Welp MagazineProperty maintenance relates to the upkeep of a home, apartment, rental property or building and may be a commercial venture through a property maintenance company, an employee of the company which owns a home, apartment or a self-storage pastime for example day-to-day housekeeping or cleaning. The latter is not the same, however, as the property management of a rental property business which involves advertising to prospective tenants, screening of applicants, showing the property and registering tenants.
In most cases property managers are charged with taking care of rental building to include collecting rents, paying mortgages and insurance, and supervising maintenance of the property. The property manager is uninvolved with the tenant directly unless he requests to make repairs, require services or provide updates to the property manager on the status of repairs. In most cases that is enough and in other cases the property manager will be told to leave the property tenants alone.
Property maintenance companies generally run a separate entity from a real estate management office. Typically they are a fully-owned independent contractor that is then contracted by a property management firm. This allows for more flexibility and competition between companies.
In my last article Property Maintenance: How to Make a Profit it was shown that a complete maintenance program with a reputable and known property management company can fetch a rental property owner over 60% per year in net income, and a long-term lease and a large number of repeat customers each year will be the primary way of achieving this return on investment.
It’s a matter of common sense and experience. The majority of a property manager’s work is completed by the agencies he hires. The agency I use is one of the best companies in the business and I have no less than 10 years of experience as a property manager and I have received complete training from this company. The training is mandatory and each property management company must complete a program designed by the property maintenance services and property. The property manager must also possess an extensive amount of experience and like me, have passed an exam to become a certified property manager.
The most important asset in a property management program is the property management company and the real estate property management firm. The quality of each property manager is exceptional and this is reflected in the customer’s property. A majority of the time the property manager manages a rental property on his own, however at other times an employee is tasked to manage the property at his discretion. It is important to note however that this individual plays a vital role in the property management role. A property manager must have an extensive amount of experience and in fact must be of such high caliber it is needless to say if I could put table salt on his shirt and a week later his shirt would be edible.
