If you own rental property, you may get to a point where you want to hire a management company to help with some of the workload. Hiring someone skilled in property management opens you up to focus more on other aspects of your business, such as marketing and hiring employees. However, it is important to find the right company for your needs.
The first step to gauging the success of a prospective management company is to come up with informative questions. You will want to ask a variety of questions to show how capable the company will be with not just any property, but yours in particular. These questions can be broken up into multiple categories. The first category is a background of the company; find out what types of properties they work with, how many units they currently manage, how long they have been in business and if they personally own any rental properties.
The next set of property management questions should take a look specifically at the property you are planning to purchase or have already purchased. You can ask questions regarding the area of town the company would invest in, if they know the average vacancy rate and if there are any unique features about the area. This will show how much the company really knows about the properties it is going to manage.
Next, you can find out the management style of the company by asking questions about staff size, how the work is split up, tenant screening, eviction process and more. This will help you determine whether the management company shares your views on how the business should be run, which helps determine whether they will be a good fit for your business.
The last category can be miscellaneous questions for the property management company, such as what services they will provide, whether they provide accounting information, what their licensing is and how often they will be visiting the tenants and properties to check up on everything. You can come up with any concerns or questions that are important to you in your business so that you find a company that is willing to work with what you want and what is best for your tenants.
Trying to manage rental properties alone can be a daunting task, especially if you are relatively new to rental property businesses or if you have other tasks going on. Getting a property management company to help can give your business and increased level of success.