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Did you ever consider starting your own property management business? Do you have a sound knowledge of what being a property manager is all about? If you did then, there’s no need to fret or get confused about the journey ahead of you because we have put together a how-to-guide which would help and make things a lot easier for you.

Before starting a property management business, it’s important that you understand what property management is.

What is property management?

Property management refers to the coordination and effective management of private, student housing, community, or industrial property.

When it comes to property management, the person who manages the property doesn’t necessarily have to be the owner, and a property management company can carry out this task too.

Most of the time, this happens when the property owner lacks the time or the expertise needed to handle the properties alone.

What are the roles of a property manager?

Property managers perform various tasks. They oversee and manage, buildings, and other property for individuals or group of individuals.

They are classic middle managers who have the sole responsibility of connecting the owners with the renters. They also protect available rental properties that haven’t been used yet.

A property manager’s duties include advertising vacancies, displaying properties, receiving applications, authorizing leases, receiving rents, ensuring the properties are maintained, performing move-in/out inspections, and several others

How to start a property management business

1. Make a decision to become one:

Make your decision of becoming a freelancer or an owner:

Before starting anything, you need to decide if you’d like to work independently or alongside a reliable team.

Read Also: How to start a Logo Design Business

Which would you prefer?

As a Freelancer

You should know that starting a company comes with a lot of responsibility. On the other end, freelancing has its responsibilities and requirement. The difference between them is that as a freelancer, you are taking responsibility for yourself and the job. That is factual.

This is because starting a business is more than just being willing to take responsibility for yourself and your actions.

Let’s talk of ownership

When you own a property management business, you have a lot of things to take care of.

For example, if your company functions as a letting agent (as many do), it has the responsibility of finding and screening tenants, writing legal rental contracts, and ensuring the tenants take care of the house.

You will also need to handle the challenges of repairs, handling money, and liaising amongst tenants and landlords. Generally speaking, that’s really a lot to process, and you’ve got to make sure you’re getting into the hustle.

Another thing worth noting is that a property manager manages several units simultaneously. This may be business, residential, or student housing. For instance, you may be employed as a property management company (or even a freelancer) by a real estate investor.

Real estate owners usually have little time or experience running their properties on their own.

Furthermore, legal problems that come with running a business should not be undervalued. When it comes to property management, one major thing is the legal aspect of the job.

The excellently established and well-known property management companies try to reduce the damage caused by rental units, the risk of court action, and the customer’s profit.

Besides the work itself, owning a property management company requires that you recruit employees. That means you’d have to deal adequately with the managers, the real estate owners, and the company’s legal aspects.

2. Develop the skill.

If you intend dedicating your career life to property management, then ensure you’ve got the right skills to be the best one.

• Communication Skills:  You would need to interact with people from various backgrounds as a legit housing association manager. Acquiring excellent communication skills would make your experience with people even better and pleasant. Establishing relationships with contractors and law enforcement agencies also demands that you adapt and be versatile. Pressing situations in property management is a regular occurrence that you should be able to handle with ease. You would want to develop an extensive network of contractors to cope with the maintenance issues. You should be able to help the landlords make significant improvements to their properties. Your daily routine would practically include dealing with property owners, tenants, and contractors, so your people’s skills will help tremendously.

• The ability to manage time:This skill is one of the property manager’s most useful ones. Property owners are in search of people who are trustworthy, capable, and efficient, someone they can trust their properties with. To maintain relationships with a variety of clients, contractors, and do not forget about documentation, you will need time management skills. Timing is necessary to keep your customers satisfied, and it would also help you complete the project in time.

Read Also: Business Management Skills Needed by Business Owners

3. Be detailed-oriented

Be precise. The main problem is that it’s difficult to stay focus when you need to manage a host of tasks.

Notwithstanding, the job assumes that you will be taking responsibility for property control, legal paperwork, and many more.

Should you neglect a part of the agreement, the deal will go downhill, and you would be the only one blamed for it. That’s precisely why in the property management business, and one needs to be focused on details.

4. Make it legitimate

Firstly, you need to create a legal body. You could either consult a lawyer, or you could just do it online right away. If you choose to does it personally, just go to the official website of your state. You would find a guide on how to fill out a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) form.

Then download the free-to-use Article of Organization template, and file it. Set up the Office

Think about what you can do without having to leave your house. For instance, you can finally create your website, create an email account, or make copies of fancy business cards. What else would you need? A fax machine, a mobile phone, a printer, and a copier. These are all the items you’ll need to coordinate your work.

At least for a start, the Home Office is a good idea. If you are working from home or renting an office, whichever way you choose to do it, you should have a place to meet customers and handle telephone calls. Please don’t forget to get a cell phone for your job, and you’ll need it very often.

5. Choosing the appropriate technology

What sort of technology would you consider appropriate?

It should be the one that’s based on helping you manage your financial record, keep it perfectly balanced, and track the progress. You can get that in a property manager’s software package.

Create a website; ensure it is clean and visually appealing in its design. If you are present on the Internet, it will be simple and easy for clients to locate you.

A good marketing campaign would also encourage prospective customers to become potential ones. There are software packages that include expert-design websites. You just need to pick which method suits you best.

6. Establish a client base

While developing a business venture, you need to note that your clients don’t always have to be the one coming to you. There are times you have to find them, lure them, and perhaps even compete for them. That’s a challenging task, but that doesn’t make it impossible.

7. Switch for networking

Word of mouth is a fantastic way of getting your business publicized right from the beginning.

The skills we previously stated will undoubtedly be useful here. It’s all about communication and community relating to individuals in and keeping the relationships.

For example, you should approach the best selling real estate agents, because they typically know more about the rental property and knows people who would like to buy real estate for investments.

You may also take a chance with the Home Owners Associations (HOA’s) and real estate investment groups. That is precisely where landlords and investors can be found.

You can also communicate with the Chamber of Commerce or several other local business organizations and consider introducing your business to them.

Read Also: How to Start a Networking Marketing Business

8. Choose the best online advertising campaign

There are presently several platforms for marketing your business, particularly online. Starting with online ads, SEM (search engine marketing) and SEO (search engine optimization) will list your company on Foursquare for free.

For instance, Search engine marketing will enable you to steer potential buyers to your website’s right section. What you’ll be doing is charging people to visit your website or any online presence. Here is a 2-step method about how to use SEM on property management businesses.

• Use Offline Marketing: Last but not least, attempt to sell offline. It may feel ancient, but it still helps. Newspapers, free papers, cable channels, make use of any reasonable opportunity to publicize your business.  You should make the best decisions, considering the local market information.

• Define pricing: Evaluate the local market, firstly. Based on the current rates, you should be specific about how much you’d like to earn. Ensure your charging rate doesn’t affect the quality of your service, which should always be high. The reputation of any business is very essential and property management is no different.

Often, try to manage as numerous units as you can on your own, before recruiting employees. That’s how you can offer excellent services, and still have it. Never get greedy and always remember that quality is an essential component of every business.

9. Carefully manage regularly

The quality of the properties of your clients represents your value as a real property manager. Note that those prospective customers will use your ongoing projects as a reference and a measure for your service efficiency. If you can’t look after the assets in your possession right now, how do you expect future clients to trust their property?

Always respond quickly to demands for repairs and maintenance, and make sure that these common areas are always in a state of decent condition. This will require constant inspections.

10. Keep the customers in the loop

Ensure customers are aware of the condition their property is in. This implies that you need to notify them regularly concerning the maintenance requirements of the property, costs, tenant details, finances, etc.

Read Also: How to turn your customers into marketers

How to Run a Successful Property Management Company 

Running a successful Property management company; here’s what it entails:

1. Sorting  the legal matters out

• Defining the appropriate legal structure for your property management business is essential. This will accurately predict the taxes you are legally responsible for, the quantity of paperwork to be filed, and your degree of personal liability.
• Secondly, obtain a suitable license that will permit you to work legally in your state as a property manager.
• The next step is to come up with a company name and logo.

Finally, make sure you establish a bank account with a financial services provider that you are acquainted with and render them reasonable.

All these legal prerequisites will provide a secure platform for your company and lead to your growth and success.

2. Create an online presence

An online presence should be created, starting with an appealing, quick, and efficient website. The simpler your company’s website is to identify and use the better. The website has to be easy to navigate both for property owners and residents. The advantage of doing this is that the design of your website will attract more potential customers and allow visitors to reach you without chasing them.

3. Establish a healthy team

A property management company is only as successful as its team. When you lack the best skills in your corner, you become unable to handle many clients. You don’t have to employ almost as many employees as you used to, owing to property management tools. Here are the most relevant people you need to function seamlessly.

• Accountant: The accountant can take proper care of the books of the company, track revenue and expenditures, provide tax forms, and provide useful business advice.
• RealEstate Attorney: A real estate lawyer can defend you from any legal threats and ensure that you stay clear of danger.
• Contractors: You do need to collaborate with experienced contractors in your field.

A team of superior professional services should make it relatively easy to tackle any situation you may encounter.

4. Taking advantage of technology for property management

You need to utilize technology to your benefit as a modern property manager.

The easiest way of finding the best software for property management to suit your interest is to construct a checklist of your requirements.

Here are a few key features to take note of:

• Recording instruments
• Financial record management tools
• Leasing Follow-up
• Tools for vetting tenants
• Managing maintenance requests
• Managing leases

You can take handle most of the roles and responsibilities that come with running a property management business when these features are combined.

5. Price your services approximately

You should strike a balance between profitability and competition when pricing your services. Your prices should never be too low, to the extent where breaking even becomes incredibly hard. At the same time, neither should your services be very costly, as this can start chasing away potential customers.

Take into consideration factors like the standard rates in your area, your level of expertise, and so on to select the most suitable price for your services. Here are some of the fees you need to include in your rate.

• Setup fee
• Ongoing management fees:
• Leasing fee
• Eviction fee

Do a little investigation on how your rivals to ascertain a competitive pricing strategy. Ensure that your pricing will place you in an excellent position to offer your services with convenience.

Read Also: How to Make Customers Pay your Price

F. Develop a marketing strategy

A business without any kind of marketing strategy can’t expect to grow far beyond a few customers. A coordinated marketing strategy will include strategies for finding new consumers and retaining them through conventional and modern methods.

Traditional marketing tools include referrals and word of mouth. You can also plan to enter a nearby real estate investment club to meet investors and landlords.

As stated earlier, an excellently-functioning website is a powerful marketing tool, particularly when combined with other advertising channels, such as social media. Digital marketing gurus refer to Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter and as the best platforms for property management.

7. Network, Network, Network

You can never be too perfect for good-old networking, no matter how big the business grows.

Remember, it’s not only about what you understand. The same way it is in every other business, it also applies to property management. It is about who you know.

It’s necessary to build connections with a skilled fellow industry like lenders, insurance companies, real estate agents and contractors, etc. You should also always keep in touch with your existing customers because they most likely move in the same circles as other property owners who may need your services in the future.

Networking demands a lot of time and effort, but it is well worth it.

8. Screen tenants carefully

If any one of your clients wants you to fill in a vacant space, it’s best to screen tenants extensively and not be in haste to place anyone without conducting your proper research. Placing the wrong tenant in the property of a client can make a significant amount of time and resources go down the road and damage your company’s reputation.

How to be a good property manager

1. Make communication an essential skill: The first stage is to develop templates for everything. You can post an application for maintenance forms, so tenants can download and send forms once they have any demand.

2. Prosperous property managers don’t procrastinate: Efficient property managers do everything when appropriate. At the same time, they are knowledgeable and wise enough to know which aspects of their task take precedence over others.

3. Get up to speed and stay updated on everything related to property management: Remain informed on matters such as modifications in-laws and regulations, local rental rates, and other arising real estate developments.

4. Be Optimistic: Have a positive attitude. Knowing what you are going to be confronted with regularly, you must, at all times, sustain a confident, can-do attitude. Not only do you encounter the unavoidable landlord-tenant conflicts, but you’ll still have to remain calm if the market doesn’t go the direction you want it to.

5. Create a method for finding the right tenant: You need a program for screening and selecting suitable tenants to prevent any landlord-owner disputes.

6. Be Curious: Curiosity is one factor that can make you a successful property manager. You should always be looking for new and more creative ways to achieve your goal.

7. Be Decisive: Some people make choices based on their guts. Some decide logically while others are making use of both. Whatever decision you end up making, stand by it. Any repercussions should be dealt with immediately.

8. Engage your tenants: It is essential to forge real ties with your residents. Get to know them directly

9. Be self-driven: Have a robust urge to succeed, eliminate distractions, and be mainly concerned about growing and developing your skills.

10. Be a forward thinker: The property management industry is changing rapidly because of recent technology. Several mobile and software solutions are being created to make the property management process more straightforward and effective. If you are going to keep up, then you’ll have to adapt and embrace these developments.

To sum up…

Starting a property management company is very grueling and tasking, and this isn’t for everybody. Owning a prosperous property management business requires a great deal of time, commitment, and dedication.

Nevertheless, if you are self-assured that setting up your own company is good enough to justify all of the risks, just go for it! Terrific rewards come with serious challenges, which is yet another reason to build something of your own.

Real Estate

Tags: Business ideas, Real Estate Business Ideas