If you are a property investor, it may have crossed your mind if it is better to hire a property manager or manage your rental home on your own.

Before choosing an option, it is best to review first the main duties expected from a landlord. This way, you can assess better if you can completely manage all the tasks yourself or need dedicated support from a professional team.

Keep in mind that some of these responsibilities can equate to sacrificing your time and can also be costly if done on your own.

Main Duties of Landlords

Here are some of the regular duties you must perform to succeed in the rental property industry.

Maintaining the Rental Property

As a landlord, you must prioritize keeping up with property maintenance and repair. You need to arrange for periodic property inspections to check if there are potential issues that you can fix right away to avoid heavy future expenses.

Property emergencies can also occur but you can avoid some of these critical situations by ensuring your home systems are properly maintained. You also need to deal with wear and tear, especially if you own a vacation home since it is often occupied by many people, leading to more decline.

a-person-inspecting-property

When performing property inspections, carry a list to ensure that you checked everything. Inspect the gutters, roof, and home systems and spot signs of mold or pest infestation. If tenants report any of these issues, schedule an exterminator right away.

Dealing With Vacant Units

An empty rental can mean an opportunity loss. As a landlord, you need to craft more ads and think up strategies, which can include creating video property tours to engage more potential renters.

After finding potential candidates, run a tenant screening to ensure the selection of the right tenant. Your tenant screening process must be detailed and compliant with the Fair Housing Act to avoid discriminating against anyone.

You must review the tenant’s history, employment, and background to protect yourself from renters who don’t pay on time or cause damage to the property. Additionally, it is best to set aside a budget to prepare yourself for vacancy and have time to find a suitable resident.

Managing Tenant Relationships

You are also responsible for resolving your tenants’ concerns. It should be your priority to cultivate open communication. They must be able to contact you when they have property issues to report or experience a property emergency.

Remember, tenants who are satisfied with their landlords and the property tend to become long-term residents. You need to ensure the well-being of your renters and address their concerns so that when the lease renewal period arrives, it will be easy for them to sign up for another rental term.

landlord-talking-to-tenant

A regular check-in, such as asking whether home systems are working well can go a long way. If you receive maintenance requests, it is best to arrange for property fixes if the issue is legitimate. Fostering a positive relationship with tenants goes a long way when it comes to keeping your tenants happy, ultimately minimizing the risk of vacancies.

Collecting the Rent on Time

Since the returns from your investment will come from the rental payment proceeds, you need to ensure that the renters pay the rental dues on time. A lot of issues can arise from collecting the rent.

You may also experience having a delinquent tenant who will pay the rent late or skip the monthly payment. You need to address these issues and find out the reasons why there was a delay in rent payment.

Having rent collection software can help you avoid some of the late payment issues but you need to invest in it. You might need to evict delinquent renters and this can consume a lot of time since you need to file a case at the court, gather proof, and send notices.

Enforcing the Terms and Conditions of the Lease Agreement

Even if you hand out a lease agreement to the renter, you still need to make sure that they are following the policies and conditions outlined in the document. You also need to have clear consequences for violations.

lease-agreement

Create a specific lease agreement where terms, conditions, and clauses are clear to guide the renters. You should also provide details when a renter breaks the lease regarding the rules and the consequences.

Other Duties of a Landlord

  • Managing bookkeeping, tax payments, and insurance applications
  • Performing evictions
  • Conducting tenant walkthrough inspections
  • Overseeing property upgrades
  • Reimbursing security deposits

Advantages of Hiring a Property Manager

There are multiple advantages to hiring a property management company given that they have more exposure to the property management industry.

Property managers generally:

  • Have expertise on state property laws and local policies
  • Have effective strategies and apply the best property management practices
  • Have a solid network of vendors and contractors to attend to property issues

Is Hiring a Property Manager or Self-Managing Your Property Better?

While engaging the services of a property management company can mean paying monthly fees, it can be worth the investment. You can have a professional team like Liberty Real Estate Services managing tenant complaints, ensuring that rent payments are made on time, and taking care of the property.

You also gain peace of mind knowing that if property emergencies happen and you are away or a long-distance landlord, you have a trusted team to address the situation, keep your renters safe, and protect your property from damage.

Bottom line

As a landlord, you must weigh if you can carry out the tasks of self-managing, especially when you have multiple rental properties. The rewards of hiring a reliable property manager can be high since they will handle the time-consuming activities of marketing, maintenance, tenant screening, and tenant management.

Contact Liberty Real Estate Services today if you’re looking for a trusted partner to manage your investment property!