8 Stress-free Property Management Tips for Landlords

As the owner of a property, you must be aware of how important it is to ensure that your investment is managed well. If you don’t keep track of your cash flows or guarantee that you are legally protected as a landlord, you might be heading for a financial crisis!

The solution to this extremely challenging situation is a property management company with sufficient experience. Having a professional manage your property would lead to the maximization of returns from your investment and minimization of risk. There are certain ways in which your property can be managed without much stress.

8 Stress-Free Property Management Tips

Here are eight property management tips that will ensure that your property is managed conveniently.

Choose Your Tenants Wisely

The first and most important property management tips for landlords is to choose the tenants wisely.  An efficient property manager will ensure that the tenants that meet your criteria are selected and shortlisted after rigorous screening. The decision regarding final approval of the tenant will rest with you. The screening process will cover their employment record, their credit history, financial stability, current income, genuine references, and background checks to see if they have criminal records. An easy way of conducting this screening is by using reliable databases for tenants like TICA and Equifax.

Maximizing Return on Your Investment

You can expect the best market rates for your property depending on the condition of your investment. One of the top property management tips would be ensuring that your property is well maintained and presentable, so that the potential tenant would be willing to pay the top market price for it. With the best rental, your return on investment would be maximized.

Setting Aside Emergency Funds for Maintenance

You need to create an emergency fund with your income from the rent to ensure that your property is well maintained throughout the tenure of the tenancy. It would be best if you finalized a maintenance plan with your property manager.

This way, you will avoid any sudden and exorbitant cost of repairs. You will also not experience any adverse fluctuations in your cash flow if you have an emergency fund. It is recommended that you create a reserve equal to 2 months’ rental. Your returns will also not be affected by this emergency fund.

Know Your Local Tenancy Laws

As far as property management tips are concerned, this should be on your priority list. If you violate the local laws on tenancy, you will have to pay a heavy penalty. You need to know the Residential Tenancy Laws of your state. The Tenancy Authority will provide all information regarding tenancy agreements, dispute resolution, and investigation. The rights of both you and the tenant will be protected.

If you know about these laws beforehand, the rights of both you and the tenant will be protected.

Cut Down the Time Between Leases

Most landlords will wait for the existing tenant to move out before searching for a new one. But you need to get in touch with the property management services and explain the situation.

If you want to ensure that your property is vacant for the only for the shortest possible time, you need to start the lease renewal process around 4 to 5 months prior to the lease period. There are higher chances of lower vacancies.

Understand the Rights Of Both Parties

You need to know both the tenant’s rights and your rights regarding eviction before you evict your tenant. Eviction is a costly affair, and you should protect yourself through landlord insurance. Find out how landlord insurance works and then pick the option that is best for you.

Make Sure That Your Accounting Process Is Streamlined

You should be able to concentrate on your business and let the property management company take care of the entire property management accounting process. Starting from payment of invoices to the finalization of accounts and payment of taxes should be handled by the property management company. You should be able to claim tax depreciation on time.

Choosing the Right Property Management Company

Your return on investment will also be affected if you choose the wrong property management company. Shortlist some property management companies in your area and find out their strengths and weaknesses. Make a comparison and select the best one.

Get Stress-Free Returns from Your Property

You can enjoy high returns with low stress from your investment if you follow the property management tips given here. Your returns depend, to a great degree, on the property management firm you have hired. If you hire the right property management firm, they will take care of the entire process.

Following are some of the things that a property management firm will do for you:

Tenant screening

A property management company will screen the tenants out for you, as we mentioned above. They will weed out the unqualified applicants and only present you with reliable applicants for you to choose from.

Collecting rent

These companies will also help you in collecting rent on time. They have a decent system in place that follows up on tenants who have not paid the rent on time and reminds them about the same.

Paying bills

The top property management companies will also pay your utility bills. This takes away the huge stress of paying these water and utility bills on time from your shoulders.

Evaluation of the property

A property management company will conduct an evaluation assessment of your property to analyse and fix a rental price for it based on the market conditions.

Organizing regular checks

Property management companies may also organise regular checks to test the health, quality other such aspects of the property.

Maintaining the property

A property management company is of great help in maintaining your property with the help of evaluation and regular inspections. If there is any problem, they will contact you and ask you to take steps to solve it.

Increasing your rental income

A property accountant will help you increase your rental income by maintaining your property and providing the best services to you and the tenants. Some companies may also hire professionals to one-up the space of your property and keep it up to the mark.

Prepare financial statements

A reputed property management company will also assist you or take over the task of preparing the financial statements related to the property. With their expert guidance, you can be sure that the statements are accurate and on time.

So the tasks of the property management company include collecting rent, paying bills, screening tenants, evaluating the property, organising regular checks, maintaining the property, increasing your rental income and preparing your financial statements related to the property.

Hire a property management firm today, and watch your rentals soar!

About

OHI is a fifteen-year-old real estate services company working with 50+ commercial and residential real estate developers, funds and property management companies across USA. Our deep expertise in real estate accounting, financial analysis, lease administration and asset management has helped clients cut associated costs by 40-50%. We currently provide these services to a portfolio of 50000 units across clients.

We invite you to experience finance and accounting outsourcing through us.