Why Hire a Property Manager
Having a competent property manager on your power team can add substantial value to your investment. I would recommend investors who are planning on doing a buy and hold strategy to get a good property manager to work with them. They can save you time, money and legal issues from tenants. I will outline eight reasons you should hire a property manager.
Screening Tenants: PM’s (Property Managers) have a lot of experience in screening for the right tenants for you. They know how to quickly analyze a good tenant from a bad one, saving you hassle in the long run.
Tenant Retention: It will be important for you to have long term tenants and one way to insure the tenants are happy is to have a good PM taking care of the tenants needs. A good PM will have general business practices that will ensure good tenant retention, so be sure to ask them what programs they have in place.
Rent Collection: Too often when investors try to manage properties themselves they let tenants walk all over them. A good PM will be your barrier between yourself and your tenants. PM’s are doing a job and will follow the terms of the lease and tenants know they don’t make the final decision, you do, and they don’t have access to you. Therefore, this process keeps you out of the light and lets the PM do their job.
Maintenance Cost: Knowing who to call to fix problems with your property is huge. Most PM’s know experienced contractors who have already been vetted by them, who can also give you price discounts on repairs. Keeping the properties in good condition will save you on costly repairs and keeps your tenants happy.
Vacancy: Shorter vacancy time is better for your revenue. A good PM can help improve and prepare the property for rent to maximize profits. They can determine proper rental rates to maximize the units. Lastly they can effectively market your properties to potential renters via many advertising mediums.
Legal Problems: Seasoned investors can tell you that a troublesome tenant can cause enormous legal problems. That’s why a good property manager is important to have because they will have knowledge of the most current landlord-tenant laws and can save you from any potential law suits.
Taxes: Most PM’s can help you understand what tax advantage you can claim. They can also help organize all your paperwork to give to your accountants.
Owners Benefits: A good PM will keep your stress level low because they will handle all the day to day activities on your properties. They have a network of people they will utilize so you don’t have to go searching around. They can free up your time so you can focus on other aspects of your business.
It will take time to find the ideal PM, so use this outline to find the right one for you. They can help protect your assets and keep your cash flow coming in. Make sure to interview several to get an idea on whom to go with.