What Do Real Estate Property Management Companies Do for You?
This article will give you a better understanding of why you need to hire a property manager rather than managing your property yourself.
We at Real Estate Bees reached out to professional property management companies with the questions:
- What exactly does a property manager do for their clients?
- What services do property managers provide?
- Why use a property manager?
And here is what the experts told us.
4 Main Things Property Managers Do for Their Clients
Here is a summary of property managers’ responsibilities taken from the experts’ responses.
Property managers handle all the activities involved in managing a rental property, which include the maintenance and upkeep of the property, and all the administrative functions involved.
- Property managers are responsible for finding and managing tenants. Property management, in essence, is tenant management, which involves responding to tenant issues and concerns, and in some cases, overseeing tenant eviction. Reliable property managers have a culture of service and advocacy for the landlord.
- They act as trusted advisors and mentors to rental property owners. Property managers provide expert insight into minimizing operation and maintenance costs, as well as maximizing return on investment on the properties they own to help landlords meet their financial goals and grow their investment portfolio.
- As one of the jobs that require real estate license, being a property manager allows to advise rental owners on landlord-tenant laws to mitigate risks and liabilities that rental owners may face in dealing with tenants.
- A good property manager is an expert in providing information to clients, such as trends and changes in the industry that may impact their clients’ investments.
In a nutshell, property managers act as the liaison between rental owners, tenants, and vendors. They work to make each relationship benefit each other and all parties comply with applicable laws.
Now, let’s read the full answers from each expert.
What Does a Property Manager Do for You?
Michael Khesin, Intempus Realty
As a rental property owner, you have invested in an asset that can serve you for years, if not decades, to come. On top of your job and other responsibilities, your real estate property should provide you with a sense of reassurance.
Instead, many property owners find themselves increasingly stressed and anxious about managing all of the ins and outs of their property.
And they can’t be blamed. As a property owner, you are responsible for everything that goes on with your building. This can include, but is definitely not limited to:
- Collecting rent payments on time.
- Arranging for repairs in every unit.
- Overseeing the upkeep of the building.
- Finding tenants willing to pay the highest price.
- Researching future real estate investment opportunities.
- Dealing with tenant complaints.
If you have a career, a family, and other daily responsibilities, managing your property can take away any free time you have. You can feel like you’re drowning in paperwork and requests and suddenly your investment has turned into a full-time job.
You didn’t sign up for your property to become another time-consuming obligation. You invested in your property to support your family and build your future, without the hassle. That’s where a property management company comes in.
Simply put, Property Management Companies serve to make your life, as a property owner, easier. They specialize in overseeing all of the processes, systems, and details that go into successfully managing a rental property, so that you don’t have to.
For example, let’s say you’re looking to fill empty units in your building with trustworthy tenants. You could go the traditional route of doing the entire process online and hiring a broker. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
When finding tenants, just like when you have guests visiting, you want to make sure that everything from the look of the space to the experience of entering the property is pristine.
In fact, many studies have shown that potential tenants appreciate details including how maintained and clean an entrance is, the smell of the space and ease of entry, and availability of someone who can answer their questions in a timely manner.
But making sure a candle is lit and the furniture is cleaned and staged attractively in every empty unit before a showing may not be doable for you.
You also want to make sure that your candidates for tenants are honest, timely with payments, and respectful of the space and property overall. Individually meeting or speaking to a list of tenants can be costly and time consuming, especially if you’re not local to the area.
Realistically, you can’t be there to be on top of all of these tasks. But a property management company who is responsible for the upkeep and occupation of the property, can.
And as a property owner, it’s your responsibility to answer any complaints or grievances related to the property. This ranges from plumbing issues to maintaining the entrance way of the building and more.
But chances are, you don’t have the time to spend all day by the phone to answer these questions, find local service providers, and oversee and follow-up with all of the parties involved.
Property management companies, on the other hand, have the staff and available contacts that can provide these services in a timely manner and manage the projects from start to finish.
Another advantage of having a property management company helping you is having the flexibility to invest anywhere you want without any added complications or difficulties.
When you commit to owning a property, you are also committing to all of the building maintenance and collection work that comes with it. Because of this, owning properties that are not local can be more challenging because of the added administrative work.
- If a tenant requests a plumber, you will have to research a local plumbing service and arrange for them to come to your building.
- If you want to renovate your property, you will have to regularly travel to oversee how it is going.
- If you have difficulties collecting rent from certain tenants, you will have to either go to your property or arrange for someone else to go and resolve the issue.
Maintaining the health of your properties is an ongoing task that can take up time you would rather spend with family or on a hobby you enjoy. After all, you got into property ownership to add a level of freedom to your life, not additional responsibilities.
If you have found yourself burnt out from trying to do everything yourself, consider contacting a property management company that can help you get hours of your life back each month.
You finally get to choose the amount of time you want to invest in your property. Plus, the extra time can be used to make your existing properties even better.
You can finally renovate the lobby of your building like you’ve been meaning to or add amenities to serve your tenants and increase potential rent payments.
Or you can use the extra time to finally go on that vacation you’ve been dreaming of, without worrying about being there to take care of your property around the clock.
You can finally enjoy the perks of being a property owner, without any of the headache. Just sit back and collect the rent payments every month.
Once you outsource these time-consuming tasks, you can also start looking into owning additional properties because you’ll know that with the help of a property management company, you can continue earning money without the extra work of keeping up with the day-to-day responsibilities.
The best part is that based on your preferences and their working relationship with you, a property management company can help you with this too.
If you look at a property management company as an all-in-one service provider that does the heavy lifting of owning a property for you, you’ll see that they can only improve and streamline your experience in real estate.
If you’re a property owner, it may be time to contact a local property management company and finally get your life back.
Taylor Haas, Colorado Realty and Property Management, Inc.
A property management team has many responsibilities. Here is a list to better understand what services property managers provide:
- determining a rental rate
- suggesting improvements to the property
- photographing and marketing the property
- coordinating showings
- processing rental applications
- communicating with prospective tenants
- lease execution
- tenant management
- lease enforcement
- handling all repairs – including after-hours emergencies
- vendor coordination and invoicing
- utility coordination and billing
and anything and everything that comes up with the property or the tenant. In the rare event of an eviction, your property management team will work to get the tenant out.
The best property management companies have a culture of service and advocacy for the landlord. The property management company manages several important things for the landlord like risk mitigation, and providing peace of mind.
Everything we do is designed to maximize the rental income and reduce the landlords liability. Well managed properties reduce tenant turnover and make for a more profitable investment
We feel property management is really tenant management. So much of what we do is responding to tenant questions, issues and complaints. That alone can be exhausting and cause a landlord to get burned out.
We know our property owners want clear communication and guidance through the complicated world of owning a rental property.
Robert Dell’Osso, Masterkey Property Management
Property Managers maximize Return on Investment for their clients while at the same time minimizing items such as risk and tenant turnover.
In addition, property managers are experts at managing unexpected maintenance issues. Great property managers also have the foresight to recognize, recommend and manage preventative maintenance items at their owner’s properties.
For some owner’s we must be mentors so they do not make overly costly upgrades that may not be needed for their particular rental market. i.e. quartz countertops on a rental that at most will get $1100 a month.
For others, we are a trusted advisor and manager of their largest financial investment. In those cases, the expectation is that we can help them meet their financial goals and even grow their portfolio.
Shelby Carey, Hathaway Group
Property managers work with the client(s) to meet the goals they have set for their investment property. As the client’s agent a property manager interfaces with the prospects, tenants, contractors, municipalities, etc.
Property managers do the heavy lifting on behalf of the client(s) from lease negotiations to collections, to evictions if necessary. We handle contract negotiations for routine services, repairs, and capital improvement projects, analyze invoices and address billing discrepancies.
Property managers provide their client(s) information on trends and changes in the industry which may impact their investment. Property managers are the ultimate professional assistant to a real estate investor, especially when helping them with managing rental property remotely.
Danielle Remley, Sterling West Property Management
Property management companies protect their owner clients’ assets by performing inspections, coordinating maintenance, advising about rents and landlord-tenant laws.
They help their tenant clients find and stay in homes that fit their needs and budget. They add value to their communities by serving as a middleman between these two groups of people.
Sara Arevalo, AG Rentals & Management
Property managers handle the day to day activities which include, but are not limited to:
- getting property rent-ready
- showings of units
- handling tenant applications and screening
- conducting maintenance requests for tenants
- paying respective property invoices
- coordinating vendor appointments.
Where to Find a Good Property Management Company for Hire?
To help real estate investors find a good property manager, we at Real Estate Bees put a lot of time and effort to create a high-quality directory that lists top-rated property management companies in your area.
All listed professionals in our directory are screened and verified based on our quality standards. Feel free to browse our directory and choose a property manager who you believe will help you optimize your ROI and grow your real estate investing business the most.
Additionally, you may want to read about how to choose a good property manager and interview questions to ask a property management company before hiring.
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About the Author
Kristina Morales is a REALTOR® with over 20 years of professional experience. She actively practices real estate in Ohio but also has practiced real estate in California and Texas. Conducting her real estate business in three states has allowed her to gain unique experiences that make her a well-rounded realtor. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Business Management and her MBA with a concentration in Banking and Finance. Prior to real estate, Kristina had an extensive corporate career in banking and treasury. She ended her finance career as an Assistant Treasurer at a publicly traded oil & gas company in Houston, TX.