If you own a rental property, there’s no sense in breaking your back to do everything on your own. The time required – not to mention the stress – will eventually wear thin and tempt you to give up.
But if you have a solid property manager on your team, you can streamline your investments, earn more money, and retain your peace of mind.
Seven Characteristics to Watch For
You don’t have to look very hard to find a property manager. But finding a good one? That’s another story.
You’ll have to perform conscientious research to locate one of those. In the process, we recommend keeping an eye open for the following seven key characteristics.
- Local Experience
Don’t underestimate the importance of experience. More specifically, pay attention to how many years of local experience the prospect has in your market. This will tell you a couple of things.
First, it gives you an idea of how much they know about the business in general. Someone who has been in the industry for 10 years will know a lot more than a professional who set up shop just six months ago.
Second, it tells you how much people know about the region and how many connections they’re likely to have.
- Investor Mindset
The best property management companies think like investors. They understand the importance of optimizing cash flow and do everything they can to help their clients move the needle in a positive direction.
You’ll know you’ve found a property manager with an investor mindset when they’re constantly looking for ways to increase rent and/or lower expenses for your benefit.
- Stands By Their Work
Any proper manager can circulate bold claims. The question is, can they actually back up these promises? As you search for the right partner, pay close attention to any sort of “guarantee language” they use on their website.
Take Green Residential, for example. For their Austin property management services, they offer a tenant placement guarantee, rental income guarantee, and satisfaction guarantee.
In other words, they promise you’re going to get good results … otherwise, you can hold them accountable. That’s a fairly bold assertion! It strongly implies that they’re serious about serving their clients.
- Good Communication
As you investigate various property management firms, pay attention to their communication. Are they responsive? Do they get back with you in a timely manner? Does it seem as if you’re bothering them, or are they dependably eager to help?
Good communication skills are vital in property management. A property manager basically serves as the liaison between you and your tenants.
If the manager is not responsive, then that’s going to slow down processes and lead to frustration. At the end of the day, this can permanently damage your tenant relationships (which could end up costing you thousands of dollars).
- Highly Organized
The best property managers are organized. If you need a specific document, form, or record, they can track it down almost immediately and send it over.
An underperforming property management company will act more like a chicken with its head cut off anytime you request something. You can usually tell a lot about a property manager’s organization skills by paying attention to how they handle the onboarding process.
If they’re quick, responsive, and have their stuff together, this bodes well.
- Established Relationships
A good property management company understands the power in maintaining relationships with other professionals who bring vital skills to the table. The firm might not have everything in-house, but instead will have durable connections with contractors, accountants, lawyers, real estate agents, bankers, etc. As a client of theirs, you’ll enjoy access to all their contacts as well.
- Comprehensive Service Offering
There’s no sense in working with a company that offers only a couple of services. What you want is an operation that provides comprehensive property management.
This can include tenant screening, property marketing, maintenance and repair coordination, accounting, paperwork, eviction services, and considerably more. When the firm can do all that, this empowers you to address everything with a single phone call or email.
Find the Perfect Fit
Finding the appropriate property manager can be a challenge. But it doesn’t have to be impossible.
Once you have a short list of attributes you require, it becomes a matching game. Interview enough property management companies in your market and you’ll eventually discover one who may check all the boxes. Good luck!
