8 mistakes to avoid during property management

Whether you are a property manager, there can be some mistakes that can be avoidable. They say being penny-wise is being a dollar foolish. Owning a property is a long-term investment with the building, the land and the tenant planning to be ahead is important.

Here are some tips that will help you avoid these mistakes

Interview your tenants: Do your duty and interrogation, let them fill out a rental application, collect the fee for a certain credit report, criminal background check and call to confirm the employment. Remember to do a tenant background check, fair housing laws on what you can do for one you do for all, be consistent. Get a copy of the ID and make sure who you are dealing with.

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Hire a well-known contractor every time is a no-no- You would want to keep a solid relationship with the local contractors when you might have a problem you can call them up and get the work done. Shopping around the best price all the time will cause you headaches and more time in the long run. So try finding someone local that has been in the business for a while and has good experience on what they are doing, create a solid relationship and stick with them.

Hiring unskilled workers to save money: This will just cause you more problems and will haunt you back. They probably don’t have insurance or any experience or no guarantee on work done. On top of this, there won’t be any background checks, who knows who you are hiring this could be a huge safety issue.

Letting tenants do their repair and work: Letting tenants do the maintenance on the house could be a bad idea. It might look like an easy way out but this could lead to further damages and more repairs that could be liable for damages and injuries.

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Routine inspection and repair: Owning a property has to do a lot with the maintenance. In the short term, it will cost a little and in long term, it can save you much. Routine inspection can help you spot the problems before they become huge and show the tenant that you care. Depending on how old the property is, you can inspect the property yearly or quarterly.

Communication is important: You need to have open and honest communication with the tenant like email is considered as one of the best ways to process or share the documentation or have any kind of formal communication. If you have any concerns you can reach out to the tenants ASAP. Mobile communication is also one of the fastest communication aspects but if you have to keep track of the documentation then email can be considered as one of the best ways to do so. This can also create a sound landlord-tenant relationship.

Do not wait to renew the lease: Have a word with your tenant prior 60 to 90 days before the end of the lease to see what their plans are. Also, communicate if there will be an increase in the rent or anything related to it. Remember this is a two-way street where you want to be in a win-win situation for both parties. 

Not having important details in writing: As a property manager, you will have formal property management agreements in place with your clients and leasing agreements with the tenants. However, one mistake many property managers don’t take into consideration is to have important details in writing. This can also include photos and timestamps of damages, logs of conversations, and the date of details and maintenance request.