Earning massive amounts of passive income by renting residential property is a popular way for many homeowners to increase their net worth. However, once you start renting properties, you might find that the job of being a landlord is not as desirable as cashing rent checks. This is understandable because managing properties is a niche job in and of itself. To succeed at it, you must know a variety of construction-related and business-related things in order to succeed.
As a result, hiring a property manager could be the solution to help you enjoy the passive income rental properties represent without having to have a second or third job. This article will explore what these companies have to offer, and what qualities you should look out for when choosing your letting agent if you’ve opted to go for this route.
Automated repairs
Of course, repairs are never actually automatic. Someone has to take a report and schedule maintenance. Once the supplies are in hand, the actual repairs have to be completed, and then the report needs to be documented. However, if you hire a property manager, the person to do all this is not you, so it seems automated. In fact, with a property manager, you also do not have to worry about making sure everything is covered by insurance, and if the repairs are not done to specification, you do not have to re-do everything.
Rent enforcement
Extracting rent from people who do not want to pay it can be unpleasant. Not only do missing rent payments impact your income and livelihood, but they also lead to evictions, which are notoriously emotional and messy. If your tenants have children and you have to throw the entire family out on the streets, it is a much better solution to have the property manager oversee this situation. For instance, if you see those crying children, you just might give in and let the family stay rent free for the next several months.
Property managers, however, are ruthless professionals ready to help ensure your rent payments are recovered. This bit of exaggeration aside, property managers are obviously not ruthless. However, they are professional, and they can ensure that messy situations do not impact you.
Provides a layer of safety
It is never a bad idea to put a layer of anonymity or protection between a renter and the owner, and a property manager accomplishes this.
Schedule
One of the most difficult aspects of being a landlord is how it can eventually impact your schedule. For instance, repairs are a legal requirement that any tenant can demand, and these repairs cannot nor should not be delayed. Doing so can open up legal problems, and they can end up creating deferred-care problems in your house, which often leads to other repair requirements.
However, if you have to do the work yourself on several properties, you can find yourself unable to oversee any other business you might own. Relying on a property manager to shoulder this ongoing burden of time keeps you free to research, develop, and secure other properties. It also allows you to simply hold down a regular job without having to take care of rental properties during the evening hours.
Tenant selection
A property manager from a known company like Ipswich Property Management will do the job of finding and screening tenants. This is the one thing managers are trained to do, and it is the one factor that determines if your property will be profitable or miserable and costly.
Marketing
Of course, finding a tenant requires marketing, and marketing, itself, is a niche activity that requires experience to be done successfully. Without the experience a property manager can offer, you can spend a lot of money and even more weeks and months attempting to make your property seem attractive to prospective renters. A property manager, however, already has the marketing infrastructure in place to create ads, take property photos, and pay for online listings to ensure people find your property.
Higher annual profits
As with any business, the annual profit is what matters. Although a property manager will not come at zero cost, you will discover that your property is rented more often with one than without one. As such, the overall profit you experience will likely be higher. If you have one small property, this might not be the case. If, however, you have a premium property or several properties, a property manager can keep those homes occupied while juggling all the rental-related issues that come up. This adds up to a higher and more consistent income for you