The Deadly Sins of Property Management
The property management landscape is full of ticking time bombs waiting to explode. From tenants, owners, housing authorities or service people, property managers face an incredibly long list of potential hazards. Here are some of the deadly sins property managers commit that cost them time, money and most importantly, profit.
Deadly Sin #1-Renting to the Wrong Tenants
Property managers who choose the wrong tenants are in for serious headaches. Tenants who don’t pay rent on time or destroy the rentals cost property managers and their owner’s thousands of dollars. It pays to properly screen tenants, and in the long run saves managers from the expense of continually replacing bad tenants.
Deadly Sin #2- Not Using Technology
Property managers who don’t leverage the technology available today are wasting time and money and are way behind their competition. Technology helps managers keep track of rental payments, maintain service requests and conduct tenant credit and background checks. A new trend is cloud-based software platforms specifically for property management. The software provides 24/7 access to all critical rental data without the need to share information on one document.
Deadly Sin #3- Deferring Maintenance
Rental properties are an investment, and those investments require regular maintenance. The “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality doesn’t work in today’s rental market. Deferring maintenance causes property values to fall, especially in rentals that are in obvious need of maintenance. Property managers who defer maintenance now to save money will wind up spending more in the future.
Deadly Sin #4- No Written Agreements
The days of a “gentleman’s handshake” are long gone. A handshake agreement today isn’t worth much unless the parties took pictures of the handshake with their smartphones along with accompanying written agreements. Property managers who defend or present their cases to the court must have written agreements to back their cases, whether the documents are lease agreements, move in move out inspection reports or rent credits.
If you’re looking for property management services, contact the Michigan property management company Mutual Property Management today.