Property Management and Investor Information: December 2007

Find a property manager that answers the phone during working hours.  Some property managers have no provisions to handle problems while they are out of the office. What if you need an answer to your pressing question and no one is there to give you an answer?  The important point is that your renter may need a water heater fixed on a week day, at night, or a weekend.  What does your property manager have set to handle such events?  A good way to check is this out is to call after hours and hear what the procedure is.  I would also suggest calling the property management company during the day to hear what the response time is.  It may not be immediate, but is should be reasonable.

Does the property manager's website have a method for residents to report maintenance problems?  As I mentioned in Part 1, web presense is very important.  80% of renters are now using the web to locate rentals and they will continue to use the website if the property manager has an accomodation for them.

Another element in Communication is the distance your property is to the property management company's office.  The fact is, the farther your rental property home is from the property management office, the less likely your property will be shown to prospects and the less likely your tenant will receive great service.  I suggest that you make sure that your rental house, duplex, condominium, or apartment is within 30 minutes drive time to the property management office.  More than this will most likely result in diminished service.

NEXT:  Part 3:  Screening Renters

If you are in the market for a property manager for your single family home, duplex, condominium, or small apartment you may want to read this. 

 There are many factors to consider when looking for a professional property management company.  I believe the first method to use to narrow your search is to see which of the various property management companies show up on the major search engines.  I would not be too concerned if they show up using search terms like:  property manager, or property management, or professional property manager in (your city).  What I would care about is if the vacancies they have show up under searches like rentals in (your city), or houses for rent in (your city), or homes for rent in (your city).  Think  of search terms a prospectiver renter might use and see what companies listed vacancies show up.  Note that the company's own web site may or may not show up.  It is their listings that you want to see.  They may show up in googlebase.com, craigslist.net, or vast.com, or oodle.com to name a few of the sites that carry property for rent.  For my money I want a property management company that is all over the internet with listings, getting me the widest possible exposure.  That will help keep my home rented, and rented for more money and hopefully to a better tenant.

 NEXT:  Selecting a Property Manager Part 2  Communication  

The current Sacramento rental market for single family homes is holding steady.  At HomePointe Property Management we have seen new accounts from investors dry up over the past year.  However, due to the slow sales market, many new clients are signing up to rent their homes because they cannot sell.  Renters are still out there and we have seen an increase in people looking that are walking away from their mortgage.  The downturn is taking homes out of circulation as the banks take title. It looks like it will be many months before the sales market will improve.  As this drags on, rents may start to go up, especially if our population continues to grow.  If you currently own rental property it is time to hold on and watch the market for the opportunity to raise rents.