Property Management vs Self-Management

Deciding whether to self-manage your investment property or entrust a professional property manager is a hard decision if you don’t know what’s involved in managing a property. Let us explain what we do best every day for our clients in this blog.

Whether you’re a seasoned investment property owner or new on the scene, you’re probably asking yourself if you can successfully manage your rental property on your own. Before you make your decision, we’ve listed all the reasons why hiring a Property Manager can be beneficial for you and all of the responsibilities that come with effectively managing a property.

You should be able to trust a property manager to do the right thing by you, your tenants and your property and hiring them should make the experience of owning an investment property effortless. Whilst there’s no reason why you can’t successfully manage your investment property on your own, it’s important to keep in mind just how time consuming being a self-managing landlord is. Not to mention the amount of well-rounded legislation knowledge required.

So, what are the obligations of a landlord anyway? We’ve listed the responsibilities of managing a property below. Just remember that a Property Manager can do most, if not all of these things for you.

• Taking marketing photos of the property or managing the outsourcing of the photography.

• Listing the property online with photos, description, video walk throughs and 360 tours.
• Conducting open homes and leasing inspections virtually and in person.
• Determining weekly rent and periodic increases/decreases based on the broader market.
• Tenant screening and reference checks (rental history, employment, and financial checks etc)
• Preparing new leases, break leases and lease transfers.
• Conducting entry and exit condition reports.
• Lodging, releasing, and claiming bonds via RTA.
• Collecting rent in an efficient and timely manner to avoid arrears.
• Providing rental payment statements.
• Organising or completing both emergency and preventative maintenance.
• Booking and completing repairs as needed and inspecting once done.
• Fielding complaints and managing tenants.
• Routine inspections of the property.
• Dealing with any issues that arise throughout the tenancy.
• Ensuring the property complies with legislative requirements.
• Keeping appropriate records for insurance or legal disputes.
• Booking smoke alarm inspections and swimming pool compliance.
• Sending invoices (eg. water usage).
• Issuing notices, breaches, and evictions where appropriate.
• Attending Tribunal hearings when needed.
• Finding new tenants when vacancies occur.
• Liaising with Body Corporates.
• Paying bills (rates, water etc).

Although it’s not impossible to fulfill these responsibilities on your own, hiring a property manager sure does remove a lot of stress from owning an investment. Let’s take a further look into the benefits of hiring a Property Manager:  

Don’t quit your day job

Managing investment properties is our full-time job and if you’re not prepared to dedicate enough time outside of your 9-5 to attend to the needs of the property and your tenants, then you should trust the professionals. Hiring a property manager allows you to sleep easy knowing your investment is in good hands. It also means that you can enjoy the freedom of uninterrupted weekends and family time because your property manager will be on call for any emergencies that arise out of hours.

Don’t get emotional

Many of us form emotional attachments to our homes, it’s often what draws us to buy them in the first place. Having emotions involved can be difficult to effectively manage someone else living in that space. That is why hiring an independent property manager is great for making decisions with emotional detachment from the property. This allows property managers to make the best decisions for their clients with no bias.

Systems and processes

There are various systems and programs that property managers have developed to streamline and enhance the processes involved in managing investment properties. As a self-managing owner, you might find it difficult to implement strict procedures to ensure rent doesn’t fall into arrears and your landlord insurance is not voided. These systems not only make the process more efficient but also ensure the property and tenancy complies with legislative requirements and protects you the owner for any legal issues.

Expert knowledge

Have you ever heard the saying, “Don’t quit your day job”, well there’s a reason why we leave some things to the experts. Good property managers are highly trained professionals that know how to look after your portfolio like a well-oiled machine. Property managers are organised, personable and extremely knowledgeable in the real estate industry. Property managers can draw on their experience to ensure rental yields are maximised, create connections with your tenants so that they look after your property and use their various tradespeople connections to provide timely solutions to maintenance issues.

Law and order

Property managers know property and legislation like the back of their hands. This expertise helps to protect their client’s legal position and ensures compliance with landlord insurance. Any small errors made during the rental process can dramatically increase the chance of legal issues, insurance payouts being voided and potential damage to the property. A highly skilled property manager’s innate knowledge of the law can be one of the greatest assets in protecting your investment’s success and profitability.

Toolkits

Working as real estate professionals, property managers have access to various software and tools that a self-managing landlord may not. Blacklisted tenant information (rent default and property damage) is available to professional property managers via various databases to enable a thorough background check on any potential new renter. In addition to these databases, software programs have also been created to allow for more effective property management, but these all come at a minimum cost and are usually not viable for less than 50 properties.

When it comes to deciding whether to self-manage or invest in a property manager for a rental property, there is a lot to think about. It comes down to whether you think you have the time, skills, and knowledge to dedicate yourself to your portfolio or whether you would rather trust the professionals to give the best quality service to you and your tenants to ensure the highest possible return with the least amount of stress.

If you are considering engaging a property manager for your rental property on the Sunshine Coast, our team of local experts is happy to discuss the process with you. Contact us today.

Source: About Property Management