How to Select a Residential Property Manager

When more than one home is owned, renting to paying tenants becomes a real possibility. It's not an especially difficult task to manage rental real estate unless it's more than a comfortable drive away. Then it becomes prudent to hire a professional property manager.

Before deciding on which property manager to engage, it's important to understand what services are required since not all property managers provide the same level of support.

Many owners use their rental property as a source of investment income and they're mostly concerned about the bottom line. These owners are real estate investors whose primary motive is profit.

Then there are those owners, for example, who've been transferred by their jobs to a distant location. They don't want to sell their home. They expect to return to it in the future. These owners are more interested in keeping their home in a good condition, and they want to rent it to tenants who'll cover as much of their monthly mortgage payments as possible. These owners aren't as profit-motivated as their real estate investor counterparts; these owners look forward to the day that they‘ll move back into their homes.

Property managers must be able to provide specific services to both investor and non-investor owners alike.

The investor-owner who is motivated by profit will accept almost any tenant who can pay the desired rent and who will not make costly demands on the owner. When repairs are needed or carpeting or appliances need to be replaced, this owner will expect the property manager to find the most cost-effective solutions in order to minimize expenses.