When should you hire a property manager?
We hear this question a lot, and we always want to say: “Wait, you haven’t hired one already?”
For many people, the obvious answer is that you should hire a property manager when you’re ready to rent out a property. But the truth is, it’s never too early to hire a property manager. Even if you have not invested in a rental property yet, a property manager can help you navigate the acquisition process. You can get some valuable insight into what kind of rents you’ll expect and how much you might have to budget for repairs.
There are many roles for property managers, and we do a lot more than collect rent and place tenants.
If you’ve been investing in real estate for any amount of time, you know that already. Smart investors understand the value of an experienced property manager and how to leverage our expertise, our resources, our market knowledge, and our technology.
Everyone comes to property management from different paths. Maybe you’ve had a really bad experience with a management company, and you hesitate to hire again. Maybe you’re a fierce DIY-er and you fully intend to manage your own home. Or, perhaps you’re looking for an expert who can help you solve some very specific problems, such as how to collect rent on time or where to find a plumber.
We’re taking a look at the role of property managers today. And, we’re offering some advice on when you should hire one.
Do You Even Need a Property Manager?
That’s an interesting question.
We get it; the do-it-yourself culture is strong. People love to complete their own projects, watch a couple of YouTube videos and become an expert on something new, or pick up a new hobby that results in something accomplished.
It’s fun to DIY a new deck or some bread making or even an oil change.
When it comes to managing your extremely valuable investment property, however, we will always steer you towards professional help.
Property management should be left to the experts, especially if you’re focused on the money you can make and hoping to maximize what you earn on your investments. Especially if you want to avoid legal pitfalls and potentially expensive mistakes.
When you want to grow your portfolio and continue earning more while spending less on your properties, a local management company can help you do that. Not partnering with a management company leads to huge opportunity costs.
Plenty of mistakes are waiting to be made by DIY landlords. There are unexpected costs that will leave you will less rental income and a deteriorating investment property. And, the resources and knowledge you leverage when you partner with an expert property manager can help you have a better investment experience.
There’s no need to do it all on your own. If you’re worried about those property management fees, remember that the cost is tax deductible. There’s less risk and more savings when you work with a professional.
The Role of a Professional Property Manager in Washington State
Before we even get into the specific roles of a property manager – meaning the day-to-day tasks and operational logistics that we support, let’s take a look at our role through the lens of how it benefits you, as a busy rental property owner.
We’re here to offer advice about the market, the potential investment opportunities that exist, and the investment goals that you’ve carefully carved out for yourself. This option has several advantages, such as:
| Less Work for You to Manage on Your Own
Your professional property management partner will handle all the details that come with leasing your home to tenants, maintaining your home and protecting it while they live there, and keeping up with its value. Property managers collect rent, enforce the lease, conduct inspections, and schedule routine and preventative repairs. We are the point of contact for your residents. We do all of this so you don’t have to. |
Less Stress Before, During, and After the Rental Period
Renting out a home is not always fun, especially when you have a difficult tenant or a list of demands. Property management companies handle all of the stressful aspects of investing. We’ll help to prevent eviction or manage an eviction. We’ll deal with tenants, produce financial reports, and take care of any emergency maintenance issues or tenant disputes and conflicts. |
Property Management Experience that You Don’t Have
Property management companies in Washington State employ experts who have the experience, skills, and knowledge necessary to manage properties effectively. This expertise helps us to maximize your return on investment, keep your costs down, and lead you to better decisions. You can also leverage our technology tools, resources, and professional networks. |
Protecting Your Property from Risk and Liability
All investments are risky, but renting out a property comes with a lot of liability and risk. One of the benefits to working with a property manager is that we stay up to date on all laws, regulations, and requirements. We protect you from disputes and claims and lawsuits. We keep you on track when it comes to security deposits and rent collection. You’ll have more peace of mind. |
Our role is to help you have a better – and more profitable investment experience.
Specifics. What Does a Property Manager Actually Do?
If you have never worked with a professional property management company before, or if you have only had bad and frustrating experiences with them previously, you might not know what to expect.
Every property manager is a little different, but there are a few things that are standard across the industry. You should expect an expert level of leasing, management, and maintenance.
The property management companies you want to work with have invested a lot of resources into technology and modernization. When you’re looking to hire a property manager, set your standards high. You want someone to do more than collect rent and call plumbers. You want an investment partner who can help you succeed with your Littleton rental properties.
Here’s What You Should Expect from your Property Manager
Marketing and Advertising
The first job of a property manager is to get a well-qualified tenant into your property.
Good property managers will assess your property and recommend any changes or updates that might be needed to make it more appealing to the best tenants. These improvements are also likely to increase your rental value. Your manager might recommend fresh paint or new flooring or maybe better landscaping. Your management company will recommend a rental value by leveraging the exhaustive data we gather about the market and comparing your home to competing properties.
Then, we’ll market your home aggressively, ensuring it receives all the attention it needs to be rented quickly.
Expect your property manager to:
- Take high-quality photos of your property
- Write a concise but informative description of your property
- Syndicate the listing across various rental websites as well as their own site
- Share your listing on social media
- Network with local real estate professionals to drum up interest in your property
Your property manager will respond to questions, schedule showings, and follow up with applications.
Screening Tenants and Negotiating Leases
Next, your property manager will completely handle the very sensitive screening process. There are specific fair housing laws in place that dictate what can and cannot be considered as your tenants are screened and placed.
This is where a lot of self-managing landlords can get into trouble.
The role of your property manager is to screen within the limits of the law, and still find you a well-qualified tenant who has established a positive rental history and can be expected to pay rent on time and take care of your property.
Property managers will collect applications, discuss qualifying criteria, and then verify all the information the applicant provided. We check credit and income, verify employment, and contact rental references. We have access to national eviction checklists.
A property manager’s screening process must be consistent, fair, and rigorous. You can expect a property manager to approve or decline a tenant based on the information that’s gathered. If a tenant is approved, your property manager will collect the move-in funds, schedule a move-in condition inspection, and execute the lease.
Lease Enforcement and Rent Collection
How hard can it be to collect rent?
You may be surprised. And, if you’ve tried to collect rent without the benefit of a property manager, you no doubt understand that some tenants will pay late every month and some tenants won’t pay at all. This is frustrating. But, property managers have processes in place to ensure rent is collected on time. Our online tenant portals, for example, allow for safe and easy online payments.
You also need a property manager to enforce your lease. What if unauthorized pets show up or a “guest” has been in place for so many weeks that they’re starting to feel like a roommate? We take care of it.
Regular property inspections will give you the peace of mind that your tenants are doing what they’re supposed to do and meeting all of your expectations and their obligations. If a tenant falls behind in rent or is discovered to be violating the lease in some other way, you won’t have to worry about disputes or confrontations. Your property manager will handle everything, from communicating with tenants to serving the proper notices to following up.
Rental Property Accounting
Your property manager isn’t only managing your property; we’re also managing your money.
Specifically, we’re managing the money that’s associated with your investments.
Whether you’re renting out one home or several within a growing portfolio, you need to know where you stand financially. Your property manager will take care of tracking your income and expenses so you know exactly how your investment property is performing.
We hear from a lot of landlords who worry about the cost of a professional property management company, but it actually ends up saving you money. You’ll find that you can earn more with better tenants and fewer vacancy and turnover costs. Your maintenance expenses will be lower and you won’t have to worry about costly errors that can easily be made. Your property is protected and more profitable when it’s being professionally managed.
You’ll see all of this in your monthly statements and financial reports.
Maintaining and Protecting Your Investment Property
Another role of your property manager is maintenance. We’ll handle emergency, routine, and preventative maintenance, and we’ll do it cost-effectively and with a team of terrific vendors, contractors, and service providers.
You won’t be bothered by tenant phone calls when a sink is leaking and you can count on your management company to handle ongoing maintenance such as pest control and landscaping.
Protecting the condition of your home with preventative maintenance techniques and excellent tenant communication is essential to property management. Property managers develop good relationships with vendors to save you money on repairs.
There’s so much more to what your property manager does. You get the idea.
When Should You Hire Your Property Manager?
As we might have mentioned earlier; we believe you should hire a property manager as soon as you know you’re going to invest in a property. Getting the expert advice and support you need earlier will lead to a better – and more profitable – investment experience overall.
Outside of that blanket recommendation, we can tell you from experience that rental property owners tend to hire a professional when they are running out of time, running out of solutions, or running out of capacity.
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Hire a Management Company When You’re Running Out of Time Protect your time. Hire a property manager. A property manager can help you get things moving. We’ll not only save you money and protect you from mistakes, we’ll also save you time. We can move you through the process of identifying a property, making an offer, conducting inspections, and then renting it out once you close. We’ll save you time on chasing down late rent, coordinating with vendors and tenants, and trying to keep up with renewals and rental increases. If you’ve already bought a rental property and you’ve been renting it out yourself but you find you don’t have the time to show your property, organize repairs, or respond to tenants – you are definitely well beyond the time that you should hire a professional property manager. When you have other things to focus on, such as your own career, your family, or other passions and pursuits, it’s time to hire a property manager. |
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Hire a Management Company When You Need Solutions It’s so much better to have your property management relationship in place already when you find yourself struggling to find a vendor to make an emergency repair. You’ll want to lean on your property manager when you’re not sure how to price your property or where to list it or how to screen tenants. Problems are much easier to solve when your solutions are already in place. Typically, your property manager has that solution. If you encounter problem tenants who seem to be addicted to conflict and complaints, you’ll wish you had a property manager who could deal with those relationships so you don’t have to. Tenants who don’t pay rent may need to be evicted. If neighbors are complaining and tenant disputes are frequent, it’s better to have a professional manager handle the situation. When a tenant moves out and leaves excessive property damage, you should call a management company. Don’t wait for a bad situation to get worse. If you have not already hired a property manager, do it now when you can see some unpleasant problems approaching. |
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Hire a Management Company When You’re Growing a Portfolio If you’re thinking about investing in additional rental properties, it’s definitely time to work with professional management. You’ve probably managed to juggle the leasing, management, and maintenance of your one or two investments. But, when you begin to collect multiple units and manage several different income streams, you’re likely going to find yourself less concerned with day-to-day management and more concerned with big-picture financial performance. Landlords manage their own properties. Investors leave it to professionals. That’s an important distinction, especially now that we’ve spent so much time talking about the role of property managers. Our job is different from your job. It’s up to us to ensure your assets are earning you money. It’s up to you to be thinking about your next investment opportunity. You don’t exactly have time to show homes and collect rent. As your real estate portfolio grows, your need for professional management grows, too. Don’t wait too long to partner with a management company that can impact and influence what you earn and how your properties perform. |
We hope this helped you to understand the role of a property manager, why it’s such an asset to have this partnership, and when the time is right to begin working with a team like ours.
We’d love to be your Real Estate Gladiators, so please contact us. We serve Monroe, Issaquah, Bellevue, Everett, Lake Stevens, Kirkland, and other cities in and around King and Snohomish counties in Washington State.
