Property management can be your largest ally or the largest thorn in your side. It all depends on how you approach it. Property management is meant to remove all the headaches of owning rental property, for only a small fraction of the rental income. Therefore, making the decision to use property management is in almost all cases the best choice. How you go about choosing a property management company and almost as important, how you choose to interact with that company, will both be important factors in your overall experience with a property management company, as well as your expericnce with your rental property and real estate in general.

We have written many blogs on some of these various subjects, but we will list them a high level here. Please see the rest of our site and our property management blog for more information.

Choosing a company for your property management:

• Make sure their website doesn't look like a Vegas billboard, and looks professional.
• Make sure you can get real people on the line when you call their main number.
• Make sure they are not baiting and switching. There seems to be a common trend to trick investors with a low "teaser" management fee ($50 a month, 5%, etc...). Companies cannot afford to pay people to manage your property at current minimum wage levels at that rate. A low rate like that means they will get you somewhere else, and have started off their relationship with you in a deceitful way.
• Do they stand behind their selections for your tenants? At RPM North Valley, we offer an optional eviction protection plan, where those enrolled are covered for any evictions incurred by the property management company.
• Please see the rest of our site for property management differentiators.

Interacting with your management company:

• While 99% of investors are professionals in some other walk of life, and therefore behave that way in all aspects of their life, there are some first time investors that do not know what to expect from a property management company.
• You know the jingle, "Leave the driving to us"? That is what you should expect from a property management company. Let the company manage your account and handle the tenants. You should focus on your primary job and let the company manage for you. There is a strong temptation amond novice investors to double check every action the property management company takes, and search the yellow pages for $5 lower prices on repairs. Try to avoid this temptation, as you are now performing minimum wage work, while your normal wage is most likely higher.
• Avoid interacting with the tenant. Savy tenants pray on emotions of landlords, and will come up with all kinds of excuses and threats to not pay the rent. Having a property management middleman protects you from having to deal with this, and also prevents the stress from the normal day to day stress tenants can try to apply in order to receive concessions. This is the most important reason to have property management.
• Always treat the company you are using with respect. Many people at property management companies are some of the hardest working we have ever seen. A respectful complain or critique is used to improve processes, the alternative generally will slow or stop the process of getting what you want.