Engage with Your Property Management Company to Maximize Profit
by Jeff Pepperney, Real Property Management
A s a single-family rental prop- erty investor, you need a team of experts you can trust. That team should include a great property management company. You may start out doing most of your prop- erty management yourself, thinking that you can save money that way. But that kind of thinking may not ultimately help you achieve your investing goals. The fact is that few rental property owners can grow a successful investment portfolio without working closely with a great property management company. By hiring the right professionals for the job, you can break out of that do-it- yourself mentality and work toward truly maximizing each real property investment you make. To make the most of your rental properties, it is important to form a strong relationship with your property management company. Truly engaging with your property management company means more than reading reports and respond- ing to questions. Rather, you should take advantage of all that a great property management company can offer you as an investor. For exam- ple, you will need to conduct regular
property evaluations for each rental property that you own. As a prop- erty owner and investor, you need this information to understand your local rental market and ensure that your property remains competitively priced. Although they are important, property evaluations can take up a lot of your valuable time. It likely makes sense to entrust that crucial task to a property management expert who knows the local market inside and out. They have the expe- rience and information you need to assess your property without all the time and hassle of doing it yourself. The same thing is true about planning for capital improvements. Owning single-family rental proper- ties requires long-term thinking. A rental house will need to be updated and improved as elements wear out or become unsightly. But trying to pay for major improvements or repairs could be a budget-killer unless you’ve planned ahead. This is something that a great property management company should be able to help you with. Your property manager should have experience budgeting for necessary improve- ments and help you establish a
timeline for when each update will need to be done. This proactive approach to improving your rental property can be far better for your cash flows and your overall profit - ability than the alternative: waiting for something to break (or flood, or fall apart) and then rushing to make emergency repairs. Finally, a great property man- agement company can be your single greatest asset when it comes time to purchase additional rental properties. While real estate agents are helpful, they can only sell you currently listed properties. A prop- erty management company, on the other hand, has knowledge about rental properties and rental proper- ty owners in your area. They can put you in touch with owners willing to sell a rental property before it ever goes on the market, a property that is sometimes already rented out. If you are looking for a way to make the most of your investment properties, give your nearest inde- pendently owned and operated Real Property Management franchise office a call. We have the resources and information you need to help you achieve your investing goals. •
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