Do You Need a Property Manager?

In the latest episode of Charlotte Today, Nancy Braun shares how a property manager can streamline your business and free up your time.

Investing in rental real estate can be a source of additional monthly cash flow and can help you build long-term wealth. However, day-to-day management is a serious responsibility not everyone can handle. If you prefer to have someone else handle the details, working with a property manager to manage your investment is the right choice for you.

Nancy highlighted how the success of your investment could depend on hiring a good property manager. The right professional can ensure your monthly cash-flow while a poor one will almost surely drive you to bankruptcy.

Her team at Carolina Property Management can provide you with the best service and manage your properties efficiently and effectively. They have invested in a complete and modern software solution that allows them to market your properties more effectively and fill vacancies sooner. They also have easy, online payment options that give residents convenient ways to pay electronically.

Nancy also mentioned the importance of doing your research. Hiring someone to manage your investment is a big decision, so you need to be careful when choosing one. Nancy talked about the questions you should ask when choosing a property manager.

There is so much involved in managing properties. Delegate the tasks to experienced professionals to limit your day-to-day responsibilities regarding your rental property. Call Nancy Braun today at (704) 440-0007 to get started.

Eugene Robinson: It can be a great extra source of revenue for property owners, renting out their home or their property. But it's also a lot of work.

That's why our next guest says you should consider hiring a property manager. We welcome Nancy Braun with Carolina Property Management.

Nancy, like I was telling you my story. I don't know for the life of me. My mother has property.

She wants to rent it out but she doesn't want to go to a property manager. She thinks somehow the property manager is not good enough or going to cheat her somehow.

So why should somebody use a property manager? You'd be helping me and my mom.

Nancy Braun: Well, it's probably not a safe thing for your 83-year-old mom--

Eugene Robinson: No!

Nancy Braun: -to be out there collecting rent.

Eugene Robinson: No!

Nancy Braun: Right. The tenants will be happier because if they use a service like ours, then they will have online payments. Everyone wants to do online payments and not mail a check to mom.

They can have instant service and maintenance portal so they can go on and just plug in their maintenance issue and not have to track your mom down. Then if you have a happier tenant they're going to pay more money.

They're going to pay on time. You're going to have less vacancy time because you're going to rent the property out faster. So, it's not even a cost. It's actually a gain to most property owners.

Eugene Robinson: Yes, so many pluses, Mom. I hope you're listening. So many pluses, Mom. So what kind of fees are we talking about with the property manager?

Nancy Braun: Typically, the fees vary depending upon what the situation is, but it could be anywhere from 8-10% of the rent that's collected.

It's a nominal fee if you think a rent is $1,000 and you're paying a $100 a month for someone else to take the midnight calls and provide all the services.

We do other things as well. We'll make sure that the property's maintained over the course of the time. So termite inspections are done, the batteries in the smoke detectors are changed, the carbon monoxide detectors are checked, the property is maintained.

We do drive-bys. We do personal visits to make sure that the property is being cared for throughout the year. Think about the longevity and the maintenance and the taking good care of a home.

Eugene Robinson: You are alleviating a lot of problems. A lot of family owners will think about "Oh, I’m going to have these problems" but how does an owner find the right property manager?

Nancy Braun: That's a good question. You are probably going to do a little research, look at some reviews, go online.

Make sure that they offer full service. There's a vast difference on the services of some of the property managers.

Unfortunately, the big question I always get is "What is my fee?" not "What are you going to do for me?"

I think the "What are you going to do for me?" is more important than what the fee is, because if I was a limited service discount property manager, I’m going to give a discount version of my service so your property may not be maintained as detailed, or you may not have as much service.

Everything costs money but it's so nominal. I would be more focused on what are you going to do for me.

Eugene Robinson: I like that. Okay, why is this so important for your participant property manager for hard stats like vacancy rates, lease renewal rates. What is that because most people don't understand that?

Nancy Braun: If you are looking for a property manager, what you want to ask is "What are the turnover rates?" so "How long is it going to take for you to lease my property?" "What's your history on that?".

If it takes some 15 days to get the property leased and they can do it before the tenant moves out, then that's ideal. You have no loss. We build in to our lease agreements that the current tenant is going to agree to showing 60 days prior to the termination of their agreement.

More often than not, we just moved one right in. We had zero days of vacancy. One moved out --

Eugene Robinson: Awesome.

Nancy Braun: -the next day the tenant moved in so we didn't cost them any money. Now if you're managing your own property and you didn't care for that scenario then you may have a month to two months of a lost income. That could be if that's a $1000 a month, you're losing up to maybe $2,000 --

Eugene Robinson: Yes.

Nancy Braun: - so the cost of having my services is zero.

Eugene Robinson: How do I know if our core values match up? I mean, because that's going to be important. What I believe, what you believe.

Nancy Braun: Right, and that's a very good point. I'm not a good match for someone who's not going to invest in their property. I want to have owners that care about their property, that want to have me care about their property so when I say "I think we should do x,y, and z to maintain the property or keep it up to date".. we want to make sure that the owner wants to have that same perspective. If they're trying to cut corners and not spend the money, I might not be the right fit. I had a scenario where the owner didn't want to deal with the mold issue in the house and I had to end the relationship because the tenant was in there. It wasn't a good fit.

Eugene Robinson: It wasn't a good fit, but you alleviate a lot of problems. You alleviate a lot of problems that the has to endure like that.

You could visit Nancyhasthetenants.com for more information. Or you could call Nancy at 704-440-0007. Please give her a call.

Don't do it yourself. That's why she's here to help you. Thank you, Nancy, appreciate you.

Nancy Braun: Thank you.