan, you change the way the air moves, more effectively heating or cooling a room.

You want your ceiling fan to rotate counterclockwise in the summer, pushing cool air down. On most fans, you can change the rotation using the directional switch on the motor—typically by turning the switch down. To get the clockwise rotation in winter, just reverse the rotation. 

Wastewater Averaging Tips

We wanted to take this opportunity to remind everyone that most utilities do wastewater averaging from November to March or around that time frame. Therefore, to ensure you receive the lowest sewer average possible, please take the time to check: your irrigation settings, pool settings, and any other water consumption devices that may affect your wastewater average for 2022.  You can find more information about this on your utility provider’s website or by contacting them directly. 

Here is a list of Austin, Texas utility providers. 

Your Role in Maintenance Requests

When you submit a work order, it's important to remember that you need to answer the phone or text when a vendor is trying to reach out to you!  If you miss a call, please call them back.  We need your cooperation in order to schedule a time for maintenance to be done on the house. Someone needs to grant access to the home, or we cannot make the necessary repairs you've requested. 

If you submit a request for an appliance, please also submit a picture of the manufacturer tag along with as many details of what you are experiencing as possible.  This will save time when processing your request.

Please keep these items in mind going forward when dealing with any maintenance issues in your home!

Holiday Hours Reminder

Stone Oak's offices will be closed for the upcoming holiday(s). See below.

Thanksgiving | In November, our offices will be closed all day on Wednesday the 24th & Thursday the 25th. We will have a limited crew on hand for Friday the 26th. 

Christmas Eve | Our offices will be closed on Friday, December 24th.

New Year's Eve | Our offices will be closed on Friday, December 31st.

Thank you for being a resident of a Stone Oak rental property! Please don't hesitate to contact our staff if we can help with anything.

Send the Staff a Message

Login to Your Tenant Portal 

Routine Maintenance Reminders

- Maintenance Requests: We still receive a lot of maintenance requests that state something vague like "washer" or "AC" without any other info about the actual issue.  We cannot act on requests like this and will require that you provide more info, so any request like this will only delay a resolution to the issue.  Make sure you provide as much info as possible in your request including pics if possible.  

- Maintenance Portal: Please make a list of any items you want to submit, and then list all issues together as one request including as much info as possible and attach photos if applicable.  We will then evaluate whether they should be split up or not.  

- Smoke and CO Alarms: As a reminder don't ever unplug and remove smoke detectors because they are beeping. Change the batteries and if that doesn't work please notify us. We find a lot of tenants unplug them and bury them in a closet or drawer instead of replacing batteries.

- A/C Filters: Make sure to check and change every month or as required by the type of filter. If any HVAC systems in your home have a reusable filter you are still required to clean them periodically, so please make sure they are kept clean.

- Toilets: "Flushable" Wipes CANNOT be flushed.  Do not put anything down the drains except water, human waste, and regular toilet paper. Food, toys, feminine products, wipes, towels, wrappers, condoms, and other objects do not break apart and go down the drain. Clogs of the plumbing system may be charged back to you, so it is best to avoid this by not putting anything down any of the drains aside from water and human waste.  

- Disposal Systems: This includes using the sink disposal as a garbage chute.  These appliances are not meant to dispose of large quantities of food and should only be used as a last resort after all food items are scraped off dishes into a compost bin or trash can.

- Drainage: Shower, bath, and sink drains can get clogged up over time with hair and other organic matter. Do not use Draino-type products as they are extremely acidic and will do more harm than good by damaging the pipes while usually failing to fix the drainage issue.  The best way to address this is to use a disposable drain snake that can be obtained from any hardware store for a couple of dollars. Please note that if we send out a vendor for this and it turns out to be this very issue you may be charged back for the cost. Here is a video on how to use those - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOb4MJ6widg

- Emergency Maintenance: this extension should not be called unless you have an issue involving Flood, Blood, or Fire.  Do not call the emergency line to follow up on existing work orders or submit a new request that is not an emergency.  In case of an emergency call 911 if needed and then contact us after everyone is safe.  Remember that we do not monitor emails after hours, so if you submit something considered an emergency online and do not call we may not know until the next business day.

Other Maintenance Notes:

If you'd like to inquire about, or update an existing request, submit the form at stoneoakmgmt.com/maintenance or call 512-617-6766 ext-5.

Maintenance time frames continue to be extended due to the pandemic.  Please allow at least 5 business days before requesting an update from our team unless it is an emergency.

For basic DIY tips and tricks to solve some issues quickly, visit our DIY rental property maintenance page.

Your Tenant Portal & Electronic Statements

The system will generate a statement even if you're moving out, so there is no need to contact us if you receive this and are moving. All charges, including any prorated rent, will be adjusted as needed when the deposit is processed.

If you are not using the portal app that keeps you logged in please take a look at the linked flyer for more info. This can eliminate forgotten passwords, and help with easy updates/access to maintenance requests and all other account details.

AppFolio Tenant Portal Information

17307 Arcata Avenue, Pflugerville, TX 78660

1,699 SF | 3 Bed | 2 Bath

For more information, view this and more available rental properties.

Own a rental home in Pflugerville? Learn more about our Pflugerville property management services. 

906 Low Brim Cove, Pflugerville, TX 78660

2,102 SF | 4 Bed | 2.5 Bath

Learn more about this home and more rental properties available in Austin, Texas. 

Inflation in Rental Real Estate

In our last update, we talked about inflation in real estate and its effects on your rental home. We wanted to expand on this topic and let you know about some of the forces at play and where we feel the effects of inflation in our business.

Vendor Labor - Quality vendors are becoming harder and harder to find, and the ones who are still around are charging more for their services due to labor/material shortages & inflation. Our maintenance team faces a continued challenge with getting great labor in your home without breaking the bank. 

Appliance Costs & Parts - Appliances and specialized items for your rental property are becoming harder to come by with growing shipping times. Alongside the appliances, getting parts for said appliances, etc can be difficult to do right now with logistics issues across the board with shipping and trucking industries.  

Insurance, Taxes & Dues - At Stone Oak Property Management, we anticipate an increase in the costs of these items for your rental property(s) in the near future. Property values have increased dramatically in Austin/Central Texas in the recent past and property values are usually the main factor in these costs. 

Rent - The offset to the increasing costs for everyone are slowly rising wages while rents are also increasing.  The housing shortage in Central Texas has been causing upward pressure on rents for several years now, and with the cost of property ownership rising it is only adding to that pressure.

Inflation has its effects on all industries, not just property management. The best thing we can do is adapt to the current market state the best we can and keep moving forward. Our key relationships across the real estate community & the vendors working within the industry here in Austin are important right now. This enables us to pass along savings well below current market rates in Austin at this time. 

New Benefits Package for Tenants

Stone Oak is introducing a new benefits package for our residents and we want to give you a sneak peek of the benefits offered from renting YOUR home via Stone Oak. Our residents will soon receive a package with a variety of benefits including $1M in identity protection, rewards programs, credit building for paying rent, A/C filter delivery service and so much more! 

As we get closer to rolling the program out to our tenants we will be sure to keep our owners informed and in the know of the full offering of benefits to our residents. 

Tax Protest Season has Ended

Earlier in November, we notified all of our clients who participated whether our protest partner was able to achieve any reduction on your property, and also posted the billing.  If there was any billing you will see that on your statement this month.

We have some statistics we want to share with you as well as let you know we’re working on a better experience for you next year.  We are working on some exciting prospects for the protest experience next year, and will update in the future.

Here are some portfolio stats for the protests this year:

415 properties protested

$135,622,915 portfolio value

$4,112,705 in value reductions

$9,910 average reduction/home

$232 average savings/home

75% success rate

3% average reduction

$96,284 in tax savings

Williamson County was the most difficult to work with this year. They did very little in terms of adjustments, and would not accept current sales prices in many cases because of the quickly escalating prices we experienced over the summer.  There were many homes that sold for 10’s of thousands of dollars over the asking price, and the appraisal district was well aware when going through the protests.

The next protest season will start in the late spring with the deadline for filing being in May.  We will continue to protest managed properties that participated this year. Please contact your property manager if you’d like to sign up for this service.  

The End of Rent Relief Programs

The various ‘rent relief’ programs that spawned due to COVID are beginning to come to an end. We’ve received notice from Texas Rent Relief as well as the City of Austin that their respective programs are coming to an end and they are no longer accepting applications. Still no word on Travis County’s program, but we assume this will be ending soon as well. The current eviction moratorium in Austin is set to expire in December, and at this point, all we can do is wait and see if they extend it again.  As we approach the new year we are seeing some return to business as usual when it comes to evictions and delinquency rates.  Hopefully, the turn of the calendar will bring everyone good fortune and some sense of normalcy 

Upcoming Holiday Hours

As we approach the end of the year and the holiday season we wanted to remind our clients of our holiday hours. Please review the schedule below. Stone Oak employees will not be available on the following dates & times.

Thanksgiving | In November, our offices will be closed all day on Wednesday the 24th & Thursday the 25th. We will have a limited crew on hand for Friday the 26th. 

Christmas Eve | Our offices will be closed on Friday, December 24th.

New Year's Eve | Our offices will be closed on Friday, December 31st.

Happy Thanksgiving to You & Yours

We’d like to take a moment and wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving as we enter the holiday season. We are thankful for the opportunity to serve you as our clients and manage your property(s). Please don’t hesitate to contact our team if you need anything at this time!

Maybe you own a rental property close to one of the many campuses here in Austin, Texas or you’re considering purchasing a property that could be considered student housing. You might be wondering to yourself:

Are students good tenants?

As a landlord, you always want the best tenant possible. Someone who pays rent on time will take care of your home like it’s their own and many more factors. In this post, we’ll go over the pros and cons of leasing your rental property to students!

Pros of Renting to Students

Increased Rent - Owning campus properties that consistently become occupied by tenants brings one great benefit - higher rent! The demand for your campus rental property lives outside of a typical rental home in Austin, Texas, and with that demand comes more earnings every month for you!

According to Yardi’s data, across the nation, campus properties are listed higher than the average home in the same area 67% of the time. Owning a rental property close to campus here in Austin, Texas can be a great way to increase your returns as a landlord!

No Tenant Shortage - Outside of the booming rental market and a plethora of tenants looking for homes currently, campus properties are some of the quickest leased homes once they hit the market. Though you may have lost a tenant due to graduation or school transfer, there are always more people enrolling into the school which brings more potential tenants to your home every year. 

Low Maintenance  - No, we don’t mean that you’ll be doing less maintenance on your home. You’ll be doing the same amount, if not more, honestly. Here we are talking about standards and the expectations your tenants will have while living in your home. As a landlord, you are less likely to hear from your tenants about smaller, non-emergency issues than you are from a family living in a rental home. 

This could save you a phone call at 3 am for something small like a power outage you have no control over. 

Cons of Renting Your Austin, TX Home to Students

Lack of History - Renting to students can be tough. They could be 18 years old and without any credit history. It’s a regular occurrence for students to have co-signers or guarantors for their lease so don’t be shy to require this for approval on your campus property should any applicants not have sufficient history. 

More Risk Exposure - It goes without saying that supplying campus rentals to students exposes owners to risk. This could be having tenants who throw large parties or any other college-associated activity. These risks aren’t tied to students alone, you just have more of a chance of your home becoming a popular hangout spot when it’s a campus property.

Less Knowledgeable of Lease Terms - At a younger age, you’re less likely to read the fine print and just proceed with signing. This can cause problems as some may not take the time to fully understand their lease and the terms put forth by it. Tenants may disregard the terms of their lease and result in your receiving complaints about noise, etc. If taken too far this can give you issues down the road, but not the majority of the time. 

Essentially, like all tenants, students have their pros and cons for living in your property and aren’t much different than any other tenant outside of a few specific factors. 

Should you consider investing in campus properties and become a landlord for rental properties close to campus? The answer is really up to you and the goals you have in mind for your real estate investments. Campus housing has been a successful venture for many landlords in the past and could be for you as well!

Questions about renting your home to students or looking for help with your campus properties? Contact our Austin property management company today to learn more about the services we offer landlords in Austin, Texas. 

1013 Melissa Lane, Austin, TX 78704

2,044 SF | 3 Bed | 2.5 Bath

View this home and more available Austin, Texas rental homes!

Want to learn more about property management services for your rental(s)? Learn more about Stone Oak Property Management.

1306 Troy Lane, Round Rock, Texas 78664

1,591 SF | 4 Bed | 2 Bath

Visit our rentals page for more information about this rental home in Round Rock!

Own a rental property in Austin and need help managing your investment? Learn more about our Austin property management company. 

11901 Sleepy Hollow Road, Manchaca, TX 78652

2,835 SF | 4 Bed | 2.5 Bath

Learn more about this rental and more available homes for lease in Austin, Texas. 

Own a rental property like this in Austin, Texas? Learn more about Stone Oak's Austin property management services.