When you are faced with an inept property management team, suddenly the multifamily investment you purchased does not shine as brightly as it could. Here are seven proven success strategies for hiring your next property manager, so you can experience the best return on your multifamily real estate investment.
Heaton Dainard is a full-service real estate company in Seattle, providing property management, multifamily investment, and single family real estate services for the King County, Washington communities. These top strategies for choosing the right property management team will guide you so you can choose your next property manager wisely.
Strategy for Choosing a Property Management Team #1: Make sure the property management team is familiar with your neighborhood. The neighborhood of your multifamily real estate property is going to shape decisions about marketing, setting the rent, and ensuring your investment generates a solid cash flow with as little down time as possible. When you choose a property management team that specializes in your community, you’ll receive the best return on your investment.
Strategy for Choosing a Property Management Team #2: Read the agreement you sign with your property manager carefully, and make sure you understand how they will be paid; how much they will be paid; and how you will be paid. When you pay from collected rent, for instance, as a percentage, you both get paid only when the tenant is in place and is paying rent.
Strategy for Choosing a Property Management Team #3: Ensure quality communication systems are in place. It’s always going to be more enjoyable for you to manage your property management team when the communication is straightforward and timely. Ask for frequent updates plus additional updates upon reaching milestones.
Strategy for Choosing a Property Management Team #4: Make sure the property manager has an up-to-date rolodex of people to fix and repair common problems. When the real estate property manager has a solid list of repair people and an awareness of the common hourly rate, you can prevent being overcharged. For instance, Heaton Dainard oversees remodels, flips and multifamily property investments. So, as a property management team, they will have access to a great rolodex of repair in the event your apartments need carpet, paint, appliances, plumbing, electrical, or things like sticky garage doors. Double check before you hire that your property management team has access to up-to-date information on pricing so they won’t get stuck overpaying from your maintenance budget.
Strategy for Choosing a Property Management Team #5: Take the time to choose the right person, based on referrals or checking their background carefully. A quality property management team can cut the vacancy rate in half. So, it’s worth some extra time to research the background of your team, and make sure they have the experience to deliver what they promise.
Strategy for Choosing a Property Management Team #6: Check out properties they manage. You can drive by the properties they own or manage (or both). Make sure you don’t hire someone who leaves a lot of extra garbage sitting around the property. Visiting properties they manage will give you a general sense of the upkeep.
Strategy for Choosing a Property Management Team #7: Ask a lot of questions about the process. Make sure the team walks you through what to expect each month. Ask how frequently you will be updated. Ask the team how they screen tenants. Work with them on the lease agreements up front so they are win-win-win for yourself, the property manager, and the tenants.
For Heaton Dainard Commercial, managing rental property well is a lifeblood of the multifamily investment strategy. The monthly cash flow will drive capacity for investing in new properties, expansion, and growing a strong real estate portfolio. At one point, Heaton Dainard relied upon external property managers. Now, all of the Heaton Dainard properties are managed in-house. Feel free to contact Heaton Dainard to find out if they might be a good fit for your multifamily investment property as a manager to oversee day-to-day operations.
