If you own a real estate property such as home, apartment or a condo and you are planning to have it rented, but you don’t have the time to manage it, hiring a property manager for your rentals is a great option.
The primary role of property management services is to help you lessen your workload as they can provide handling the day-to-day management of your property like leasing the property, screen rental application, coordinate maintenance, collect rents and conducting reports.
On the other hand, since there are numerous real estate property management services, you’ll surely get confused. You have to be careful when selecting because any wrong move may lead to late payments, extended vacancies, and waste of investment. I know.. speaking from experience through hiring a property management company that did a poor job and ended up firing as a result. Here are five tips for hiring the best property manager for your rentals.
1. What Properties They Currently Managed?
First off, if you are considering hiring a property manager or third-party management, one important thing to keep in mind is to know the kind of property that they are currently managing.
For instance, if you have a 150 unit apartment complex that you are looking to have it managed by a property management company and then company that you reached out to has a total of 150 units that they’ve managed but they are all single families. This is an indication that they are not a good fit for you because they are different when it comes to managing the multi-family property that you have.
They would not have the correct infrastructure if they were to take your specific deal.
To make sure that you are on the right track, it would be best to look for their track record, experience or portfolio. You may need to get the necessary information from the company like reaching out or visiting their website to help you properly understand if they are the right fit for you or not. It is also essential to check if they are in the same niche as you.
2. Understand the Property Manager’s Operation
Another important aspect that you have to consider when hiring a property manager is by understanding how they operate or the process that they are following to manage properties.
Know how the reporting works like are they more professional and organized by using a software, or do they manage everything through spreadsheets and paper? It would be best to select a property manager that is more organized and submits necessary reports regularly. These reports may include expenses, repairs, and maintenance. It is important too to ask those questions like the software they are using and how often they are submitting their report to see if they can truly provide your needs.
3. Transparency
To have a better understanding if the company can truly provide the right services you want, a reliable property manager should be transparent all the time. Meaning to say, they should always provide you a black and white proof for any request for a budget for maintenance or repair. They should have it properly accounted for with receipts and documents that will support it. Through this, you can avoid any problem that may arise in the future.
4. Referrals
Asking other investors or companies that hired third-party management is an ideal thing to do for you to get a recommendation on what experiences they had on that company such as the pros and cons. Of course, you have to do some filtering to help you decide. From there, you want to assure that they are in line with your needs and requirements.
You may also need to attend local real estate investor meet-ups to ask other investors if they have any property management company recommendations. Another source is www.biggerpockets.com to get referrals from other investors.
5. Visit the Property Management
Lastly, there’s no other way to know if the third-party property management is appropriate for you but to visit them in person if possible. Nothing beats the face to face interaction.
In conclusion, the process of hiring rental property management is not an easy task. With the tips mentioned above, it would be easier for you to sieve the third-party property manager that can be your partner to success.
P.S.
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(Sterling White)