The role a property manager will take is extensive. They’ll keep a handle on your legislative requirements, ensure compliances are met, conduct regular inspections on your property, manage the financial accounts, and many more.
This article will detail the main responsibilities of a property manager and offer some insight to what they can do for your property.
Property management is related to the process of managing a residential property for lease. Any home that is placed on the rental market will have a property manager. Many property investors will use a third-party property manager who may operator out of a real estate office, and some will choose to manage the property themselves.
A property manager is responsible for the daily operations of the property they are assigned. This can include ensuring maintenance is carried out on schedule, collecting rent, security, handling enquiries from the tennants, and general upkeep of the property. A proerty manager can take care of one residential property or several.
As the role of a property manger can be extensive, a team may be employed to handle large buildings with many residences. The property manager is ually the first port of call when there is a problem with the property. For example, if the hot water system needs to be replaced, the property manager may end up having a phone call from the tennent in the early hours of the morning!
If you ask most people, they may think all a property manager does is collect the rent. But, there are many aspects that make up the role of a property manager.
The tasks that a property manager will do may include:
If you have an third-party property manager take care of your property, then they’ll usually charge a portion of the rent as their fee. In Australia, this fee will vary from manager to manager and state to state, but a national average is around 7.5% of the rental income. You may find some property managers that charge a flat fee, but this is fairly uncommon.
Property management fees and leasing fees are the two main fees associated with engaging the services of a property manager. The property management fees relate to the ongoing costs of managing the property. Whereas the leasing fees are associated with the costs involved with finding and securing a tenant for the property. Leasing fees are only paid when a new tenant is required and they can range from 75% to 100% of one month’s rent.
The leasing fees will cover costs for leasing and these will include:
An easy way to remember the difference between these two fees is that you only pay the leasing fee when you have a new tenant, and you’ll pay the property management fee each month.
It is possible to self-manage a property you own and around a third of all tenancies operate in this manner. However, as the landlord it falls upon you to deal with the tenants, collec the rent, and manage the daily running of the property. Many investment property owners simply do not have the time required to take care of it. But, if you’re looking to save on your fees and feel confident you can do the job, then it is perfectly legal in Australia to manage your rental property yourself.
Being a property manager can be challenging for people not used to the work and hours required. Most real estate agents and investors will suggest that hiring a property manager is not only a smart idea, but it’ll save you money in the long run. For example, if your property is vacant do you have the time to vet all the prospective tenants?
You property is a valuable asset and it needs to be treated by a professional touch. Hiring an experienced property manager will be worth it, as they has access to a wealth of knowledge and will know what to do when problems arise. While you may find that managing your own property saves you money in fees and other costs, these are often lost due to the additional time it’ll take you to deal with any problems.
In addition to handling all sorts of problems and issues, you need to keep up to date with any legal changes for landlords. As a self managed property owner, you’ll need to enforce any changes to landlord and tenant legislation to ensure you are not in breach of any new laws. Failure to do so could mean significant penalties.
If you are keen on managing your property yourself, then here are few things that must be completed to ensure you’re successful:
Do your research, read as many reviews as possible about the property manager you’re looking to hire. Online review will give you a good guide for how a property manger performs at their job. Pay attention to how to property manager responds to comments, do they accept responsibility for problems and seek to fix them? Are they gracious when offered a complement?
Using local talent to manage your property is often a good idea. Hiring a property manager that works in the same area as you property will mean that have an insight on the types of tenant in that particular area. You can use this local knowledge to your advantage and find the ideal tenant.
Ask you property manager lots of questions. The only silly question is the one you didn’t ask. Any property manager is looking to secure you as a client, so you’ll get patient responses to all your questions. If they can’t answer a specific question, a good manager will admit they’re not sure and seek to follow up with you later.
If the property manager has answered all your questions and you’ve thoroughly checked their reviews, you should have a clear indication for who is the best person to take care of your property.