Basics of Property Management: Screening Potential Tenants
Working With a Real Estate Company to Manage Your Apartments
Jesse Obrien
Managing more than a few apartments is often difficult unless you work at it full time. Working with a real estate or management company to oversee your apartment complexes can help you keep up with the day-to-day tasks of managing the property and can make the complex more profitable.
1. Tenant Screening
Apartment complexes often have a higher turnover of tenants than a private house or duplex rental in the same area. Screening the potential tenants and finding the best ones for your apartment complexes can be a lot of work, but working with a property manager or real estate company to oversee the interviews and decide who will rent from you can be a huge help.
If you do not live nearby, you will not get the chance to talk to the person and get some impression of them, but your real estate company can, and often they will make recommendations and then let you make the choices about who gets the apartments that are available for rent.
Often meeting the prospective renters is the best way to get some sense of their character and respectfulness. You want to be sure that the renters in your rental complexes will be respectful and take care of the property while they are there, and having a real estate company to oversee it and make those decisions can be very helpful.
2. Managing Repairs
It is almost inevitable that you will have some repairs that need to be taken care of at your apartment complexes. Having a mechanic or handyman on the job is an excellent first step, but your real estate company can manage repairs and upgrades for you if you need them to. The representative from the real estate company will often act as a liaison between tenants and maintenance personnel to ensure that if something is broken, the maintenance department gets it fixed.
If the required repairs are too much for the maintenance worker on the property, the real estate company can hire a contractor to make repairs that are going to be a little more advanced for a small maintenance team can handle.
Keeping your apartment complexes looking good and ensuring things work while people are renting from you is essential. When tenants give reviews, the only ones you want to see are the glowing reports of your complexes and who once it is to live there. The small details that the real estate company often handles can help create that kind of environment on your property.
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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.