Owner FAQs

206 Balsam St Ridgecrest, CA 93555

Our Southern California Office serve Ridgecrest and Inyokern. Our Northern California Office serves Stockton, Modesto, Manteca and surrounding cities.

We are open Monday through Friday 9:30am - 4:30pm and closed all major holidays.

Our team rotates after hours and on weekends for maintenance emergencies. If the request is a true emergency, we will let our vendor know and have it taken care as soon as possible.

Any company that offers any type of property management service must be licensed in California. The state of California has multiple requirements that must be met before they will grant a real estate license to the company, and the company must be licensed to practice real estate in California. Below are some of the licensing requirements. Most property management companies meet these requirements, but most individual property managers do not. Be sure to ask your property manager if they are personally and individually licensed to practice real estate and property management in California. (All Wellspring Property Management Senior Property Managers are personally licensed and fully trained to practice in California)

• 135 hours of education
• Pass a comprehensive exam
• Full personal background check
• Be employed by a licensed real estate broker

No. Many property management companies only provide limited services for discounted pricing; some companies are designed for owners who want to be very involved in the day-to-day operations of their homes; and some firms (like Wellspring Property Management) are Full Service firms designed to give owner-clients a full service, stress free, hands off experience, where we handle ALL aspects of the property management cycle with professionalism and expertise. Property Management in California is legally complex, and you want a professional overseeing what may be your most valuable asset. As you consider partnering with a property management company, be sure to ask them the following questions:

• Is each individual property manager licensed? (All Wellspring Property Management Senior managers are licensed and go through internal and ongoing training.)
• What if I want to cancel my service with you? Most property management companies have long term contracts with expensive cancellation fees. Wellspring Property Management offers the only month to month contact in the industry with no termination fees or penalties; because we believe that we should earn your business every day and you should have the flexibility to to leave if you want to.
• What “other” fees could you charge me? Many property management companies have hidden fees for things like paying bills, eviction services, dealing with HOA’s or property inspections. Wellspring Property Management is up front with our fees on our pricing page.

Wellspring Property Management began in May of 2016 in our Ridgecrest location. It then expanded to Northern California serving Stockton, Manteca, and Modesto in 2020. We combine old school (actually returning phone calls), with the most up to date technology to create an unmatched experience for our owner-investors as well as our tenant-residents.

Yes. We are very experienced in taking on the management of a property with a current tenant in place. We often take over management in situations where a tenant may be delinquent in rent or the owners are having a hard time managing the current tenant. When this happens, we perform a full lease audit and work with the tenant to ensure that they either conform to the terms of the lease and bring their rent current, or when necessary, vacate the property.

Wellspring Property Management manages all single family and smaller multi unit complexes. We typically don’t manage complexes that require an onsite manager (16 units or more).

No. We do not manage furnished or short term rental properties. We specialize in long term rentals.

There are numerous local and federal laws including federal and state fair housing, habitability laws, tenants rights, applicant screenings, rent-ready standards and more. We ensure your property and the management experience is fully compliant with ALL rules, regulations and laws.

Any company can get a few owner-clients to say something nice about them. The BEST way to research a company is to review their standing on sites like Google or the BBB. These reviews will give you a sense of who was complaining, what the complaint was and how the company responded to see if it was a valid complaint or a tenant upset they didn’t get their deposit back.

Our standard management is 10% of the monthly rent and 50% leasing fee (charged 1 time when we place a tenant in the property) If an owner has more than 3 doors, the management fee is usually 8%. Wellspring Property Management Pricing

A leasing fee is charged on the first month's rent only for a new tenant and will be used to cover the added expense to find a tenant for your property. Added expenses may be screening applicants, following up on with the applicant and processing the application and moving in.

No. We believe we should only get paid if you get paid so our management fee is a percentage of the amount of rent we actually collect. If we do not collect any rent, or if the property is vacant, you don’t pay us anything.

All of our other fees are listed on our pricing page, however, sometimes things come up that aren’t specifically spelled out. We are happy to help our clients with whatever they need, but anything that falls outside of our normal scope of Property Management Agreement may potentially be charged our hourly rate. Examples for additional charges may be: meeting a delivery man, coordinating with an appraiser, new photos or videos or additional walkthroughs beyond the annual one included in the Property Management Agreement.

Wellspring Property Management requires all owners to add us to their insurance policy as an additional insured. Additional insured is a person or organization not usually included under the insurance policy but for whom the status is arranged, usually by endorsement. Ordinarily there isn’t an extra charge to do this. If an owner chooses not to add Wellspring, we will add you to our policy for an additional charge of $23.82 per month.

Our goal is to obtain a highly qualified resident as quickly as possible. We provide a competitive rental market analysis which combines market data with our professional knowledge of current market conditions to give you the most competitive and accurate pricing. As vacancy and turnover cost is one of the most significant expenses a landlord will incur, we minimize vacancy time through competitive rental pricing, while ensuring overall income is maximized. In addition to professionally edited photos, we market our properties with video tours so they can be viewed online at the convenience of the applicant. We partner with platforms such as Zillow, Trulia, Realtor, and more to ensure your property is receiving the maximum exposure to the market.

Typically, we don’t place a for rent sign on the property. Squatters are on the rise in all areas and a for rent sign is advertising the property is vacant. If an owner desires one, we have them available.

Yes. We will do periodic walkthroughs of the property to make sure the interior and exterior are in good showing condition. During periods of vacancy, the utilities need to be on and any services you provide will need to be maintained. If any maintenance items arise during vacancy, those will need to be taken care of as well.

Rental properties are similar to the sales market in the aspect that the more desirable locations, accurately priced, and move-in ready properties will rent faster. At a minimum, the property must be professionally cleaned, all included appliances and systems must be in working order, and the property must be free of all personal property. To see a full list of what makes a property rent-ready, you can view that on our owner page on the website.

Wellspring Property Management uses a self showing system. Prospective applicants apply on our website to view the unit. Once they answer some basic questions and supply us a copy of the ID, they are invited to schedule an appointment to view the property if they qualify. They can schedule a viewing appointment anytime between 8am - 8pm 365 days a year. Once at the property, they are given a 1 time access code to obtain the key. If a prospective applicant is hesitant to provide their ID, we can screen them manually or schedule an in person appointment.

Yes. After the prospective tenant views the property, we immediately send them an invitation to apply and/or give us feedback on what they thought of the property.

All applications must be submitted through our online website and the appropriate fee must be paid. The application fee is retained by Wellspring Property Management to cover the cost of processing the application. You will receive email updates when we receive and application and once a decision has been made. If the application is denied, we will let you know the reason for the denial.

We will leave the property on the market until we have a signed lease AND receive all move-in funds.

Studies show that properties that show well, are in rent ready condition AND are priced appropriately should rent in 30 days or less. We will give you price recommendations as well as weekly activity feedback to ensure we minimize any vacancy time.

In depth screening is the foundation of a good property management experience. Our in-house screening process utilizes technology, plus good old fashioned ‘landlord references’ to ensure we place a high quality tenant in the property. We comply with all federal and state laws governing applicant screening. We screen tenants based on income, employment, credit (incompliance with laws), pre-qualifications, eviction checks, landlord verification, and more.

No. You can trust us to minimize the risk of placing a poor quality tenant. Our applicant screening process has processed thousands of applications and we know exactly what to look for in a high quality tenant -resident. We comply with all federal and state fair housing laws and regulations.

Although you do NOT have to accept pets in your rental, over 70% of California tenants come with a pet. That means if you choose to NOT accept pets, you are reducing your prospective tenant inquiries by 70%. We do recommend our owner-clients allow pets for this reason. If you choose to not allow pets, it may significantly increase the time it takes to rent your property. NOTE: Emotional Support Animals and Service animals are NOT considered pets, but the animal owner is responsible for keeping the property clean and making sure the animal is not dangerous.

Yes. California state law includes ‘source of income’ as a protected status. This means landlords may not discriminate based on where tenants receive their income, this included government assistance programs.

We use a lease and all addenda provided by the California Association of Realtors. This lease has been carefully reviewed by the legal team for licensed realtor use. We also include additional state required addenda and have a company addendum attached to clarify sections of the lease.

Our standard leases are 1 year then will automatically go to a month to month unless the tenant opts to renew the lease.

We begin the rent increase and/or renewal option about 90 days before the lease expiration. We will email the tenant with 2 options, a month to month option at market rate or a renewal option at a smaller increase rate. In our experience it’s about 50/50 if a tenant wants to renew or go month to month. NOTE: It’s the owners responsibility to let us know if they don’t want the lease renewed before we extend the option to the tenant.

Everyone who lives in the property must be on the lease. It’s also our policy that anyone staying for more than 14 days needs to apply and be added to the lease. Failure to do this may result in termination of the lease.

The tenant will be responsible for all rent until a new qualified tenant is found or the lease expires. Whichever comes first.

Unless stated in the lease, the tenant will be responsible for all utilities. We recommend if you have anything like a yard or pool that you want maintained in a specific manner, you should pay for those services.

First, we send them a Notice to Cure or Quit to correct the issue. If the problem persists, we will make a decision based on the specific issue to either take a more drastic approach like eviction or take care of the issue and bill the tenant. If we do the latter, the owner would be responsible for payment until the tenant pays the amount back.

No. As your legal agent, Wellspring Property Management will sign all documents on your behalf.

Our owner -clients have a secure online portal which gives 24/7 access to all documents, live ledger, and payment information.

We close out the monthly accounting cycle on the 6th of each month and process all owner draws that day or the following business day. We offer direct deposit to ensure you receive your funds the quickest way possible. Depending on your bank's policies it can take a couple of days to post to your account.

Yes. When we process owner payments, you can expect to receive your owner statement the same day by email.

Once the Property Management Agreement is signed, we will help you with the transition including notices to send. As the owner of the property, you can expect your tenants to give some pushback and the number of work orders to increase over the first couple of months. This is normal. Kindly, remind them you no longer manage the property and to call us. By staying consistent and not trying to solve the problem you will send the message that you are no longer the person they need to call.

You and your resident will have a single point of contact. Your contact will be one of our Senior Property Managers and your tenants will be our Resident Services Coordinator. The Senior Property Manager is a licensed Realtor and continuously trained to provide you with excellent service. The Resident Services Coordinator is there to handle all things tenant related.

We offer annual property walkthroughs at no additional cost to you. The purpose of this walkthrough is to ensure the property is being well cared for, there are no lease violations, and to look for any potential deferred maintenance before it becomes a problem. This is a visual walkthrough only. We don’t move furniture, climb on roofs, or test any components. If you would like this type of inspection, we can coordinate that for you at an additional cost.

You must maintain any personal property you leave behind. This means if you provide it, you must fix it when it breaks. Therefore, we recommend our owners only leave well functioning units in the property and have funds set aside for repair costs.

Landlords have the obligation to provide safe and habitable properties for their residents. Upon moving into the property, it needs to be free from any pests, vermin, rodents, squirrels etc. Residents are encouraged to procure their own pest control services if an owner doesn’t provide it in the lease. For multi-family properties, we recommend having the exterior sprayed monthly and the interior at an additional cost to the resident. For single family homes, we recommend having the resident be responsible for pest control. In either case, the resident is responsible for maintaining the property in a clean and sanitary condition.

Our preferred method of payment is through the tenants secure online portal. Tenants can also pay by check or money order. We do not accept cash. Rent is due on the 1st of the month and considered late on the 3rd unless otherwise stated on the lease.

Yes, if a person is on active duty, the maximum deposit that can be charged is 1 times the monthly rent and if they are assigned to a new location, we must allow them out of the lease without any penalties. We will prorate the leasing fee for the next tenant if this circumstance arises.

We handle the entire rent collection process. Although it is rare- should a tenant not pay rent, we handle the eviction on your behalf. Average costs for an uncontested eviction are $1100, if contested it depends on the attorneys fees. We will serve the tenant a 3 Day Pay or Quit notice on or around the 10th and proceed with either offering the tenant a payment plan or an eviction. Evictions can take as little as 30 days or 90 or more depending on the circumstances and the tenant fights it.

Yes. If we place a tenant and they break their lease during the first 12 months, we will offer to find you a new tenant and waive the leasing fee.

Yes. We are so confident in our screening process, we will cover the first $1000 of an eviction if it needs to be processed within the first 12 months of the tenants lease.

Yes. All exterior doors need to have a single key for all locks. We will ask you for 3 copies of the keys during the onboarding process. The tenant will get 2 keys and Wellspring will keep 1 for vendor access or emergency access. All keys are kept in a locking safe.

The quality of a property is equal to the quality of the tenant it will attract. Therefore you want your property to be updated and CLEAN! We can take care of getting your property rent ready to ensure it meets the state habitation standards and attracts high quality applicants.

We handle all repair requests and use pre-screened, highly -qualified vendors.

No. We have access to various vendors who are specialized or “all around” vendors. Depending on the repair needed and the urgency we will call out the appropriate vendor for that job. For normal day to day maintenance, we use the best quality vendor at the best rate we can find for the timeline needed to get the job done. We believe this approach saves our owner money by only having to have the maintenance item repairs once versus multiple times.

California law says there must be 1 smoke detector in each bedroom and 1 outside of each bedroom in the hallway and 1 on each level. There must also be a CO detector on each level. If you have battery operated alarms, they need to have fresh batteries when we take over management and the tenant will be responsible for changing them annually. However, when the battery operated alarm fails, the 10 year sealed alarms must be installed as a replacement.

Tenants can submit work orders on their secure online portal, email or calling our office. Depending on the request we may ask them to do a few troubleshooting steps before we assign a vendor. Our normal response time is less than 24 hours for standard non-emergency requests.

Unless stated in the lease, the tenant will be responsible for the yard. Owners are responsible for trimming limbs that are on or near roofs. If you have spent a lot of time and money on your yard, we highly recommend you pay for water and a professional landscaping service. Owners cannot expect tenants to perform the type of upkeep they would do themselves. Tenants will do basic clean up, cut grass and trimming. Unfortunately, the courts agree that a tenant shouldn’t have to pay thousands of dollars to take care of a yard they’ve lived in for 12 months.

If you have a pool we highly recommend you hire a professional pool service company. We have a couple if you would like recommendations.

Every effort is made to control the costs of maintenance on your property. While the property is occupied the tenant is responsible for notifying us of any maintenance issues. We will choose the best qualified contractor who can come in the quickest amount of time. We realize it can be upsetting to receive a large bill when you weren’t expecting it, however, some repairs are urgent and must be corrected immediately. If the repair is needed due to tenant negligence, we will repair the item and bill the tenant. The owner will be responsible for the vendor payment until we have received payment from the tenant. Generally, we do not get multiple bids. We will provide you with 1 bid for the vendor we know can do the work at the best cost in the most appropriate amount of time. If an owner would like additional bids, they would need to obtain them themselves.

Wellspring has a $500 limit when it comes to maintenance on your property before we need to contact you to obtain permission. Unless it’s an emergency, we will do our best to notify you if the maintenance item will be over $500. If the item is included in the lease or required by law, we may take care of the issue before approval depending on the circumstance. Our general policy is to approve all reasonable maintenance requests a resident submits because we know maintenance is the #1 reason tenants stay at a property and the #1 reason they leave.

Yes. We will collect a $500 escrow reserve from you. This is YOUR money and will be deposited into our bank trust account as a reserve for YOUR property. We will potentially use these funds to pay for expenses that may arise between the time we send you your rental income and the time we collect rent the following month. If we need to use these funds to pay for anything, we will deduct that amount from your owner's draw the next month to bring your reserve total back to $500. When we stop managing your property, this amount will be returned to you.

Wellspring Property Management holds the security deposit in our security deposit trust account. This is done to comply with California rules and regulations as determined by the California Real Estate Commissioner.

When a tenant moves out we do the property check out and will complete the security deposit return process. We will withhold any funds from the tenant’s security deposit that are legally due and allowable. California is very clear on what things may NOT be charged to a tenant's security deposit and all security deposits returns are completed to comply with state law.

California law dictates the amount of security deposit a landlord can charge. The maximum for a furnished property is 2 months and 1 month rent for unfurnished property. There are several laws that determine what amount can be changed beyond if the property is furnished or not. We suggest landlords assume the deposit will be 1 times the amount unless we let you know otherwise.

While the property is vacant, you are welcome to do whatever make-ready work you would like to do on your property. When a tenant is living in the property, we do need to screen who is accessing the property for the protection of the tenant-residents. Therefore, we will use our pre-screened and pre-approved vendors. If you have a favorite vendor please give us their contact information- we are always looking to add to our list.

Yes, with conditions. Landlords aren’t able to go to the property anytime they wish, just to look at it. You must have a specific reason such as to verify the smoke alarms are working. We will need to give the tenant a minimum of 24 hours notice before we can enter the property, therefore, Wellspring Property Management will need a minimum of 72 hours notice. All walkthroughs need to be during normal business hours.

We strongly discourage the use of home warranty companies. They often provide a delayed and less than exceptional experience and outcome.

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

No. Our property management agreement is written to give our owner-clients maximum flexibility (it is a month to month term with no termination penalties). It is also designed to allow us to serve our owner-clients with a consistent, high quality, full service management experience every time.

Yes. Rent is considered late if it’s not received by Wellspring Property Management by 5pm on the 3rd and late fees are charged on the 5th. Late fees are split 50/50 with the owner.

No. Our guarantees are only for tenants we place in properties.

Yes. We have a landlord rescue program designed to help landlords who are in over their heads with tenants who are behind on rent, process evictions, property destruction and more. Call the office at 760.371.4282 to be directed to the appropriate person.

No. While your home may be beautifully decorated for your taste, a tenant may not like the same things you do. We found properties that have neutral colors such as Swiss Coffee rent quicker and are easier to take care of during periods of vacancy.

Yes. We offer sales services exclusively to our owner client group and we can help you buy another rental, or sell your current property when the time is right.

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