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Episode 137 Transcript
It goes back to the fact that this is a business contract. Every lease is a business contract, and it needs to be legally enforceable, right when it is executed properly. And so to be legally enforceable, it needs to have these things in it based on the state you're in, based on the city you're in, based on the county you're in, like they're all going to have their particular rules, how old your home is, whatever.
And so at the end of the day, you need a lease that is going to be legally enforceable. Welcome to The Landlord Diaries, where we talk about midterm rentals and the opportunities behind them. We'll share landlord stories, talk about maximizing investment potential, and discuss how to live the very best landlord life.
This podcast is proudly brought to you by Furnished Finder, the leader and largest online marketplace for midterm rentals. Remember to like and subscribe if you enjoy our content. Today is dedicated to common questions we get about leases and legal documents for midterm rentals and how our partnership with Rocket Lawyer is meant to help all Furnished Finder landlords.
In a recent survey, only 50% of tenants shared that they signed a lease in their last. Booking. Whether you are new to renting or an experienced landlord, you'll find value in today's episode as we cover all the midterm rental, monthly leasing basics. You'll walk out of today's podcast feeling confident in crafting your very own lease agreement, and we have no one better with us than Rocket Lawyers Chief Growth Officer, Deborah Holstein.
How are you today, Deborah? I'm doing well. I'm so great. I'm really excited to be here. And share. I was shocked by that 50% are not signing leases, so this couldn't be a better time for us to have this conversation. I. Yep. And I'm sure that this episode is going to be an encouragement and we'll bring those numbers up.
So why don't you go ahead and give us your background with Rocket Lawyer and just an overview of why Rocket Lawyer is such a great partner for Furnished Finder. Fantastic. So Rocket Lawyer, we are a leading legal services provider with the mission of ensuring business owners, landlords and individuals that they can feel competent addressing all of the different legal situations that they regularly face every single day.
We seamlessly combine the. All of the specialized local and always updating legal data with the latest technology to ensure that our members have access to the insight and also ensure that members have access to the insights and services from qualified legal professionals. So we've been partnering with you guys for quite some time to make sure that the access to.
The specialized leases that are necessary for midterm rentals are available to all of your landlords, because your property is specific, your tenants are specific. Your midterm rental, it's different from short term. It's different from standard. It's so generic templates are just not gonna work for you.
You have to create a lease that's gonna work for you and your business. And you guys, that's why today is so important and why we've put together the topics that we have today is because this is so critical. Critical to being a responsible landlord and running a great business through Furnished finder.
And even if you're renting out a room in your home, that's still a business. And you still need to be doing those things, but it can feel like a lot, and that's exactly why we've partnered with Rocket Lawyer, is to make it so that you can trust this process. You can trust knowing that you know the information, the leases that you're able to create are like they're solid, right?
And that's exactly why we're here today. Let's dive in because we have so much to cover today. It's such a hot topic. So I wanna talk about first like the why of a lease, right? If we back up, why do landlords and tenants need a lease? If you guys are watching this, you probably saw the look on all three of our faces when Kelly revealed that only 50% of tenants surveyed signed a lease in their last booking.
That's a little, that's unnerving, right? You need to have a lease. So let's just talk about like why do you think that having a lease is so important and so critical to a booking? Yeah, like you said, it's a binding contract. The vast majority of people who are, of tenants and landlords are like, they're not going into it with the goal of having a legal situation on the other side, but it is a business arrangement.
And in any business arrangement, you're going to wanna ensure that expectations and responsibilities of each party are clearly communicated and known at the start of that. Relationship because then if something happens at the end where there is a disagreement on something, if you've written it all down and there's a signed lease, you're gonna be on the side with the winning argument.
And at the end of the day, that's what you're gonna want. If you find yourself in that situation, you're gonna be the one you wanna be the one on the winning side. So I always like to think of it as like communication, right? Communicate very clearly and then you'll, then you're gonna be the one winning if on the off chance it turns into something.
I think with communication also, it's just getting everybody on the same page, right? It's, it's all these expectations. It's how is this agreement going to lay out? You don't want anything to be a surprise, and if anything turns out to not work out. You're absolutely right. You want to be on the winning side and having these legal documents is going to be a part of that.
You're never too small to have legal trouble. So even if it is just you're renting a room or it's, whatever it is, it's just you're never too small. It can happen to everyone and it can happen to you. Yeah. And the risk of a legal battle or liability can feel very intimidating, especially if you've never done this before or you're coming from the SDR world where some of these bookings, they happen automatically through a platform, but it doesn't have to be that way.
So that's what we're gonna go through today is everything that you want to make sure Elise has things to look out for, things to make sure you do include and communicate well. And at the core of all of this is that this is why Deb is here, and this is why Rocket Lawyer is with us, is because we want to make that easy on you.
We want to make it a click through process where you can answer the questions and come out with this document that you feel really comfortable about. Without further ado let's get to the eight things that every midterm rental lease must have. We've gone back and forth on this a little bit to just really nail down like what do we think, is at the core.
Like what is the punch list that you're, like, you've gotta have these things. We'll go through each one by one and then just discuss, and I think this will be, first of all is just the move in, move out dates and times, and the length of stay Super basic, right? That the lease term and like how you might wanna extend it if they want to.
Very basic. Yep. You've gotta just say what the property is, who you are, right? Like just the very basics. Then you're gonna jump in and you're gonna have the payment expectations and the timing. And this is more than just you're gonna pay a thousand dollars of rent per month. It might be. When is your first and last month's rent due?
What are the late fees? How are you accepting payments? I've had tenants in the past, and Kelly, I'd be interested to hear from you too, who have asked if they could pay me in X fashion or this way, and I'm like, no, according to my lease, these are the ways I accept payment. I always pass it on to our tax guy.
I'm like, oh, I would love to be able to accept that for you. But our tax guy says, these are the three forms of payment we can take. And so it passes it on to him. But as far as the move in and the timing of everything just remember that. You can do same day flips with a midterm rental if you want, but a majority of us, like one day in between because you are needing a deep clean, it's those 90 day stays on average.
So you wanna give your cleaner some peace of mind and some time to flip the property. But if you do wanna address, let's say you have a studio or something and you really wanna address same day flips, just make sure in your lease. That you put your move in and move out time. So Dave and I always put a 4:00 PM move in time and a 10:00 AM move out time, and then we're oftentimes flexible, which again helps with your five star review.
So nothing wrong there for sure. But as far as the payment expectations on Rocket Lawyer 75% have shared through a recent survey that they want. On online forms of payment. So Key Check is one of our best forms of payment through Furnished Finder that you wanna get used to, you wanna get, get familiar with, and go research, talk to key check's, customer service, and start using online forms of payment that are reliable and trustworthy.
Today's episode is proudly sponsored by Furnished Finder, the ultimate platform for hassle-free midterm rentals. Whether you're a seasoned landlord or just getting started, furnished Finder has everything you need to find your next tenant. With Furnished Finder, you can say goodbye to booking fees, markups, and commissions, and hello to direct bookings.
If you are ready to experience all the benefits renting your property for 30 days or more, head over to furnished finder.com where you can list your property for one low annual price. We make it easy to get started.
All right. Now we're gonna get into some more of the nitty gritty beyond the basics, if you will. Next, we've got the fees, the deposits, and the dam, the damage waiver. And I think, Deb, this is where you're gonna really come in heavy with this expertise is, you need to be clear about what your deposit is, right?
What any fees you have are, do you have utility caps? What are the cleaning fees? What are some other things that come up that, typically need to fall within this section and specificities that landlords need to make sure that they have covered. Yeah, I think it's really important because we talked at the top about each property is different.
The things that each landlord is going to prioritize will be different, but your neighborhood is different and your all sorts of things are going to be different for every single one. So you really have to think through what's gonna be specific for you. I feel like most of the issues tend to come up around.
I'll call it the before and after condition, right? Do I get my security deposit back, is what the tenant is worried about. And so I, I would say that you wanna incorporate into your lease and into your practice that pictures are actually taken. It's so easy now you can include that. What the move-in ready condition looks like.
Even before they, Kelly was saying like, her move-in time is four o'clock, right? Great. After the cleaner cleans and finishes, they're taking pictures of what actually every single area, what the amenities look like, what the bathrooms look like, all those different pieces. Because that way there is no confusion at any time about what it started with and then what it what you're gonna walk into after they, they come out and then it's very clear before and after.
Clarity is your friend here, right? And that's where the lease can help you out so much is you need to define what is wear and tear. And what is damage, right? And just kinda explaining that even at a high level within your lease, I think is a good idea. Do you agree, Deb? I. A hundred percent, the more I feel like the lease is the place where you want to be very clear.
Like it looks like this wear and tear looks like this, damage looks like this, and damage means some portion of your security deposit is not coming back. And how does Rocket Lawyer make that process simple? I love the. Q and a when you're setting up the lease of just answering the questions and then it puts it into the legal terms for each state.
How do you recommend someone make sure that, they get those little wear and tear that they want in the lease while using it? In a simple form with Rocket Lawyer. Yeah. Thanks for bringing it back. As Rocket Lawyer, the the thing that we tried very hard is to make. Make it very easy for people to do this correctly because legal laws, regulations, it's all very local, right?
What's going on in your state, in your county, in your city are very specific. And so you need to make sure all of those are incorporated into your lease. And so the way that we have it set up is that it's very question and answer. It'll say because you're in this area, in this geo, it's gonna ask you all of the specific questions for that geo.
And you're gonna wanna be able to, and you're gonna have room to specify this is what it means to me. What wear and tear looks like. You're going to have a, an opportunity to very put down very specifically what are the amenities that they're allowed to use and what they are not allowed to use.
You can indicate are there noise, restrictions. No parties after 10. Like any of those areas, you're going to have a place in the format as you're setting it up for you to personalize it for you and for your property. And because it's just this easy question and answer, you're gonna make sure that it's personalized, specific to you.
The customization is key and it's very different than any other kind of document or legal aid that at least I've ever experienced in truly the best way. 'Cause it allows you, and it gives you tips all along the way. Have you thought about this? What are, what's the definition for this?
What do you wanna do for this? And then you can also add. Your own details. And that's huge. Security deposits are a really hot topic for our travelers. They're not really a thing that typically exists in short-term rentals. In long-term rentals. They're, it's pretty standard. The typical deposit that we always suggest is about a third to a half month rent.
We recently looked at our listings and found that the most frequently advertised deposit amount was $500. That's not a small amount. So those travelers want to know, okay, if the towels get dingy during my stay, is that a damage? Am I gonna lose a hundred bucks? Or is it more, hey, I'm bringing a pet and we know that there might be a pet fee or a pet deposit.
Just a deeper cleaning because my pet sheds part of that. Or is this really, if Fido, chews up the leg of the bed. I think this also comes into practice if you're using our worry free waiver. There are some terms that you can insert right from waiver or right from Wave Wavo into your lease.
And the rocket lawyer lease is customizable. So you can put that right back in there. It's really helpful. I know for midterm rentals sometimes you have utility caps. I know I use utility caps. Kelly you do not, I believe. Is that right? I do. Oh, you do? Okay. Yes, we do. Now if you use a utility cap, obviously you need to be generous.
You need to make the utility cap high enough where someone can actually live comfortably, but you need to have in there, right? What qualifies as a cap and not whatnot. And if they go over, how are they gonna pay that? Like you, you need to spell all of these things out. You cannot have too much information in there.
I think that's super. I think that's the most important thing. Yeah, and I really like the idea of when you're adding a utility cap, if you are, a lot of us put those generous caps in there, so in our leases so that it just reminds the tenant of, Hey, don't forget to use, common best practices and take care of our home just like you would take care of your.
Own home. So the goal should always be to return the deposit in full and set them up with the right expectations and in a timely MA manner. While the state lease may say 30 to 60 days, a lot of these travelers are putting their next deposit on a property and are hoping to get it back within a week or so.
So I, our rule of thumb for Dave and I is after the cleaning fee occurs, we typically try to return the deposit within, next day or within a couple days because the cleaner has confirmed that there's no damage to the property. What Deborah, what can you add from a rocket lawyer perspective on this?
I was just going to plus one what Katie was saying about the more that you can write down, the better off you're gonna be. We started at the top sort of. Saying that like this, these might feel, they might feel like family. You might know them really well. You don't want the, but this is a business arrangement and this is the place where you set out your expectations.
There is nothing too small to not put it in there. If it is important to you as the landlord, it is important for you to set that expectation with the tenant such that. If at the end of this there is some sort of disagreement about things, you can point back to the document where it was clearly outlined.
Yeah. A another detail I think of for fees when we're talking about it is cleaning fees, right? You should have, how much is your cleaning fee in your lease, and what determines an excess clean, and how do you charge for that, right? The average cleaning fee on furnished finder listings is about $175 because the clean is.
Gonna be deeper than someone who only stayed there for a weekend feels very reasonable to me. But if you're gonna potentially charge a tenant for an excess clean, or if it takes your cleaner twice as long, you need to have that written. So I. I don't know about you, Kelly, but when I'm going through making this, I'm just like, okay.
I try to chunk it because it can be very overwhelming and this is where I really like the rocket lawyer process of going, bit by bit and it asks you these questions, but it's like cleaning fee. Okay, what's the worst that could happen here? Not because it will or not because it even ever has, but to have that preparation and to know, okay, if things do go sideways, I'm covered.
If this takes my cleaner four times the average length. I have the protection on the side where I can take that out of a deposit or whatnot. You just want to have that back. So most interesting fees that you need to have incorporated in your lease. And this is another kind of question that comes up when you're going through the lease creation process, is if there's a fee for early termination or what is your policy on.
Early termination. It's an ELT we call an early lease termination clause. And this is one that's I know that is the standard pretty much 30 days, Deb, that you see. We see tons and tons of these things okay. Like there, it's not even fair to call it a standard then. Yeah, like it's just, I was just gonna say like it's whatever works for the landlord, like sometimes Yeah.
They've got, if they've got a lot of stacked up bookings and they can turn it over pretty quickly, they're gonna, they're gonna need more or less time depending on the demand in their area. It really, again, just comes down to if you're gonna have a hard time finding your next your next one, you're gonna wanna make sure that fee covers that that bridge in that time.
Yeah. And that the tenant coming in knows that you are, they're, that's going to be part of what they're responsible for paying if they have to break the lease early. I think it's, there's so many different ways you can do this. And even talking with other landlords, Kelly and I have talked her, and I even do it very differently.
Her leases automatically roll to a month to month agreement with a 30 day to terminate a agree policy. My early lease determination clause is that there's no lease termination like on paper, right? Yes. I'm like, I will do my best effort to refill it, but on paper, my approach is you're signing this lease for nine days.
You owe for the time. Yeah. And you can do it however you want. I think, a 30 day early lease termination clause with a monthly rental makes sense. I think it's pretty fair, and I realize I'm saying this right after I said that I don't really have that 30 day out in my leases.
If you have a traveling nurse or medical professional who's contract gets canceled or. A family who for the first time in history, their new construction house got done early. Like, how are you gonna handle this? And I think what's nice is this does make you think about your business too, because you're not too small to be a business.
If you're renting a room, you are a business and. It takes you kinda step by step and it makes you think, huh, what would I do? What would my best practice be? And then you put it out there and make sure everybody is on the line.
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And Katie, those are great points. And I just wanna add in from my personal experience and a reminder with early lease terminations and just the midterm rental tenant type in general, when we're talking about midterm renters and monthly furnish renters, these are corporate travelers. These are travel nurses, these are families that are relocating to, because they're in between buying and selling their property, things of that nature.
They're working, they're the. Best tenant. Katie and I are biased, but in our opinion, we think they're the best tenant option out there compared to long-term tenants and short-term tenants. The just overall experience with a midterm rental is fantastic. It's so true, and it's I love, I actually love that you guys don't have the same clauses.
It's it just reinforces this point. Like it's about. What's personal to you, right? It needs to be personalized to the landlord, to the property, to everything. And I feel like the, and you were saying that like it when people had to end early and you could remind them of what's there like that.
That's not rude. This is a business transaction. You're not being mean. It doesn't mean you don't, you're not happy for them that their house was finished early. I think sometimes you have to kinda, say to yourself, like in business you can talk plainly to each other, and if it's all outlined plainly, that's not being rude to say, Hey, you still owe me this money.
So the next one is pet details. 30% of travelers on Furnished Finder want to bring their pet with them. And why is this so important that you should be pet friendly? Because in a short term rental, you can send your little fur baby off to, stay at the neighbor's house or at a family member's house, or get a dog sitter and it's fine.
But when we're talking months at a time, that's a. Pretty good friend. So it's important to be pet friendly and include the right expectations in your leases. So the average for Furnished Finder, refundable pet deposits is $300, and some people choose not to do the refundable and they just go straight for the non-refundable, we're seeing both.
And that is $200. Katie, what do you wanna add from your perspective as a midterm rental landlord with I. Think 14 of your own Furnished Finder midterm rentals right now? I think what would be interesting to know is, 'cause my head lately has been going to emotional support animals and assistance animals, and I know the legalities of that can get very nuanced and immediately make me go.
Eek, I don't know what I'm talking about. Especially 'cause it's different from state to state and the re and the requirements. Deb, I'd love to hear what you think when it comes to ESAs and service animals and just things that are landlords need to make sure that they're paying attention to. Because that it, rocket lawyer's perfect for that, right?
Because it is different from state to state. But just some things to keep top of mind. Yeah, I was just, that's exactly what I was gonna say is basically because everything is so specific locally, you need to make sure that your lease is up to speed on what is happening in your area about what you can or cannot do when it is an emotional support animal.
There are also things you can ask for as a landlord to that say, so that they're not walking in with. I don't know an animal that isn't, but they're trying to claim that it is, right. There are things that you can ask for as a, as the landlord to say if you are gonna be bringing an emotional support animal, there's documentation that from their I think it's from their doctors who can say that this is what has been prescribed for them.
So that you feel confident that that is what, that's what's happening, and not just a family pet. When you're looking into things like the details of emotional support, animals trust the information that you're getting when you're going through the template creation and the least document creation.
If you have other questions, go search, but look for information from reliable sources like Rocket Lawyer. Don't just look for things that come up at. On your first search on Google, make sure that you're paying attention to where you're getting information because it is state specific. I've had this topic come up personally in my own business and I realized I'm not even legally allowed to charge a pet deposit or a fee or anything.
If my tenant has an emotional support animal, which. Is mind-boggling to me, right? That I can't even charge an extra deposit. But there's just, it's a newish thing and you wanna make sure you're on top of it. So lean on the sources that you can trust, like Rocket Lawyer who have, this is not their first day in the game and they know exactly what they're doing.
When you're looking into those things. Now, Deb, are there certain restrictions or things that landlords need to know? Because you mentioned like with an ES, a animal that you can ask for documentation, right? What's a good way for landlords to know what they can and can't ask when it comes to pets?
Because I know sometimes you might be like, okay, you said you had a dog. I'd really like to know if it's a 12 pound Yorkshire terrier or if it's 150 pound St. Bernard, and one might be better for your property than the other, but. Do you have any kind of guiding rules or advice to landlords when it's these types of things might be okay to ask these things, think twice about, and these things are like a hard no, don't go there.
I am not a lawyer. But I'm going to say this, it goes back to what we were saying before around if it's important to you, write it down. So you, if you say you only want pets less than 20 pounds. You write it in your lease. Yep. You don't need to like, you don't need to have a reason. It's your property.
You are the one, you're the landlord for it. You can decide how big of a pet that, that you're going to allow in without explanation. For that. Let's talk about those clauses, like what's different in a regular lease and the leases that we have set up with Rocket Lawyer that are optimized for midterm rentals such as shared spaces.
So that clause section where you can the fact that rocket lawyer. Is fully customizable and state specific is like the icing on the cake that makes your midterm rental experience seamless is those little things that you want that are specific to you can go in that lease. So what are some common things that y'all see in the clauses for midterm renters?
On rocket lawyer. I'd say generally it is around like amenities. If it's not about pets, it's around about amenities. Are they, can they use the hot tub in the back if it is a shared kitchen, like how, what are the expectations about storage? Things that are specific to the property and are specific to the types of renters that are in the property.
And Katie and I both have ample space. I'm in Texas, so parking is easy in Texas. But if you're maybe in the Northeast, that might be a little tight. So one of the things that Rocket Lawyer offers in the additional documents is those things like paid parking or paid storage. So if your space is tight and it's not.
Common to include those things. You have that taken care of that you can reference those documents in with the leases that are accessible through your rocket lawyer subscription as well. Yeah, that, I think that's really important. It's just if you, again, if specific to your property, if there's no on site parking, but you have a deal with the parking garage up the street, you can include that into your lease as a, as an addendum.
That basically says we'll be able to get you this parking space in that parking garage for xprize. All right. And I think the last section really is the necessary definitions. The legal parts, the hair, the fair housing policies. I know sometimes on mine, depending on the property or the year it was built, I'll get a fun page added about like lead paint, things like that.
Talk to us, Deb, about why these things are so important that we have them as a part of a lease, even though some of them, trying to read them as. Someone who's very much not a lawyer. It could be a bedtime story for me because it feels like that, but why is that important that I need to have that in my lease and I need to make sure it's the right stuff I have in there.
Yeah it goes back to the fact that this is a business contract. Every lease is a business contract and you, it needs to be legally enforceable. When it is executed properly. And so to be legally enforceable, it needs to have these things in it based on the state you're in, based on the city you're in, based on the county you're in, like they're all going to have their particular rules, how old your home is, whatever.
So at the end of the day, you need a lease that is going to be legally enforceable and like rocket Lawyer because we keep all of this up to date for you and you just have to follow along with the questions. It will make sure that once you both sign it and it's properly executed, that is you could, you are guaranteed that is legally enforceable and that I think is really what you want from any business contract and any lease that you're creating.
Guys you have to know that it's legit. You have to have confidence in that document, and a lot of that confidence comes from. The paragraphs or the pages or the sections that, we might not customize or they are state specific or there's those lead to paint disclosures, right? They are all there for a reason and the reason is so that they are legally enforceable.
Yeah. So that's where you need a reputable source. And that's where I don't want anybody going online and clicking chat. GPT Yeah. Colorado lease template because there are. It's endless amounts. I was gonna say thousands, but it's way more than that, right? Of lease templates online, but you don't have the confidence that it's up to date and that all those clauses are included and that I know that every time I make my next lease, if there's anything in the laws that has changed or anything that needs to be included now that needed, didn't need to be included six months ago.
I don't have to think about it. I just know that it's there. And that is huge because we really hope you never have to have. A legal conversation or go to court, right? If we do or if that does happen to you, you wanna have that confidence that's just so big. It's priceless. Deborah, you said something I don't want people that are listening to Miss.
And I want you to emphasize, 'cause we hear on the show often, I mean we already heard 50% of the last survey said they didn't even have a lease. But then you also have those that say, oh yeah, I hired a lawyer three years ago that. Put a lease together for me, or I have a free version on some website.
And it's not customizable most of the time if they're free, they're not customizable. So you emphasize how important it is that Rocket Lawyer actually updates and keeps everything fresh, and that's why you have to go through the q and a is to have all the right things in place for each lease.
So what, how, what do you wanna. Speak to, those that are maybe are using something that isn't kept up to date. Yeah. It goes back to the, you're putting yourself at risk when you, if you do not have. This legal document, this lease that which is a legal document ha, reflecting the most up-to-date laws and reflecting the laws and regulations that are specific to your geography, you are putting yourself at risk because at if there is a problem.
You won't be on the winning side like that. I think you have to just keep saying to yourself like it is worth making sure that it, you have it for your local area. It reflects all the laws and that you have written down everything that you need to write down that specifies your expectations of how they're gonna treat the property, what fees that are there, what their responsibilities are going to be, all those different pieces.
Make sure that is included in the lease, such that at the end of the day, if something is gonna go wrong, you're gonna be on the winning side of that argument and you won't be in this, situation of. Having to go to court or having to argue with people about stuff. It's has all been clearly laid out.
Yeah, I the start of any great landlord and tenant relationship starts with communication. It starts with expectations. I. Hopefully it ends with a happy move out. But a lease covers you from start to finish. What are the expectations? What are you gonna pay? Who's gonna do what? What's okay? What's not?
And on the back end, how do we end this relationship? The vast majority of time, especially with midterm rental tenants, it's fantastic, but if something goes wrong. Make sure you're setting yourself up for success. This is not the part of your business to skimp on. This is not the part of your business to rush through.
This is where you want to take your time and get it right. There's a reason we've chosen Rocket Lawyer to partner with, especially for so long and for so many years. The up to date and state customizable is. Priceless to me as a landlord because just always having that confidence is huge. You guys on Furnished Finder, you have the ability to book tenants however you want.
You know that we're not a booking platform, we are a lead generation site. We match tenants and landlords. But we put these tools in your tool belt to help you succeed. And because we have the utmost confidence in these select partners we have chosen. So if you wanna make your state specific customized lease, go into your landlord dashboard, hit.
Landlord tools and then you can hit state specific leases. If you have a key check account, you can also go directly to Key check. You're gonna start noticing more and more of these key check tools are gonna be available directly within your Furnished Finder account to make things easy for you to try to streamline everything we can.
And if you have questions, please reach out. Put a comment here, reach out to our customer service team. We are truly here to help you and we want to make sure that you have. You have all the tools that you need. So this has just been so great. I think Deb, we've left everybody with not only understanding the importance of a lease.
Hopefully next time we run this survey, the number will be higher than 50%. It's 90, it's 120. Like I had my tenant sign their lease twice just to be sure. So the number will be over a hundred. But also to, to have that punch list of okay, I wanna make sure I've got this and I've got this and I've got this.
So we cannot thank you enough for joining us today. I think this is just gonna be such a huge resource. It's such a pleasure to spend time with you both. I appreciate it. Yep. So as always, another great episode of The Landlord Diaries. We really appreciate you guys. We wanna hear more about the topics you'd like us to discuss, so put 'em in the comments and don't forget to subscribe, share this episode with a friend, and leave us a five star review on Apple Podcast or Spotify if you want others to be able to discover the Landlord Diaries podcast as well.
Have a great day and we'll catch you again next time. Bye everybody.
