There are more than 40 million homes that are rented in the United States.
If you are thinking about renting your property, you can make extra income and help others. Although this is a great way to make money, it still has its challenges and responsibilities.
Continue reading to discover some of the best property management tips to give your residents a spectacular place to stay!
1. Convenience Is Key
One of the best property management tips is to make things as convenient as you can.
If you are having residents pay in person with a check or cash, it is easy for payments to go missing or unpaid. Giving your residents an online option to pay their rent can help ensure that you get all of your money.
Residents can also use these online resources to stay up-to-date and in communication with you.
You can require residents to use automatic, online payments when signing the lease or offer it while testing the process out. There are many online rent payment companies that you can work through if you are unsure where to begin.
2. Choose Your Residents Wisely
When you rented your first apartment, you may have wondered why there were so many requirements to take care of before moving in.
Background checks, talking to renters, and calling references may seem a bit excessive, but they are necessary. Neglecting to do these things can result in your letting irresponsible people move into your property. To have the best community within your rental space, you need it filled with the best people.
Make sure that you do not discriminate during the screening process. Finding your residents should be a thoughtful process that involves various steps.
3. Maintain the Property
Another rule that you should follow while owning property is to check on it and maintain the space.
Every couple of weeks or months, you should inspect the property for damage or repair issues. By keeping up with the maintenance of your building, you can prevent large damage that costs more.
Working with a residential home remodeling company can help if you don’t have time to make repairs and upgrades yourself. Before any resident moves in, you should fully inspect and repair their building.
4. Perfect Your Lease
If you want to be a successful property manager, you must ensure that your lease is perfected and doesn’t change often.
Make sure that your lease is easy to understand, fair, and strong. Don’t use written leases that can easily be changed if you don’t have to. Even month to month rentals should be documented.
You can have your lawyer look over your lease to ensure that there are no loose ends. Although most residents will be pleasant and cooperative, you may come across some that try to manipulate the lease.
The best thing to do is to be prepared for these situations so that they never become a problem. Don’t have residents sign your lease until it is complete.
5. Don’t Let Things Slide
As mentioned above, most tenants are cooperative.
However, you will eventually come across more difficult people that try to overstay their contracts or don’t follow your rules.
When these sorts of things occur, you must not hesitate to use notices and warnings. Depending on the situation, you can decide when to give notice to residents. Although this can be difficult, it can help prevent you from having to evict someone.
Make sure that when you send out notices, it is documented. Some people may try to take you to court, so you should do whatever you can to be prepared.
This isn’t to say that you should never give people any leeway in the time of their stay. Putting your foot down when you’re feeling taken advantage of, however, is a good idea.
6. Offer Excellent Service
To keep your properties filled with tenants, you must make sure that they are satisfied and getting their money’s worth.
If you rent apartments and property, you will want to make sure that everything is cleaned up and repairs can be made swiftly. You want your tenants or businesses to be able to trust you and know that you care about customer satisfaction.
When you are managing property, you must treat every person fairly and with respect. If complaints are made, do what you can to reasonably make accommodations. Once you have good tenants, they won’t want to leave if they like where they stay.
7. Give Back Deposits
Unless there is major damage or evidence that rules were neglected, you should do your best to give residents their deposits back.
Some instances that may cause you to keep the deposit, however, can be if a tenant broke their contract, abandoned the property, or has unpaid rent. Other things that you should keep deposits for at if there is any smoke damage (on no-smoking properties) or animal damage.
You should never withhold deposits from people that you are upset with or because they found a way out of their lease. Just because someone can find a loophole, doesn’t mean they should lose this money.
Use These Property Management Tips
If you are renting property or working as a landlord, you likely understand the importance of rules.
Utilizing these property management tips can help you become more efficient and offer your residents a better place to stay. All of this can result in a more profitable business so that you can start saving money.
Be sure to check out our blog for more articles about home rentals and preparing your space with remodels!
