Do you know the difference between contingency reserves and operating funds?
Operating funds are funds that our property management and real estate business uses to pay for our business. Operating funds are our money. However, escrow funds are different. Escrow funds are monies that Nesbitt Realty is holding on behalf of tenants, landlords, buyers and sellers. Escrow funds are not our money, but they are monies that we are trusted to safeguard. At any given time, Nesbitt Realty has hundreds of thousands of dollars in escrow accounts.
In Westport, the Commonwealth of Virginia requires that all real estate licensees manage escrow funds in a particular manner. Most importantly the Commonwealth requires that escrow funds are properly accounted for at all times. In additional all escrow funds must be kept separate from operating funds. The biggest portion of our escrow funds are tenant security deposits, but also hold deposits for purchasers (and sometimes sellers) as we'll as contingency reserve funds for real estate investors.
Contingency reserve is a special type of escrow.
A contingency reserve account is money that is held in escrow to pay for maintenance and other incidentals that occur during property management. Although the money is in our escrow account, the money belongs to the real estate investor. If the property management ends, that money is promptly returned to the landlord.
When a repair bill arises we use money in the contingency reserve account to pay that bill. When bills are paid in this manner the account is depleted. When the account is missing funds, at the end of the month when new rents are paid, Nesbitt Realty replenishes the count with money withheld from this rent. As property managers, Nesbitt Realty prepares a statement each month to show if/when money is depleted and how/when money is replenished into the contingency reserve account.
Real estate investors do not pay us money to set up the contingency reserve account. Instead, Nesbitt Realty withholds money from the first month of rent in order to set up the account.
Westport Property Management Resources
Basics
Fundamental information regarding rental managment in Westport.
Getting Started
Learn more about getting started with rental property management
Find A Tenant
Market your property to rent to find a reliable tenant in Westport fast.
Accounting
How does Nesbitt Realty keep track of income and expenses for landlords?
Cost
A breakdown of prices of rental management services in Westport
Vetting
How Nesbitt Realty vets renters for property owners.
Reserves
What is a contingency reserve account?
Territory
Where does Nesbitt Realty manage rentals?
Clients
Who uses Nesbitt Realty management services?
Do you want understand more about our community?
Nesbitt Realty's Guide to Real Estate is a helpful tool for everyone who hopes to find out more about Westport and neighboring areas. The Guide to Real Estate includes facts regarding what has sold and what is for sale, as well as many interesting facts that you might not know. Furthermore, our Guide has some fundamentals of residing in Westport. As a matter of course, all of this is helpful for purchasers and sellers, but rental investors and renters may also find these tools to be quite sobering.
Landlord Reference
a useful reference for property owners in Westport
- Before you put a renter in your investment in Westport
- Collections and evictions
- Communications with the renter
- During the lease term
- End of tenancy and what happens when a tenant breaks the lease
- How does the landlord get paid?
- How your property manager handles the association and your community
- How your property management company handles utilities
- How Nesbitt Realty & Management finds renters
- Insurance matters for rental investors using our rental management
- How Nesbitt Realty & Management manage keys
- Westport rental investor responsibilities
- Maintenance, repairs & inspections for your property in Westport
- The move-in inspection
- Property management information form
- Selling a 1031 tax exchange & more
- Starting our management of your property
- When property owners don't yet know their new address
- Vetting tenants in Westport