Who Should Manage Your Rental Property?
If you have a home or condo to rent or yopu an an investor renting out a property, you need to ask yourself if you are prepared to manage the property yourself or ask a professional property management company to do it for you. Both choices have advantages and disadvantages, here are some factors you need to consider.
Location Of The Property:
- If you are hundreds of miles away from the property, it will be in your best interest to have someone else manage the property for you. It could be a family member, a friend, or you can hire a property management company.
- If you are close to the property you may be able to do it yourself, you should be able to handle any required needed repairs or emergency situations in a timely manner. But are you willing to do it? You won't have to pay a fee for the managing of the property.
Do You Have The Time To Manage It Yourself:
- Renting a property takes a lot of time, do you have the time to:
- Look for good tenants
- Screening the tenants
- Checking rental applications information for accuracy
- Taking care of plumbing, heating and other problems that go along with a rental unit
- Preparing the home for rent
- Ensure the monthly rent is paid on a timely basis
- Knowing and understanding the Landlord and Tenant Act
- If you have a problem tenant you would need to know how to deal with the situation. You could spend endless hours resolving issues.
Using a Professional Management Company:
- Professional mangers are the experts, they manage hundreds of property on a yearly basis.
- They can smooth out all the problems and remove the hassles of trying to do it yourself.
- They have the expertise and the knowledge to get you good tenants and the going rent rate.
- They know how to write-up leases to protect you, not the tenant.
- They know the landlord and tenant act and know how to evict tenants according to the law. All of this does come with a price and you have to be prepared to pay it.
What Does It Cost To Hire a Management Company?
Property managers will charge you 10-20% of monthly rent for ongoing management and charge you a one-time fee to get a property leased. You as an investor or landlord may find that amount quite high, but here is how property managers add value to your investment:
- They may get you higher than normal rent
- Reduce vacancy rates
- They screen all prospective tenants
- Attend to any maintenance problems immediately, before they become major problems
- Property managers by keeping down vacancy rates will help your bottom line by not having property sit vacant for months.
Summary: Anyone can own a a rental property, but not everyone has the ability to manage one. So If you have more important things to do than chase down tenants for rent and call the plumber and electrician to fix problems, then use a professional property management company to manage your property.
Contact us Today if you have a property to rent.