Choosing the right property management company?

Choosing the right property manager is an important step in protecting your real estate investment. Property managers are in every real estate market so it is important to make sure you are working with someone you can share a great real estate relationship with. Many companies can try to win you over by offer 1%-3% less than the next company, but much more comes into pay when you are choosing a property manager. These are some things to keep in mind while choosing the best property manager to represent your rental property.

As someone who is on the market for a property manager it is important to call and vet as many companies as possible. As this relationship will most likely be one you will have for the next 5-10 years its in your best interest to pick the best property manager in your area.

The first thing you should make sure you do is find out if they are licensed real estate agents. The state of California requires all property management companies to have a current brokers license in order to conduct business. This will prevent you from having to deal with the headaches and legal hurdles associated with having an unlicensed person handling your rental property.

Assuming the company is licensed, lets move on to the following services all property management companies should provide:

• Setting and collecting rent

  • Ask the property management companies how they go about setting the rental amount for your property and what methods they use for rent collection

    (Pro-Tip: make sure your property management company is using some kind of software system, this will ensure that your property will have an online paper trail of all maintenance and repairs that are done)

• Property Maintenance and repairs

  • Make sure your property manager only used licensed and certified vendors when doing work on your property, this will save you from any liability from subpar work that was done by an unlicensed handy man

• Property Inspections

  • Ask the property manager if they do annual inspections of your property

• Tenant screening

  • Ask for your property managers criteria when looking for a tenant

After all of these points you will want to ask for the following information:

• Their property management fees

  • Most property management companies will charge anywhere from 3%-8% of the monthly rent collected, the cheaper property managers usually will include hidden fees to level out there small percentage, Loose Leaf Property Management offers a flat rate property management service for $195 per month

• Their property management contract

  • Find out how long you will be in contract for prior to signing up with your property manager

After asking the following questions you can repeat this as many times as you would like with all the property managers in your area. You are now on your way to finding the perfect property manager for you.