On a typical week, we meet with property owners who are considering a property management service versus managing a property on their own. Most owners look at self-management as a way to reduce costs and increase profitability. At the end of the day, we thoroughly enjoy the advisement part of our visits.
If you are wondering if you are cut out to be a landlord, these are the four areas that you need to be proficient in.
- You need to understand that being a landlord is more about managing people than it is about managing a property. From the marketing process to the screening process to the managing process, it comes down to people skills. For example, before you get a tenant into your property, you will have conversed with them many times. From the initial inquiry to scheduling showings to collecting applicant information, you can see that you will be in contact with a prospective tenant a number of times.
At this point, you haven’t even placed a tenant and, if you have multiple prospective tenants, you can see how many conversations you will be having. Once you have placed the tenant into your property, then there is another slew of calls that will come from the management of the property. So if you are going to self manage, be sure you are confident in your people skills.
- Be sure your organizational skills are solid. When you are not on the phone with tenants or prospective tenants, you will likely be shuffling papers around. From the rental application to the lease to the HOAs docs to receiving complaints, you need to be sure you have a good process for documentation. It is extremely important that you are organized in the rare case you have to prove something in the court of law.
- Be sure that you are business savvy. I might go as far saying, make sure you have an entrepreneurial spirit within you. Why is this important? Well, you will find yourself in periods of negotiation and you need to be able to “sell” your property to prospective tenants to achieve the rental price you want. Much like buyers, tenants want to be told why they should choose one property over the other without feeling like they are being belittled. In addition, you may find yourself working with different vendors when it comes to property maintenance. You need to know how to negotiate to get the best value from those vendors.
- Make sure you understand the local and state law. This is critical to your success as a landlord. Periodically, we will get a call from an owner who is managing their own property asking about our services because there were recently served with a lawsuit. These lawsuits are typically small in nature but some tenants know the laws very well, especially those that like to get free rent. So, be sure you understand the state and local laws. If you do not and want to self manage, be sure you do your homework to protect yourself and your property.
If you need property management services in Northern Colorado including Fort Collins, Loveland, Windsor, Timnath, Wellington, or the surrounding areas, we would be honored to become your trusted property management partner. Please contact us for more information on how we can reduce vacancies and increase profitability.
We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. See Equal Housing Opportunity Statement for more information.
