Abstract:
Methods and apparatus to manage a plurality of geographically dispersed residential properties are disclosed. The methods and apparatus enable a plurality of rental properties to be managed by a central property management system despite the facts that in some areas, full time professional property managers are not available, the individual rental properties may be too small to justify a dedicated property manager and may be located in a plurality of different, and possibly remote, geographic regions. The methods described greatly reduce the time required and knowledge needed for real estate agents to manage residential properties. The method of delivery enables virtually any real estate agent to manage residential properties regardless of their physical location volume of properties or training in property management. Certain of the property management functions are performed automatically by a central computer that is part of the central property management system. Other property management functions are performed by the central property management system with the assistance of one or more central property managers. Still other property management functions are performed with the assistance of a local property manager.

Description:
PRIORITY CLAIM  
       [0001]     This application is a non-provisional of and claims priority to provisional application 60/702,884 filed Jul. 27, 2005 which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD  
       [0002]     The present disclosure relates in general to property management, and, in particular, to methods and apparatus for managing a plurality of geographically dispersed rental properties.  
       BACKGROUND  
       [0003]     An owner of a rental property such as a house or apartment needs to manage or have someone else manage that property. Management functions include showing potential new tenants the rental property, screening potential new tenants, completing leasing paperwork, collecting rent, paying bills, paying taxes, overseeing repairs, etc.  
         [0004]     Typically, one person or one company performs the property management function for a plurality of local rental properties or units. For example, a manager of an apartment building may live in the apartment building and manage dozens of the apartments in the building or building complex. Larger facilities may require a small staff of local managers. For example, a resort may have a large number of individually owned condominiums that are available for guests to rent. In such an instance, the resort may employ several people to manage the condominiums.  
         [0005]     Importantly, these property managers are typically located near the rental properties they manage. This proximity enables the property managers to efficiently perform their functions. For example, a property manager may receive a call from a tenant that a pipe is leaking. In response, the property manager may need to go to the rental unit within a short period of time to inspect the leak. In addition, the property manager may need to hire a plumber, give the plumber access to the building, verify the leak has been fixed, and/or pay the plumber.  
         [0006]     When rental properties are not physically located near each other, the efficiency of managing the rental properties decreases. For example, if ten rental properties are individually scattered across a large city, the manager of those properties may need to travel frequently from one property to another property to perform his/her property management functions. This problem is compounded when the properties are located across a state, multiple states, or a country. Even if the property manger has enough time to manage the dispersed properties, this travel time is unproductive overhead and may cause unacceptable delays and expenses.  
         [0007]     To avoid such expenses and delays, a property manager could be hired for each individual property. However, having one property manger per property can be cost prohibitive. To reduce the cost of a dedicated property manger, an owner of such geographically disperse rental properties could attempt to hire a plurality of local property managers that also manage other owner&#39;s properties. However, for large property owners, this creates an organizational problem. For example, a landfill company often ends up owning a few rental properties near each landfill as a side effect of the land purchase associated with a new landfill or operation of a landfill. Such a company may own thousands of rental properties scattered across the entire United States. Attempting to hire and communicate with a different property manager for each location is burdensome, time consuming, inefficient and cost prohibitive.  
       SUMMARY  
       [0008]     The methods and apparatus disclosed herein enable a plurality of rental properties to be managed by a central property management system through a network of local property managers (e.g., real estate agents/brokers) who are not directly employed by a central property manager. The method and apparatus streamlines many aspects of property management, such as collections, lease management, and repair dispatching into a central call/operations center. In one embodiment, the central property management system provides the local property managers with up to date reminders of critical dates, rental income and expense data and other services that are important to the management process through a web based property management system that is managed by the central property manager, but accessible to the local property managers. In this manner, the cash management and over all management is controlled by the central property manager for the benefit of reducing the need of the local property managers to perform large amounts of detailed work per rental unit and reducing the knowledge and skill needed to perform the work. As a result, local property management functions (e.g., inspecting a repair) may be handled by less qualified part-time property managers/real estate agents/real estate brokers or fulltime professional property managers that receive their instructions from a central computer and/or central property manager. For example, the local property managers may be real estate agents that spend only a portion of their time performing local property manager functions for the central property management system. It should be appreciated that the functions described herein may in alternative embodiments be performed automatically, manually, or in combinations thereof.  
         [0009]     Additional features and advantages are described herein, and will be apparent from, the following Detailed Description and the figures. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]      FIG. 1  is a high level block diagram of one embodiment of the present disclosure.  
         [0011]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram showing one example of a computing device of one embodiment of the present disclosure.  
         [0012]      FIG. 3  is a flowchart of an example rental cash flow process of one embodiment of the present disclosure.  
         [0013]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart of an example maintenance workflow process of one embodiment of the present disclosure.  
         [0014]      FIG. 5  is a flowchart of an example maintenance purchase order process of one embodiment of the present disclosure.  
         [0015]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart of an example new vacancy process of one embodiment of the present disclosure.  
         [0016]      FIG. 7  is a flowchart of an example new tenancy process of one embodiment of the present disclosure.  
         [0017]      FIG. 8  is a flowchart of an example late payment collection process of one embodiment of the present disclosure.  
         [0018]      FIG. 9  is an organization chart showing various example relationships between the central property manager and the local property managers of one embodiment of the present disclosure.  
         [0019]      FIG. 10  is a flowchart of an example due diligence process of one embodiment of the present disclosure. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS  
       [0020]     Referring now to  FIG. 1 , the methods and apparatus disclosed herein enable a plurality of rental properties  102  to be managed by a central property management system  104  through a network of local property managers (e.g., real estate agents/brokers) who are not directly employed by a central property manager  110 . The central property management system and local property managers are particularly suited to co-act to manage individual rental properties  102  which may be too small to justify a dedicated property manager and may be located in a plurality of different geographic regions  106 .  
         [0021]     In various embodiments certain of the property management functions, such as rent collection, processing, and tracking are performed automatically by a central computer  108  that is part of the central property management system  104 . Other property management functions, such as maintenance purchase order approvals, are performed by the central property management system  104  with the assistance of one or more central property managers  110 . It should be appreciated that in various embodiments, the central manager will perform many manual items and notifications to the tenants and local managers. It should thus be appreciated that throughout this disclosure, if a step of the method is said to be performed manually, it may be automated, and if the step is said to be automated, it may be done manually. In one embodiment, the central property management system  104  includes a database  112  to facilitate these automatic and semi-automatic property management functions. The database  112  stores information about or associated with the rental properties  102 , the tenants  114 , repair vendors  115 , etc.  
         [0022]     Other property management functions are best performed with the assistance of a local property manager  116 . For example, if a particular unit  118  of a property  102  requires a repair, the local property manager  116  may be used to verify the need for the repair, send a digital picture or other evidence of any damage to the central computer  108 , let a contract repair person into the unit  118 , and verify completion of the repair including sending another digital picture or other evidence of the repairs to the central computer  108 . The local property managers  116  may be full time or part time property managers who are part of an affiliate or franchise network. However, the legal relationship between the central property manager and a local property manager may take on any suitable form (see, for example,  FIG. 9 ). For example, the local property managers  116  may be real estate agents that spend a portion of their time performing local property manager functions for the central property management system  104 , thereby obtaining benefits from belonging to an affiliate network that creates the opportunity to provide clients with a single source property management provider and to provide the local property manager with a new source for reoccurring revenue, property management training and related property lease/sales commissions.  
         [0023]     In various embodiments, the local property managers  116  receive their instructions manually or automatically via a local computer  118  connected to the central computer  108  through a wide area network  120  such as the Internet. For example, the central computer  108  may automatically send an e-mail to a local property manager  116  requesting the local property manager to let a repair person into a unit  118  at a certain time on a certain date. Alternatively, a central system operator may send such message to the local property manager. In this and other examples, the local property manager  116  may need to send a confirmation message to the central computer  108 /central manager (e.g., to indicate that the scheduled time is acceptable to the local property manager  116 ). In addition, the central computer  108  may generate a web page and/or batch report for the local property manager  116  including a list of all the local property manager&#39;s outstanding action items. The local property manager  116  may view his/her web page or batch report from the local computer  118  and/or any computing device connected to the network  120 .  
         [0024]     A more detailed block diagram of a computing device  108 ,  118  is illustrated in  FIG. 2 . The computing device  108 ,  118  may include a personal computer (PC), a personal digital assistant (PDA), an Internet appliance, a cellular telephone, or any other suitable communication device. The computing device  108 ,  118  includes a main unit  202  which preferably includes one or more processors  204  electrically coupled by an address/data bus  206  to one or more memory devices  208 , other computer circuitry  210 , and one or more interface circuits  212 . The processor  204  may be any suitable processor. The memory  208  preferably includes volatile memory and non-volatile memory. Preferably, the memory  208  stores a software program that interacts with the other devices in the system as described below. This program may be executed by the processor  204  in any suitable manner. The memory  208  may also store digital data indicative of documents, files, programs, web pages, etc. retrieved from another computing device  108 ,  118  and/or loaded via an input device  214 .  
         [0025]     The interface circuit  212  may be implemented using any suitable interface standard, such as an Ethernet interface and/or a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface. One or more input devices  214  may be connected to the interface circuit  212  for entering data and commands into the main unit  202 . For example, the input device  214  may be a keyboard, mouse, touch screen, track pad, track ball, isopoint, and/or a voice recognition system.  
         [0026]     One or more displays, printers, speakers, and/or other output devices  216  may also be connected to the main unit  202  via the interface circuit  212 . The display  216  may be a cathode ray tube (CRTs), liquid crystal displays (LCDs), or any other type of suitable display. The display  216  generates visual displays of data generated during operation of the computing device  108 ,  118 . For example, the display  216  may be used to display web pages and/or e-mail messages received from another computing device  108 ,  118 . The visual displays may include prompts for human input, run time statistics, calculated values, data, etc. For example, a website and/or an e-mail message may be viewed on the display  216  reminding a local property manager  116  of an upcoming appointment with a local contractor  115 .  
         [0027]     One or more storage devices  218  may also be connected to the main unit  202  via the interface circuit  212 . For example, a hard drive, CD drive, DVD drive, and/or other suitable storage devices may be connected to the main unit  202 . The storage devices  218  may store any suitable type of data used by the customer computer  102 .  
         [0028]     The computing device  108 ,  118  may also exchange data with other network devices via a connection to the network  120 . The network connection may be any type of suitable network connection, such as an Ethernet connection, digital subscriber line (DSL), telephone line, coaxial cable, etc. Users of the system may be required to register with the central computer  108 . In such an instance, each user may choose a user identifier (e.g., e-mail address) and a password which may be required for the activation of services. The user identifier and password may be passed across the network  120  using encryption built into the user&#39;s browser. Alternatively, the user identifier and/or password may be assigned by the central computer  108 .  
         [0029]     Local computers  118  may connect to the central computer  108  to access data and view or generate reports. For example, the central computer  108  (and/or other computers) may host a website for the local computers  118 . Access to the central computer  108  may be controlled by appropriate security software or security measures. An individual member&#39;s access can be defined in the system and limited to certain data, information and/or reports.  
         [0030]     An example rental cash flow process is illustrated in  FIG. 3 . In general, the process uses the central property management system  104  and/or a local property manager  116  to collect rent from a tenant  114  and disburse collected rent to a plurality of central accounts. Preferably, the process is performed by one or more people and/or embodied in one or more software programs. Although the process is described with reference to the illustrated flowchart, it will be appreciated that many other alternative methods of performing the acts associated with process may be used. For example, the order of many of the steps may be changed, and some of the steps described may be optional. Additionally, the steps may be performed manually, automatically, or in a suitable automated and manual combination.  
         [0031]     In this example, the tenant  114  is given a reminder to make a rental payment (block  302 ). Preferably the central property management system  104  sends an automatic message to remind the tenant  114  to pay the rent. For example, the central property management system  104  may send the tenant  114  an e-mail message reminding the tenant  114  of the amount due and the due date. Alternatively, or in addition, the central property management system  104  may send an electronic reminder to the local property manager  116  to collect the rent form the tenant  114 . Electronic messages between the central property management system  104  and one or more local property managers  116  may be by e-mail, via a property management system website, and/or via any other suitable communications system. Alternatively, or in addition, the central property management system  104  may send the tenant  114  and/or the local property manager  116  reminders, rental bills, and/or any other information by regular mail.  
         [0032]     The tenant  114  may pay the rent in any suitable manner (block  304 ). For example, the tenant  114  my mail a check for the rent to a post office box or drop the payment in a lock box. The rent check may be picked up from the post office box and/or the lock box by a local property manager  116  and then mailed to the central property management system  104 , or the rent check may be sent directly to the central property management system  104 . Alternatively, the tenant  114  may send an electronic payment for the rent. In one embodiment, the tenant  114  is given a suitable rent reduction if rent payments are made electronically. In alternative embodiments, rent is not paid to the management system. Rather, the management system tracks the rent that is deposited in various deposit accounts via lock box, direct deposit, etc.  
         [0033]     The central property management system  104  determines if the check is for rent or for a security deposit (block  306 ). If the check is for a security deposit, the central property management system  104  deposit&#39;s the check in a security deposit escrow account (block  308 ). If the check is for a periodic rental payment, the central property management system  104  deposit&#39;s the check in an operations management account (block  310 ).  
         [0034]     From the operations management account, the cash flows to certain expenses, cash reserves, and profits. For example, a portion of the rental payment may be used for monthly expenses such as local property management fees (block  312 ), maintenance costs (block  314 ), inspection fees ( 316 ), and/or other expenses (block  318 ). Another portion of the rental payment may be placed into a maintenance and operational reserve account (block  320 ). The remaining portion is preferably transferred to the property owner along with a monthly statement (block  322 ). This can alternatively be done on a quarterly or other basis.  
         [0035]     An example maintenance workflow process is illustrated in  FIG. 4 . In general, the process uses the central property management system  104  and/or a local property manager  116  to respond to a tenant&#39;s request for maintenance by requesting a quote from one or more local contractors  115 . In various embodiments, the process is performed by one or more people and/or embodied in one or more software programs. Although the process is described with reference to the illustrated flowchart, it will be appreciated that many other methods of performing the acts associated with process may be used. For example, the order of many of the steps may be changed, and some of the steps described may be optional.  
         [0036]     In this example, the tenant  114  makes a call to request certain maintenance (block  402 ). For example, the tenant  114  may be calling to report the garbage disposal does not work. The maintenance call is preferably made to a call center  111  that is part of the central property management system  104  (block  404 ). The maintenance call is handled by a central maintenance manager who is connected to or located at the call center  111  (block  406 ). The central maintenance manager may be a call center employee, the central property manager  110 , and/or a maintenance specialist of the central property management system  104 . By handling maintenance calls centrally, the local property managers  116  are not bothered by routine maintenance calls.  
         [0037]     Each maintenance call is logged by the call center  111  (block  408 ). For example, the call center  111  preferably records the time of each call, the duration of each call, the origination phone number of each call, the nature of the maintenance request, etc. In one embodiment, the maintenance manager queries the database  112  to determine if this repair request seems reasonable. The database  112  may hold purchase and maintenance records for each major appliance (e.g., washer, dryer, etc.) and each upkeep item (e.g., painting, roof, etc.) for each rental unit  118 . For example, the database  112  may store the purchase date and any maintenance associated with the garbage disposal installed in a particular rental unit  118 . In addition, the database  112  may store digital photographs from before and after repairs sent from a local property manager. If a repair request seems unusual (e.g., based on expected life span), a message may be sent to the central property manager  110  and/or the property owner.  
         [0038]     The maintenance manager then contacts one or more pre-approved maintenance contractors  115  for that geographical area (block  410 ). For example, the maintenance manager may retrieve a list of preapproved vendors in that area for that type of repair from the database  112 . The contractor(s)  115  then gives the maintenance manager an estimate (block  412 ). In some instances, the contractor  115  may be able to provide the estimate without visiting the property (e.g., install new air condition unit). In other instances, the contractor  115  may need to visit the property site in order to provide the estimate (e.g., painting).  
         [0039]     If the contractor  115  requires access to the property (for the estimate and/or to perform the maintenance operation), the maintenance manager may make arrangements with the tenant  114  to give the contractor  115  access to the property. However, this approach is not always practical. Accordingly, the maintenance manager may make arrangements with the local property manager  116  to give the contractor  115  access to the property.  
         [0040]     If the estimate from the contractor  115  is below a predetermined threshold (block  414 ), then the maintenance manager may approve the maintenance procedure and prepare a purchase order (block  418 ). The predetermined threshold may be a certain dollar amount (e.g., $500), a certain dollar amount based on the maintenance procedure (e.g., $500 for plumbing, $1000 for painting, etc.), a percentage of rent, and/or a percentage of revenue. In addition, the dollar amounts of repairs may be accumulated over a certain time period and compared to a predetermined threshold.  
         [0041]     If the estimate from the contractor  115  is not below the predetermined threshold (block  414 ), then the maintenance manager may contact the property owner for approval (block  416 ). For example, if a building needs a new roof, the property owner may need to be contacted to discuss different options.  
         [0042]     An example maintenance purchase order process is illustrated in  FIG. 5 . In general, the process uses the central property management system  104  and/or a local property manager  116  to verify the completion of a maintenance procedure and pay the maintenance contractor. Preferably, the process is performed by one or more people and/or embodied in one or more software programs. Although the process is described with reference to the illustrated flowchart, it will be appreciated that many other methods of performing the acts associated with process may be used. For example, the order of many of the steps may be changed, and some of the steps described may be optional.  
         [0043]     In this example, a purchase order is prepared (block  502 ) and approved by the central property manager  110  (block  504 ). The purchase order is then sent to the local contractor  115  and the local property manager  116  (block  506 ). For example, if a particular property requires a new garbage disposal, a purchase order for the new garbage disposal and the installation is written and sent to a pre-approved local contractor  115  and to the local property manager  116 . The purchase order may be sent automatically by e-mail, fax, regular mail, and/or any other suitable means. Preferably, each local property manager  116  and each local contractor  115  is associated with a message delivery method in the central database  112 . For example, the local contractor  115  selected may be associated with a fax number, and the local property manager  116  may be associated with an e-mail address.  
         [0044]     Once a certificate of insurance is collected from the local contractor  115  (block  508 ), and the work is completed with the local property manager&#39;s assistance (block  510 ), the local property manager  116  issues a written work verification (block  512 ). For example, the local property manager  116  may unlock the door for the local contractor  115 , remain on site during the installation of the new garbage disposal, verify the new disposal works properly and that the property was left in an orderly manner, and complete an online form from the central computer  108  (or other web server) indicating the work was completed.  
         [0045]     Once the work is completed and approved by the local property manager  116 , the local contractor  115  is paid by the central property management system  104  (block  514 ). If the money owed to the local contractor  115  is less than the monthly rent for the property (block  516 ), the check to the local contractor  115  is written from the monthly rent check for the property (block  518 ). Upon approval from the central property manager  110  (block  520 ), the check is mailed to the local contractor  115  (block  522 ). It will be appreciated that electronic payments or other forms of payment may be used instead of checks for any of the payments made by the present disclosure.  
         [0046]     If the money owed to the local contractor  115  is more than the monthly rent for the property (block  516 ) and less than the amount of money in reserve for this property (block  524 ), the check to the local contractor  115  is written from the reserve funds for the property (block  526 ). Upon approval from the central property manager  110  (block  528 ), the check is mailed to the local contractor  115  (block  530 ). In addition, if the reserve funds are used, the monthly rental draw to reserve is modified to replenish the reserve funds used (block  532 ).  
         [0047]     If the money owed to the local contractor  115  is more than the monthly rent for the property (block  516 ) and more than the amount of money in reserve for this property (block  524 ), an invoice is sent to the owner and/or landlord of the property (block  534 ).  
         [0048]     An example new vacancy process is illustrated in  FIG. 6 . In general, the process uses the central property management system  104  and/or a local property manager  116  to move a tenant  114  out of a unit  118  and identify any needed repairs. Preferably, the process is performed by one or more people and/or embodied in one or more software programs. Although the process is described with reference to the illustrated flowchart, it will be appreciated that many other methods of performing the acts associated with process may be used. For example, the order of many of the steps may be changed, and some of the steps described may be optional.  
         [0049]     In this example, once a new vacancy is identified (block  602 ), the owner and/or landlord of the property is notified (block  604 ), and the central property manager  110  issues a market approval to the appropriate local property manager  116  (block  604 ). In response, the local property manager  116  begins marketing the new vacancy (block  606 ). For example, in response to a lease renewal request automatically sent from the central property manager  110  to the tenant  114 , the tenant  114  may send a notice to the central property manager that he does not intend to renew his lease. The central property manager  110  then sends a message (e.g., e-mail or web page) to the local property manager  116  associated with the property to try to fill the upcoming vacancy.  
         [0050]     In addition, once a new vacancy is identified (block  602 ), the central property manager  110  sends a procedural letter to the tenant  114  (block  610 ). As part of the lease termination process, the central property manager  110  sends a message to the local property manager  116  to perform a pre-termination walkthrough of the property (block  612 ). After the pre-termination walkthrough, the local property manager  116  generates a list of deficiencies for the tenant  114  (block  614 ). For example, the central property manager  110  may send the local property manager  116  a walkthrough checklist. In one embodiment, the information form the checklist is also entered into the central computer  108  (e.g., via a website). After the tenant  114  moves out (block  618 ), the central property manager  110  sends a message to the local property manager  116  to perform a final inspection walkthrough (block  618 ).  
         [0051]     If the local property manager  116  determines that repairs are needed (block  620 ), a repair estimate is prepared (block  622 ). For example, the local property manager  116  may fill out a final inspection report from the central computer  108  (e.g., via a website). In response, the central property manager  110  contacts one or more pre-approved local contractor  115  to prepare the repair estimate. Once the estimate is complete, the central property manager  110  sends the former tenant  114  a letter detailing the deficiencies and the holdbacks from the tenant&#39;s deposit (block  624 ).  
         [0052]     Once the repairs are completed (block  626 ), the remaining deposit is released from escrow (block  628 ). Upon central property management approval, a check or electronic payment for the remaining deposit (i.e., less the repair cost) is produced (block  630 ) and sent to the former tenant  114  along with a detailed statement of the repairs needed and the holdbacks associated with those repairs (block  632 ). The former tenant  114  records are placed in long term storage (block  634 ). For example, the central property manager  110  may send a message to the local property manager to unlock the property for the local contractor  115  so the repairs may be performed. Upon completion of the repairs, the local property manager  116  preferably inspects the repairs and sends a message to the central property manager  110  that the repairs are complete. In addition, the local contractor  115  and/or the local property manager send a message to the central property manager indicating what repairs were performed and the cost of the repairs. This information is then used to reduce the former tenant  114 &#39;s deposit and generate the detailed statement of the repairs for the former tenant  114 . The record of all repairs can be entered into the central system database to track status of each rental property.  
         [0053]     If the local property manager  116  determines that repairs are not needed (block  620 ), the entire deposit is release from escrow (block  636 ). Upon central property management approval, a check or electronic payment for the entire deposit is sent to the former tenant  114  (block  638 ) and a post closing survey is generated (block  640 ). The former tenant  114  records are placed in long term storage (block  642 ).  
         [0054]     An example new tenancy process is illustrated in  FIG. 7 . In general, the process uses the central property management system  104  and/or a local property manager  116  to qualify and move anew tenant  114  into a unit  118 . Preferably, the process is performed by one or more people and/or embodied in one or more software programs. Although the process is described with reference to the illustrated flowchart, it will be appreciated that many other methods of performing the acts associated with process may be used. For example, the order of many of the steps may be changed, and some of the steps described may be optional.  
         [0055]     In this example, once an applications is received (block  702 ), a background check is performed (block  704 ). The application may be received by the central property manager  110  and/or the local property manager  116 . For example, the local property manager  116  may show the property to a potential tenant  114  and then give the potential tenant  114  a paper application. Alternatively, the potential tenant  114  may fill out an application from the central computer  108  (e.g., from a website). In either event, the local property manager  116  may assist the potential tenant  114  with the application process. Preferably, the central property manager  110  performs or commissions the background check.  
         [0056]     Once the background check is complete, and the owner and/or landlord of the property approves the terms of the deal (block  706 ), the central property manager  110  determines if the results of the background check are acceptable (block  708 ). If the results of the background check are acceptable, the central property management system  104  generates a pre-approved lease (block  710 ). The lease is then executed by the new tenant  114 , and the first rent payment and security deposit are collected (block  712 ). The lease may be sent from the central property manager  110  to the potential tenant  114  and returned to the central property manager, or the local property manager  116  may handle lease execution. In either event, the original lease is preferably held by the central property manager  110 . Similarly, the first rent payment and/or security deposit may be sent directly to the central property manager  110  or collected by the local property manager and forwarded to the central property manager  110 .  
         [0057]     Once the lease is executed, the local property manager  116  performs a move-in walkthrough with the new tenant  114  (block  716 ). In addition, the new tenant  114  signs an acknowledgement of the rules and an acknowledgment of the current building condition (block  718 ). Preferably, the acknowledgement of the current building condition is handled by the local property manager  116  and forwarded to the central property manager  110 . A copy of the rules may be sent to the tenant  114  from the central property manager  110  and/or given to the tenant  114  by the local property manager  116 . The acknowledgement of the rules (e.g., a signed copy of the rules) may be sent from the tenant  114  directly to the central property manager  110  and/or given to the local property manager  116  by the tenant  114  and forwarded to the central property manager  110 . Subsequently, the tenant  114  may move in to the property (block  720 ).  
         [0058]     If the results of the background check are not acceptable, the central property manager  110  sends a letter to the potential tenant  114 , and in some embodiments, with the reasons for the rejection (block  722 ).  
         [0059]     An example late payment collection process is illustrated in  FIG. 8 . In general, the process uses the central property management system  104  and/or a local property manager  116  to collect rent from a tenant  114 . In various embodiments, the process is performed by one or more people and/or embodied in one or more software programs. Although the process is described with reference to the illustrated flowchart, it will be appreciated that many other methods of performing the acts associated with process may be used. For example, the order of many of the steps may be changed, and some of the steps described may be optional.  
         [0060]     In this example, if a particular rent is not past due (block  802 ), then no further action needs to be taken by the central property manager  110  or the local property manager  116  (block  804 ). For example, the system may be programmed to do nothing until a rent becomes more than five days past due. If the rent is a first threshold period of time past due (block  802 ), the central property management system  104  automatically sends the tenant  114  a late payment letter (block  806 ).  
         [0061]     If the rent is paid within a second threshold period of time (block  808 ), then no further action needs to be taken by the central property manager  110  or the local property manager  116  (block  810 ). For example, the system may be programmed to take no further action if the rent is paid within ten days of the due date. If the rent is more than the second threshold period of time past due (block  808 ), the central property management system  104  automatically sends the tenant  114  a second late payment letter (block  812 ). In addition, a collection call may be made to the tenant  114  (block  814 ). In one embodiment, the central property manager  110  makes a live collection call and/or an automated collection call. Alternatively, or in addition, the central property manager may send an automatic message (e.g., an e-mail message) to the local property manager  116  instructing the local property manager  116  to make the collection call. In response, the local property manager  116  may make a telephone call to the tenant  114  and/or visit the property.  
         [0062]     If the rent is paid within a third threshold period of time (block  816 ), then no further action needs to be taken by the central property manager  110  or the local property manager  116  (block  818 ). For example, the system may be programmed to take no further action if the rent is paid within fifteen days of the due date. If the rent is more than the third threshold period of time past due (block  816 ), the property manger is notified (block  820 ). Upon approval by the owner and/or landlord of the property (block  820 ), eviction proceedings are initiated by the central property manager (block  822 ).  
         [0063]     It should be appreciated that the present method and apparatus is thus capable of providing a standardize wide (such as national) process and procedure with standardized consolidated reports and financial information for owners of multiple properties in a plurality of geographically remote markets. Such information on their properties can be consolidated into an easy to read and understandable asset management report.  
         [0064]     It should further be appreciated that the present disclosure provides the opportunity for owners of geographically disbursed properties to have a single process, procedure and financial reporting structure across their portfolio. These reports can be consolidated in a single rollup report for true topside management.  
         [0065]     It should also be appreciated that the present disclosure provides additional sale opportunities for agents and brokers from the tenants of the rental properties and by the national referral network that will develop using the present disclosure. The system will thus increase the revenue for agents, brokers and their companies.  
         [0066]     It should also be appreciated that the present disclosure provides the ability for a franchise/affiliate network with consistent: branding, consolidated advertising, training, process/procedure, referrals, legal resources, forms, and expert advice, etc. Thus, the present disclosures provides a method and apparatus for more efficient, more economical remote rental property management.  
         [0067]     In summary, persons of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate that methods and apparatus for managing a plurality of geographically dispersed residential properties have been provided. The foregoing description has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the exemplary embodiments disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings. It is intended that the scope of the invention not be limited by this detailed description of examples.