Leasing Only
Tenant Placement & Leasing-Only Services in Atlanta
Some owners genuinely want to manage their own rental — they just do not want to find the tenant. Tenant placement is a one-time, leasing-only service: we market the property, run the showings, screen every applicant against a written standard, execute a Georgia-compliant lease, and hand you a fully documented move-in. Then we step back.
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Who this is for
We find and vet the tenant. You keep the keys and the day-to-day.
Every property is different. These are the owners this service was built around — if one of them sounds like you, we should talk.
- Self-managing owners who are comfortable with maintenance and rent collection but not with marketing and screening.
- Owners who live near the property, have their own vendors, and only need the hard part done right.
- Landlords who have been burned by a bad tenant once and will not screen casually again.
- Owners between managers who need the unit leased now without signing a long management agreement.
- Investors filling a vacancy in a portfolio they otherwise run themselves.
Leasing-Only, For Owners Who Want to Stay Hands-On
Not every owner needs full management. If you live fifteen minutes away, already have a plumber and an HVAC guy you trust, and do not mind fielding a maintenance call, the ongoing management fee may not be buying you much.
What most self-managing owners are genuinely bad at is the front end. Pricing a vacancy correctly. Reaching the full renter pool instead of just whoever sees a Facebook post. Running showings without giving up every evening. And screening rigorously enough that the person you approve is still paying on time in month fourteen.
Tenant placement is exactly that front end, sold on its own. One engagement, one fee, one outcome: a qualified tenant in a properly executed Georgia lease, with a documented move-in condition record in your hands. After that the relationship is yours to run.
How the Placement Works
We start with the rent number, because everything downstream depends on it. We pull genuine comparables — leased, not just listed — and give you an asking rent with the evidence attached. If your expectation and the market disagree, you will hear that on day one rather than discover it after six weeks of silence.
Then the rent-ready conversation. We walk the property and give you a short punch list separated into what will move the rent, what will move the speed, and what is not worth doing. Paint and floors usually matter. A brand-new kitchen usually does not, at least not proportionally.
Once it is ready we photograph it, write the listing, put it on the MLS through our Georgia license, syndicate it to the portals renters actually search, and start booking showings. Applications come to us. Screening runs to the written standard. When an applicant clears, we prepare the lease, execute it, complete the move-in inspection, collect the deposit and first month, and hand you the file.
Free projection · about a minute
What could your property earn with Tenant Placement?
Tell us about the property and we’ll come back with real numbers and a plan for it — written by a person on our team, within one business day.
Free, no obligation. Prefer to talk? Call (678) 938-6413
Step 1 of 4 · Address
What’s the address of your rental property?
We’ll pull real, comparable Atlanta rents to build your projection.
Why the MLS Matters More Than Owners Expect
A large share of renters in metro Atlanta never search alone. They are working with an agent — because they are relocating for a job, because the company relocation package includes one, or simply because it costs them nothing. Those agents search the MLS.
A rental that only exists on consumer portals is invisible to that entire channel. Listing on the MLS through an active Georgia license puts the property in front of every leasing agent in the metro, and a cooperating-agent commission turns each of them into someone with a reason to show your house this weekend.
This is one of the concrete advantages of hiring a licensed Realtor rather than an unlicensed "leasing service." In Georgia it is more than an advantage — leasing or renting real estate for someone else for a fee is broker activity under state law, and doing it without a license is unlawful. Anyone offering to place a tenant for you should be able to tell you their license status without hesitating.
The Screening Standard
The screening is the product. Everything else is logistics.
Every adult applicant gets the same treatment: income verified against a written threshold, full credit review, rental history with previous landlords contacted directly by phone, employment verification, and public-record review including prior evictions. Criminal history is assessed individually against the nature, severity, and age of the offense rather than as a blanket exclusion — the approach Georgia's landlord-tenant handbook steers landlords toward, and the one that keeps a Fair Housing complaint off your doorstep.
Because the criteria are written down before the listing goes live, they cannot bend for a charming applicant on a slow week. You receive the full screening package on whoever we recommend — not a thumbs-up, the actual file — so you can see precisely what you are approving and keep it on record.
The Lease, the Deposit, and the Move-In Record
A weak lease costs nothing on the day it is signed and everything on the day there is a dispute. We prepare and execute a Georgia-specific lease with the terms that actually get litigated spelled out: rent and due date, grace period and late charges, utilities, maintenance responsibilities and how requests must be submitted, entry notice, occupancy, pets, and how the lease ends. Georgia also requires written notice before a lease if the property has flooded at least three times in the past five years and damaged the living space — a disclosure many owners have never heard of.
The move-in record is the other thing owners routinely skip and later regret. We complete a written, photographed condition report and existing-damage list, signed by both parties, before the deposit is accepted. Fourteen months later, when the question is whether that scuffed baseboard predates the tenant, that document is the entire argument.
One important caveat on the deposit itself. Once we hand the tenancy back to you, you are the one holding the money, and Georgia's deposit rules turn on facts about your situation — how many units you own and whether anyone is managing or collecting rent for a fee. The state caps the deposit at two months' rent and requires return within thirty days for every landlord, but whether escrow, bonding, and the formal inspection regime apply to you specifically is a question for a Georgia attorney. We will tell you what we see; we will not guess at your legal exposure.
What Happens After We Hand You the Keys
The engagement ends cleanly. You receive the executed lease, the complete screening file, the signed move-in inspection with photographs, the tenant's contact and emergency information, and the deposit. From there rent collection, maintenance, renewals, and any enforcement are yours.
We will still take your call. If a question comes up six months in about a notice period, a renewal, or how a dispossessory actually works in your county, ask — we would rather answer than watch an owner improvise. If it needs a lawyer, we will say so.
And if managing it yourself turns out to be less fun than expected, moving to full management is straightforward. The property is already documented, the lease is already ours, and we know the tenant.
What It Costs
Tenant placement is a one-time fee tied to the lease, not an ongoing percentage of rent. There is no monthly management charge, because there is no monthly management.
The exact figure depends on the property and the market, so we quote it up front and in writing before you commit to anything — including how a cooperating agent's commission is handled if the tenant arrives through one, which is the line item owners most often get surprised by elsewhere.
One thing worth weighing honestly: if you expect to turn the property over frequently, paying a placement fee every year can cost more than management would have. If you expect long tenancies and you genuinely enjoy running the property, placement-only is usually the better economics. We will tell you which one your situation looks like, even when the answer is the cheaper one for you.
What’s included
One rate. The whole service.
One management fee, quoted for your property in writing before you sign anything — no onboarding charge, no markup on maintenance, and no surprise line items.
- Rent analysis and a recommended asking rent with the comparable evidence behind it
- Rent-ready punch list — what to fix, what to skip, and what will actually change the rent
- Professional listing photography and written listing copy
- MLS listing through our Georgia real estate license, plus syndication to the major rental portals
- Yard signage, inquiry handling, and scheduled showings
- Application intake and a written, uniformly applied screening standard
- Income, credit, employment, prior-landlord, eviction, and public-record verification on every adult applicant
- Georgia-compliant lease preparation and execution, with required disclosures
- Move-in inspection with a signed, photographed existing-damage list, plus a documented condition report you keep
- Deposit and first-month collection, key handover, and a clean file transferred to you
Where we work
Tenant Placement across metro Atlanta & Georgia
We run this service in the markets below. Don’t see yours? Call (678) 938-6413 — we’re continually adding markets.
Common questions
Tenant Placement — answered
What is tenant placement, and how is it different from property management?
Tenant placement is leasing only. We market the property, run showings, screen applicants, execute the lease, complete the move-in inspection, collect the deposit and first month, and hand you the file — then the engagement ends. Property management is ongoing: we keep collecting rent, handling maintenance, inspecting, accounting, and negotiating renewals for the life of the tenancy. Placement is a one-time fee. Management is a recurring one.
How much does tenant placement cost in Atlanta?
It is a one-time fee tied to the signed lease rather than a percentage of monthly rent, and the exact amount depends on the property and the market. We quote it in writing before you commit — including how a cooperating agent's commission is handled if the tenant comes through another agent, which is the charge owners most often get surprised by. There is no ongoing management fee, because there is no ongoing management.
Will you list my rental on the MLS?
Yes. We hold Georgia real estate licenses, so your property goes on the MLS as well as the consumer rental portals. That matters more than most owners expect: a large share of metro Atlanta renters are working with an agent — relocation packages, corporate moves, or simply because it is free to them — and those agents search the MLS. A listing that lives only on consumer portals never reaches that channel at all.
How long will it take to find a tenant?
It depends on the asking rent, the condition, the season, and the submarket, and anyone who quotes you a number without seeing the property is guessing. What we will do is tell you honestly on day one whether your target rent matches what comparable properties have actually leased for, because an overpriced listing is the single most common cause of a long vacancy. If the market disagrees with the number, you will hear it before the listing goes live rather than six weeks in.
Who holds the security deposit if I am self-managing?
You do, once we hand the tenancy back. Georgia caps the deposit at two months' rent and requires every landlord to return it within thirty days of lease termination or the tenant's departure, whichever is later. Whether the stricter rules — escrow or bonding, written notice of the deposit location, and the formal move-in and move-out inspection regime — apply to you depends on how many units you own and whether anyone manages or collects rent for a fee. That is a genuinely fact-specific question, and the right person to answer it for your situation is a Georgia landlord-tenant attorney.
Can I screen applicants myself, or make the final call?
The final call is always yours. We apply the written screening standard, verify everything, and give you the complete file on whoever we recommend rather than just a recommendation. What we will not do is apply criteria selectively from one applicant to the next — that is how Fair Housing problems begin, and it is your exposure as the owner, not just ours.
What if the tenant you place does not work out?
Ask us this directly and we will put the answer in the written agreement before you sign — any placement guarantee, its length, and exactly what it covers. We would rather define it precisely up front than have you rely on a promise made on a phone call. Be equally direct with every other company you are comparing, and get their answer in writing too.
I live out of state — can I use placement only and manage it myself?
Read one Georgia statute before you decide. O.C.G.A. § 44-7-25, created by House Bill 399 in 2025, says a landlord who is not a Georgia resident and who owns or operates single-family or duplex residential rental property here shall employ a broker licensed under Chapter 40 of Title 43 — and it switches off two of the self-management exemptions in § 43-40-29(a) for those owners. Placement-only ends with us handing the tenancy back to you, so whether that arrangement fits a non-resident owner is genuinely fact specific, including how residency is determined when an LLC or trust holds title, which the statute does not define. Ask a Georgia attorney before settling on placement-only. If the answer points toward ongoing management instead, that is a service we also run.
Can I switch to full management later?
Easily. The property is already documented, the lease is already one of ours, the screening file is on record, and we know the tenant — so there is none of the usual mid-tenancy handover mess. Plenty of owners start with placement, discover that maintenance calls are less charming than expected, and move to full management at the first renewal.
Sources
Every figure on this page is linked to its original source, with the date we checked it.
- Georgia law defines broker activity to include leasing or renting real estate for others and collecting rents for a fee, and it is unlawful to act as a licensee without a license. Official Code of Georgia Annotated §§ 43-40-1, 43-40-30 (via FindLaw) · Retrieved August 2026
- Georgia caps security deposits at two months' rent and requires all landlords to return the deposit within thirty days of lease termination or the tenant's departure, whichever is later. Georgia Department of Community Affairs — Georgia Landlord-Tenant Handbook · Handbook revised 8-29-24; retrieved August 2026
- Georgia landlords must notify a prospective tenant in writing before entering a lease if the property has flooded at least three times in the past five years and damaged the living space. Georgia Department of Community Affairs — Georgia Landlord-Tenant Handbook · Handbook revised 8-29-24; retrieved August 2026
- The stricter Georgia deposit rules — escrow or bond, written notice of the deposit's location, and formal move-in and move-out inspections — attach to landlords with more than ten units and to any unit managed, including rent collection, by a third party for a fee. Official Code of Georgia Annotated § 44-7-36 (via FindLaw) · Retrieved August 2026
- O.C.G.A. § 44-7-25, created by HB 399 (2025), requires a landlord who is not a resident of Georgia and who owns or operates single-family or duplex residential rental properties in the state to employ a broker licensed under Chapter 40 of Title 43, and provides that the exemptions in paragraphs (7) and (8) of § 43-40-29(a) do not apply to those landlords. Office of the Governor of Georgia — signed text of House Bill 399 (2025) · Enrolled text read August 2026
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We’ll pull real, comparable Atlanta rents to build your projection.
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