Questions To Ask A Rental Property Manager
Investing a rental property is a wise decision for investors. For one, even if the housing market becomes unstable again, the investor can still see dividends on his or her investment due to the rent. Also, a housing market collapse can mean more people being forced out of their homes thus making rental properties hot commodities.
Unfortunately, managing a rental property is not as easy as some people may paint it to be. There are a lot of things that a rental property manager has to oversee including background checks for prospective tenants to advertising the property to paying attention to small repairs.
If you are therefore an investor and you cannot afford to oversee the operation of the property at a regular basis, you might need to hire a rental property manager. Since you will be giving them an almost free reign on your property, it is strongly recommended that you take your time and learn as much as you can about a particular company or individual before hiring them to manage your investment.
Once you sit down and have a talk with them, there are several questions you should ask them so that you would glean as much information as possible to help you make your decision. One of the more important things to ask is how much would they be charging you. Usually, the fee is determined as a percentage of the gross rent for the property. Make sure that during the initial conversation, you would already have a clear picture of what you will be paying them.
An experienced rental property manager would be great to work with as you can easily ask other investors working with them about the services being rendered. Ask the property management company what other properties they are managing and if you can visit them. It would also show you what type of properties they are managing. If they are handling a property similar to yours and they are doing it exceptionally, you can have a better feel of how they are going to treat your business.
If you are just starting out in the rental property business, it would be a good idea to ask them how they will handle the advertising of the property. It would be a good idea to know beforehand what options are open to you and how much these advertising options would cost you.
There would always come a time when something would need fixing in your property. In some cases, the rental property manager would be given plenty of freedom in these matters. You could opt though to set a limit on how much they can spend without needing your approval. This is especially helpful if you want to handle major repairs in the property which would need more funding.
Reporting is also very important. It should be clear from the get-go how often they would send their reports to you. This way, both parties can avoid miscommunication. Plenty of rental property managers and owner relationships have gone sour due to simple misunderstandings due to lack of communication.
Make sure to ask these questions and you would have clearer picture of who you would be dealing with and what kind of company you will be giving access to your business.
