Real Estate
Property management
The task
of a property management company is to take up the responsibility of
managing the multiple aspects which come into play when one owns a real
estate property. This is very similar to the role of management in any
business.
Roles of property
managers:
One of the important
roles is that of acting as point of liaison between the landlord and the
tenant. The duties of property management companies include advertising
vacancies for landlords, responding to and addressing maintenance issues,
accepting rent, and doing credit and background checks on prospective
tenants. In return for the service they provide, property management
companies usually charge landlords a percentage of the gross rent
collected each month - this amount usually is about 8-10%, in addition to
the lease commissions, if any. In case in is mentioned in the management
agreement, repair costs may be also be marked by some property managers.
Some property management companies also manage what are known as home
owner associations or HOAs.
Apart from managing
income and expense related activity, property managers may also manage
construction, development, repair and maintenance of a property. The
direction and co-ordination of repair or maintenance is a major part of
the property manager's function. The Property manager's relations with
tenants goes a long way in building a good opinion of the landlord and
provides them in turn, the necessary buffer servicing their desire and
distance themselves from their tenant.
There are many aspects
to this profession, including participating or initiating litigation with
insurance agencies, contractors and tenants. Litigation alone is most of
the time considered an entirely separate function, set aside for
exclusively for trained attorneys. Although a person(s) will be held
responsible for this in their job description, there may or may not be an
attorney appointed to work under a property manager. Special attention is
always given to Landlord / Tenant law and most commonly issues like
evictions, non-payment, harassment, reduction of pre-arranged services,
and public nuisance are legal subjects that gather the maximum amount of
attention from property managers. It is therefore a necessity that the
property manager be up-to-date with new laws and practices in their given
localities, cities and states. In this connection, national and local
property management associations serve as a valuable resource which
provides assistance in keeping up on current trends in these
areas.
