Is It Hard to Manage a Rental Property?

Are you stuck between managing your property on your own and contracting a property manager to do the work for you? If you are new to this, making a choice between the two can be difficult and your answer would most likely depend on how you find property management in general. You have probably asked yourself, "Can I do it? Is it really hard? Should I hire someone else to do it?" Well, the answer to these questions relies on multiple factors that you should take into consideration before making your final decision. Let’s take a look at some of these factors in the guide below.

Management Tasks

As a landlord, you will be riddled with several tasks once you open your property for rent in the real estate market. You will start with tenant screening to manage your tenants, property maintenance and repair, managing your budget or maintaining records, and settling taxes. Property management requires a good set of skills and experience to keep up with the demands of the job. Blindly jumping into these tasks can leave you overwhelmed or even cost you more.  If you think you are prepared enough to manage all of these then you’re good to go, if not, then it might be worth reflecting if the DIY route is worth a shot. 

This is where a professional management company can step in and save the day. Working with this property management company can save you time, effort, and above all, the stress that comes along with managing a property. It may feel that you are not getting enough control over your property, but a professional agency will handle everything with the highest level of expertise and efficiency.

Maintenance and Repair

It is inevitable for properties to deteriorate over time. Maintenance and repair are part of rental property management. As a landlord, you will be the one responsible for repairing issues with your rental unit. This can vary from plumbing problems to faulty wiring. If you have the skills and knowledge of basic maintenance and repair, then you can easily fix your tenant’s issue yourself. Meanwhile, if you don’t know how to do it yourself, you can as a professional do the work instead. As pricing varies per contractor, it is best to have a vast network of repairmen, technicians, and maintenance experts so you can get the best price and top-notch service. This way you can rest knowing that the problem has been fully fixed for good. In the long run, quality maintenance and repair can save you money from recurring maintenance or repair issues. This will also ensure your tenant’s satisfaction and comfort. 

Legal Compliance 

Part of property management is handling legal responsibilities and obligations. You should also be knowledgeable about existing housing laws that concern landlord-tenant relationships from tenant screening, security deposits, terminating a lease, evictions, and safety compliance. Professionals from Bricks and Agent property management highlight the importance of knowing the legalities to avoid expensive lawsuits. Each state has its own federal law concerning landlords so you must be aware of this to avoid both legal and financial trouble. 

Finding Tenants

From time to time, your unit will be vacant. When this happens, you will need to find ways to entice prospective tenants to check out your property. It can be challenging if you do not have the network or experience in finding tenants, advertising, or marketing your property. Your property might end up vacant for a long time or you will end up hiring bad tenants and have issues with managing leasing agreements. This is very critical especially if you have a lot of rental units. Failing to find tenants in a short span of time can cost you money. To maximize your revenue, you have to go the extra mile in hunting and securing tenants to fill in the vacancy. 

Dealing With Tenants

Before you decide to fully commit to managing your rental property, you have to assess yourself if you have the patience and tolerance to deal with tenants. Remember, you will face a lot of personalities so you must assure yourself that you can handle this role. Are you prepared to handle conflicts, complaints, maintenance issues, and possibly eviction? How comfortable are you when it comes to managing and settling conflicts with your tenants? Do you have the time and interest in constantly following up with tenants who are behind rent? These are the questions you have to answer. If all of these are too much for you to handle, then it is best to hire a property management team instead, since tenants are found to act more professional when there is a buffer between them and the landlord.

Availability and Accessibility

The next thing you should consider is your availability and accessibility. How close are you to your property unit? If you live close to your unit, then regular visits and maintenance checks would not be a problem. The farther you are located, the more difficult it is for you to manage your rental property so if you are planning to invest in locations that are geographically out of your bounds, then a property manager can help you. In between your job or your business, do you have time to deal with your tenants and rental unit matters? The more rental units you have, the more responsibilities you have to deal with. You need to have time to check your units, listen to your tenant’s concerns, and settle legal matters. If your current schedule does not permit that, then a property manager could definitely help you. 

Hiring Property Managers

If you are investing in the real estate market, you have to have a good property manager. But here is one thing you have to remember: hiring a property manager does not guarantee success until you verify his or her credentials and qualifications. This means that if you cannot manage your rental property yourself, you must then know how to select the best person to take Before you move forward with recruiting a property management team or individual, you also have to assess if your finances are sufficient.

Property management requires a specific set of skills and knowledge. Ultimately, it all boils down to your interest, availability, and accessibility. If you feel comfortable managing all the tasks that come with renting your property, then go ahead. If not, consider hiring a property manager to manage these tasks on your behalf.

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