Renting Below Market Rate (BMR) Units In San Francisco

What steps need to be taken by developers to lease their San Francisco Below Market Rate Housing? It critical that these units be given priority as they can impact the grand opening of the market rate units in the same building. This posting gives a high level overview of the general steps and timeline.

If you are building in San Francisco be aware that the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development Below Market Rate (“BMR”) Inclusionary Housing Program requires some developers to sell or rent 12% of units in new developments at a “below market rate” price that is affordable to lower or middle income households. The program is governed by Planning Code Section 415 and by the City and County of San Francisco Inclusionary Affordable Housing Program. The program is administered by the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development (“MOHCD”) and as of this writing, includes over 600 affordable rental units all around San Francisco. In most cases, BMR rental units are mixed into a larger market rate building. In a few cases, an entire building is made up of BMR units.

For a project to avoid delays in launching its market rate units, its critical that the process to rent the BMR units start at least six (6) months ahead of Final Inspection/ Certificate of Occupancy.There are three major components to launching and renting BMR units: Preparation, Marketing/Application Collection, and Selection.

Preparation: The Mayors Office oversees and approves the pricing and marketing of the BMR units. Part of this approval process is to ensure the project is creating an equal playing field and set of requirements between the BMR and Market Rate Units. What is asked or required from the BMR applicants, must also be required of the Market Rate applicants.

Marketing/ Application Collection: This is a 28 day process which includes advertising in a predefined number of print publications, including the San Francisco Chronicle or San Francisco Examiner, showing the property and accepting applications. The number of applications accepted and processed during this time can run into the thousands. This period culminates with a public “Lottery” in which names are selected from the pool of applications.

Selection: From the pool of names which were selected from the Lottery, applications are run and background information checked. If qualified, they are offered the unit to rent.

Each of these sections as outlined above is a very high level review of the requirements. Before beginning the process, its highly recommended that you spend a good deal of time with the Mayors office, or you seek professional assistance to ensure compliance with the rules and regulations.

For assistance in leasing your BMR units. Contact Eric Baird at eric@relisto.com or call 415-236-6116 x 101

ReLISTO is a San Francisco and Bay Area Residential Leasing Agency which provides services to landlords and developers to maximize their financial return on their furnished and unfurnished properties and secure qualified tenants. As a full service leasing agency we provide professional services and staffing to Housing Developers to properly submit and comply with the San Francisco’s requirements to rent and lease Below Market Rate Housing Units (BMR), Airbnb Support Services to maximize landlord bookings, roommate finding services and professional relocation services and placement.

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Big Bathroom -Small Space

To achieve top dollar when renting a large 5 bedroom, 9 bed furnished rental a landlord needs to provide as many bathrooms as possible. Equally important in drought stricken California is to have water efficient sinks and toilets to maximize conservation as well as properly manage the water bill.

This ReLISTO landlord did both. They fit a sink, toilet and shower into a spaced really designed for only two of the three items mentioned. In addition, the small basin of the sink and the high or low flow flush feature on the toilet helps to conserve water.. CLICK HERE TO SEE VIDEO

ReLISTO A San Francisco and Bay Area Residential Leasing Agency providing landlords Leasing Innovations, Services and Tools Online. We specialize in finding qualified tenants and maximizing the return on your investment property. We provide services to lease and rent unfurnished long term residential properties and apartments and through our corporate rentals division lease furnished interim housing to individuals and corporate entities. Other services we provide are: Airbnb Support Services, Roommate finding Services and Professional Relocation Services and Placement. Contact us at service@relisto.com

Allowable Rent Calculations with Reports For San Francisco and California

ReLISTO is proud to announce the launch of the Allowable Rent Increase Calculator, specifically created for San Francisco and California landlords, property managers, real estate agents and professionals who work with residential income property as well as for tenants seeking to verify allowable rents.

For Rent Controlled Properties in San Francisco the Allowable Rent Increase Calculator will:

Calculate rent increases
Track and Modify Anniversary Date based on rent increase date
Provide Total Percentage of Increase
Calculate adjustment to the banked rent increase percent or dollar amount
Print notices for tenants and landlords

For Non Rent Controlled Properties for the majority of California including San Francisco, the Allowable Rent Increase Calculator will:

Calculate rent increase
Provide information regarding compliance with the 30, 35, 60 or 65 day wait periods
Rent Increase Notices to send to Tenants

The Calculator has been developed and rigorously tested by professionals engaged in owning, leasing, and managing of rental property. Please see our list of FAQs or send us an email at calculators@relisto.com, we enjoy hearing from our users and love suggestions on making them better for our users.

Eric Baird