We've been thoroughly enjoying this beautiful fall weather, and we hope you are too! This month's post includes-
Daylight Savings Time Ends November 1st!
Voting in the Fall Election – Important Update!
Austin Fee Disclosure Ordinance
Free Shred Day
USPS Dog Bite Awareness Campaign
Texas Unclaimed Funds
Property and Flood Insurance
Daylight Savings Time Ends November 1st!
It's that time of year again where the powers that be mess up our sleep cycles. Overnight this Friday into Saturday morning at 2am the clocks fall back one hour to 1am. This is the good adjustment since we get an extra hour of sleep, but we eventually pay for it in the spring!. Most clocks will adjust themselves these days, but make sure you check them all so important things aren't missed. You can use worldtimeserver.com as a reference if you need to confirm the correct time, and check out TimeandDate.com for more info about Daylight Savings Time.
Voter Registration and Fall Election – Important Update!
No politics here, but we do encourage everyone to exercise their right to vote! The fall elections are underway with early voting running through Friday, 10/30/2026, followed by election day on Tuesday, 11/3/2026. The first day early voting turn-out set records, and the polls have been busy ever since. If you can get to the polls for early voting you may have shorter waits than on election day.
If you haven't voted yet and don't know if you're registered then this is a good time to check your voter registration, make sure your address is correct, etc. If you're in Texas, you can go to the Texas.Gov Voter Registration site, and/or you can also search for your local state/county elections website. The deadline to register for the November 3, 2026 election has already passed as of October 5, 2026.
It was recently discovered that the Texas DPS failed to process an unknown number of voter registrations for over a year. When it was discovered they started transmitted the data over where it was eventually discovered that they failed to transfer over 500,000 voter records and got sued for it. Hopefully you weren't impacted by this, but make sure to check your voter registration if needed and read up on provisional ballots in case that applies to you.
Here are some voting related resources:
Vote411.org - See what races will be on your ballot
IWillVote.com - Find your nearest polling location
VoteTexas.gov - List of acceptable forms of photo ID you MUST present at the polls when voting in person
RideShare2Vote.com - Request a FREE ride to and from a polling location
KXAN Voter Guide – Local news station's voter guide (the website is pretty bad!)
League of Women Voters Austin Area Guide (English / Espanol / 中文简体) - non-partisan guide to Austin elections. They can be found in other areas by searching for the local chapter.
Happy voting!
Austin Fee Disclosure Ordinance
The city council passed a new ordinance that requires landlords to disclose all fees during the leasing process. Many landlords, usually corporate apartment complexes, will charge so called “junk fees” like trash concierge, required internet services, or other mandatory monthly fees. Starting on October 1, 2026 the new ordinance applies to a person who rents, leases or manages 50 or more residential dwellings. The second phase starts on January 1, 2027 and applies to a person who rents, leases or manages less than 50 residential dwellings or spaces for mobiles homes and RVs used as a dwelling. You can read the ordinance here, or there is an article here.
Free Shred Day
We regularly post about scams and want to bring light to another way to protect yourself. If you have sensitive documents, whether business or personal, shredding them is important when it comes time to dispose of them. There are regularly free events around Austin, and likely in your area if you’re not local, that accept documents for free shredding. There are two events coming up in Austin that we wanted to share with you, and we’ll update this list as they come up-
Balcones Shred sponsored by Austin ARMA on Saturday, November 7, 2026
USPS Dog Bite Awareness Campaign
Did you know that there were over 5,200 dog bite incidents with postal workers in 2025? This is a very preventable issue, and that number doesn't include UPS, FedEx, Amazon, or other package delivery services. The US Post office runs a Dog Bite Awareness Campaign every summer, and we'd like to highlight that by including it this month and asking everyone to take a moment to read the tips on their website.
Unclaimed Funds
Did you know that many state governments keep a database of unclaimed funds that belong to the general public? In Texas, there are hundreds of millions of dollars submitted to the state that are unclaimed each year. You never know if you or someone you know might be owed funds. In fact, when writing this post, I came across seven of my family members who are in the database with anywhere from $30 to several hundred dollars that are available to claim.
Check out ClaimItTexas.gov and search for similar databases in other states you may have lived in or think you might have unclaimed funds in. Beware of scam sites that are designed to steal personal info or charge a fee to help you recover funds because you can do it for free directly through the state’s process without paying a third party. It is not easy to claim funds but may be worth it depending on how much is available for recovery.
Property and Flood Insurance
In our previous blog post we talked about insurance and the changing landscape while costs continue to go up for policyholders. One thing we didn’t discuss, and feel is worth mentioning, is flood insurance. Most people don’t know if their property is in an area that has potential for flooding in long term scenarios such as 100 year or longer flood plains. Development can also alter floodplains significantly and cause flooding that standard policies don’t cover. We have seen it happen to our clients and recommend reviewing your property’s location and potential for flooding when considering whether you should have a flood policy. They are relatively low cost for the benefit of recovery if it happens and are definitely worth looking into.
We are not experts but work closely with Andor Insurance. The principals of Stone Oak partnered with an insurance industry veteran to set up Andor Insurance Agency for the purpose of providing exceptional service and options to our clients after seeing some bad insurance related mishaps. Some common issues are having the wrong policy, inadequateness, or lack of coverage among other things. Ryan, the rock star agent and great human that answers the phones and emails at Andor, has spent a good deal of time putting together a strong portfolio of options that cater to real estate investors and homeowners. He’s happy to review your policies, answer questions, shop policies, and make recommendations whether you become a client or not. He always enjoys the opportunity to research options for home, landlord, auto, business, and many other types of insurance and has no issue recommending that someone buy a policy that he did not quote if it is the best option for the circumstances. If you’d like to connect with him the contact info is available here.
Thank you for your trust in us! We always welcome your feedback and questions. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you need anything at this time.
Reminders:
Funding Make-Readies & Maintenance for Your Property
Please note that it is Bay Property Management Group Austin 's policy that the owner has reserve funding on hand with Bay Property Management Group Austin to help us commence work faster when it comes to make-readies and maintenance on your property. Bay Property Management Group Austin cannot perform maintenance without first receiving authorization and funding, which can slow down the turn-around times of our vendors and their availability in this market. This can also potentially create a negative experience that tenants will remember when it comes time to renew, and we always want to avoid turning over the tenants. Any time we request authorization for work on your property, the best practice is to immediately fund your account when you provide written authorization to move forward. This is as simple as going into your owner portal and using ACH for a free transfer, or if you prefer a credit card the processor charges a fee as part of the transaction.
Keep in mind that tenant charges on your account are not considered an offset to this amount as we keep a strict accounting system for both our and our client's benefits. Any tenant chargeable items will be posted to their account, and once they are paid it is immediately credited to your account. If you have any questions about this reserve amount held with Bay Property Management Group Austin, please contact your property manager.
