A property management service can be the intermediate manager of a rental property. The other option for a landlord is to manage their rental themselves. There are advantages and disadvantages to each choice. Many people have found themselves in the role of “owner”. This may be due to the housing bubble that left many homeowners with homes they couldn’t sell when they needed to move or vacate their home. One way to stay afloat was to rent out your home and become a homeowner.
Others may have ended up wearing the “homeowner” hat because they decided to take advantage of all the cheap properties on the market. Getting cheap listings and renting them out until the market turns is a money-making scheme for many investors.
The landlord-tenant relationship is a legal relationship subject to a contract. It’s not always easy. Home repairs, credit reports, and evictions can all be part of the package. Some people may decide to consider it a part-time job and manage their rentals like DIYers. Others feel that they would rather have a professional management team on board. Here are some pros and cons of each option.
A professional property manager has many advantages. Some of them include:
– Experience: A professional has been doing this as a career. You have probably seen it all in terms of rent to tenants. Unusual circumstances can be handled more skillfully with a heavy dose of experience in the pocket.
– Access to MLS: Professionals have access to MLS (Multiple Listing Service). This is an essential marketing tool for advertising a house, apartment, or condo. These listings will give a potential renter many details about the home, such as square footage, number of bedrooms, bathrooms, neighborhood, whether there is a pool, and rules regarding pets.
– Rent Collector: It’s not so much fun collecting rent from reluctant people. Professionals know the legal language to collect payments and send them to the owners’ bank accounts.
– They handle taxes: A good property manager will handle rental taxes and send a detailed detail sheet at the end of the year to help the owner with their taxes.
– Leasing Experts: Professionals know how to write a good, binding lease to protect their clients: the landlord.
The pros have an obvious negative:
– Cost money: Typically, a landlord will pay a manager a fee for finding a tenant and managing the unit on a month-to-month basis.
DIY managers have positive aspects:
– Costs less: DIYers will not pay any monthly administration fee or search fee.
– Job Satisfaction: Hands-on property repair and management work can provide job satisfaction.
And negatives:
– Always available for breakdowns with appliances, HVAC units and more.
– He has to be the bad guy in collecting the rent.
– Not so experienced in finding great tenants.
Hiring a property management service for some owners can be a wise business decision. For other DIY enthusiasts, managing it can only work well.