How To Choose An Excellent Property Manager
When you're looking for a property manager, you're looking for someone reliable, honest and easy to communicate with. This is the person that's going to be watching over and taking care of your real estate properties in your stead. This means they've got to be perfect at doing all the tasks you need them to do. Here are some valuable tips to help you in choosing the right one.The Interview Process
The way to find a property manager is to select several that sound good and suit your needs. Then, call them to arrange an interview. You'll want to ask them questions about their experience and the places they've taken care of in the past. Another purpose of the interview process is to get an overall feel for their personality. Communication is really important, and you need someone that's easy to talk to, comfortable and who gives you a good feeling. You should also check up on all their references. Their references can sometimes give you the information that will make or break them. A few more things you should look for during the interview and selection process include knowledge of the local area and its real estate market, an ability to crunch numbers so they can handle the accounting and good customer relations.
Check Out Their Company
If you're dealing with a firm, you'll want to check out the company to see how it operates. Your property manager should be available whenever you need them. When you call their firm, are you able to talk to them directly or are you always dealing with a different person who you don't know? How do you feel about their customer service? Does their firm have a high turnover rate? These are things to consider, because you want your property manager to be there to stay. You want them to be easily accessible when you need them.
Price Is Important, But...
Of course, you want to find a property manager who does their services well for a low price. You want it to be a good value for you. However, don't go with the cheapest one that you can find. When shopping around for the right firm, you have to weigh their price with the services they offer, which means you've got lots of things to consider other than just price. There are stories about bad management everywhere. Unfortunately, there are some less than scrupulous people in this profession. For this reason, you want to choose one based on their attributes and professionalism, and not just the bottom dollar. Sometimes paying a little extra will help you avoid getting your real estate ruined by bad management.
Contact lots of different companies and go through the process with all of them. It takes a lot of work to find a good property manager, but it's very important to look until you find the right one. Do your homework and you'll avoid falling into the trap of choosing a bad property manager to take care of your real estate properties.
