As a real estate investor in Grand Prairie, you want to find the best property manager to manage your rental property. Nonetheless, this process demands a lot of attention to detail, research, experience, and intuition.
Finding the most suitable property manager involves having a screening process that is thorough and asks all the right questions.
With our experience in property management, we were able to come up with a list of 15 questions to ask prospective Alberta property managers before hiring them:
1. Are you insured?
An insurance cover is always crucial because it means that you can get reparation in case something happens to your investment.
2. What happens if I pull out of our contract?
Before getting into any kind of contract, it’s always recommended to fully understand your options. Make sure you agree and are comfortable with the terms of the contract.
That way, in case you aren’t satisfied with the property manager, you’ll know what you have to do to get yourself out of the contract without incurring extra expenses.
3. How do you determine the rent prices?
Lower rent prices lead to losses while high prices lead to vacancies. That’s why the rent price has to be just right.
What decisive factors does the company use to determine the best price for your rentals?
An experienced property manager knows how and what to do in order to come up with an adequate and profitable rent amount.
4. How do you collect rent from renters and how much?
One of the biggest conveniences that come with hiring a property manager is rent collection. That’s because collecting rent from tenants can sometimes be time-consuming and frustrating.
For this reason, knowing how the property manager collects rent will help you determine how efficient, safe, and convenient their method is for you and the tenants.
5. What price points does your company offer?
Do they charge a flat fee or just a percentage of the rental income?
Knowing that each option has its own set of advantages and disadvantages under different circumstances, it would be good to know which option they charge. This way you can choose a company that has a favorable pricing option that works for you.
6. Are there any miscellaneous fees?
To properly and efficiently manage a rental property, there are a lot of necessities that have to be met. That’s why, in some cases, property managers may charge fees for extra services. These extra services may include evictions, vacant units, maintenance, tenant placement, and so on.
Consequently, you should go through the contract to understand and learn about these fees and to make sure that they’re fair and acceptable to you.
7. How does your lease renewal rate compare to turnovers?
A clear indicator that the company is competent is a low turnover or high lease renewal rate. This demonstrates that the tenants are happy with the services they are receiving and are generally pleased with living in the property.
8. How many of your rentals are often vacant and how long do your rental units stay vacant? What’s the average tenancy period?
The vacancy rate needs to be low.
Any amount of time shorter than two weeks may signify that the company is charging a smaller rent amount. This means that you won’t be getting the most out of your investment.
On the other hand, if the vacancy period exceeds for more than a month, it could mean that the property manager is charging too high of a rental fee. It could also mean that they are having trouble marketing your property or the state of your property is turning off prospective tenants.
9. If you fail to collect rent for my property in a month, or if it is vacant, do I still pay you a management fee?
Be wary of companies who collect a fee from you even when they were unsuccessful in collecting your rent.
There are other options of companies that don’t charge a fee when rent is not collected. They should only get paid if you get paid.
10. How do you market vacant rental units?
Today, there are a lot of ways to market your Grand Prairie rental unit. The method, efficiency, and relevance of each marketing strategy greatly determine how many potential tenants it will reach.
Look to hire property managers who have the experience and skills in running successful marketing campaigns.
11. How thorough is your tenant screening process?
Finding great quality tenants can be tricky. Growing your investment starts with having high-quality tenants, which involves having a thorough screening process.
How does the company vet potential tenants?
What do they look for in a tenant?
How thorough is their background check?
Knowing how the company screens its tenants is one of the most important things to know about them.
12. How familiar are you with the Federal Fair Housing Laws?
When it comes to housing laws, discrimination is a serious offense.
It’s important to ensure that your prospective property manager is knowledgeable about these laws.
13. How long do evictions take?
Generally, if an eviction takes place there are several procedures that you need to follow before it can actually happen.
Look for property managers who try to settle the situation in the most professional and quick way possible.
14. How frequently do you evict tenants?
A property manager’s ability to find good tenants is signified by a low number of evictions. However, the opposite is also true. A high eviction rate signifies that the manager likely doesn’t know how to properly screen tenants.
15. How will you keep me updated?
Keeping tabs on your property’s growth or progress is vital. For that reason, you have to make sure that the manager has an efficient and reliable way of updating you with your investment’s status when you need them.
These are just a few of the most important questions to ask a Grand Prairie rental property manager before hiring them. Look at what your needs are as a landlord. This will help you to narrow down your search in order to find the best and most suitable property manager for you and your rental property.