The amount of return you get from an investment property is going to depend greatly on how that property is managed. You can choose to do this yourself if the property is within a reasonable distance from where you live; however, this can be time consuming and at times inconvenient.
Wherever the property is, it pays to hire someone to manage it for you. However, you need to take into account that who you hire to do this job could mean the difference between your property running smoothly and your property causing you considerable financial pain.
You need to treat the hiring of a property manager as you would if you were hiring an employee for your business, so try and interview as many as you can before making a decision. The things you should be looking for are:
• What's their experience? You want to know how long they've been managing properties for
• What is their track record like? What has been the occupancy rate of other properties they've managed?
• How many other properties do they handle? This is important because you don't want them to have too many - then they won't be able to properly attend to yours • How do they handle vacancies? In the case that your property in unoccupied, what methods will the property manager use to handle this situation?
• How do they handle late payments? If the tenant is in arrears, what action does the property manager take to ensure that payments are made on time?
• How many of their properties get damaged?
• How to they handle any damages?
• How do they handle repairs?
• How much do their services cost?
