What Do Apartment Management Companies Actually Do?
As a landlord, dealing with tenants and prospects can be a challenging task, especially if you live far away from your property. That’s why so many landlords choose to hire a property management company. This company can deal with the different responsibilities and issues of managing a rental property.
Property management firms take care of everything, from tenant screening to maintenance services and more. You can hire one to manage single-family and multi-family units, condos, duplexes, and even apartments.
We’ll tell what apartment management companies actually do and why partnering with one can be a good option for your investment property.
Types of Property Management Companies
There are different types of property management companies. Each one of these businesses has various benefits for a different kind of rental property, whether it is a multi-family, commercial, or homeowner association property.
These are the types of management companies you can choose from:
- Residential Property Management: Residential management companies focus on managing two types of properties: apartment complexes and single-family units. If you are looking for a company to help you manage one house or several apartments, a residential management company is the right one for you.
- Commercial Management: A commercial property management company looks after commercial buildings. It should be easier to manage due to the tenant covering repairs, insurance, and property taxes, so the management fee for commercial service tends to be less.
- Homeowners’ Association (HOA): A HOA management company is responsible for dealing with residential areas under the responsibility of a homeowners’ association.
For the purpose of this guide, we will be focusing on the responsibilities and duties of multi-family management companies.
What Do Residential Management Companies Do?
When it comes to apartment management, you will want to find a trustworthy multi-family, residential management company. This business can manage your rental properties, including apartments and single-family homes.
Prepare the Unit
If you have a real estate investment property, whether an apartment or condo, you probably already know vacancies are a problem. In an ideal world, every unit would be occupied by a tenant that pays on time. However, when that’s not possible, the worst thing to do is leave the unit unattended.
A vacant unit needs to be cleaned, maintained, and repaired as needed to be in ‘hotel room ready’ condition as soon as possible for earlier occupancy. Property management companies with experience in the industry know this to be true. They will keep your property prepared at all times.
Determine the Best Rent Price
One of the primary responsibilities of an apartment management company is determining the correct market rate for your property. The ideal rental price for your apartment will be profitable for you, increase cash flow by reduced vacancy periods, and reasonable for prospective tenants.
A good property management company will research the area and market to determine the correct price. Once the right price has been determined, they can start advertising the property to possible tenants.
Proper Advertising
Your property might have the right price, space, and equipment, but tenants won’t rent it if they don’t know it exists.
To promote your apartment to the right tenants, an apartment management company invests time and money into advertising online on all real estate related websites. However, that investment needs to be smart and targeted toward the best potential tenants.
An excellent property management company like Genuine offers 3D tours and professional photos of your property to attract the best possible tenants. Combine those features with an accurate and detailed description, and it won’t be long until your vacant unit is occupied.
Plus, the photos and video support the clean, hotel room ready condition if pre-existing damages disputes ever arise.
Screening Process
With the right advertisements, a property management company can fill your vacant unit with a well-qualified applicant. However, the best companies will do an extensive screening process to allow only the best tenants into your property.
For instance, at Genuine Property Management, we focus on the following:
- Nationwide evictions
- Criminal reports
- Credit card reports
- Bank balances
- Employment verification
- Verifiable landlord reference
- And much more tricks and tips to ensure no bad apples get in our cart
We also focus on understanding the tenant to determine whether the person is responsible and trustworthy. If you allow pets in your apartment, which we recommend as it attracts more tenants, we also perform a pet-screening process. We can limit your liability while helping tenants with pets find comfortable and reasonable housing.
Tenant Complaints and Maintenance Services
One of the most challenging duties of managing properties is keeping up with the different tenant complaints. If a complaint or problem is left unattended for an extended period, it can drastically reduce tenant satisfaction. An unhappy tenant will think twice before renewing a contract, leading to a possible income loss for you.
At Genuine Property Management, we provide a maintenance team ready to fix any issues or complaints in short order. We also offer a repair survey for your tenants to stay ahead of any possible problems, allowing us to improve tenant satisfaction.
Lease Agreements and Rent Collection
If you are an investment property owner, you likely know how challenging it is to prepare and enforce lease agreements with your tenants. However, using those agreements will keep your property protected against any legal issues.
The lease agreement usually covers security deposits and rent payment dates, meaning the company must ensure the tenant has paid on time. Collecting rent is another vital responsibility of a property management service.
Handle Evictions and Move-Outs
In a perfect world, all tenants will pay their rent on time. However, that’s not always the case. Unfortunately, California has strict laws about what to do in that situation. Hiring a property management company can be ideal if you don’t want to deal with the evictions yourself.
At Genuine, we handle all the paperwork and physical work of evicting a tenant. We follow the different rent control and eviction laws in each area so that you are completely covered against liability.
One more responsibility of an apartment management company is to supervise tenant move-outs and ensure your property is in a good state. We will charge the necessary fees to prevent any loss if repairs are required.
Financial and State Reports
Overall, a property management company reports to you alone. As the landlord, you’ll want to know how your property is doing and what your total income is every month.
That’s why, at Genuine Property Management, we provide an online platform so that you can easily access every report made for your property.
Choose Genuine Property Management to Manage Your Apartment in Orange County
If you are looking for the best and most reliable property management company, look no further than Genuine Property Management. We understand the importance of improving the relationship between landlords and tenants. That’s why we can provide you with the best solutions for your property.
These are some of the benefits we offer to our clients:
- Reliable customer service, improving communication between you and your tenants.
- A money-back guarantee if you are not happy with our services.
- There are no long-term contracts, providing freedom to choose what’s best for your property.
- Renters insurance coverage and in-house rent collection with credit bureaus.
- We handle all evictions and move-outs.
- Same-day deposits and several online payment options.
- An owner’s portal that allows easier access to your property’s state and financial reports.
Check out our website to learn more about how Genuine can help your rental property, or call us at 949-209-9494 for more information!
