Saturday, October 10, 2009

When Should You Hire a Property Management Company?

One of the major decisions as a property owner is whether you should hire a property management company. Many landlords manage properties all by themselves, occasionally with the help of an employee or associate. Depending on the type of property, and how demanding your tenants are, some landlords might need outside assistance.

Property management companies often are the landlords first line of defense. They take the late night phone calls, they collect the rent, they haggle with demanding tenants. Nightmare tenant? The property manager will even handle the eviction. A qualified management agency will also bring their contacts and experience to your property, sometimes having more solid networks and resources then an individual.

If you have lot of properties or units that you rent to the public, the more you're likely to benefit from a management company. Especially if your full-time job isn’t going to be a landlord. Living out of the region from the property in question is also incredibly tough. You can’t react quickly or easily to any property issue if you are several time zones or states away. Hiring a property management service is critical in dealing with issues that you will not be able to handle from across the continent.

Many landlords and property owners are looking at additional properties as investments. They shirk away from any type of hands-on management, as it is either not their forte, or simply they have different priorities. If you have never had to find a tenant or renter for a property, you will discover that it can a rewarding, interesting, frustrating, stressful, and exhausting process. Spending your weekends interviewing possible renters may not be your cup of tea. If you view rental property ownership strictly as an investment and want little or nothing to do with the day-to-day management of your properties, consider hiring help to manage your property.

If you happen to participate in an affordable housing program, things are going to get super complicated. In these programs, the landlord receives financial assistance, in the form of a grant, low-interest loan, or tax credits, in return for agreeing to rent at least part of the property to tenants earning below a certain income level. In order to receive the financial assistance, the landlord must comply with a STRINGENT set of rules. There is a ton of paperwork, as there always is with anything that the government hovers around. Again, if you are not planning on being a landlord FULLTIME, then you should hire a property management company that has past success with these particular housing programs.

Now if all this sounds interesting or intriguing to you, then perhaps you need to start talking to some possible property managers. How do you find a property manager? Well….That is a completely different article! Tune in again in a few weeks to find out our advice on how to FIND a qualified property manager.

Property Manager
Kuester Companies
Charlotte Concord Boone Myrtle Beach Fort Mill

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