The Role of a Residential Property Manager: What You Need to Know

Owning properties can be very rewarding, earning you income as you provide your valued tenants with comfortable places to stay. However, managing your properties well can be a challenge. Whether you have one property or many, staying on top of your responsibilities can be a very daunting task without the help of an experienced residential property manager.

The Key Responsibilities Of A Property Manager

Owning property is already an investment, so you might be wondering what property managers do and why you should spend money hiring one. Property managers, or professionals who specialise in managing properties, can offer you quite a few game-changing benefits:

Tenant Management. One key part of owning rental property is finding great tenants to rent them. Naturally, you want high-quality tenants who will treat your property respectfully, so you should alway conduct reference checks and make sure you are requesting the correct information.

Residential property managers know this, and they’ll oversee every step of the tenant process to find you responsible, trustworthy renters.

Rent Collection. One very important duty that property managers have is to ensure that rent is collected in full and at the right time every month. If any of your renters are late, have missed payments or don’t pay in full, they’ll handle it, saving you the stress and worry.

Property Maintenance. Keeping your property well-maintained is a must to avoid issues down the track. Your residential property manager will stay on top of standard maintenance to stop problems before they happen. Plus, if your tenants have maintenance issues or requests, your manager will take care of them and ensure any problems are fixed as soon as possible.

Regular inspections are also vital to maintaining rental properties. Standard inspections can help find issues that you might not have noticed until they were bigger (and more expensive to repair), and your manager will take the right steps to have these problems fixed.

Marketing And Advertising. When your property is vacant, it isn’t earning you any money. So, it’s best to advertise your properties as well as you can if they’re empty. No worries, your property manager can take that on as well. Marketing can include taking appealing, professional photos of the property, setting up an online listing and determining a competitive rental price to attract hopeful tenants.

Aside from marketing, they’ll also take on vacancy management - or preparing a newly vacant property for future tenants. This can include conducting exit inspections, hiring professionals to handle necessary repairs, having the property cleaned and anything else that’s needed before someone else moves in.

Ensuring Legal Compliance. Understanding the legal parts of property management can be headache-inducing, especially since New Zealand’s residential tenancy laws and regulations are being updated constantly. But fear not; as a landlord, you don’t have to research tenancy laws because your residential property manager will already understand them for you. They’ll make sure that your rental property completely complies with local laws. They’ll keep everything legally sound when creating lease agreements, sticking to health and safety standards and more.

Efficient Conflict Resolution. Even if you and your property manager do everything right, there’s always a chance that issues will arise. However, there’s also always a way to resolve disputes peacefully and successfully through hard work, clear communication and problem-solving skills. Property managers can handle disputes by working with tenants who are having issues and finding solutions that work for everyone while keeping you in the know.

What You Should Know As A Property Owner

Before hiring anyone, it’s very important that you do your research to understand the property management company you’re going to work with. Take care to speak to them beforehand to ask about their fees, their management process and how they’d take care of your specific property if you decide to hire them.

You may want to think about the specific things you want to know and then ask your prospective property manager questions like:

• “How much do your services cost?” Being smart with your finances is a must if you want to be a successful business person, so ask them about their fees. Remember that even though their services will cost money, their professional management skills can save you money in the long run by keeping your tenants happy and your property in good condition.
• “How do your services work?” Of course, you should ask about what to expect if you hire them. Ask about their management process, what responsibilities they’ll be taking on and what duties (if any) will be left to you.
• “Do you have experience with properties like mine?” Ask if they’ve managed properties like yours before. If they have, then they can draw from their past experiences to better handle yours.

Staying Successful With The Help Of Trusty NZ Residential Property Managers

Are you interested in getting professional management help? We’d be glad to talk! At Comprendé, we know that every client - and property - is unique, and we’d gladly discuss your situation with you. We strongly value personalised service and strong client relationships.

Ready to talk? Call us on +043842141 or use our contact page to reach our friendly team.

Comprendé: Making property management more manageable.