If you are a property owner, you may find yourself juggling one too many responsibilities. This is especially true if you own a number of properties. It’s in this kind of situation where property managers may come in to your rescue. Entrusting your property to someone is not an easy feat but a possible one. The question is, where do we start?

Establish the responsibilities

The common responsibilities of a property manager are the following:

• advertising and promotion of vacant rental properties through online and offline advertising
• tenant eligibility screening
• liaising between the tenant and landlord during the leasing process
• conducting house inspections and reports

Simply put it, these are the responsibilities that could be lifted off from your shoulders. But if you think that you require help more than the ones included in this list, you could surely find an agency that could cater to your additional needs. You just have to be clear, precise and transparent with your needs.

While we’re on the topic of finding the perfect fit, when looking for a rental property agency, you can use these questions as guide:

1. What is their leasing process? Are there options as to how to access maintenance requests, statements and other documents that you can check anytime of the day?
2. Do they have a list of in-house maintenance for urgent tenant requests? Do they have a list of trusted service partners?

Knowing the agency’s internal processes and systems is a good gauge to figure out if they fit your criteria.

Maintain good lines of communication

The landlord and the property manager should agree on schedules and channels of communication. This way, both are able to strike the balance between communicating enough and asserting boundaries. Both landlords and property managers are expected to respond promptly through the agreed channels.

Set realistic expectations

Establishing trust between two parties isn’t built in days. Trust is built over the course of harmonious relationship for months or years, even. During the course of the engagement, there will surely be bumps along the road. When experiencing challenges, focus on how your property managers handle the situation. This will instead give you the perspective of how good they are in carrying out their responsibilities.

A good relationship between a landlord and a property manager means increased tenant satisfaction. This will therefore lead to a pleasant and profitable experience for everyone involved. Customer satisfaction is essential to keep a tenant and increase the likelihood of them renewing their contract.

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