Among the many crucial decisions that a landlord must make is whether to hire a property management company. The easy answer to this question is yes. Why? Let’s take a look at some of the many challenges that landlords face:
- Selecting the right tenants
- Preparing the units for rent
- Marketing the property
- Handling emergency maintenance issues
- Dealing with problem tenants who pay late or not at all
- Addressing issues when the landlord lives in another city or state
Now let’s look at the many helpful services that a property management company can provide.
- Photography and video tour of your property
- Marketing and scheduling with prospective residents
- Property showings
- Processing applications and tenant background screenings
- Lease preparation
- Property turnover co-ordination and cleaning
- Vendor coordination
- 24/7 emergency coverage
- Handling all maintenance requests
- Managing all tenant complaints, communication and requests
- Maintenance coordination
- HOA notices and violations
- Rent collection
- Disbursement of funds and accounting
- Move in and move out walk-throughs with video
- Security deposit management
- Compliance with all federal, state, and local laws
When should you consider a property management company?
Sounds like an easy choice to make, right? It is certainly significant one. According to Robert S. Griswold, author of Property Management Kit for Dummies,“deciding how your rental property
is managed is one of the most important decisions you make as a rental property owner.”
Griswold believes that property management companies can operate rental properties far more smoothly and efficiently than landlords. Plus, because such companies bring a wealth of experience and support to handling property, the results usually include reduced expenses, better
maintained properties, a higher class of tenant, full occupancy, and higher rents.
The legal site Nolo offers some suggestions about when you should consider hiring a property management company. These include the following situations:
- Hands-on management doesn’t interest you – Your property or properties are a financial investment but you don’t really want to invest much time in running them.
- You have limited time – If landlording isn’t your day job, there really isn’t enough time in the week to handle all of the issues involved.
- You face an overwhelming number of management tasks – As your business grows, so do your responsibilities. Delegating the many required tasks to a property management company frees your time and helps you build a better company future.
- You don’t live anywhere close to your rental property(ies) – If you live far away from your property, a property management company can take care of everything you cannot address from elsewhere.
- You have numerous properties or rental units – The more properties you own, the more you can benefit from a property management company that handles all of the ongoing issues.
- You don’t want to be an employer – Hiring a resident manager and other employees means that you have to manage your crew, which involves everything from dispensing payroll to annual reviews and a host of legal requirements. With a property management company, all of this is handled for you.
It’s easy to become overwhelmed as a landlord. The best way to avoid complex and costly issues is to hire an experienced property management company to oversee your real estate and help you build a successful future.
