The expense of having a property manager run your rental property is not the biggest objection to hiring a property manager. Surprised?
The biggest objection is the time it takes to find the right person or company to do a proper job of property management.
When people are just starting out in renting out their space, be it their home or an apartment building, they don’t think they can spare the time tohire someone—even though they don’t have the time or know exactly how to hire the property properly themselves. All the researching, interviewing, asking for referrals, comparing services, and repeating until it’s just right takes gobs of time!
Right behind not having enough time is the money objection, of course. The question in that regard is whether the value for the services offsets or exceeds, hopefully, their cost. To know the answer means spending time (there it is again) learning what needs to be done, whether the tasks are done well, and placing a value on each one.
Many people don’t know what they don’t know.
We’re here to help with that.
What Do Property Managers DoThat You Can’t Do Yourself?
What do property managers do? How do your skill sets stack up against the checklist below? At CREM Management, we handle the following.
RENT COLLECTION
VENDOR PAYMENTS
REPAIR & MAINTENANCE
FINANCIAL REPORTING
APARTMENT TURNOVER SERVICES
- RENT INVOICING
How much time does each take? How much time will it take to learn how to do them? What happens if one or two of these are neglected or they aren’t done in a timely fashion?
It’s difficult to quantify the value a landlord receives from a clean building and grounds that are all in working order, having good tenants with little turnover, and enjoying the low risk regarding the legal and tax aspects of being a landlord. There’s one more category: are the landlord tasks things for which you need not only a degree such as legal and accounting, but also licenses for the trades, e.g., plumbing, electrical, heating? If you cannot do them, do you have an at-the-ready list of reliable people who can?
It is critical to discern the value of proper task handling against your goals. Do you want to sell the property for a quick profit, build a portfolio that provide sa mid-term income stream, or have sound long-term investments that can produce a cushion for your family’s future?
How Do People Vet Property Managers?
The best way to vet property managers is to ask people who are currently using individual managers or property management companies. It might also be worthwhile to ask real estate agents, real estate attorneys, and even CPAs who work with commercial real estate owners, large and small. CREM Management is owned by a person who is an attorney, a CPA, and a licensed real estate agent.
How Can People Hire Trustworthy Property Managers Quickly?
If time is money, and property management is not in your wheelhouse, there’s a good chance that trying to research the daylights out of the entire topic and then hoping to make “the right decision quickly” will be frustrating. The best bet might be to interview two or at most three companies armed with the list above and then add in some from the following list that CREM Management does.
