Whatever the reason, our job is simple:

Protect your investment. Maximize your income. Give you your time back.

For more than 24 years, Key Real Estate Advisors has helped Southwest Florida property owners successfully navigate the challenges of rental ownership. Our experienced team handles marketing, tenant placement, rent collection, inspections, maintenance coordination, lease enforcement, and financial reporting so you don't have to.

We believe property ownership should be an investment—not a second job.

When you partner with Key Real Estate Advisors, you gain a local team committed to protecting your property, minimizing vacancy, and helping you achieve your long-term investment goals.

Get Your Free Rental Analysis Today

Find out what your property could rent for and discover opportunities to maximize your return on investment.

FREE RENTAL ANALYSIS

When you sign with Key Real Estate Advisors Inc., you can expect that we will:

• Determine a marketable rental rate acceptable to you based on the condition, location and/or amenities of the property
• Personalized Full Color Brochures of your home (Optional)
• In House Marketing Department and Service
• Internet Marketing Campaign
• Classified Ad Campaign
• Digital CD-ROM of property before and after tenant to avoid damage disputes (Optional)
• Virtual Tour (Optional)
• Property listed on MLS (Multiple Listing Service) so that any Realtor can show the property and be paid a referral fee.
• For Rent signage placed on property to show availability

Property Management Company VS Property Management Services

What Makes Key Different

• Determining Market Rent

  Whether you are a property manager, a seasoned investor or a homeowner looking into property management determining market rent is the most important first step in all of the jobs you will perform.

  As a property manager, sometimes it is easy to think that by being in the market for so long, you automatically know what the price should be. Or you go off the advice of your friends and family because they have a property just like yours. However, it could be on the whole other end of town. The only way to make sure you are maximizing the return on your investment and the ultimate market rent is to do a little research.

  The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development website publishes an annual report on rental rates by city/state and size of the property. This gives you a good ballpark figure but you must take other things into consideration. The property’s location within the city, amenities and whether utilities are included in the rent can all cause your rent to vary from this figure.

  Whatever you decide to do make sure that your agent is utilizing all of the tools out there including the local Multiple Listing Service to determine a fair market rent for your home. At Key Real Estate Advisors Inc. we look at all of those as well as the several hundred properties that we manage to make sure you are getting the highest return on your investment. For more information call us or check out our website.

• Marketing Your Rental Property - Online and Offline

  Marketing is a very important aspect of the business to consider when looking for a property manager. Anyone can put a sign in the front yard and wait for the calls to start rolling in. However, in a recent study from the National Association of Realtors ( NAR ) showed that 85% to 90% of people surveyed started their search online.

  I know some people say that the demographics of their clients would not look online. However, the only way you can find a list of Section 8 homes is via the internet. Which makes online marketing ever more important in today’s rental market.

  When you choose Key Real Estate Advisors Inc. Advisors Inc you will have the advantage of utilizing one of the top marketing tools in the industry. Our property management software is designed to upload your property onto the internet the moment it is entered into our inventory. Your properties will be instantly uploaded onto to most of the rental websites available the moment we upload them. The great thing is that we can manage, track and change listings and any changes will be made to all of the websites. You will also be able to find them under the rental tab of our website.

  Craigslist is a very powerful tool but it does need constant attention. We have a full marketing department that on top of everything else, enters properties into Craigslist Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

  If you see something you would like to change or add just let us know. It is that simple. After all it is your property and we are there to work together to make sure that it is rented as quick as possible.

  And yes, we do put signs on certain properties as well. If you have any questions just give us a call.

• Securing Tenants - Applications and Screening

  • Screening and Application process
  • Background Check
  • Credit Check
  • Eviction History Report
  • Employment Verification
  • Showing Property to Tenants
  • Detailed lease prepared by local attorney protecting the interest of the Landlord.
  • Addendums
  • Handling of the Legal Documents
  • We have Professional Security Deposit Service Available
  • Final decisions on tenants made by Property Manager after meeting personally with tenant and family.

• Tenant Security Deposits

  One of the biggest issues between the landlord and the tenant has always been the security deposits and how they should be dispursed. At Key Real Estate Advisors Inc., out goal is to make sure the tenant gets all of their security deposit back. If that is the case, then both the tenant and the owner are happy.

  Florida Security Deposit ( Florida Statute 83, Sec 83.49)

  As in all cases, always take a last walk-through with the landlord before you vacate the rental dwelling! Note any damages in writing and reach a final agreement concerning any financial penalties which may occur or that may jeopardize the status of your security deposit return.

  See our Guide on Normal Wear and Tear.Upon the vacating of the premises for termination of the lease, if the landlord does not intend to impose a claim on the security deposit, the landlord shall have 15 days to return the security deposit together with interest if otherwise required, or the landlord shall have 30 days to give the tenant written notice by certified mail to the tenant’s last known mailing address of his or her intention to impose a claim on the deposit and the reason for imposing the claim.  The tenant is required to give the landlord a valid address at which the tenant can be contacted.

  Before you move into a rented Home or Apartment, be sure to do a walk through with the owner or property manager. Why? Because when you move out, the landlord may attempt to charge you for “damages” to the unit. What defines damages is often contested and the tenant, unless they have a move-in-checklist and pictures, may lose out in court.

  General rule of thumb – are you leaving the unit in the same condition as when you moved in? Again, take pictures and have the landlord or property manager agree to the condition. Same when you leave.

  A landlord can only withhold for damages only amounts that are deemed reasonable for the damage claimed. If a defect existed before you moved in, you should not be charged for that particular problem. The importance of pictures and a move-in checklist cannot be stressed enough.

  WHEN YOU DECIDE TO MOVE You must give the required notice! Be sure to check your lease agreement and the Florida Statute 83 for the specific time period that is required for appropriate notification to terminate the Florida lease.  When the tenancy is from year to year, the tenant must give not less than 60 days’ notice prior to the end of any annual period.

  At Key Real Estate Advisors Inc., we will come out and do a walk through with the tenants when they move in and when they move out. Our goal is to protect both the tenant and the owner and make it a smooth transition all the way around.

• Property Maintenance

  Unlike a management company, at Key Real Estate Advisors Inc. we do not employ any maintenance personnel other than someone to field the calls and make arrangements for service. Everything is subcontracted out. I feel that it is a conflict of interest to be making money while the owner is losing it. That being said, we allow you to have total control over your maintenance expenses. Since we have hundreds of properties and thousands of tenants, we are able to leverage our business with several vendors in town to get them to come down on prices.

  Any time an issue needs to be addressed, we will typically get three bids to ensure you are getting the best deal. And since we do not benefit from maintenance, we do not care who you pick or who you choose to use. We have quite a few owners that have their own maintenance handymen or chose to do the work themselves. Knowing that maintenance plays a huge roll in return on your investment we try to make sure that we work together to do everything we can to keep expenses to a minimum. And all of this comes at no charge to the owner. Even for setting up the repairs.

  Maintenance Procedures are an intricate part of property management. And at Key Real Estate Advisors Inc. we take them very seriously. We do not have any handymen on staff nor up charge for any service calls. I believe that to be a conflict of interest and can only lead to questions if there are continuing issues with the home.

  We do continually monitor maintenance calls year after year. Maintenance is a very big part of the overall return on your investment at the end of the year. My goal is to see where the calls are coming in and try to lower the percentage of rents versus vendor payouts each month. We continually try to think forward to see what we can do to minimize future expenses and make them more streamlined and predictable.

  However, when something does come up and the tenant calls, we do not do any work or send anyone out that will charge for anything without the owner’s approval period unless it is deemed an emergency. The only thing that is determined an emergency is no water or flooding of the unit. Otherwise everyone on the Key Real Estate Advisors Inc. team knows that if they order something that the owner did not approve and does not want to pay, they will be responsible to pay the vendor. No work is done without owner approval regardless of the price.

  We also have several owners have their own handyman the prefer to work with. If you have your own vendors, they will be entered into the property management software and they will be the first to be called with a follow up email to the owner.

  We have a lot of owners that buy properties and need fixing up. We also have tenants that have moved out and left the properties less than desirable. Any repairs and or home improvements that cost more than $500 will receive 3 bids from certified vendors for that job. If you would like for your vendor to bid on that as well, please let us know and it will be done. However, we strongly recommend that you have someone certified in that field look at it. If you have an A/C issue and you want your plumber to take a look at it make sure they know exactly what they are doing.

  As always, communication is the most important thing in any relationship. We continually strive to keep the communication flowing in both directions and the owner portals are a great help. If you have any questions on how we handle individual situations please contact us and we will be glad to answer them.

• Handling Evictions and Late Payments

  Handling Evictions and Late Payments in property management is a very important part of the job and according to Florida Statues 83.56, it has to be done in a specific way. Our goal at Key Real Estate Advisors Inc. is to get the tenant out of the unit in the quickest an most efficient way necessary if they are unable to pay the rent. And in the meantime, try to limit the loss to the owner as much as possible.

  Our leases are set up where the payments are due on the first of every month. We allow the tenant a 4-day grace period. So on the 5th of every month we will issue the 3 day notice required by Statute 83.56. The the tenant is then allowed 3 business day not including weekends or holidays to pay rent or surrender the property. If after those three days we can move for an eviction.

  Since we do our payout on the 10th of every month, the three-day notice will allow them to have their funds in by the tenth if they abide by the notice. However, sometimes they do not. At that point, we hang a second three-day notice demanding the surrender of the premises. This notice also notifies the tenant of what to expect in the event of an eviction.

  If the tenant has not surrender the premises we will then turn the file over to and eviction company who will then file for you on your behalf. The great thing about the company we use is that it is a pay as you go. We have found that more often than not the tenant will move out and avoid the consequences long before it gets to that point. Some companies will charge you $600 or more and if the tenant moves out before you will not receive your funds back. This company starts at $80 and then you are charged as the process moves forward.

  We are not the kind of company that will turn any files over immediately if the tenant does not pay their rent, nor do we have a lot of evictions. We have found that most owners will work with tenants if they just communicate with us. With several hundred units and thousands of tenants, we only had 5 evictions last year and non of them went to the end.

  We accomplish that by basing our late fees on communication and having the tenants sign their agreement to vacate up front at the beginning of the lease.  This speeds up the process and the tenants are less likely to stay if they are late.  We also require anyone over 18 years of age in the unit to be on the lease and have their credit run according to our application policy.

  If you have any other questions on how we manage properties, please feel free to give us a call.

  In the end our goal is to provide you with good tenants and then do everything in our power to keep them happy in hopes that they may return for another year. We also customize our services to fit the owner’s needs so they can easily receive passive income with peace of mind. We accomplish this with constant and consistent communication and allowing the owners to be as much or as little involved as they want to be. We also have state of the art software that allows the owners access to all of the information we have via the WEB. We cover Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Lehigh Acres, Bonita Springs, Estero, and Naples.

  Key Real Estate Advisors Inc. is well-organized, using the latest technology for property management, and enjoy helping people to succeed. The kind of property manager that wants to help everyone live the New American Dream and to know that we have the experience and the tools to make it happen! And we are one of only a handful of companies that are a member of NARPM® National Association of Residential Property Managers.

  If this sounds like the management services you need, please contact Dan Norden at 239-281-8086.

Accounting Services, Owner Payouts, Statements & Portals

Ft. Myers Area Information

Fort Myers, The City of Palms is located in Southwestern Florida on the banks of the Caloosahatchee River. Most visitors go to Fort Myers for the deep-sea fishing, the golf courses and the famous white sand beaches and islands that line the Gulf Coast. A renovation of the city’s downtown waterfront will produce new restaurants, clubs, and shops.

Attractions include the winter estates of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison, as well as the islands of Sanibel and Captiva. The City of Fort Myers Yacht Basin is located on the south side of the Caloosahatchee River between the Edison Bridges and the Caloosahatchee Bridge in downtown Fort Myers.

The city is the home of the Fort Myers Miracle baseball club of the Florida State League, and is the spring training locale for the Boston Red Sox. The Minnesota Twins hold their spring training in suburban South Fort Myers.

Fort Myers has the Florida Everblades ECHL hockey team.

Sanibel Island is a beautiful area. For information on public parking and beaches see here.

For the golfing enthusiast, the Fort Myers Area (Bonita Springs, Cape Coral, Estero, Lehigh Acres, Sanibel Island and Venice) is home to over 50 of Southwest Florida’s renowned 130 public and private golf courses. Florida’s climate combined with the scenic nature of these courses makes the area a perfect stop for the vacationing or retiring golfer.

The Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium is a private, not for profit, environmental education organization. Set on a 105 acre site has a museum, three nature trails, a Planetarium, butterfly and bird aviaries, a gift shop and meeting and picnic areas.

Edison-Ford Winter Estates, Fort Myers -Tours include the museum, which has Edison’s phonographs, electric lights, and some of his other inventions.

Areas We Serve

• Ft. Myers
• Cape Coral
• Lehigh Acres
• Bonita Springs
• Estero
• Naples
• Marco-Island