A property manager is charged with the responsibility of overseeing other people’s properties. Managing rental properties involves tasks such as marketing available properties, screening potential renters, overseeing repairs, writing lease agreements, and collecting rent payments. However, achieving success in a property management career is not just about learning how to juggle these tasks. You need to continually update and hone your personal skills to stay ahead of the competition.
Here are a few ways to give your property management career a boost:
1. Develop the Right Attitude
To succeed in an investment property management career, you must develop a great attitude. Being a property manager is not always a smooth experience. Quite often, things will not work out as planned. In addition, you will occasionally deal with people that will rub you the wrong way. Great property managers don’t allow such incidents to discourage them. They see every challenge that emerges as an opportunity to learn and improve. They don’t have a pessimistic and rigid mindset that hinders them from experimenting or dealing with a problem from a different perspective.
2. Learn to Be a People Person
Rental property management involves constant engagement with many people on a day-to-day basis. Therefore, success in a property management career requires one to be a great ‘people person’. You need to learn how to communicate with people, understand their concerns, respond to them with tact, and build relationships based on mutual respect and trust. At times, you might find yourself acting as an intermediary between different parties with conflicting or varying interests and needs. You will need to learn how to negotiate and find a win-win solution that will leave everyone happy.
Good property management also requires being available and dependable. As a residential property manager, you need to be accessible to your tenants. Ask questions and take note of their concerns. You should also make it a habit to respond to phone calls and emails in a timely fashion. Responding to tenant complaints and concerns quickly will keep them happy and maximize occupancy rates.
Related: What Should Landlords Do to Find the Perfect Tenant?
3. Get Organized
Good organizational and planning skills are essential for successful property management careers. Create well-defined processes for dealing with routine duties like rent collection, screening new tenants, and inspection. This will minimize confusion, save time, and allow your employees to work more effectively.
Since the property management career involves handling a lot of documentation on a daily basis, you need to have a proper file management system in place. This will save time and allow you to address issues much faster. Some of the paperwork you are likely to deal with includes:
- Rent payment records
- Property maintenance notices
- Move-in inspection documents
- Security deposit paperwork
- Eviction notices
- Lease violation records
The good news is that there are many property manager tools and software out there that can help streamline your operations.
4. Balance Your Time
A property management career involves dealing with property owners, tenants, prospective clients, maintenance personnel, and colleagues on a daily basis. It is therefore very important to balance your time well in order to achieve the best results. Without proper time management, you are likely to be overwhelmed by the never-ending responsibilities. The best way to manage your time is by establishing a routine and sticking to it. You could create a large to-do list and place it at your workstation. Divide your day into sections devoted to one task at a time.
5. Stay Abreast of Trends
Property management is a discipline that is changing very rapidly. To succeed in your property management career, you will need to stay abreast of the latest regulations and trends in the industry. Besides reading industry magazines and journals, you should also attend property management seminars and join industry associations. This way, you can keep tenants, property owners, and contractors informed about the latest developments and thus avoid surprises. In addition, look for opportunities to deliver speeches or presentations to associates and colleagues in a professional setting. This will help position you as an expert in the real estate industry.
Related: Top 7 Residential Real Estate Trends of the 2019 Housing Market
Don’t forget to check out Mashvisor’s blog for more information on succeeding as a property manager!
6. Find More Investment Properties for Your Existing Clients
Real estate investors are always on the lookout for new investment properties to buy. As a property manager, you can make it easier for your clients to find what they are looking for, thus getting more properties under your management and giving your business that boost it needs. One tool that can help you do this with ease is Mashboard. Mashboard will help you identify who is ready to purchase and the Property Recommender feature will help you find a rental property. With its 90% accuracy, this tool will ensure that you find the property that is perfect for your clients. Each property listed comes with an analysis report that can be shared from your dashboard via SMS or email.
Check out Mashboard today to see how you can take your property management career to the next level.
Related: 10 Tips to Succeed as a Residential Property Manager
7. Build a Great Team
It has been said that ‘teamwork makes the dream work’. Success in the property management career is only possible if you have a great team. Be sure to hire people with a proven track record in property management or related ‘people jobs’. Besides training them to be efficient at their jobs, share your professional work attitude and professional values. A well-trained and motivated team will help you achieve far more than you could ever achieve on your own.
Besides having great employees, another tip for property managers is to look for good contractors that offer high-quality services. This could be painters, landscapers, plumbers, electricians or even HVAC operators. Having access to such professionals will allow you to deal with any real estate property management problems fast and efficiently.
Conclusion
The property management career is a highly competitive and fast-paced field. Anyone that wants to learn how to be a successful property manager can apply the property manager tips mentioned above. When combined with determination and self-discipline, these tips will result in a successful career.
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