If you are interested in becoming a landlord, owning a few to a lot of properties, you may want to hire a property management company. If you are buying vacation property as an investment, you definitely need a property management company.
Here are a few tips to help you pick the right management company.
Pick one that fits your property. There are three kinds of rental property: residential, commercial/retail and industrial. You need a company that knows to handle the property you own. Each kind of real estate has different requirements. For instance, retail property could have something called a triple net lease. This typically doesn’t apply to residential property.
Decide what you want in a property manager. Make a list. If you buy vacation rental property, you need a manager who can oversee a housecleaning crew. If you have residential rentals, you need someone who can do routine maintenance.
Here is a brief list of questions to ask:
• How do they advertise vacancies? You own the property to make money. It makes money when someone is renting it. You need an aggressive marketing program.
• How they show property? People look for places to stay and live when they have time to search. That means evenings and weekends. You need a company that meets potential renters on their terms.
• How do they collect past dues? Admittedly, this is linked to the landlord-tenant laws in each state, but you need to know their procedures.
• What’s the protocol for after-hour emergencies? A busted water pipe is not something that can wait until morning.
• What accounting process do they use? The more work they offer in this area means less work for you come tax time.
• How do they screen tenants? Federal and state law must be observed, but a good company is going to make checks on potential tenants.
Need more information? Real Property Management Wake County has plenty of experience managing rental property. We’ll be glad to show you what we do and how we do it.
Call the property management professionals at Real Property Management Wake County today (919)747-3488.
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