Although it might sound easy to earn a little extra cash by investing in an income property, many new landlords find the job of working with tenants and caring for apartments incredibly challenging. In addition to being faced with tough situations involved with a few bad renters, you might also have to figure out how to fix that broken dishwasher during your busy week.
Fortunately, there are businesses specifically tailored to help landlords manage their rentals. Here are two reasons you should hire a property management company for tenant services to help you out.
1: Screen Potential Tenants
If you are like most landlords, you might lie awake at night worrying about renting to the wrong family. Messy, difficult tenants who don't pay attention to your rental rules might cause expensive apartment damage or create difficult situations.
Fortunately, property management companies frequently offer convenient services like screening potential renters for you. Here are a few things that they might look at to help you to make the best decision.
- Credit Report: Believe it or not, you can tell a lot about a person by looking at their credit history. In addition to being able to tell whether or not a potential tenant has a history of making payments on time, you might also be able to tell if the person has had intense financial problems in the past, like declaring bankruptcy.
- Criminal History: Nobody wants to rent an apartment to someone with a history of dangerous behavior. By inspecting your potential tenant's criminal history, a tenant services company would be able to let you know about past run-ins with the law, including violent or sexual crimes.
- Previous Evictions: Depending on where you live, credit reports might also include information about previous evictions, so that you can avoid dealing with the same situation.
To run a credit check on potential tenants, property management companies will have interested renters fill out a basic application that requests the person's social security number. Learning more about the different applicants can help you to narrow down your choices so that you can rent your apartment to the best person available.
2: Handle Day-to-Day Responsibilities
Anyone who has ever managed a property knows how time consuming it can be to deal with the normal day-to-day responsibilities involved with the job. After you interview potential renters, gather move-in paperwork, and go over the rules, you still have to make sure that their experience is as pleasant as possible along the way.
In addition to answering questions about the apartment and dealing with property repairs, you also have to collect monthly rent. When tenants move out, you have to start the entire process all over again. Because it isn't always easy to return calls quickly or fix things if you live far away from the property, your tenants might have a bad experience unless you work with a property management company.
Businesses that specialize in property management are usually available around the clock to help tenants with emergency issues. These businesses also usually hire professional contractors to take care of service calls, so you won't have to worry about traveling to your property or trying to figure out how to repair that damaged appliance on your own. Instead of worrying about 3am phone calls from panicked tenants, you can let someone else take care of the hard part of managing your income suite.
Tenants love property management companies because they have an easy way to report new problems and pay their monthly bill. Instead of uncomfortable exchanges with the person who has an emotional connection to the apartment, they will have the opportunity to call a hotline, take care of their business, and get on with their day.
By working with a property management company, you might be able to sit back, relax, and enjoy your additional income without a lot of hassle.
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