Can You Manage Your Rental Property Yourself? Here’s How to Know
Are you thinking about investing in a rental property in Portland Oregon, or elsewhere across the United States?
One of the most important questions to ask yourself after you purchase that rental property is: can I manage this property myself?
Taking the time to really assess all your daily responsibilities, and then asking yourself if you have what it takes to manage rental property is important because managing a rental property can literally be a second job and you must be prepared for the responsibilities that come with it.
What Does a Property Manager Actually Do?
Even though some people may tell you that owning and managing a rental property is easy because all you do is collect the rent and be ready to handle the occasional service request from your tenant, the reality is that it’s a lot more complicated than you think.
Yes, you’ll gain a lot of experience when you manage your rental property but, if you’re already working full time, and you have a family, that rental property can take up hours of your time during a normal week and it can easily overwhelm you.
Here are several key responsibilities that you will be expected to administer once you start managing your Portland Oregon rental property:
Rental Property Marketing
The first thing that every property manager must do is market the rental property that they are responsible for managing when it’s vacant.
Sadly, many owners fail at property marketing because, they don’t take the time to get their property ready for rent, and it shows.
Tenants are not stupid; they know when a rental property has not been well maintained and they will pass up those properties in favor of single-family or multifamily homes that are owned by owners who have invested the time in maintenance and updates for those properties.
Before renting your property it’s advisable to take the time to thoroughly assess what needs to be improved or renovated then make those repairs or improvements first before shooting pictures and videos of the property to post along with your rental listing online.
The good news is that if you’re not a fan of property marketing, hiring a property management company like Rent Portland Homes – Professionals can save you the time, money, and hassle of marketing that property yourself.
Our property management team excels at property marketing, and you can expect your rental to be listed on the top websites across the Internet that your ideal tenants are paying attention to daily.
Tenant Selection
Once you start marketing your property online, the next thing that you’ll have to be prepared to do is to screen and place the most qualified tenant in that rental property.
Tenant selection is sadly one of the least favorite things of many owners because they don’t like having to take the time to investigate and confirm if the tenant is indeed qualified to rent that property or not.
Doing a thorough background and credit check during the tenant selection process is essential because these checks will give you the ability to know the character and quality of the tenant that you’re thinking about renting to.
A rental property manager can also save you the hassle of having to go through the tenant selection process yourself.
What’s ideal about hiring a property management company like rent Portland Homes – Professionals utilize the latest tenant screen technology so that we can screen and place the most qualified tenants possible to live in our client’s rental properties.
Rent Collection
Rent collection is by far one of the most important tasks that come with being a property manager because, the income that you earn from your rental property means that you can use it towards paying your mortgage, bills, and other expenses related to that property on a monthly basis.
Even though many people think that all landlords must do is collect a check, or rent payments each month, the truth is that there are always going to be some tenants that don’t pay their rent on time.
When you encounter these tenants, you must be willing to pursue them with determination, while enforcing your own rules on your lease because, if your tenant knows that they could pay their rent late one time, they’re going to take advantage of your generosity and know that they can pay that rent late again in the future.
If you’re unwilling to collect yourself, it’s best to hire a property manager to facilitate this process because, when you work with a professional property management company, you can have peace of mind in knowing that the rent will be collected on time from your tenants on time so that you don’t have to focus on doing this yourself.
Be Ready for Tenant Turnover
Another common thing to be ready for when you own rental properties is tenant turnover.
Tenant turnover is going to happen because, as you add more rental properties to your portfolio of investment properties, you’re going to have tenants who will be moving in and moving out of your rental properties every 12 months.
One of the keys to success being a landlord is having the ability to easily facilitate tenant turnover. This means that from the moment that your tenant informs you they’re going to be moving out within 30 days, you should already be taking steps to schedule the property inspection, handle maintenance or repairs, and market that rental property to prospective tenants online.
You shouldn’t wait more than 30 days to market a vacant rental property because, the longer that property sits on the market vacant, you will will have to cover the mortgage, and other costs of that rental property yourself.
Yes, a property manager can also assist you with tenant turnover because property management teams like rent Portland Homes – Professionals have in-house maintenance professionals working on our staff.
Our in-house maintenance team makes it possible for us to quickly facilitate tenant turnover, make repairs or improvements to properties, and get them in ready condition to list them online.
The tasks that we’ve listed in this article are just some of the responsibilities that come with being a property manager but, there are a variety of other things that you’ll have to be responsible for on a regular basis including:
- Handling tenant complaints
- Making timely repairs
- Routinely inspecting your rental properties
- Staying up to date with landlord-tenant laws
- Ensuring the complete satisfaction of your tenants
- Improving your rental properties on an annual basis
Not Ready to Manage Rental Properties Yourself?
Let’s face it, if fulfilling all these tasks listed in this article sound less than appealing to you, maybe it’s time that you hire a property manager instead of attempting to manage your rental property yourself.
Besides saving you time and money, a property management company will also help you to enjoy earning passive income from that rental property so that you can continue living your life without your rental property turning into a 2nd or 3rd job.
To learn more about the property management services that we can offer you, contact us today by calling (503) 447-7735 or click here to connect with us online.
