You may wonder why property managers charge fees when all they do is just collect the rent, which may take no effort if tenants pay online. While that is not what all we do, even if that’s the case, we should charge something. The reason for it is because we need to be on standby at all time. There is a cost to be on standby. Besides collecting rent, what do we do?
Before tenants move-in
- Continue to be educated about laws and property management.
- Create an inspection sheet.
- Inspect the property.
- Transfer the utility to your own (company) name.
- Pay the utilities.
- Remove snow or mow the lawn, as needed.
- Change the lock.
- Repair and clean as needed.
- Prepare all the forms necessary: Move-in check sheet, lease application, lease agreement, management agreement, listing agreement, etc.
- Check the owner’s insurance.
- Research market rent.
- Take pictures of the property.
- Put a lockbox to the property.
- Understand and follow Fair Housing Laws
- Place a “For Rent” sign in the yard.
- Create and place ads.
- Set and write the minimum qualification standards.
- Taking phone calls and reply to emails from prospective tenants
- Pre-screen tenants based on the standards and keep a record (this will be helpful in case someone asks later why some people got denied)
- Make appointments to show properties.
- Contact potential tenants before the showing for a confirmation.
- Meet with potential tenants and show the property.
- Go over the property’s features.
- Provide the lease application, if the potential tenants are interested.
- Do the screening: Credit check, background, check, employment verification, income verification, and rental history.
- Collect all the necessary documentation from the potential tenants: filled-out lease application, DL picture, pay stubs, etc.
- Approve tenants.
- Deny tenants. Create a denial letter if needed.
- Have approved tenants sign the lease agreement.
- Sign the lease agreement and send it to the tenants.
- Receive the security deposit, 1st-month rent, pro-rated rent, and pet rent, if any.
- Deposit the money received to the appropriate accounts.
- Screen the pet, if any.
- Create a move-in inspection sheet with pictures. Have the tenants sign it.
- Transfer the utilities to the tenants.
- Set up the new tenants to property management software.
- Set up a rent payment method with the tenants.
After tenants move-in
- Receive rent and deposit.
- Answer phone calls, texts, and emails from tenants.
- Arrange repairs and maintenance.
- Get repair permit, as needed.
- Work with tenants disputes
- Raise the rent, as needed.
- Renew the lease.
- Inspect the property regularly.
- Create a list of good reasonably priced contractors.
- Check license and insurance of the contractors.
- Create 1099 as needed.
- Pay contractors.
- Handle late rent payment.
- Serve legal paperwork, if needed.
- Evict bad tenants.
- Follow the municipality’s rental inspection/license program, if needed.
- Record the in and out of the money.
- Pay bills on behalf of the owners.
- Make a monthly report, and provide it to the owner.
- Respond to legal issues.
After tenants move-out
- Do a move-out inspection. Have the tenants sign.
- Calculate the cost of the repairs.
- Return the security deposit.
- Staying up to date on rental-related local, state, and federal laws
This list is not meant to be a complete list. You have to look at your situation and adjust as needed. But the point of this list is to show that there’s a lot that a property manager needs to do. Only you can decide if this is something you want to do or not.
