Renting out your property is not as simple as handing a tenant your keys and collecting a profit each month. It takes a lot of time to get the process started, find tenants, and maintain the property.
Between completing and filing paperwork so you can rent out your home, taking and posting photos of your home to entice renters, interviewing prospective tenants and running credit and background checks, handling maintenance requests, and setting up a system to collect rent, renting out your property can be a full-time job!
Is Hiring a Property Management Company Worth It?
If the amount of time that it will take you to manage your property is going to infringe on your work and family time, you consider letting a property management company step in and take care of the time consuming part of the rental process for you.
Rental property management companies like RentSimple will hire professional photographers and videographers to take photos and video tours of your property, handle all maintenance requests, collect rent from tenants each month, and make sure your property is well-maintained without you having to spend your valuable time taking care of these duties.
Ask yourself if you have time to do all of the following:
- Show your home to prospective tenants
- Handle repairs
- Assess rental rates
- Find tenants
- Address tenant complaints and concerns
- Collect rent
- Follow up with tenants with delinquent payments
- Go through the eviction process if necessary
- Check on your property
- Manage utility payments and other bill payments
- Take care of accounting needs
If you don’t, then you need to seriously consider using a property management company that can take care of these factors for you.
1. Location
When you rent out your property, it will be helpful for you to live nearby so that you can visit and check in on your property, complete minor repairs, and know a few experts in the area who can do any major repairs or necessary maintenance.
Even if your property is in pristine condition, there will be times when you need to do small tasks like checking fire alarms and fire extinguishers, fixing leaky faucets, changing furnace filters, and making sure carbon dioxide detectors are working properly. You are also going to want to make sure that there is no illicit activity taking place within your home.
If you don’t live in the northern Virginia area, it will be hard and time consuming for you to fulfill these duties. Even if you only live an hour away from your property, you would have to take 2+ hours out of your day to go check on the property and return. That time will add up, making renting your home less of a passive investment and more of a full time job.
When you can’t check your property regularly, it can lead to major problems in the long run and make your tenants feel like you don’t care about providing them with a safe and comfortable place to live.
Using a local property management company will help you to take care of your property as well as any maintenance and repair requests that your tenants may make.
2. Money
While it might seem like hiring a property management company will cost you more than their worth, the amount of money they can help you save is more than worth the amount of money you will spend on their management fees.
Here are a few areas where property management companies can help you save money:
Rent
Figuring out how much to charge your tenants can be tricky. You don’t want to charge too much and scare tenants away, but you also don’t want to miss out on the opportunity to gain what your property is worth. If you make either of these mistakes, you could end up losing money.
Property management companies have experts with rental market knowledge that will keep you from undercharging or overcharging tenants.Think about how much money you could potentially lose overtime if you were to charge even as little as $100/month less than what a property management company could determine your home is worth. These companies know the local rental market, and they will help you charge the right amount.
Furthermore, if your property management company has a rent guarantee like RentSimple does, you won’t have to worry about losing money if your tenants are not able to pay rent on time. You’ll receive any money owed without having to scramble to speak with your tenants or make ends meet.
Property damage
Different property management companies have different guarantees in place to help prevent you from having to pay property damage costs from careless tenants.
For example, at RentSimple, we have a Good Pet Promise pet damage guarantee that will help you recoup any related costs, and we also have a process for finding reliable tenants that will take care of your property and avoid causing damage outside of ordinary wear and tear. This can help you save countless dollars in repair costs.
Eviction costs
In the unfortunate case that you do have to evict a tenant that isn’t paying rent, the legal battles and potential rent loss can be costly.Property management companies can help you save money on eviction costs by screening tenants before they rent your property. Having tenants that can pass background checks and have a strong credit history significantly decreases the chances that you will have to evict them in the future.
Plus, if you work with RentSimple, you can also save money on eviction costs due to our Eviction Free Guarantee, which covers 100% of eviction costs.
Between rental prices, eviction costs, and property maintenance, the amount of money you will save from having experts manage your property far outweighs the cost of hiring a property management company.
3. Time and Energy
When you rent out your property without assistance, you will be in charge of communicating with tenants. While this might not seem like a big deal, it’s important for you to consider how much time and energy you actually want to devote to interfacing with your tenants.
- Are you going to have the patience to respond to questions, concerns, and maintenance requests?
- Are you going to have the energy to follow up with tenants that are behind on their rent and the ability to compassionately collect rent during such a difficult economic time?
If you feel like interfacing with tenants is going to be exhausting, then you should work with a property management company. These companies handle all tenant needs and requests so that you can focus on what matters most to you without feeling like you’re always on-call.
When you hire a property management company, you don’t have to deal with any of the headache and hassle that can come from constantly addressing tenants, which for many is worth the cost.
4. Expertise
When you hire a property management company, you aren’t just paying for the services they provide. You are also paying for access to their wide breadth of knowledge and their expertise so that your venture will be as successful as possible.
- Do you know how to stage a showing that attracts the interest of renters in the area?
- Do you know what the going rental rates are for properties in the area where your home is located?
- Do you have a relationship with the best contractors and repair companies in the area so that you can offer your tenants quick repairs without breaking the bank?
- Do you know the best methods for charging rent and collecting rent?
- Do you have a strategy for finding tenants who will be respectful of your property and reliable when it comes to paying rent?
If you don’t know the answers to these questions and all of the ins and outs of managing a rental property, it will be better for you to leave your property management to the experts who do.
A good property management company will know the answers to all of these questions and more. They will have a system in place to find and screen prospective tenants, they will know exactly how much to charge for rent, they will have a rent collection policy, and they will have relationships and partnerships with experts who can provide quality repairs.
With their expertise, it will be far easier for you to keep your tenants satisfied and make a profit when you rent out your home.
Working With RentSimple!
Hiring a property management company like RentSimple will help you save time, money, and energy when renting out your property, especially if you don’t live in the Northern Virginia. RentSimple has the expertise necessary to know how to take advantage of rising rental rates in Virginia suburbs, and we handle all of the challenges that come with the rental process so that you don’t have to.
When you work with RentSimple, you won’t have to spend time marketing your property to find good tenants. We stage professional photos and video tours that will help draw tenants, and we interview prospective renters and conduct background and credit checks to make sure they will be reliable and a good fit for your property.
RentSimple also takes on all of the responsibilities of property maintenance and management. We aim for 100% tenant and landlord satisfaction, so we make ourselves available to the tenants for any maintenance or repair requests they may have. Even if you live far away from your property, you will know it’s in good hands with RentSimple.
From collecting rent in a timely manner to handling any potential pet damage or eviction costs, RentSimple makes the rental process far more manageable. Our guarantees and service are unparalleled, and we know what it takes to make the rental process easy and profitable. One of the major reasons why people hesitate to work with a property management company is because they are afraid of hidden fees, profit loss, and wasting money on services they don’t actually need. At RentSimple, our fees are transparent, and you will always know exactly what you are paying for each month.
While hiring a property management company might seem like an extra, unnecessary cost, the support, expertise, and time you will gain from working with an established company is priceless.
If your time is limited, you don’t live close to your property, you have several properties you want to rent out, you don’t have the energy to be “on-call” for your tenants, you don’t have established relationships with local repair companies, and you don’t have local rental market knowledge, working with a property management company will be more than worth the cost.
See how RentSimple can help you start selling your rental property today when you contact us!
