08 May Self-Managed Property vs. Professional Property Management
Prior to choosing a professional property management company such as Metro Property Services, some home or property owners consider self-managing their properties. If you are going through this process yourself or know someone who is on the fence about professional property management vs. self-managing, this post will help.
There are many common pitfalls of self-managing your property. The main one is not operating your property management as a business. Property management is often seen as a retirement hobby, but it is, in fact a full-time 24/7 job. When you are dealing with individual tenants, there is no way to anticipate all issues that may arise and having a professional property management company to handle these things for you is a huge stress reliever.
A key factor in having a positive property rental experience is finding the right tenants. This is achieved by locating individuals who are screened to match your specific needs. Here at MPS, we pre-screen all applicants, performing full background checks to verify credit, employment history and residence. As a professional property management company, we have access to information that individuals seeking to self-manage their properties just wouldn’t have.
Another crucial aspect of professional property management is having a thorough understanding of California landlord and tenant laws. Without this, individuals seeking to self-manage would actually put themselves at a great liability. As a professional property management company, we understand the landlord/tenant laws and can help you, the property owner, understand them as well.
Sometimes the need may arise for a home repair. As a professional property management company serving the Los Angeles Westside, we have a trusted network of contractors and repair people who we’ve worked with and know we can trust. When a tenant has an issue in the middle of the night, wouldn’t you rather them call us?
Other pitfalls of self-managing property include not enforcing policies such as late-fees on rent, failing to carry out annual inspections or replace smoke alarm batteries, and entering the property without proper reason or notice. Often, self-managed properties aren’t maintained the way they should be, causing depreciation.
One of the biggest reasons we hear as to why people want to self-manage is cost. But did you know that self-managed properties often have rent that is not set to current market rates? Combine that with the other issues we’ve covered here and it’s easy to see how one might lose money from self-managing properties. Poor record keeping and failure to have necessary written agreements might even mean that a landlord would have to deal with legal issues.
If you are still wondering if professional property management is the choice for you, please give us a call at (310) 220-4495 or visit our website to learn more about Metropolitan Leasing and Management! We are always happy to consult, free of charge to offer you advice about how to proceed with your home or property.