Renting your properties to tenants can be a great source of income, but that income is hardly passive when you have to handle tenant complaints, repairs, improvements, rent collection, and other tasks yourself.
A property manager can help. With their expertise, you can save time and money. They’ll also provide peace of mind through their knowledge of the market, best practices, and more. Let’s delve deeper into what a property manager can do for you.
Things To Consider
There are a number of factors that can influence whether or not hiring a property manager is the right choice for you and when to hire a property manager. Here are a few of the most important considerations:
Is your rental property nearby?
When your rental property is right next to your home or your place of work, it’s not as much of a hassle to show prospective tenants around the property or pop in for routine maintenance.
On the other hand, if your property is in another neighbourhood—or worse yet, another city—managing it can be more than just inconvenient. You’ll have to factor in the cost of transportation to properly budget for your properties. You’ll also have to factor in travel time to get a better idea of how much you’re making for every hour of effort you put in.
Then there are emergencies—you don’t want to have to travel for hours when a tenant has suddenly abandoned their suite or damage has been done to the property.
Property managers handle travel and travel expenses for you; if you live far from your rental property, property managers can be a real boon.
How many units do you own?
The math here is simple—the more units you own, the more effort you’ll have to put into managing your properties. You’ll have to deal with:
- More maintenance
- More tenant complaints
- More missed payments
- More travel
- More emergencies
- More vacancies
The list goes on. The more properties you have, the more work you’ll need to put into managing them. That’s obvious—but what might not be obvious is that a property manager can help you manage all of your properties. Instead of having to worry about calls from hundreds of tenants, you can trust your property manager to handle everything for you. It’s about as close to passive income as you can get!
Do you have property management experience?
You won’t develop the skills you need to manage a property without experience. When you’ve only got a single unit to handle, or you’re managing something like an Airbnb, you’ll have time to develop experience on the job. You’ll probably make some mistakes and lose money—but that’s how most business ventures often go at the start.
On the other hand, many entrepreneurs find themselves overwhelmed with having to manage several properties simultaneously—all with no experience. That can lead to serious problems—high turnover, damaged property, and even legal trouble.
By hiring an experienced property manager, you’ll alleviate all of these concerns. A good property manager can handle everything for you—addressing tenant concerns, handling maintenance and repairs, collecting rent, and even finding new tenants.
How available are you?
Your schedule will dictate how much time you can devote to your properties. Think about your work: Do you travel often? Are you constantly working late?
Work is only one part of your life, too. Work-life balance is essential. If you’re working and managing your properties, will you be able to spend time with your family and friends?
Hiring a property manager can restore your work-life balance and even give you great options for almost effortless income streams during retirement. You may even be able to retire early!
How property managers can improve your bottom line
We’ve already covered a number of the skills you need to be a property manager, and the factors that can make managing your own property a challenge.
Property managers can help you obtain a much greater return on investment. They boost the profitability of your investment properties. With a great property manager on your team, you can see:
- Lower vacancy rates
- Higher quality property maintenance
- Lower repair costs (due to the manager’s established network of qualified labourers, and fewer repairs needed due to high quality maintenance)
- Higher tenant satisfaction and longer term tenants
- Better tenants through the property manager’s vetting process
- Reduced risk thanks to the property manager’s knowledge of rules and regulations
- Improved monthly accounting
- Accurate pricing to improve profitability
These are just a few of the many benefits you’ll see thanks to your property manager’s knowledge and expertise.
Keep in mind that reputable property managers like Prospect Property Management will only take on properties if they truly believe they can make your property more profitable. By improving the properties we work with, we improve our reputation and garner long-term clients, all while increasing your ability to increase profitability and invest in more properties.
Conclusion
At Prospect Property Management, we have the skills and experience needed to successfully manage properties in Winnipeg and the surrounding area. You’ll be able to save time and improve your bottom line with our services. Learn what we can do for you—call us today!