Your livelihood depends on your rental property, so it is essential to take the appropriate steps to ensure you hire the best manager to manage it. If you hire the wrong person it may result in lost vacancies increasing and losing rent. You would not rent your property before screening the tenant and it is critical to be just as thorough when hiring a property manager.

In need of a property manager? Get in touch with the team at Crash Realty today.

Ask for Referrals from Colleagues and Friends

Speaking to people who you trust and know is an excellent way to start looking for a property manager. Ask contractors, other real estate investors, your personal network, realtors, and property owners.

For Australian architect Michael Yousef, ensuring you get feedback from multiple voices will be critical when making decisions on investment properties. “The more voices means the more ideas and knowledge you can have. Also, if people you trust have had good experiences with someone, you’d be more likely to believe you’d have a good experience with that same property manager too.”

However, don’t just blindly trust their recommendations. Ask questions about property managers’ strengths and weaknesses, and ask why if they ended up parting ways.

Research Property Managers Online

Conducting research online is the next step you should take. The property managers who you are considering can be vetted and you can look for new names as well. After you have some names, check out the management company websites, including their mission statements. Search for reviews on websites like Facebook or Yelp.

Visit Their Properties

Conducting on-site visits is an excellent way to evaluate property managers. If there is debris and trash surrounding or inside a property, that is a big red flag. You also should look out for any necessary repairs that need to be made.

Roofing entrepreneur Daniel Halse notes that assessing properties on site is the easiest way to unearth things you might not find out from things you see on the internet. “There’s nothing like seeing the real picture for yourself. You can get a feel for a place, assess the vibe, and uncover things that the rosy real estate pictures won’t show.”

You also can ask to talk to the tenants. Ask them if they think their complaints were addressed and the amount of time it usually takes to resolve a maintenance or repair issue. Find out if the buildings are quiet if there are any issues with other tenants, and if they plan to sign a new lease. Learn why or why not.

Interview Several Managers

Several managers should be interviewed in person in order to find the best one for your property. There are three main categories of questions you can ask:

– Services, including how they maintain and manage properties and how they collect rent

– Their fee structure

– Their education and experience, which includes their knowledge of federal and local landlord and tenant law

Also, ask how many properties are managed by the person and the number of hours they will dedicate per week to your property. If they manage 10 other properties along with yours gives you 10 hours per week which probably means a self-employed manager will not have enough time to do the job properly. However, if it is a company that has plenty of staff, having a large client clientele can be a positive sign of having a thriving business.

Check Certifications and Licenses

A majority of states require management companies and property managers hold a property management license or real estate broker’s license to show vacant apartments.

Rick Buick of Modern Day Concepts notes that there’s so many cowboys in the industry, and it’s difficult to separate the pretenders from the contenders. “People can talk the talk, but if you dig a little deeper you’ll always be able to uncover if they’re just talking crap. Finding their certification or license is critical to ensure that you know a property manager is legitimate.”

Verify with your local Real Estate Commission that a candidate’s brokerage license is current. You also should trust your instincts. A property manager may have taken a class but that doesn’t mean they are actually practicing what they have been taught.

When it comes to finding the right property manager, you now know how vital it is to work with someone who fully understands all of your needs. That’s where Crash Realty comes into the picture.

With an impeccable reputation in Western Australia’s property community, Crash Realty ensures that you get the best service for the best price, every single time. Get in touch with the team at Crash Realty today and unlock your dream property.