3 Reasons to Hire a Property Manager
Congratulations! You just purchased your first rental property. Perhaps, you just bought your tenth, fiftieth, or even two-hundredth property. Unfortunately, you are still managing it on your own. Moreover, you are tired, and you don’t know where to turn. Furthermore, you felt as if an investment property would offer financial freedom. However, it has ultimately tied you down with tenant headaches, weekend repairs, and endless court dates. Well, if that alone is not reason enough to hire a property manager, here are three more.
Tenant Screening
Property managers have the tools, resources, and time to screen potential tenants. Besides understanding credit score and debt to income ratios, property managers can use a database to determine if the prospective tenant has any outstanding utility bills and recent evictions, or if he or she is a professional tenant who frequently moves, only paying the move-in cost and nothing else. With the property manager handling the financial record review and the tenant screening, you will free up so much time and save so much money.
Vacancy
Owning a rental property as an investment is an excellent idea. It can truly provide a nice income each month to cover your expenses. Of course, having too many vacant units too frequently will not help you on your path to financial freedom; it will also not help you to enjoy your current economic freedom. You need tenants, and you need stable tenants to pay market rents. Hiring a good property manager can help you fill vacancies quickly and painlessly.
Database Management
As you continue to grow your real estate empire, it becomes easier to maintain the same tenant base over an extended period. For example, your first tenant might upgrade every seven years to another rental property that you might own. This reason and other reasons are why it is essential to have a complete and accurate database of your tenants’ information, beginning with phone and email, all the way to birthdays, anniversaries, and pet ownership. In this new economy, an active database of your customer/tenant is key to the success and growth of your business.
In conclusion, I’m sure that you never thought of your tenants as customers before this. I’m guessing that you would have never imagined that a missed utility bill can tell you about a person’s ability to pay rent. Find a good property manager and hire him or her as soon as possible. The best part is that the property manager does not make money unless you make money.