How to Screen a Property Management Company
When you’re searching for a property manager in Salt Lake City, it’s important to make sure you properly screen the company who will manage one of your largest investments. As with anything, not all property managers are created equal. By asking the right questions, you’ll ensure that you’re treated fairly throughout the entire process. At Real Property Management, we believe in being as transparent as possible with our clients. Below, you’ll find a list of various questions that you need to ask during the screening process of your potential property management company. The answers to these questions will help you separate the best property management companies in Salt Lake City and the mediocre.
- Hidden Fees
Unfortunately, some companies fail to mention every fee associated with managing your property. Here are a few services they may charge you:
- A setup fee
- Advertising
- Property photos
- Tenant screening
- to show the property to tenants
- A leasing or placement fee
- Tenant turn-over
- Accounting
- Property maintenance
- A maintenance trip charge
- Property inspection
- Lease renewal
- A percent of the late fees collected
- An annual fee to renew my contract
- Notices served to the tenants
- Marked up parts or supplies for work done on my property?
- Management fee while the property is vacant
- Experience
Working with a property manager with adequate experience will improve your chances of success. Before signing on the dotted line, make sure they have a proven track record of successfully managing properties. Here are a few questions you can ask to gauge their level of experience.
- How long have you been in business?
- How many rental properties do you manage?
- Where are most of your properties located?
- Do you have any awards/certifications?
- What type of associations are you involved in?
- Placing Tenants
Protecting your investment begins with finding a quality tenant though a proper screening process. Your property manager should have systems in place in order to save you time and money. Here’s what to ask to make sure that they’ll find and place quality tenants.
- How do you determine rent prices?
A credible property management company should pin point optimal rental prices across different locations.
- Do you offer a free Market analysis?
A market analysis will help determine how much your rental property is worth in today’s real estate market. By offering a free analysis, your rental property will help you reach your financial and real estate goals.
- Do you have a dedicated leasing agent in your office to fill vacant properties and complete showings?
A leasing agent will make it easier to fill the needs of the landlord, your property, and tenant.
- Where do you advertise my vacant property?
Advertising your property on sites like realtor.com will help fill your vacant property quicker. Don’t forget to ask if they have hidden advertising fees.
- Do you offer flexible leasing terms for tenants?
As a landlord, you’re in charge of choosing leasing terms. Your management company should give you complete control in regards to these terms.
- Do you require tenants to carry renters insurance?
Requiring tenants to carry renters insurance can reduce your property liability.
- Property Inspections
Inspecting your property on a regular basis is a critical step in caring for your property. Make sure your rental property manager checks in on your rental property at least 4 times a year. Besides asking how often they perform interior evaluations, ask if they will send pictures and a detailed report. As a landlord, you deserve to know how your property manager is being cared for.
- Maintenance
Every property manager provides different property maintenance. Here’s what you need to ask to fully understand how they handle maintenance services.
- Do you provide a 24-hour emergency maintenance service?
- Am I notified prior to all maintenance?
- Do you provide any maintenance or vendor discounts?
- Do you markup materials purchased for maintenance and repairs?
- Do you require me to pay you a minimum maintenance reserve for you to hold?
Trust in Real Property Management Salt Lake City
If you’re in the process of screening property management companies in Salt Lake City, contact Real Property Management today. Our goal is to provide you with time, freedom, and experience. We pride ourselves on trust, communication, teamwork, and dependability. Visit our education center, and video library for more tools and resources to help you accomplish your rental property goals!
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When you’re looking at the experience that a property management service has, there really are several different facets that you have to look into. I really like that the article brings up placing tenants as one of the bigger ones. After all, you want to make sure that the management service can find quality, respectful tenants to live on your properties.
Thanks for pointing out that a property management company must at least check your property for 4 times a year. I also love that you mentioned that we should hire one that will be able to send pictures and create a detailed report of their inspection. I will keep this in mind after I have bought the house that I am planning to rent out to other people. Actually, it has always been my dream to become a landlord because I think it’s the easiest way to have an income.
Thank you for pointing out that every property management company provides different maintenance. Checking to see what maintenance they provide seems like it could be a good idea. Hopefully, if someone was in need of a property management company they would do their research and find the best one possible.
I agree that one should hire a property management company after certain types of screening procedure. Screening procedure could be very helpful to choose the best property management company. Certain factors like experience, reliability and management ability are detrimental for the selection of a property management company. Internet and referrals could be very helpful to gather data regarding different types of property management company of a particular region and provide proper guidance to select the best one among them.
Amazing and helpful tips I agree with this article Thank you
You are very welcome!
That’s good to know that you should check what type of leasing terms a property management does since if you’re the landlord you should have complete control over the flexibility of the leasing. It would be good to find a management that would be strict on the terms you set and wouldn’t have set terms that they create and follow instead. This way there were be no confusion with communication and the landlord would still have control over their property.
Absolutely! As a property owner – you need may have certain time frames in your mind and if you don’t check with your property manager – they may just assume you want a 12 month lease or are OK with a renewal. It’s best to have a conversation about goals so everyone can be on the same page and know the short and long term plan for the property!
My husband and I have a few properties that we rent out and it takes up a lot of our time so we are thinking about hiring a property management company. You make a great point that you should find out how long the management company has been in business and how many rental properties they manage. This will show me how experienced they are and if they are reputable and my husband and I can trust them with our properties.
Absolutely! In all of my years experience with property management, time and experience are what lead us to be able to better serve our rental property owners. At this point, there is not much we have not seen or experienced – and with that comes great recommendations, better and more reliable advice, the ability to reduce your risk, and help you understand situations from an experienced perspective!
I agree, when you’re choosing a property management company then experience is definitely one of the first things you’ll want to look for. After all, you want to make sure that you are entrusting your property to a group of people that know what they are doing. A part of that would entail making sure that they have run properties similar to your own before and that they have been successful.
I really like how you mentioned that working with a property manager with an adequate amount of experience under his belt will significantly boost your chances of success. My sister-in-law is looking to rent out her property in the coming holiday season, but she’s still looking for the right property management company to help her out. I’ll be sure to share this article with her so she could screen out her prospects better. Thanks!
I like that you suggest asking the company how long they have been in business. Hiring a good property management company seems like it could really benefit a business. Hopefully, property owners look into finding the best management companies possible.
My brother and I are thinking of investing in some real estate, but we would want to hiring a property manager to take care of our properties for us since we’re both so busy. I appreciate how you suggest taking a careful look at the company’s experience before hiring them. I’ll take your advice and look at how long they’ve been in business along with how many different properties they manage.
I agree that a good property management company will have good systems in place for finding the best tenants. This will save a lot of time and money, like you said. You want to make sure they understand how to find quality tenants as well. It’s important to feel comfortable leaving that responsibility to them.
Finding the right property manager for your property seems like it would be extremely important. I really like that you point out that you should make sure and ask how long the company has been in business. Hopefully, anyone needing help with their property looks into finding the best property management possible.