How the Annual Plan works

On the Monthly plan, the management fee is a percentage of the rent collected each month, taken out before your payout. The Annual Plan takes 20% off that percentage in exchange for paying 12 months of fees up front.

Your prepayment becomes a credit on the home's ledger. Each month the fee is still worked out on the rent collected, and the credit pays it, so it does not come out of your payout. The savings show up month by month, not as a rebate at the end.

It suits a leased home you plan to keep for at least a year, when you would rather pay a lower rate than keep the flexibility of month-to-month. Each home has its own plan, so you can switch some homes and keep others on Monthly.

Three numbers, all on the home's Annual card before you pay:

• Your annual rate is your home's current management fee rate, less 20% of that rate. The discount comes off the rate, not off your rent and not as percentage points: a home on 10% pays 8% on the Annual Plan. The starting rate is the one your home is actually charged today, so two homes can end up with different annual rates.
• Your prepayment is 12 months of the home's current rent at the annual rate, less any prepaid Annual Plan credit still left on the home. For a building with several units, the rent of every unit is added together and the building gets one plan.
• Your saving is the difference between the two rates on the same rent, shown on the card per month and per year.

The card also lists what you get: lower management fee rate, rate locked for 12 months, and prepaid credits applied monthly. The rate stays the same for the term. Each renewal is priced again, see auto-renewal.

A home can switch when it is on a monthly plan, it is leased with rent on file, its management fee is a percentage of rent, and no other plan change for it is already being processed. When Annual is not available, the Annual card on the home's plan page says why, in one of these ways:

A switch you have paid for that has not started yet shows Pending on the Annual card. Only a home's current owner can see its plan page.

1. 1

   Open the home's plan page

   In the sidebar, open My Homes and choose the home. In its Management plan card, choose Switch to Annual or Manage plan. That opens the home's Management Plan page.
2. 2

   Choose Switch to Annual

   On the Annual card, check the rate, the prepayment and the saving.
3. 3

   Pick a card and agree

   Choose a saved card or + Add New Card. The Annual Plan is paid by credit or debit card. Then tick the box: it names the exact amount and links the Annual Plan Terms and Conditions, which you accept by ticking it. If the amount changes while the window is open (we re-check it against live rent when it opens), the box unticks itself so you can agree to the new figure.
4. 4

   Choose Confirm & Pay

   Your card is charged now. The plan starts on the 1st of the next month (Pacific time), and the confirmation screen shows that date. Until then, the home's plan card shows the switch with its start date.

The card you pay with becomes the card for future renewals. You can change it later, see change the card.

The Annual plan page lists every home you own and, for each one, what switching would save, or why it cannot switch today. Homes already on the plan show On Annual. Figures marked with a ~ are first estimates; each one is confirmed against live rent as the page loads.

Payment is still one home at a time. Switch takes you to that home's plan page to pay. After you pay for one home, the confirmation offers Switch another home, which brings you back to the list.

When you reserve a home on Doorvest, checkout asks you to pick a management plan on its Plan step, with Annual selected to start. You can choose Monthly instead, and you can go back to the Plan step to change it before you pay. Going back past the signing step means signing the letter of intent again.

• The prepayment is 12 months of the listing's rent at the annual rate. Every home starts from the standard Monthly rate of 10%, so Annual is 8%.
• It is charged with your reservation, as part of what is due today.
• A plan bought this way starts on the 1st of the month your purchase closes, not the month after.

If a purchase does not close, ask your Success team about the Annual Plan prepayment on that reservation.

Once your plan is set up (for a purchase, shortly after closing), your prepayment appears on the home's ledger as a single credit for the amount you prepaid, described as Annual Management Plan. It can be dated around when you paid, which may be before your term starts. During the term, each month has two lines that cancel out:

• The management fee, worked out on the rent collected that month, at your annual rate. It varies with rent, so it is not the same every month.
• A matching line drawing that fee from your prepaid credit, on the Management Fee-Prepayment account, usually early in the month.

In Ledger & Docs, on the Ledger tab, the fee is listed as Management Fee and the credit as Other Income. Read them as a pair: the credit is your prepayment paying that fee, not extra income.

The management fee totals on your home and dashboard pages add up the fees charged, before any credit. On the Annual Plan they can show fees that your credit has already paid.

If the home is vacant for a full month, the prepaid fee for that month is not deducted. It rolls over to the first month a tenant is placed (Section 1.04 of the Annual Plan Terms). Some homes have a minimum fee or a fee that applies while vacant, so a fee can still post in a month without rent; if one posts in a full vacant month, your Success team will sort it out.

Because your prepayment was worked out on the rent at the time, the credit can last longer or shorter than 12 months:

• Rent goes down, or the home sits vacant: less is drawn each month, so the credit lasts longer. If you renew, whatever is left is subtracted from the next prepayment.
• Rent goes up: each month's fee is larger, so the credit can run out before the term ends. From then until the term ends, the fee is taken from rent again, as it is on any plan. If your credit runs out partway through a month, your Success team can confirm how that month's fee was split.

The plan does not depend on the type of lease. If your tenant goes month-to-month, the Annual Plan carries on as before.

Your Annual Plan renews automatically at the end of each term, for another 12 months, unless you turn auto-renewal off before the term ends. The renewal is priced again, the same way as the first time: your home's current rent, its current annual rate, minus any credit left over. Ahead of the renewal date we email you a reminder, and you can see the date under Account, Billing & properties, next to each home (“Renews on”).

One exception: if the home has no rent on file shortly before the renewal date (it is vacant or between leases), the plan does not renew. It moves to Monthly at the standard rate and we email you. You can switch back to Annual once the home is leased again. If your leftover credit already covers the whole next term, your Success team handles that renewal with you.

There is no switch labelled auto-renewal. You turn it off by choosing Monthly for after the term:

1. 1

   Open the home's plan page

   In the sidebar, open My Homes and choose the home. In its Management plan card, choose Switch to Annual or Manage plan. That opens the home's Management Plan page.
2. 2

   On the Monthly card, choose Select

   A window asks Switch to the Monthly plan? and explains: “Your Annual Plan stays active through the end of your prepaid term. After that, you'll switch to the Monthly plan at the standard rate. You can turn auto-renewal back on any time before your term ends.”
3. 3

   Choose Switch to Monthly

   Or Keep Annual to leave things as they are. Nothing changes until the term ends: your rate and your credit carry on as before.

Once auto-renewal is off, the plan page shows a banner, “Auto-renewal is off. Your Annual Plan switches to Monthly on”, followed by the date Monthly starts. To undo it, choose Resume auto-renewal on that banner, any time before the term ends. The banner then reads “Auto-renewal is back on. Your Annual Plan will renew as usual.”

Renewals charge one card: your Management-plan card. It starts as the card you paid with when you switched.

1. 1
   Go to Account and open the Billing & properties tab.
2. 2
   Find Management-plan card (“The card used for management-plan charges, like annual-plan renewals.”).
3. 3
   Choose + Add Credit Card. A card you add becomes the default straight away. To use a card that is already saved, open its menu and choose Set as default.

The default card shows as in use and cannot be removed until another card is the default.

In the app, the only way off the Annual Plan is to turn off auto-renewal, which ends it at the end of the term. Anything sooner is handled with your Success team, under Section 3 of the Annual Plan Terms:

• Ending early. Tell us in writing; an email to success@doorvest.com counts. The Terms set out a refund for the full months left in the term, less an early termination fee, and the home goes back to the standard rate. That fee is separate from anything in your property management agreement.
• Selling the home. Let your Success team know when you plan to sell. The Terms allow the buyer to take the plan over if they agree in writing to its obligations (Section 6.04). If the buyer does not take it over, your Success team will walk you through ending it early under Section 3.

For the amounts for your home, and how and when a refund is paid, ask your Success team.