If you're new to property management, you may not realize how much work it takes. From finding great tenants to handling common maintenance tasks, there's always something new to do.
That's why less than 50% of landlords manage their own property. But if you're currently doing this yourself, you may be wondering if it's time to hire a property management company.
Let's look at some signs that say it's time to hire a property manager.
Bad Tenants
Great tenants may be the difference between making money when investing in properties and losing it. Bad tenants will fail to pay rent, cause damage, and cause other problems.
A great tenant screening process will stop this, which is how a property manager can help. They have refined tenant screening processes that ensure you have quality tenants in your rentals who will stay.
Maintenance Issues
You need to do more to manage a property than respond to tenants when they have property issues. If you want your property to last and tenants to stay happy, you must ensure you properly maintain your property over time.
Experienced property management services will create a plan for this. They will do this in several ways:
- create a seasonal maintenance schedule
- work with reliable vendors
- work with tenants to schedule maintenance
- be on call for immediate issues
These maintenance services will help keep your properties in great shape over time and result in fewer headaches.
Multiple Property Types
You may get your start as a single-family property owner. But as time goes on, you may expand to different types of property, such as commercial and apartments.
These take different types of skills and management to run. Working with a property management company may be better since you can work with professionals with experience managing different property types.
Little Time
You may not spend much time managing property initially. But as time passes and things go wrong, you may find that starting to change. You'll end up spending too much of your day managing property issues.
Working with a property manager is your best choice if you want to save time. They will handle all the heavy lifting and allow you to spend time on higher-level tasks that grow your investment portfolio.
Legal Problems
There are many renter protection laws that protect tenants from problem landlords. But if you don't have much legal experience, you may run afoul of some of these rules and accidentally get into legal trouble.
Management companies know the rules and will ensure you don't get into trouble. They will find tenants correctly and ensure everything they do keeps you out of legal trouble.
Hire a Property Management Company
Whether you have a single property or multiple units, managing rental property can be a stressful experience that's hard to handle on your own. It isn't just about taking the occasional call to fix things. It's about finding the right tenants, being on call to handle issues, and managing your finances correctly, which is where a property management company helps.
At PMI DC Metro, we offer services for all your property management needs. We can handle tenant screening, property maintenance, rent collection, and more. Reach out to us today to speak with a professional and learn more about how we can help you manage your rentals and grow as a real estate investor.
