What Should You Be Looking For When Hiring a Property Manager

One of the biggest reasons you need a good property manager is because having someone with the right experience and knowledge to look after your investment means less stress for you. 

However, finding a good property manager can be hard and choosing the wrong one can be a costly lesson. So how exactly do you find a quality property manager that is a good fit for your needs?  Here’s a list of things you can keep in mind when meeting with prospective property managers. 

Do you have access to the property management system and what does this allow you to see? 

Online property management systems are great for making sure all the information about your property is in one place. 

This information should be available for you to view at any time. Information such as

• Financials 
• Photos 
• Routine inspection reports 
• Any other related documents. 

This means you are able to be kept in the loop with what is happening with your property and helps with transparency and accountability. So it is definitely important to ask what system the potential property manager uses and what access you will have.

Are the Property Managers portfolio or task-based? 

Most property managers are portfolio based which means looking after between 80-200 properties each. This can be a very challenging workload to balance and not necessarily sustainable as they usually have to do everything from vetting tenants, periodic inspections, vacates and everything in between. This may mean that they spend a lot of time out of the office doing routine inspections or vacates. This makes it hard to prioritise other areas of property management such as finding tenants for vacant properties.  

Having a team of task-based managers means there may be one person working on leases and accounts, while someone else takes care of vacates and another does routine inspections. This approach has many benefits, specifically that the admin team that is in the office is 100% focused on renting your properties fast and efficiently with no delay. This means your property does not sit empty for long periods, as well as having a dedicated maintenance manager in the office so maintenance issues are reported to you the same day they are notified.  

Are the staff long-term?  

Long-term employees help ensure a stable work environment. They play a vital role in contributing to the culture of the business.  It also means there is more opportunity to develop a stronger business relationship with your property manager. 

If they are long-term, they are also more likely to have good relationships with other people that may be involved such as tradespeople.  

Do the management team ALL have real estate qualifications and experience including admin and reception?

Having a team of people with property management qualifications and experience means that you can be confident that anyone in the office dealing with your property has the right training and experience to do so. 

It means there is no need to worry that your property won’t be taken care of if a particular property manager is unwell or goes on holiday. Someone else in the office will be qualified to answer any questions or deal with any issues that may arise. 

The team is also then able to operate more on a task-based system than a portfolio-based system which will be more beneficial to you. 

Are the Business Owners involved in the daily running of Property Management and do they have local knowledge?

If you don’t know where to start looking for the best property manager, start by looking locally. Local knowledge is important, they will have information on things such as 

• Applicable Laws and Requirements – each state will have specific laws that apply to rental properties covering things like rental licensing and inspections
• Market Demographics – filling vacancies efficiently comes in part from understanding who your tenant is. For example, is the area popular with young couples? Is your property likely to attract a family? 
• Vendor Relationships – every rental will undergo repair or maintenance eventually, it is good to have a property manager that has strong and well-established vendor relationships. The property manager will be familiar with both how they work and the quality of their workmanship. 

Are they transparent in their actions? 

It is important that property managers are transparent and accountable in their actions. They know how important it is to do this by keeping accurate and complete records across all areas. 

These records ensure that property managers remain open, honest and accountable, while also helping to ensure any issues that may occur are resolved quickly and efficiently. A good property management system can help facilitate this.  

How protected is your data?

Property Managers deal with a lot of sensitive information such as financial records and it is important that you feel this information is kept in a safe and secure manner.  You want to make sure that they are taking the steps to prevent any potential data breaches. 

A data breach is an incident where your information is accessed by an unauthorised person. This can cause data to be stolen, deleted or copied and used maliciously.  

In order to reduce this risk they should be using an efficient and secure property management system that stores and organises your data. 

Here are some things to look for: 

• They can ensure data they collect and store complies with regulations
• Do they have a data security policy? 
• They make sure staff are trained and up to date in data protection policy and procedures  
• Is software updated regularly to ensure that the most current version is being used
• Are system audits performed regularly? 
• Is data backed up? 

All these points should give you a good idea of what to look for when hiring a property manager, so you can have a stress-free experience when it comes to renting your investment property. 

 If you're in the market for a property manager, Nxtgen property are local property managers with over 30 years of local market knowledge and experience and a qualified and dedicated team to manage your property.