As a property owner, you need to ensure your property is being successfully managed. Rent management, maintenance, and even tenant experience are the difficult tasks you can expect to handle. With these responsibilities in mind, it may be time to hire a property manager to help reduce the stress of running a property.
In this post, we explain why you may need a property manager. Plus, we offer some tips for the hiring process. Keep reading for a complete guide to property management services and why you should invest in them.
In this post, you’ll discover:
What is a property manager?
A property manager is someone who manages rental properties for owners and investors. They’re the ones who have the most facetime with tenants. Further, they’re most likely to know the ins and outs of daily operations.
Property managers service all kinds of properties. These range from multifamily buildings to gated communities, condos, and single-family rentals. Additionally, some property managers even manage student housing and senior living centers.
To understand how crucial it is to hire a property manager, you must first know who a property manager is governed by and their duties.
Who governs property managers?
Most states have very strict laws about property managers and who can operate as one. This means that property managers are governed by their state. Therefore, they must be licensed according to regulations in their state to carry out their duties.
So, it’s critical that owners thoroughly research potential managers to make sure they possess the necessary real estate licenses and certifications. For more information, check your state’s licensing requirements.
Duties of a property manager
Particular duties of property managers might vary according to your needs. However, there are some universal expectations that prospective property managers should meet.
Average duties of a property manager:
- Collecting rent from tenants on time and enforcing late-payment rules.
- Being the point of contact for tenants and staff.
- Filling vacant units quickly to save money.
- Facilitating the efficient fulfillment of maintenance requests.
- Screening applicants to find your property’s ideal tenants.
- Problem-solving and troubleshooting.
These are only a few of the tasks that your potential property manager will handle. As always, many factors will shape the day-to-day duties of your new hire.
Cost to hire a property manager
The cost of hiring a property manager depends on one choice: Will you partner with a property management company or hire someone to focus only on your property?
When looking to partner with a property management company, most will expect payment in the form of 12% of the projected rent collected on assets.
When hiring a property manager to focus solely on your property, the average salary they should receive starts at around $45k annually.
3 reasons to hire a property manager
Now that you know just what a property manager does and how much it can cost to hire one, it’s time to dive into the reasons you should consider hiring one.
Here are the top 3 reasons to hire a property manager:
- Help maintain the property
- Provide positive tenant experiences
- Uphold property rules and regulations
1. Help maintain the property
A good property manager brings value by maintaining standards and contribute to upgrading your rental property. To rephrase, the right property manager will see what needs to be improved and do the necessary work.
Whether the curb appeal needs freshening up or the building’s access control needs an upgrade, property managers are quick to bring it to light. Additionally, you can count on your property manager to schedule and handle routine maintenance and requests.
2. Provide positive tenant experiences
No matter how much you want to get to know your tenants, it’s not always feasible. But with the right property manager, tenants can feel as though you still care.
When you hire a property manager, they become your point of contact by:
- Relaying messages from you via email.
- Ensuring that new tenants feel welcomed.
- Maintaining close-knit relationships with residents through face-to-face communication.
All these practices will be part of a larger effort to make tenants feel welcome. As a result, they’ll be more likely to renew their leases.
3. Uphold property rules and regulations
Rules and regulations are the boundaries that keep your property running smoothly and without incident. But if you can’t maintain a constant presence, it gets difficult to uphold these rules.
That’s where a property manager comes in handy.
If you’ve done your due diligence, then you’ll have hired someone who knows the specific rules and regulations needed to keep your property afloat and out of trouble.
It’s their job to know things like:
- Building codes
- Fire safety regulations
- Building inspection details
When you hire someone you can trust and train, you can rest assured they’ve got it covered.
Learn more about training property managers:
Tips for hiring a property manager
Hiring a rental property manager is simpler now that there are more property management companies and hiring services available. However, it’s still important to do your own research before going forward.
Top tips when hiring a property manager:
- Ask actionable questions. When you follow the right question formula during the interview process, you get a better understanding of how specific people handle their responsibilities. For instance, give them a set of hypothetical challenges to gauge their ability to think quickly.
- Question their scope. Will your property manager be managing your assets only, or are they currently managing several others? It’s important to know just how busy they are and how much focus they can give you each week.
- Understand their experience. Have they worked with property owners before? How familiar are they with real estate trends? It’s admirable to give entry-level applicants an opportunity. However, the success of your property heavily depends on someone’s past experience. So, carefully assess their resume.
- Test their marketing abilities. One big responsibility of a property manager is the ability to bring in new tenants. This means that marketing skill is a big selling point. Before you hire someone, discover whether they have what it takes to market a vacant unit successfully.
Don’t forget that personability is also a critical factor. So, if they can make a good impression on you, they’ll likely do the same with your tenants.
Takeaways
- Hiring a property manager helps reduce the stress of running a rental property.
- Owners and investors often hire a property manager to maintain their properties.
- Property managers are typically governed by state regulators. Their duties include rent collection, filling vacancies, and screening applicants.
- Three reasons to hire a property manager include helping to maintain the property, increasing tenant satisfaction, and upholding rules and regulations.
- Tips for hiring a new property manager include asking actionable questions, finding out how many properties they manage, and testing their marketing skills.
