MSN Real Estate published an article titled, “How smart landlords handle rentals.” This article outlines specific details that often separate successful landlords from the not-so-success landlords.
The factors outlined in this article are:
- Do your due diligence
- Check references
- Buy adequate insurance
- Just say no to form leases
- Heed environmental matters
- Consider hiring a property manager
These are the six factors the writers of this article saw as the six defining factors between smart landlords and the rest.
I found this list to be interesting because if you followed the last piece of advice four of the five previous factors are already being handled. As a property management company, we take care of due diligence, references, leases and environmental factors. In fact if you count our tenant payment gaurantee program then that counts half way to insurance as well. That being said, wouldn’t the really really smart landlords be the ones that hire a property manager?
Shameless self promotion, I know, but MSN brought it up first.
There are really two types of landlords; there are people who get into the business because they enjoy it, and there are people who get into this business purely to make money.
Those, who do this because they enjoy it have no need for a property manager. Those are the people who don’t mind handling the phone. They like meeting perspective tenants, giving apartment tours and responding to maintenance requests. Throughout my years in this business, I have met many landlords, who truly enjoy their work. And they wouldn’t give it up for anything. Mind you, they are still in it for a profit, but they enjoy their profession.
The second group of people includes the ones who should consider working with a property manager. If you are in this business solely for the potential profit, than you need to consider how much your time is worth.
Being a landlord is very time consuming. While using a property manager costs money, it also eliminates all the time you would be spending on your investment. Your rental properties would become an investment, opposed to a job.
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With more than 60 years of investment property management experience, and a current portfolio approaching 500 units, our expert team can relieve you of the burden of managing your rental property while saving you some serious money! Call us today at (440) 220-7300 to see how we can help you!
