Hiring a Property Management Company: 5 Things to Consider First

If you’ve recently purchased a piece of property that actually plan to rent out to a tenant, one thing that you have to consider is if you want to manage the property yourself or if you want to actually hire a property management company to handle those responsibilities for you.

Although you will have to pay a fee if you decide to go with a property management company, there are actually many benefits that come with making that kind of decision. Not only can they actually assist you in hiring the best kind of tenant for your property, but they can also serve as an intermediary between you and the selected tenant as well as take care of the daily needs that come with maintaining the property too.

This can prove to be quite helpful so long as you hire a reputable company that you can trust. That’s why we wanted to take a moment to provide you with some tips on things that you should strongly consider before choosing a property management company below:

Look for referrals. If you happen to personally know of someone who currently uses a property management company or has used one in the past, ask them about who they selected and what their experience was like. When it comes to making this kind of decision, it’s always better if you can go with a business that comes highly referred.

Make sure they’re licensed. It’s not good enough for someone to simply say that they run a property management company or they are a property manager. It’s important that they are licensed within their state, so make sure to ask the companies that you’re looking at if they have a valid license as you’re in the process of narrowing down your options.

Ask to see some of their other properties. If you were going to hire a contractor to do some work on your property, you’d want to see their portfolio to get an idea of their level of expertise, right? In the same vein, it’s important that you ask the property management companies that you are interviewing if you can see some of their other properties too. A reputable company will provide you with some addresses so that you can go and take a look for yourself. If you like what you see, ask them how often your property will be personally inspected by them and how they typically handle the maintenance and repair issues that come up.

Inquire about evictions. Something that a realty company like Revid Realty would advise you to do while you’re in the process of deciding which property management company to go with is that you inquire about how many evictions they’ve had over the past five years. The reason why this is important to know is that it will give you a pretty good idea of what their screening process is like and if they are good at choosing good tenants for the properties that they manage.

Be clear about the money. Before you sign a contract, make sure that you are clear about two things. One, how much of a fee the property management company takes for their services and two, when you will receive your portion once they collect from the tenant. You don’t want to wait until after the paperwork has been signed to realize that you are paying them more than you planned to or that you will receive your money later than expected. For more information on property management companies in your area, go to your favorite search engine and put “property management companies” along with your city and state in the search field.