While Cork Valley Properties is a real estate investment company that can buy homes in cash, we also have a property management side to our company. Many of our investment properties are held as rentals and, as such, we are also property managers. We do all of our property management in house so have picked up some property management tips along the way. Keep reading to learn some of our best tips to succeed at property management!
1. Set up Your Systems
Before diving into property management, take a look at the tools you will need to succeed. How will you document maintenance requests? How will you organize and keep up with applications and leases? We utilize our Google Drive to keep our electronic files. We also use binders for each property for the hard copies. When we receive a maintenance request, we document them in our Trello board that is specifically for maintenance calls. This helps us stay organized through the day to day items and allows for quick reference when responding to our tenants.
2. Over Communicate
When tenants feel that you are being transparent with them, they are more likely to be transparent with you! Even during our initial showings of a property, we make it clear of who we are and what our goals are as property managers. We share that our ultimate goal is for our tenants to feel at home, and as such, please communicate with us for any issues. When any issue does arise, we are transparent with the next steps that we will take and what will happen next. We are also transparent about what we can and can’t fix, so that expectations are set and everyone is happy with the outcome. Being transparent helps with getting rid of that perception that property managers are scummy, we are really here to help!
3. Be Property Managers, Not Landlords
The term ‘landlords’ gets a bad reputation for being scummy and bad managers. Of course, there are some bad ‘landlords’ out there, but we strive to be the complete opposite. We start by simply calling ourselves the ‘owners’ or ‘property managers’ of the rental, because that’s what we are! Our job, after selecting you as our tenant, is to maintain the property as needed and be there for you when you reach out. We are not here to sneak up on you and perform random checks or ignore your requests for maintenance. Share these goals with your tenants at your showings and lease signings and communicate that you are there for them (within reason of course!)! They are paying you after all 😉
4. Create a Home
Our number one goal as property managers at Cork Valley Properties is for our tenants to make their rental feel like home. They are the ones choosing to live there, allow them to make it their own! We allow our tenants to hang things on the walls because no one feels at home when they are hanging their photos with command strips. We’ve also had tenants ask us if they can plant gardens to which we say, of course! When our tenants ask us if they can put effort into the property, it shows their care and respect for it. And, of course, we hope that it will motivate them to stay longer! When a tenant feels that they are putting down roots, they will be more inclined to renew their lease year after year.