What is a Property Manager? Pros & Cons?

Question

I have a general understanding what a property manager is but my questions revolve more around how much or how little can you hire them to do.

Can you still maintain some control over who they rent to and maintenance issues?

Who draws up and signs the lease?

In general can you contract them to find occupants only - or do they usually require to handle everything (collecting monthly rent, maintenance, lease violations, etc.)?

What are the pros to using a property manager? Other than the obvious of freeing up your time.

What are the cons? Other than the cost of their services.

We currently own only 1 SFR and we live close by. This was an eviction situation leading to an unexpected vacancy at this time of year. We are having trouble finding a tenant and at present I'm finding that we don't have the time/patience/resources to find a suitable tenant on our own. We'd much rather use that time researching new properties to build our portfolio.

Have you/do you use a property manager?

Do they have more resources to find tenants?

Where is a good place to start looking for one?

Angie W. · Answer

@Sam Leon That's exactly what I would be looking for right now. Maybe I should start by contacting the realtor I have used for several years for looking at/selling/buying properties. I know she doesn't do it but maybe she would know someone who does.

Right now we just have a lot going on and don't have time/patience to deal with this process. Thanks for the tip!

Sam Leon · Answer

I have used realtors to do just that, finding a tenant.

They will put a sign in the yard, put the property on MLS, handle showings, get the credit background checking (potential client pays for that themselves), and getting the lease signed.  For that, down here they charge 1 month rent.  If there is a cooperating broker than they split 50/50.

Angie W. · Answer

@Colleen F.  Thanks for sharing your experience. I guess the best thing for me to do is just try to find some PM's in the area and ask what services they provide. I know this subject has been brought up a lot and I've tried to read what I can. There is so much info here on BiggerPockets sometimes it's hard to decipher it all :)

@Bill Gulley Thanks for the info I will have to check into it!

Bill Gulley · Answer

They find tenants for landlords, people go in to see their listings for rent like a sales company lists properties for sale. Google leasing companies in your area, I know the yellow pages are getting thinner, but they should be in a phone book under property  or RE leasing. I think one is RentFinders. :)

Angie W. · Answer

@Bill Gulley Thanks for the input. What is a rental listing service? What would be the best way to find one in my area?

I'm trying to find other avenues to find a tenant. I currently have it listed on Craigs list (which has not been very successful) and a sign in the yard (which generates calls needing general info) both of which are consuming all my time with no solid leads. I'm becoming pretty frustrated.

Colleen F. · Answer

You can get PMs  to do less (or sometimes they do anyway) but chances are the percentage of rent they take isn't going to be less. There are many tips here on how to decrease your burden from tenant showings and the pros and cons of property managers. We do use one as we are required as out of state landlords.  The showing is the biggest assistance I get from them especially in houses that require lots of showings to get a tenant.  I prefer they use my lease but most companies use their lease and collect the rent for you. The biggest complaint I have is the lag in getting the rent from the PM.  It is always 10 days or more and I have tried to make that shorter a couple of ways but it is an issue that you should not tolerate. The PM will handle emergency repairs but bill them to you. My PM is not authorized to do large repairs without my approval but it hasn't come up so far. The big stuff the tenants come to us.

Bill Gulley · Answer

You might look for a rental listing service, they have a fee for finding tenants and while they may do more, they can just find the tenant for you. They usually have a waiting list of applicants here.

You might call real estate brokerage, there is usually a Realtor who will take on one property jobs that do management.

You can use a listing service, do management yourself and use an attorney as needed. You can hire out cleaning and such too.

Most PM companies are full service types, that's how they make money, but you may find one that will do only those tasks you want to assign, I'd say those would be smaller companies that would be willing to pick up such business. :)