{"id":73828,"date":"2015-07-10T05:00:42","date_gmt":"2015-07-10T11:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/renewsblog\/?p=73828"},"modified":"2021-03-16T11:40:58","modified_gmt":"2021-03-16T17:40:58","slug":"2015-07-10-landlord-hire-leasing-agent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/2015-07-10-landlord-hire-leasing-agent","title":{"rendered":"Every Landlord Should Hire a Leasing Agent: Here’s Why"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every landlord has a lot of tough questions to answer. One question that each landlord will face will be whether or not to manage their rentals themselves or to hire a property manager. Some landlords will begin managing their rentals themselves and then transition to a property manager. Others manage their rentals themselves and end up hiring people to help manage their properties. Or some hire a property manager right from the beginning. You have to assess all the pros and cons for all of these strategies and make the right decision that fits with your real estate goals.<\/p>\n

Hi, all! Liz back this week to share some recent success we are having with hiring a leasing agent for our rentals. I wanted to share what has been working with the hopes this might get your wheels turning as well!<\/p>\n

Background<\/h2>\n

Before I get on my soapbox to tell you why I think you need to hire a leasing agent as soon as possible, I want to share some background. If you go the route of hiring a property management company to manage your rentals, you probably will not need to hire a leasing agent. However, we decided early on to \u201cself-manage\u201d so that is the perspective I am coming from.<\/p>\n

Over the last 10 years, we have built our portfolio to about 115 units located in a 30 minute radius of our office in New Jersey. These units consist of some single family homes, multi-family properties, retail store fronts and small office space. Our property management team consists of a full time maintenance person, tenant relations manager (this person deals with all the tenant issues, maintenance requests, renewals, etc.), office manager\/bookkeeper, and both myself and my husband. My husband runs the property management team and fills in on the team in various aspects. I also have a few different responsibilities on the team, one of which has been getting our new leasing agent \u201cup to speed.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the first several years, we were managing about 20 units. My husband and I managed these properties ourselves. We were doing everything from the bookkeeping to showing properties (and everything in between). We only hired people for maintenance on our properties. As we grew, we hired a part time bookkeeper and then we hired a tenant relations manager.<\/p>\n

Related:<\/strong> 2 Unexpected (But Invaluable) People to Add to Your Real Estate Team<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

The last few years these have been the two key roles that have been \u201cmanaging\u201d our portfolio, along with both of us, of course. The tenant relations manager has a lot on their plate. They do everything that involves the tenant \u2013 processing rental applications, lease signing and on-boarding, delinquency, evictions when necessary, tenant maintenance issues, work order processing, renewals and pretty much all communications back and forth with the tenants.<\/p>\n

Transition<\/h2>\n

Over the years, we have tried to use various third party companies, typically real estate agents, to help us lease our units. The results have been fairly good. However, since we manage our own properties, we have never liked the fact that these leasing agents were not part of our \u201cteam.\u201d There were some tenants that these companies brought to us as potential candidates for our properties who we did not meet until lease signing. This was unacceptable, and we felt like we were losing control of evaluating tenants (which is incredibly important)!<\/p>\n

So, about a year ago, we asked our tenant relations manager to help with the leasing of our units. We would pay her an additional commission to list the properties, schedule the open houses and close potential tenants. This strategy also worked pretty well. The biggest challenge with having our tenant relations person (TRM) focus on leasing is TIME. There is only so much time in the day to do everything. As we added more units, we found that our TRM needed to focus on her core role and didn\u2019t have time for showings and open houses anymore. This did not hit on me until I stepped in over the last few months to help lease some of our multi-family units. I have been taking all the calls and scheduling all the open houses. I realized that this is a role that needs a lot of focus and should be carved out for a new team member.<\/p>\n

The other reason we really needed to hire someone who ONLY focused on leasing our units is that we are in the growth mode. We bought over 30 units last year and plan to continue to grow and expand. With managing over 100 units, there will always be some transition of tenants and units. Our goal is to minimize vacancy.<\/p>\n

So, after talking it over with my husband, we decided to move forward and search for a leasing agent. The first thing we did (and I highly recommend that you do) is write a job ad. You need to get clear on what expectations you have for this person.<\/p>\n

Here is a sample of our job ad we posted on Craigslist:<\/p>\n

Sales & Leasing Consultant \u2013 Bilingual (Spanish\/English) NEEDED<\/p>\n

Are you the following…
\n\u2022 Naturally persuasive
\n\u2022 Achievement oriented
\n\u2022 Like building relationships and delivering top notch customer service
\n\u2022 Positive, high energy, dedicated and trustworthy<\/p>\n

If so, the DeRosa Group is actively seeking a part time Sales & Leasing Consultant who is bilingual (Spanish\/English)! We are looking for a highly motivated individual with a strong marketing, sales and customer service background.<\/p>\n

Responsibilities include:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Executes on-line and off-line marketing and advertising efforts for all available residential and commercial space
\n\u2022 Responds to phone inquiries; provides complete information on the apartment, the property, and area information
\n\u2022 Presents the property, vacant unit, and amenities to prospects in a professional and knowledgeable manner
\n\u2022 Provides prospects with brochure, rental application, and all collateral material
\n\u2022 Follows-up with a phone call and thank you email within 24 hours of property tour
\n\u2022 Hands over all rental applications for approval; verifies all pertinent information and submit to tenant relations manager for approval<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Finding the Right Person<\/h2>\n

After posting the ad on Craigslist, we received only two applicants, both of which never followed up with us after we reached out to them. We put the word out to our local network that we were looking for someone. Then one day my husband was chatting with one of the real estate agents\u00a0on our team, and Matt mentioned that we were looking for a leasing agent. He said that it just so happened he did have someone to recommend to us. This person was looking to get into real estate.<\/p>\n

So, we met with her and interviewed her for the role. The other key part of our hiring process is having potential candidates complete a \u201cpersonality type\u201d assessment. I highly suggest that you use some type of assessment to help you assess the role you are trying to fill as well as the prospective team member\u2019s strengths. In summary, here were some of the key characteristics we were looking for:<\/p>\n