If you are concerned with renting a single property, either a house, or condo, you probably don’t need a property management company. What you probably need is a Leasing Agent.
What’s the difference between a property manager and a leasing agent?
A property manager will lease out your property and will also handle any ongoing issues related to the property on the owner’s behalf. The downside to using a property management firm is that you will pay up to 10% of the monthly rent to the management firm every month. It doesn’t matter if you have good clients and the property is in good shape, you will still need to pay each and every month.
A Leasing Agent will lease out your property and handle any paperwork related to the lease, any ongoing issues will be handled between the property owner and the tenant. The downside of using a leasing agent, is that you will have to address any issues that happen, such as contact the tenant if the rent is late, or call a handyman if there is maintenance issue. The upside is that you will only pay to the leasing agent one time, typically 5% of a year’s rent after they have placed a tenant. If your tenant stays in your rental for several years, you only paid the leasing agent the one time fee.
What if You Live Far Away from Your Rental Property?
Houses and condos typically have less issues than apartment complexes. Assuming you’ve done regular maintenance to your property, you should not expect more than a handful of tenant questions to arise during a year. If you are far away from your property, you can easily find a handyman on Yelp or TaskRabbit to do exactly what you need for them to do at a very reasonable rate.
What if I Need to Evict a Tenant?
Most property management companies will often procure the services of an eviction attorney to handle an eviction. If you are your own property manager and need to initiate an eviction, there are many eviction attorney’s that will handle most of the work for you for around $500. When this happens, the property management company will charge you the additional fee for the attorney plus additional processing fees for themselves.
Ok, I’m interested in knowing more about using a Leasing Agent to rent out my property. Then read about our leasing services here.