Are you tired of self-managing your investment properties? If you’ve considered outsourcing your property management needs, you must understand the differences between engaging an independent property manager vs. hiring a property management company. We’ve put together the following list to help you:

Here are 7 Considerations of Hiring a Property Manager VS a Property Management Company

 

1 – AVAILABILITY OF PROPERTY MANAGERS

A property manager is often an individual who takes on all the responsibilities of managing an investment property on their own, without support. This includes tenancy management, rent collection, and bill payments, as well as the facilitation of repairs and maintenance. In some cases, management is not their full-time job. It’s not uncommon for a property manager to have their hands full during peak times of the month.

A property management company is made up of multiple teams dedicated to specific tasks and functions. This ensures that someone is always available to address important issues, from rent collection and bill payments to repairs and maintenance – someone is always available, so you don’t have to be.

2 – EXPERTISE IN PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

A property manager must be a jack-of-all-trades; wearing multiple hats depending on what tasks or issues need to be handled. Unfortunately, being a jack-of-all-trades normally means being a master of none.

Having a dedicated team of property management and real estate experts allow us to ensure the right people are focused on the tasks they specialize in.

3 – TENANT SCREENING 

Every experienced property manager should have a process by which they vet prospective tenants: including a thorough background check. An individual property manager, with less time and less expertise, may not have the time or resources to know how to effectively protect your asset.

Landlord Property & Rental Management has an experienced team whose sole focus is on screening and vetting prospective tenants applying a strict set of requirements and standards to all applicants: including exhaustive background checks, verification of documentation, interviews, and more. Once the background checks have been completed, a full summary is sent to you for review. We must know exactly who is going to be living in your investment property.

4 – TRADES NETWORK FOR PROPERTY MAINTENANCE 

Will your property manager be available to address maintenance when needed? Without a strong network of tradespeople, they may feel pressured to perform tasks themselves opening up the possibility for shoddy workmanship or liability issues. They may also be wasting time and frustrating your tenants while they struggle to find the right person for the job.

A well-established property management company has lasting relationships with trusted tradespeople and service companies. The relationships we’ve built have allowed us to lean on great, trustworthy tradespeople when we’ve needed them most, protecting our clients’ properties and keeping their tenants safe and happy.

5 – COMMUNICATION WITH PROPERTY STAKEHOLDERS 

Communication is key when it comes to your investment property. Every property manager has a way of staying connected with their clients and their tenants. Depending on how technologically savvy or invested they are, this could vary from an answering machine to a web app. With a small shop or single manager, it’s likely just a phone number or an email that may not be actively monitored.

At LandLord, we offer our clients access to our Client Portal where property investors can see their property reports, finances, photos, and more from any device. This customizable experience streamlines your investment information in real-time.

Your account managers are constantly monitoring their emails and phones and have a 24-hour emergency paging service they can call should anything go wrong.

6 – LICENSED BROKERAGE FOR REAL ESTATE INVESTING

There is no government mandate, requiring individual property managers to hold any type of registration or license. in Ontario. Essentially, anybody with a business card and a website can offer you property management services.

Landlord Property & Rental Management includes not only experienced property managers, but a team of licensed real estate salespeople, brokers, and a full renovation company, along with a management team, and an administrative support team. With this, we can offer our clients a wide range of services at every stage of their real estate investment lifecycle, including strategic acquisition and sale. We have a broad range of skills from a large team of specialists, we offer valuable insight for property investors.

7 – ACCOUNTABILITY 

It can be difficult to effectively verify the credibility and trustworthiness of an individual property manager. Their web presence is often non-existent or considerably less established than some larger operations.

An established company should have a strong web presence, with verifiable references. Ideally, there will be accessible public reviews available through Google and other web services. We’ve built a brand on providing excellent service to our clients and tenants alike, the feedback is readily available for anyone to see.

There are benefits and drawbacks in most situations, but when it comes to managing your most valuable assets, it’s incredibly important that you engage a team of experts who can help guide you through both the mundane and the unexpected. If you’re ready for a full-service, worry-free property management experience, give us a call. We’re here to help.