If you own one home or several you have probably consid
Posted: September 11th, 2015
If you own one home or several you have probably considered hiring a property manager in West Palm Beach.
by Glenn Gurvitch
This article might help you make that decision once and for all. There is a difference between a good lawyer and a bad lawyer, same goes with barbers, landscapers, Doctors and property managers. A good property manager can rent your home for more money with less vacancies and with less maintenance costs. Many landlords have the time, flexibility and resources to manage their own properties. But for some owners without the proper experience and resources managing your own home can be a nightmare or just not even feasible because of proximity to the rental property.
To Hire or Not to Hire a West Palm Beach Property Manager?
If you are going to hire a property manager call around and see what the costs and the hidden costs. Also see what type of professionalism and commitment you are getting from the property management company. If you think you can do it alone be prepared, organized and consult your attorney for lease preparation, three day notices and security deposit handling.
Its not that hard to manage your property but what does a Property Manager do?
Typically a good property manager will act on your behalf several times a week in the following capacity: preparing your home to be rent ready, marketing your home, showing your home to prospective tenants, screening your potential tenants, conducting a move in video and walkthrough of your property on the day of move in, speak to your tenant regarding ongoing maintenance, preparing monthly statements accounting for all funds received and paid, preparing yearly accounting statements, etc.
Most importantly we as property managers are the point of contact for all tenant repairs and emergencies. Sometimes repairs can be made over the phone through some investigative questioning and will save the cost of a service call.
How many properties do you own in West Palm Beach and do you have time to manage them?
Most of our clients have a single home that they are moving away from because of work or they inherited from their parents. Some of our clients also have a few dozen properties or are institutional investors. Your proximity to your rental properties and your flexibility of being able to drop what your doing to mange these homes will determine if you can manage your own properties. If you have more than 2 units or live far away from your rental properties you should definitely call us regarding possibly managing your investments
Do you know contractors and repair personnel?
Most people might know a local repair man that might show up or might not. If you are going to manage your own home in West Palm Beach you should be able to have contacts that can take care of all possible repairs. Put together a list of contractors you can count on. You will need a Electrician, Plumber, HVAC Company, general handyman, carpet cleaner, general cleaner, landscaper, vent cleaner and probably a few more good people.
Are you busy? Do you want to devote time to this?
If you are like most investors with a 9 to 5 job or running your own small business the last thing you want to do when you get home is run over across town to micromanage a plumbing or AC repair.
Is your property vacant?
Vacancies can hurt your yearly return of investment. So instead of wondering why your home is vacant ask yourself do you have a sign in front of the property? Are you on the MLS? Zillow? Hotpads? Craigslist? We handle 100’s of properties in West Palm Beach and can usually fill vacancies in two weeks or less because of our exposure and our connections to a large pool or prospective tenants.
How much does a property manager charge?
Most property managers charge a full month’s rent for tenant placement and small fee ranging from 10% to 13% of monthly rent collected. In addition to these fees some West Palm Beach Property Managers charge lease renewal fees, security deposit handling fees, three day notice fees, etc. My Area Realty, Inc. only charges two fees which is a initial tenant placement fee and a monthly management fee. We do not charge lease renewal fees, markup on maintenance, lease prep fees, security deposit handling fees or any other type of fees. We always have someone on call to handle a tenant emergency 24/7 and handle maintenance requests in a prompt fashion.
If you are looking for a property manager to manage your portfolio or single home please call us at 561-358-6755 and speak to one of our property managers.