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Why would someone hire a property manager to take care of their rental property for them? Couldn’t an owner just do it themselves and save money?
Good questions! And in this post we’ll provide you with 10 reasons you may want to consider using a property manager.
Before I jump in, I want to say that I’ve self-managed my own properties for 18+ years prior to becoming a professional property manage doing it for others, so I’m not here to tell owners they can’t do it themselves. They completely can, but it may not be the best long-term decision. Let’s jump into some of the things an owner may want to consider before taking the DIY approach.
10 Reasons to Hire a Property Manager
Detailed rental analysis - Marketing a home for rent starts with getting your rental rate right. A professional property manager will provide you with a detailed rental analysis showing you comparable rentals and making a suggestion for your property’s rental rate. Owners are often times not well-informed and can be bias about their home being “the best”, which results in longer vacancy periods (and missed rent!)
The ”make ready” process – Part of our process when we take over a property is preparing it via our “make ready” process. This means we go through the home, assess what updgrades/repairs need to be done and helping you get it all done via our vetted third party contractor network. By taking this step we proactively address all the safety, legal and functional repair needs that exist to avoid headaches later. If you skip this step you could have a property that doesn’t meet the current tenant laws or has issues that will result in on-going maintenance issues.
Professional Marketing including high quality photos & virtual staging – How many times have you flipped through rental properties for lease and it looks like someone snapped the pictures of the home with their iphone. They didn’t bother to turn on the lights, open the blinds or even put away their dirty clothes! It happens way too often and we think the owners would do much better to have professional photos and even virtual staging to show their homes in the best light possible. We take what we’ve learned selling real estate for over 18 years and we’re applying it to rental homes to make them shine!
Fair housing compliance – Are you familiar with fair housing rules and confident you won’t open yourself up to liability through breaking those rules in your marketing or your tenant screening process?
The Tenant screening process – A professional property manager has a defined set of criteria that tenants must have in order to qualify to rent the home. We have that as well as a slick online system that allows tenants to complete all of their application on a secure portal, rather than sending things piecemeal or in an insecure fashion. All tenants must be treated consistently and fairly, and by hiring a property manager with these systems in place you’re shielding yourself from potential liability.
The Pet screening process – Pet screening? What is that? If you’re asking yourself that question I understand, this was a new concept to me when I started managing properties for others. Pet screening is when a property manager has a third-party service asses the risk of each pet that could potentially live in one of your rental properties with a tenant. Not only does it help you avoid approving risky pets, it also protects you in potential pet-related lawsuits and allows you to charge pet deposits and pet fees to offset the risk you’re taking. A professional property manager will have a pet screening service set up and will complete these pet screenings for you.
Attorney drafted lease – If you’re like a lot of DIY landlords you may get a lease from an investor friend or maybe find one online. That works when things are going well, but if you have an issue you’re going to want a Colorado specific, attorney drafted lease. Tenant laws change continually and you’ll want a lease that is up to date and legal. For example, did you know you can’t charge your tenant a late fee until 7 calendar days have passed since the due date for the rent? If you don’t have a lease that’s current you’re opening yourself up to risk. A professional property manager will have an attorney drafted lease that’s current and protects your interests.
Online exposure of your home – A property manager will help you get exposure of your property for lease on all the major websites including the MLS (only real estate brokers can post to this site), Zillow, Trulia, Hotpads, Homes.com & many more. Getting the home listed on these sites is one benefit but another is that the property manager will field all the emails and calls with questions, applications, etc. Tracking and responding to all these requests can be dauting if you don’t have a system in place.
Maintenance headaches – This is one of the big ones! When you have a professional property manager they field all the maintenance calls and manage the repairs. As any landlord knows, this is one of the worst parts of managing your own properties. Things break, stuff happens and it seems like it’s always at an inconvenient time like when you’re out of town. A property manager can line up repairs for you, but they can also help you proactively stay on top of maintenance so little issues don’t devolve into larger problems.
Save time to focus on other things in your life - This reason really is a summary of all the reasons listed above. A property manager can be your “easy button” to owning residential real estate. They can take all the tasks listed above off your plate so you can focus your attention on other things in your life. (family, friends, hobbies or even out finding that next investment property!)
So there you have it, 10 reasons you may want to consider hiring a property manager to manage your rental.
If you are considering hiring someone, we’d love to chat. We provide property management and leasing services to the Central Park neighborhood of Denver and the surrounding areas. (within 15 minutes drive). To chat about your property please email me any time on my cell # below!
Joe Phillips
Managing Broker
Focus Real Estate Property Management
(720) 299-1730
