Basics of Property Management: Screening Potential Tenants
Buying New Rental Properties? 2 Ways A Property Management Service Can Ease Your Stress
Jesse Obrien
If you are planning to buy new rental properties, there are many things you have to take care of. All of this can lead to a lot of stress on you. To help, a property management service company can ease a lot of your stress by offering many services to you. Below are two of these services so you can decide if you would like to hire this type of company.
1. Take Care Of Tenants
The property management service company can take care of tenants for you. For example, they can take care of paperwork when new tenants apply for one of your properties. This includes running a background check and checking their credit history. This way you know the tenant will always pay you on time each month.
If you have tenants that do not pay on time each month the property management service company can also take care of this for you. For example, they can evict tenants if you ask them to. They will ensure all the paperwork is done correctly. If the tenants signed a lease, they will have to pay you what they owe for the remaining months of the lease. The property management company can make sure you get this money.
If the tenants have problems with things like appliances, plumbing leaks, etc., the management company can hire the right type of company to repair these problems. If the tenants cause damage to any of the rental properties, the management company can also take care of this, such as making the tenant pay for the damage they caused.
2. Take Care of Landscaping
It is important that you maintain the landscaping of your properties. If they pull up and see things like overgrown grass and bushes, dead flowers, and more, this will give them a bad impression.
The property management company will ensure each yard is always kept mowed. For example, they may hire a landscaping company to set up a schedule, such as once a week, to mow the lawns. The management company can also have the landscaping company trim bushes to keep them all uniform in size. If there are no flowers planted, you should consider having some planted at each rental property. The landscaping company hired can take care of the flowers for the tenants. There may be some tenants that would like to take care of the flowers themselves as well. Having colorful flowers will improve the aesthetics of each property.
Talk with a property management service company to learn about other services they can offer you.
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For the last several years, I've used a property management firm to help with my rental properties. One of the tasks that they handle for me is screening applicants who would like to move into one of my vacant units. Their expertise has helped me lower my tenant turnover and find people who want to stay with me for years. Part of the process is a tenant screening credit check. Before any further contact takes place, my manager orders credit reports from at least two agencies. That is enough to tell us if an applicant is a good financial risk. Assuming the references work out, I meet the candidate and make the final decision. If you own rental properties, let me tell you more about the benefits of having a property manager. I'm betting you'll find this type of arrangement will work for you too.