The Bottom Line

The San Fernando Valley property manager you hire can make or break your investment, especially when it comes to the competitive market that is property management in L.A. and surrounding areas. You want to be working with an experienced property manager who can consistently provide you with the results you need. You especially need a strong property manager when you live far from your property or when you don’t have the time to manage your rental property.

An experienced manager can help you attract quality tenants, improve the overall quality of your rental profit and help you make more profit. You might think the only downside of hiring management is that it eats into your bottom line. Most companies collect between 8% and 12% of the monthly rent paid by the tenant.  But the best will earn you far more than they charge, over the long haul.

When you hire a good manager, they will help you to:

• Find quality tenants
• Collect rent on time
• Put your property in an excellent condition if it isn’t currently, and maintain it expertly if it is
• Keep your tenants happy
• Handle any delinquency situations, and possibly evictions

If your management company cannot do all of the above, you may need to fire him and get yourself another firm. Some sure signs that you should rethink who is assigned management include:

Five Critical Points

1. Lack of Communication

Your property manager needs to be proactive when it comes to communicating with you. A good property manager should report regularly to the property owner. If your property manager doesn’t report to you regularly and doesn’t return your calls or emails, you should have a talk with him. If the situation does not improve, you may consider firing him.

2. Lack of Property Inspections

It is your property manager’s duty to inspect the property regularly. Many good property managers will conduct a yearly inspection of the property interiors and a quarterly inspection of the exterior. Actually interior inspection every 6 months are best, and at LAPMG, that’s the policy.  Your property manager needs to be living up to this expectation, if he is not, you may consider replacing him.

3. Too Many Bad Tenants

If you are not getting great tenants, it means that your property manager is not doing his work well. Simply put, this job is now easy with technology – criminal background checks, credit scores, prior evictions…it’s all the click of a mouse these days, and getting on the phone to talk to prior landlords.  It’s the duty of then property manager to screen tenants in order to reduce the chances of attracting bad tenants. Bad tenants will usually cause you a lot of trouble and may even cause you to lose good tenants.

4. Lack of Attention To Your Tenants

It is the responsibility of your property manager to handle the complaints of your tenants. Your manager should attend to every tenant. They should let you know of any needed repairs and then arrange for the job to get done in a timely manner. A good property manager should never leave your tenants stranded. Not making repairs or attending to a tenants’ complaint will lead to tenants moving out of your property. You shouldn’t let this affect your reputation and business. You need to take action by replacing the property manager as soon as possible.

5. No Monthly Report

Your management team should give you monthly report of your income and expenses related to your property. Every report submitted should show how much rent collected in the month and deduction of maintenance fees as well as management fees.  You need to query them if you are not getting a monthly report. If you are still not getting the report after asking him, you should consider replacing him.

Summary

In the final analysis,  if your manager isn’t taking the job of managing your property seriously, there are those that will.