How do I choose the right Property Manager?

Do you own a property ? Are you thinking of renting it out ? Need to find a Property Manager ? Not sure where to start ? How do you choose a Property Manager that cares?

To find a property manager that is the right Property Manager for you, I have put together a few things to consider . This is such a great topic and one that I am passionate about. So much so I could write a book about it! (but I don't need to because if you scroll to the bottom there is a link to a great book you should buy)

So here are a few questions for you to consider when trying to find the right Property Manager for you

Research -

Know the market area for your property . What you need to know is :

Average rent per week ; what is the average rent for a property in the market area Average days on market ; how long is it going to take to find a tenant

Market demographic ; what time of person lives in this market area

You will be able to use this information when interviewing your Property Manager to know if the prospective agent knows the market area for your property well. Confidence in the market will give you confidence in your decision.

It is important to also know how the agency runs their Property Management operations.

Ask the Property Manager about how many properties they manage ?

Do they manage using a 'portfolio' or 'task' style service ? What is the property to manager ratio ?

What is the market area that the agency services ?

As you gather this information you will start to gain further confidence on the Property Management business that you are shortlisting.

Now you are wondering what the answers should be ?

There is no right or wrong answer as all agencies work in different market areas and operate differently to service their clients. The answers will be specific to the area and the business. What you want to know is that the Property Manager you choose is confident in their ability and an expert in their market area. Asking these questions will give you the ability to select the right property manager for you.

How we do it - At Beautique Realty we predominately manage rental properties in the Ipswich region, our office is based in Augustine Heights, Springfield Lakes and gives us great access to this market. We more recently have expanded into acreage property in Greenbank, and New Beith. We also work with property investors that have multiple properties in South East Queensland and specifically request that we manage their portfolio. We find this is because we provide such a high level of service to the local property they won't deal with anyone else.

We monitor the market daily, all members of our team are involved in the research process. We discuss the days on market and the rent returns regularly. We have noticed over the past 6 months an increase on our days on market from 9 days in 2016, to 35 days in 2017. This is concerning to us and our clients - it means loss of income to our investors. Knowing this data enables us to give our clients factual information so they can make decisions when offering renewals and re-letting the property.

We operate our Property Management department on a Portfolio basis, with assistant for all administration tasks and letting. Finding tenants is the most time consuming task we face and this is where we make sure we have additional back up and minimise the vacancy period.

I could continue with more information about why we do what we do the way we do it. So if you want to discuss this in detail hit me up for a coffee some time!

Be Empowered - There is a resource that I can recommend that will help you to feel empowered when interviewing your Property Manager.

Created by Jo-Anne Oliveri from ireviloution she provides a "Pre Screen" email on her website and you can purchase her book 'Find your property manager now' http://www.ireviloution.com/findyourpropertymanagernow/