5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Hiring a Property Manager

These are the main questions that you should ask yourself before looking for a potential property manager so you can make the best possible choice based on your unique circumstances and while every investor's situation is slightly different, we all have one thing in common, time and how we spend it. That's why these following questions are designed to help you determine if you should consider hiring a property manager and have more of it, worry less, have the ability to grow your personal portfolio faster, and increase your net operating income.

Today, the property manager plays one of the key roles in the team, where their job is not only to satisfy residents but also to implement the business strategy by developing key assets such as the building and the company's reputation.

1. How do you deal with stress?

It all comes down to this one thing because to manage a property on the daily basis it takes a special person who can handle a lot of stress as there are a number of unpredictable challenges behind this seemingly simple task of collecting rents, especially when the situations gets tricky, such as domestic disputes, night parties, tenants sneaking in extra people or animals into the property, people conducting an illegal business and so on. So you see how managing your property can quickly become an overwhelming task, even for seasoned investors, as it takes very little time for something to get out of hand. That's why hiring a property manager can provide you with an opportunity to regain control and stability in your personal life and business.

2. What is your experience with repairs?

One of the issues that a lot of investors come across is how to find reliable handymen and contractors and that can take some time as you may find yourself hiring unethical, overpriced services, and people. Maintenance and repairs are important components of property management and requirements for someone to get these jobs done efficiently and on time. At the same time, while your closing on more deals and your portfolio grows, so does the daily maintenance tasks becomes more of a challenge.

3. How good are you with the bookkeeping and records of your property?

This area requires your extra attention as there are income statements, tax deductions, that could become a heavy burden for some owners who have less experience in finance. Others might want to hire an accountant that could help with the bookkeeping, but if you consider hiring a property management company, you will get this included in their service with the rest of the property management duties like ensuring that your property is managed in accordance with the law that will help to prevent against legal action and protect you from liability in the event of a claim.

4. Ready to be in touch with your property 24/7?

When an emergency occurs at your site and it's just a matter of question when you cannot ignore it. Everything that you have planned and scheduled in your personal life, such as special events, meetings, vacations does not relieve you of your obligations to your tenants. As we all know these emergencies do not happen all the time, but when they do, you must be prepared to deal with them immediately. So the main question that you need to ask yourself is, can I handle a 2 am call to fix someone's overflowing toilet?

5. How good are you with handling late payments and evictions?

Owners don't like feeling like the bad guy and that's why they try to be understanding by making exceptions to tenants and this becomes a problem as it only creates additional excuses from the tenants. Late payments must be processed immediately and while sometimes a friendly reminder is all that is needed, other times it can be a very confrontational process that ends with an eviction. Also when eviction happens, you will need to quickly advertise, take calls from potential tenants and screen them and that could be really time-consuming. So if you are in doubt if you could handle the stress and have the skills and time to do this, you may want to consider hiring a real estate management company instead.

Feel free to schedule a call with me to discuss how we can help you to enhance and maximize your real estate investment: https://calendly.com/colindouthit/management-services-consultation