Are you interested in investing in real estate? There are many benefits of real estate investing, but it can be difficult to find the right income property. Before you start investing in real estate, you must get help from an income property advisor to get the most out of your investment.
Do you want to learn more about investing in income property for sale? Keep reading these top seven questions to ask your income property advisor before you get started.
1. What Kinds of Properties Do You Manage?
The first thing you need to do before you hire an income property advisor is learning more about their current portfolio of properties. This way you can learn more about where they manage properties, the types of properties they manage, and more.
For example, you may not want to hire a property manager for your apartment complex if they only have experience managing single-family homes. Similarly, you should learn more about whether they specialize in commercial or residential properties, short-term rentals vs long-term rentals, and more.
By learning more about their investment portfolio, you can find a property manager that has experience managing a similar property to yours.
2. How Do You Screen Tenants?
Next, you need to learn more about tenant management. Whether you are doing short-term or long-term rentals, tenant relationships play a huge role in your investment property.
First, you should learn more about how they screen tenants. If your property manager does not have a tenant screening process, you may have issues with damage to your property, unreliable tenants, and even missing rent payments.
Similarly, you need to find out if your property manager uses credit checks or other background checks before approving a tenant for your property.
3. What Is Your Pricing?
An important part of hiring a property advisor is learning more about their pricing. There are many different types of property management fees, so you need to find out whether their fees and pricing fit your budget.
For example, there may be additional fees that pop up over time for certain services, like filling vacant properties, evicting tenants, and more.
However, you also need to consider the base fee for your property management. Some advisors charge a flat fee while others charge a percent of the monthly rent that you collect.
4. How Big is Your Team?
When you are hiring a property manager, you need to learn more about how many employees they have and how big their team is. If you own a commercial property, you may want to hire a rental management firm rather than an individual property manager. With a larger team, they can provide you with more services and more efficient work for your bigger property.
Learning more about their team will also help you determine whether or not a property manager is equipped to handle your income property, especially if it is a large apartment complex or commercial building.
5. How Do You Manage Rent?
Because your property advisor will be in charge of collecting rent from your tenants, you need to learn more about their rent management services and experience.
For example, you should ask them how they set the rent amounts for each property. You need to make sure your property is valued accurately for rent. If you set the price too high, you will likely have vacancies in your rental property.
If you set the price too low, you will not be maximizing your income potential.
You should also learn more about how your rental manager collects the rent. Do they do it through an online platform or do they require physical checks or cash? Do they have an automated system that collects rent?
Learning more about these factors can help you feel comfortable with your property manager and will ensure that you get paid properly for your income property.
6. What Services Do You Offer?
Next, you need to know what types of services your rental management company offers. While most companies market your property and find tenants, you also need to make sure they provide other services, like maintenance and repairs. Others even offer property tax help, office properties income trust help, and more.
This way, you can be sure that your rental property is well-kept and is valuable for potential tenants.
You should also hire a property manager that provides property inspections. Sometimes property managers charge a small fee for these services, but they can catch problems with your rental property before they become major issues.
7. How Do You Market Properties?
Finally, you should ask your income property management company how they market vacant properties. Having vacancies in your property significantly lowers your rental income, so you want your properties to stay occupied as much as possible.
To properly market a rental property, you must make sure your property manager advertises properties through several channels. This way, you can choose the best tenants, rather than accepting anyone who applies to live at your property.
Make sure they also know how to write great descriptions of your properties that accurately portray the value and benefits of your rental property.
Looking at Income Property Investments? Get Help Today
Finding an income property can be a great investment and is made even easier when you hire a property manager. By asking your property advisor each of these questions before you hire them, you can identify potential problems with your property and avoid future problems.
If you are looking for income property management, Memphis Investment Properties can help! We provide newly renovated rental properties in Memphis, TN, and offer in-house property management.
Contact our team today to learn more about our property management services and to join our buyers’ list!