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5 Tips For Hiring a Property Manager

Landlord Advice

One of the major questions that real estate landlords ask themselves is whether to hire a property manager for their rentals or choose the ‘do it yourself’ (DIY) option. In as much as owning and leasing property is a very profitable venture, managing the investment by self could prove to be a challenging and time consuming affair. To avoid the stress of demanding tenants, handling queries and maintenance issues, many landlords will prefer hiring a property manager.

A property manager is a third party entity that acts as an liaison between the landlord and the tenants. It could be an individual or a property management company. Based on the contractual agreement, responsibilities of a property manager may include: sourcing for new tenants and screening them for suitability, collecting regular rental payments from the tenants, property inspection and maintenance, responding to queries of the tenants among others.

If hiring a property manager sounds as the best option over doing it yourself for a landlord, then they need to understand that a good manager will guarantee regular cash-flow from satisfied tenants while a poor one can lead them to bankruptcy and loss of tenants. With this in mind, a landlord has to know the tips for hiring a property manager.

5 Tips For Hiring a Property Manager.

1. Ask for recommendations

When short listing your potential property managers, you can ask around for references from colleagues, real estate agents or even better from other property owners. This way you can be sure of getting good managers. Make sure the property your references have managed before is similar to yours to avoid disappointments. Even as you ask for references, try to find a property manager with specific expertise as per your property needs.

2. Evaluate marketing abilities

As a landlord, you need an aggressive property manager that will ensure you don’t incur costs of vacant property. It is, therefore, important to ask your candidates how they plan to advertise and showcase properties to get tenants. You need a manager who understands that tenants may not be gotten through the conventional working-hours adverts. In addition, evaluate them based on previous experiences and their understanding of the rental market.

3. Assess personality and skills

As a landlord, you need a professional and presentable property manager who will create a positive impression of your property to would-be tenants. Be keen to assess their charisma, marketing skills, and personal attributes. A good property manager should be trustworthy with a positive attitude and strong inter-personal skills since they will be dealing directly with your tenants. Always keep in mind that the property manager is the face of your business.

4. Get commitment on specific issues

It’s with no doubt that a good property manager will have several properties under their watch. As you finalize on your contract, it is good to get commitment from them on how management of your property will fit in their current schedule. Let them outline their commitments on how your property will be inspected in person, how tenant screening will be carried out, addressing individual issues and generally how your specific property needs will be attended to. With this clear commitment, you can be sure of good property management.

5. Be well informed on fees and financial services

You want a responsible manager who understands the legal aspects of rental business and who will not drain off all your rental income. It is therefore crucial to know the percentage of rental income they will charge as management fees, how advertising costs will be handled and what liability insurance requirements will protect you from lawsuits. Since your property manager will be handling a greater section of your financial transactions, it is important to agree on whether they will assist in compiling the rental income reports for your taxes.

Conclusion

Hiring a property goes beyond the costs you will incur in paying them you need a manager who will treat your tenants with respect, negotiate fairly on their issues on your behalf and be attentive to their needs. Generally, as a landlord you need a property manager that you will be confident in and comfortable to work with for a long time. It is therefore important that you put into consideration the 5 tips of hiring a property manager, knowing that they are the face of you business.