Being a property owner can be a time-consuming and sometimes stressful experience. That’s especially true for anyone who owns a rental property (or several).
It takes time to manage properties, keep up with rent, tackle repairs and maintenance, and build and maintain good relationships with tenants. And many landlords own rental properties on the side of another job or business, meaning they don’t have time to make managing properties their full-time job.
That’s why many rental property owners choose to hire a property manager. A property manager can handle all those day-to-day responsibilities and tasks that eat up your time, keeping tenants happy and everything running smoothly so you can concentrate on other tasks.
Here are six ways a property manager can help you manage your properties:
1. Use Technology to Stay Connected and Informed
There are many new apps and platforms on the market for those in the real estate industry, and your property manager can use these to keep things running smoothly.
A property manager can help you manage financial documents easily using a specialized app or management system. Apps like Appfolio are great ways to record financial documents. You can enter checks, inspections, work orders, invoices, and more to keep track of the money you’re spending and making as you go. These types of apps are developed to save you time spent on menial tasks and organize information in a user-friendly way for both the landlord and the tenant.
2. Manage Maintenance and Repairs
Even with the best tenants, your property will occasionally need maintenance and repairs. Keeping track of the service and repairmen you need to call, things like pest control and lawn maintenance, and other minor issues can be a challenge to keep up with while juggling several properties.
One of the main responsibilities of a property manager is to cover maintenance requests and responsibilities by corresponding with tenants, creating work orders for service people, organizing repairs and replacements, and more.
3. Accommodation and Accessibility
One extremely important part of owning a rental property is providing accessible accommodations to renters of all types, including those with disabilities. There are laws in place in most cities and towns to ensure this, and a property manager will be well-versed in these laws, working hard to make sure that your properties are accessible and in compliance with said laws.
4. Advertising and Tours
When it’s time to find new tenants, advertising your property can be time-consuming, especially considering the effort it takes to list your property online, correspond with prospective tenants, and show tours of the property.
A property management company will have experience in the most effective advertising methods to fill your vacancies for you. An experienced company will even have access to tools to help the process, like programs that can develop full 360-degree virtual tours that let prospective tenants effortlessly tour the property at their own leisure.
5. Keep Up with Legalities
Many property management companies employ legal counsel to keep up to date on various real estate laws, tenants’ rights, protocol on evictions, and more. They can help you ensure your contracts are thorough and legally binding and help protect you in any legal cases that arise.
Confronting a tenant with an eviction is done best when the property manager has an understanding of the regulations around eviction to avoid any misinformation that may cause extenuating conflict.
6. Inspections and More
A property manager will work with tenants individually, inspect the property both before and after a tenant moves in, keep up with any maintenance requests, property damage, or repairs that are needed, and make sure that the home is safe and adheres to all safety regulations.
While it is possible to manage a property on your own, when you have other responsibilities that demand your attention, there are many resources available for taking the stress of property management off your shoulders.