Ownership in a rental property brings with it many benefits as well as responsibilities. When you are responsible for managing your own rental property, its cash flow, and the management of the premises and its residents, there is always something to keep you busy and to give your attention to. For this reason, hiring a property manager is a great solution to take the burden off of you and assign the responsibility to one who has the experience and knowledge to make your rental property a success. Here are some tips to help guide you through the search for the right rental property manager.

Evaluate Maintenance Management

When it comes to the maintenance and upkeep of your property, this task is especially important for the quality of your rental and also the happiness of your tenants. If you aren't able to handle maintenance and repair issues quickly to make repairs around the property and in its landscaping, your tenants may begin to look elsewhere for a new place to live. With good maintenance, you will be more able to retain tenants and also charge more in rent if your property provides a more high-end rental home experience.

Take a look at how a property manager receives maintenance requests within their management office. Are requests submitted online to a property management tenant portal, or do they take calls daily and after hours by a staffed phone line? Then, look at what types of maintenance staff your property manager keeps on hand. Find out if they handle the maintenance themselves, if they have a trained maintenance staff, or if they outsource their work to local professionals for plumbing and HVAC, as examples. Then, a great property manager will have a protocol set up to handle maintenance emergencies in a timely manner so that plumbing problems, for example, can be repaired quickly.

Consider Vacancy Rate

Another important element of a good property manager is how well they fill vacancies when a tenant moves out of a property. You can ask a property manager for a vacancy rate, which will tell you the percentage of their managed properties that are vacant. This number may fluctuate so you can also ask to find out what it is on average over the past year, for example. 

When a vacancy rate is low, this means that the property manager is diligent in finding new tenants through marketing but they also price their rental properties properly for the market. A successful property manager is going to regularly research the market to find out what other rentals are charging so they can raise or lower the rent rates when needed. 

For more information about property management services, contact a local company.