Does your property manager know what they’re doing?

Is your property manager a true property manager? (Music) Hey everybody let's talk about property managers and what kind of makes a property manager a good property manager. So today I want to talk about seven points that might be red flags of an inexperienced property manager a real estate agent that's going into property management and then seven reasons why you should select a true Property Management professional that's an expert in their field.

All right the first point that I would want to Mark as a red flag for you know a novice property manager would be that they don't have a huge knowledge base of California landlord tenant law.These laws get really intricate and detailed and can actually be a huge liability for a property owner as well as the the novice property manager if they aren't able to follow the laws with exactness and it can cause huge Financial losses in the long term

Point number two is that they don't have a true dedicated property management software or database and systems around property management and how to run it efficiently and effectively they're going to need to have this system in place so that they can not drop any balls as property managers we're going from A to Z you know 1,400 things a day trying to remember everything and if you're trying to do that on top of real estate transactions and then focusing on where where that next ball is going to drop it's so hard if you don't have a true property management software to fall back on.

Point number three is that your property manager might have some inconsistent communication skills regarding these Property Management concerns a lot of times they're going to have to be looking up those answers and they might have a poor response time to get back to you all of these delays end up costing the investor more money.

Point number four is that they probably don't have a real defined maintenance process now maintenance is one of those high points where you can lose a lot of money if you don't have an expert vendor Network or really great qualified people to come in and promptly get things done again in this business time is always money and when you have a tenant in place habitability issues and no real process on how to accomplish those maintenance tasks when you have those mistakes you're going to have to compensate for those errors and omissions that happen due to a poor experienced property manager.

Point number five is that the the novice property manager most likely doesn't have a very clear and well-defined way of screening the prospective tenant for your unit now they might say they have these standards and they put these standards in place but then an expert property manager will need to actually take those standards and be able to decipher based on the information that they receive from an applicant what's true or what might be those pitfalls like if there's outstanding phone or Internet bills you know how do those weigh heavier than say you know a medical bill that's outstanding how can you look at the full application and fit that into the criteria to rent and make sure that it's verifiable.

Point number six is that often times a novice property manager will focus on short-term property gains as opposed to long-term asset value and return on investment they are looking at this through an eye of I need to get the most rent today possible in order to make my client happy when you really need to look at the total value of a property the equity that you're helping an investor grow as well as those cash flow gains today and how do you create those value options for the for the client.

The last point point number seven that I would make sure that you would look out for and a novice property manager would be looking for high vacancy rates long vacancies and constant turnover this can be due to again that lack of a process and communication system for your property manager to communicate with your tenant tenant retention will be one of those drivers of true long-term wealth and asset gain on your rental property.

So turning the leaf over let's look at seven reasons why you should hire a true dedicated Property Management professional so here at Uplift Property Management you know we we drive ourselves to be the experts continuously improving our our systems because we want to have that knowledge base and expertise specialized in Property Management so that we can provide value to you the investor.

Our second point is that we have local focused market knowledge it isn't just something that we're seeing on the news that comes through on our social media feeds we are experiencing exactly what takes place in the rental market here in San Diego for us but anywhere you're looking look for somebody that has that localized office that is centralized in an area so they can be the expert on those market trends.

The third point I have is that a true expert Property Management professional will have an amazing vendor Network they will be connected with vendors that provide an expert value to you as the investor so that you don't lose money on high expensive bills and invoices that are coming in that may be unnecessary or completely avoidable.

Number four would be a focus on tenant retention now as a property management expert I know that tenant retention is something that will help provide dividends for myself as a property manager but also for you as the investor and limiting you know a vacancy or a turnover or unnecessary expenses or an upset angry tenant that doesn't pay rent anymore like that could be something that could be catastrophic to an investment for for years so focusing on tenant retention is something that's absolutely imperative.

Point number five is that an a true expert property manager will know how to deal with the legal landscape of compliance in California or in your area right here in California we have loads of laws and if you don't know them you're going to shoot yourself in the foot you're not going to be able to get that eviction process through cuz you've never gone to eviction court before and you're going to trip over yourself over and over again you know learn from my mistakes that I I've already made right and understand that we take time and dedicated concerted effort to knowing the laws and how to manage and Implement those in our business being a dedicated property manager with that centralized expertise you also be part of Industry groups like narpm and when you get access to these groups and Industry knowledge you have a more concerted effort and focused information on those laws and legal compliances for Residential Properties in your area.

Number six I feel like is the one that's forgotten all the time and I feel like it's so undervalued but that might come from my accounting background is uh detailed and accurate property accounting there are really specific issues that come up with property management and trust fund accounting for your property and making sure that things are done properly and accurately and transparently I think far too often you find that there's mistakes and errors and it takes you a month to get your statement but a true Property Management professional will keep all that in place for you so they can give you one easy report at the end of the year with your $199 that you can hand your tax person and we take that burden off your plate.

All right last but not least number seven experience with difficult situations I feel like I've had tens of thousands of conversations that have just had bad news and I feel like an expert property manager is always delivering bad news or at least it feels that way so having somebody that it's experienced with knowing how to deliver that how to navigate tough situations how to get that tenant to just agreeably move out how to talk to that vendor about their pricing or the scope of work that they accomplished being able to get through those difficult conversations is something that is paramount for an expert property manager.

All in all it may be tempting when a real estate market is cooling down to go with your friend who's jumping into property management or the person that's offering a cut rate plan for managing your property but you need to look at this as one of your largest Investments and you need a professional that's an expert in managing that prop that property and managing that asset class so that you can maximize those returns for yourself that's why you should select a professional property management company that knows what they're doing to protect your asset.