Choosing a good property manager might be the most important decision you have to make regarding your investment property. At least, if you choose well with your property manager, the rest of your worries will be small, all taken care of by your manager.
Since a property manager will be so intimately involved in the day-to-day workings of your real estate investment, it’s crucial that your manager be of the highest integrity and professionalism.
It’s not just their duty to collect rent, but what services property managers offer varies from firm to firm. Get a list of the included services, but quiz them carefully on what each service entails. Get a copy of their policies and procedures, and read them over. It should be in standard English and be a very straightforward description of practical matters.
You’ll want to know:
- How many properties do you manage?
- How long is your average tenancy?
- What’s the local occupancy rate? What’s the occupancy rate on the properties you manage?
This will help you to assess how good your property manager is at finding quality tenants and how much time and resources he will have to devote to caring for your property.
Also ask:
- What’s the process for extracting rent? What’s your process for dealing with late payment?
- What is your process for reviewing and negotiating rent on my property?
- How do you manage repairs and maintenance?
- How frequently do you inspect my property?
- What is the experience and skill level of your staff who will be maintaining the property?
Finally, you will want clarity on how the payments to you will be made, as well as clarification on whether you will be paying a fee for finding a tenant (“leasing fee”) and what, if any fees you will be expected to pay in the event the property becomes unoccupied.
In short, you want a property manager who will treat your investment as if it were his own. Hopefully this article has given you some insight into
how to choose a property manager. Check us out at Real Property Management today.
