Property management is an important aspect of the business world. Property management involves overseeing the industrial, commercial, or residential real estate. This includes rental homes, apartments, condominiums, office space, industrial properties, and malls. Property management is generally handled by a company which is hired by the owner. The property manager works to keep the property in peak condition while managing the day-to-day operations of dealing with tenants. Barker Management Inc. explores the world of property management, showing how this type of business is vital to success in the real estate industry.
What Falls Under Property Management?
Property managers help owners to create sensible budgets for taking care of the property. They are also in charge of advertising rentals and leases. They screen and prequalify tenants and collect rent and any fees which are due.
Property managers must also keep on top of all regulatory and legal responsibilities, including landlord-tenant laws and real estate laws. Property managers also maintain the inside and outside of each property, making sure the building is in good repair and that the grounds are well-kept.
Property managers inspect facilities, supervise maintenance staff, and manage contracted services like landscaping and trash removal. They also deal with any regulatory or legal issues which come up during daily management. The property manager must also make sure that their procedures follow laws protecting fair housing.
Why Hire a Property Manager?
Property owners may not want to handle the day-to-day running of their properties themselves for many reasons. Often, owners have too many rental properties to care for all of them properly. In this case, a property management firm can delegate the work to various people in their organization.
Dealing with tenants and maintaining the property may be too time-consuming for the property owner. In this case, the professional property manager can step in and take care of these responsibilities. Absentee landlords, or those people who own physically distant properties, often use professional property management to help protect their investment.
In some cases, real estate brokers can also function as property managers. This is especially true of vacation homes. The brokers can advertise the properties and make sure they are cleaned and prepared for the next visitor. They can also provide a liaison between the owner and the temporary tenants.
Credentials Needed by Property Managers
Generally, property management firms need to be licensed. The local real estate board handles this licensing. Having a broker’s license allows for the listing of rental properties in the commercial and residential listings like the Multiple Listing Service. They can also market the properties using standard and novel methods, like traditional advertising and social media.
Having a broker’s license also allows the management company to put a real estate lockbox on the property to facilitate showing the property with different agents.
Property managers are generally college graduates with degrees in accounting, business management, real estate, and public administration. Licensing requirements are greater for those managers who deal with public housing. The laws and regulations concerning affordable housing are difficult to follow, and a professional property manager will help the owner comply with all relevant codes.
Property Management Works
When a property owner hires a property manager like Barker Management Inc., they can be sure that their property is being properly maintained and that it produces as much money as possible in return. By managing the daily concerns of tenants, prescreening tenants so that they will not produce costly problems and making sure that all rents and fees are made on time. They manage the buildings’ tax responsibilities, making sure that the owner is paying properly.
