Self-managing rental properties can consume a lot of time, energy and resources. Regardless if you’re choosing to expand your rental portfolio or maintain the same level of services you currently provide, keeping up with the responsibilities of property ownership, in addition to your full-time job and other obligations, can be more than some owners want to handle.
When that happens, they often turn to a property management company to oversee their rental unit(s). But what exactly does a property manager do? What services will they provide for you? Below is an overview of the general services you can expect from a property management company.
What Services are Included When You Hire a Property Manager?
The services a property management company provides can generally be broken down into three major categories: leasing, rent collection and maintenance.
- Leasing – Anytime you have a vacant unit, the property manager will be responsible for advertising the property for rent, showing it to prospective tenants, screening those tenants, and then facilitating the lease agreement process.
- Rent collection – The property manager will collect the rent, deal with late fees and enforcement, as well as collect any utility payments as appropriate for a given property.
- Maintenance – Lastly, your property manager will handle any type of maintenance issue that comes up at the property. Often there is a pre-set maintenance approval limit, which means anything below that amount will be taken care of by the property manager. Anything above the specified amount will require a call to the owner for approval before the property manager engages a vendor or submits a work order to get the issue resolved. Another area that falls under the maintenance category is unit turnover between tenants. The property manager will take care of getting the unit ready to rent again.
While leasing, rent collection and maintenance are the three major categories a property manager handles for you, there are a lot of other things you may not realize a property manager is responsible for.
To see a full list of those items, it’s important to review the property management agreement (or PMA for short). Examples include things like accounting. The property manager will track all the money as it flows between the resident, owner and property manager, as well as for third-party work orders and to other vendors. It’s important that the rent, security deposit and all financial transactions are carefully tracked and accounted for, and your property management company will take care of this for you. You’ll also receive a monthly statement and annual report for your review and tax use.
On the whole, property managers are going to be taking care of both the physical property itself as well as the needs of the residents who live there and anything that might entail.
If you have any questions about what is included with a property management agreement, we highly encourage you to have those conversations with the management company you’re considering before you even hire them. If you’re already partnering with a firm, it’s never too late to pick up the phone so you get those questions answered before any surprises come up. For questions about what we, at RL Property Management, can do for you here in Franklin County, Ohio, get in touch.
