Are you moving to a new home, but not yet ready to sell your old home? If so, you may be looking into how you can rent the property until you want to sell it. Unfortunately, managing a rental home may be a lot harder than you expect, especially if you no longer live close to it. While you can struggle to manage the property yourself, you also have an option to hire a local property manager to handle it all for you.
Property managers work as the middleman between your tenants and yourself. While having a local property manager will cost you some of that rental income, you may find it well worth it in the end. Here are two reasons you should have a local property manager.
Screening New Tenants
Have you already tried screening your own tenants? You may already know how difficult it can be. It's important that you are able to get a tenant that will treat your property with care so it is in great condition when the lease is over with. In addition, you want a tenant that will pay rent and not cause problems with neighbors.
Property managers help screen tenants by checking references, calling old landlords, and even doing a background check in some situations. It will help ensure that the quality of tenants you have will be above average.
Handling Evictions
There may come a time when a tenant needs to be evicted. This whole process is a ton of work, and many things need to be done locally. For instance, you will need to show up to certain court dates, which can be difficult to do if you are no longer living in the area.
Property managers can handle the entire eviction process for you. It starts by notifying the tenant of a potential eviction, filing paperwork, giving the tenant an official eviction notice, and handling visit with police officers if necessary.
An eviction can take several months to complete, and without a property manager, can be a time sink as you try to navigate the process and take the proper legal steps. The money you pay for a property manager can be well worth it if you ever have to evict a client. It will not only make the whole process easier, but you will avoid having to many and confrontations with a tenant on your own.
Speak to a local property manager for more ideas about what they can do for you.
