Many beginners in the real estate industry imagine their new rental will provide a care free source of cashflow. If this is what you are hoping for, you may be in for a rude awakening.
Of course, being a property manager, I’m going to recommend not managing your rental yourself. There are some real reasons for this, besides the fact that I’d like a chance to earn your business.
A rental property will need time and money put into it. Over the normal course of business you will need to do bookkeeping, periodic inspections, take care of maintenance issues, find and screen new tenants and answer all their many questions. Tenants may also be late on rent and you’ll need to handle that as well. On top of those things you may end up with problems like an insurance claim, the property sitting vacant, tenants getting behind on rent, tenants that are uncommonly needy, mistreatment of the property, and so on.
Your time is valuable. Time with your family, your job and time for yourself is important. Every minute you spend taking care of your rental property is a minute taken away from the other things in your life. Let a property manager lift that burden from you. Keep in mind, not all property managers are created equal. Do your homework to find a good one. They need to be reachable, they need to have clear answers for things like: How do they find tenants? How do they screen tenants? What is their procedure for late rent? How do they handle problem tenants? How fast do they fill vacancies? Do they try and fill vacancies before they are vacant? How do tenants pay rent? How do tenants submit maintenance requests? How do owners get paid? How often do they do inspections?
Finding the right property manager will save you more money than they will cost. A good property manager will fill vacancies fast, guide your decisions with professional advice, reduce your risk of getting problem tenants, be able to resolve problems quickly, and steer you away from potential pit falls, fix maintenance issues quickly before they become more costly. When considering the potential costs of not having professional help, the monthly fee of a property manager is very small in comparison.
Understanding the actual work involved with managing real estate properly will prepare you for success and using a good property manager will be invaluable in making that success happen.
Kasteel Property Management, Protecting your Investment
Jeff Stinson
801-787-1177
www.kasteelproperty.com
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