Great communication skills help succeed at property management

Succeed at Property Management

Becoming a successful property owner requires more than having a nice home others would want to live in. You need to get your property noticed, find good tenants and hold onto them. This all comes down to great communication skills.

What exactly does this mean for your property management endeavors? It means if you want to have real estate as a source of wealth, then you better know how to talk to the masses as well as individuals. Whether it’s a single-family home or a portfolio of multi-family residences, the same basic principals apply.

Let’s take a look at the communication tips you need to become a more successful property owner.

1. Leverage Alternate Communication Methods

Sometimes people have problems; it’s just a fact of life. In the digital age, dissatisfied people may take to the internet rather than calling or writing you. When that happens, you need to be ready to respond calmly, kindly and with intention, using the same medium on which the complaint was made. Being digitally savvy, therefore, is one of the most crucial communication skills in the modern age.

2. Market Widely

Getting your property found is only the first step. You also need to get your property found by the right people – folks who will care for your house the way it’s meant to be cared for. That means using all the available options, including all the listing services, social media, Craigslist and more. It’s a tall order.

If you don’t feel like drumming up content or figuring out how to market on your own, you can always work with a property management company. Professionals have access to a huge range of resources that you don’t, including websites that prospective tenants are already searching. Additionally, they can help you screen and vet tenants, making the marketing process less painful from start to finish.

3. Have a System

Where is a tenant supposed to go with a maintenance request or complaint? If they don’t know, it could be bad for you. You need a system to keep track of tenant outreach, especially if you’re managing more than one property. Professional companies use web portals, which make everyone’s job easier, but chances are you don’t have access to that on a small scale. Think about it and decide what you’ll do instead.

4. Work with a Property Management Company

One of the best ways to keep your communication topnotch is to use a property management company such as AZ Residential Management. A professional property management team knows how to work with renters in ways that make them feel valued and cared for, all without you having to lift a finger.

If you’d like to learn more about what it’s like to work with a property management company dedicated to you, please get in touch with us today.


Avoid making these mistakes as a rookie landlord

5 Rookie Landlord Mistakes You’re in Danger of Making

Having an investment property sounds really simple, right? All you need to do is get some tenants, collect rent, and that’s it. The reality is that it’s not as easy as it sounds. Renting your property is a difficult task, especially if you don’t have a background in real estate and property management. Understanding what makes for a good investment and responding to the realities of the market are both crucial skills if you want to make the most of your property. Without that understanding, you’re in danger of making the following critical mistakes.

1. Failing to Get Clear on Your Goals

When you’re renting out a house, it might seem obvious what your goals are: Make money. But is that really all there is to it? Drill down. Is your goal to pay off the house and keep it as an investment? To rent it until you can sell it when the market gets a bit better? To build seed money for another investment property? Once you know your true goal, you can make better decisions about how to run your rental.

2. Failing to Do Adequate Background Checks

Does that couple with the baby seem just too earnest and adorable to pass up? Well, they might be adorable now, but if they have rock-bottom credit and you don’t check it, you’re not going to think so for long. It’s critical you do a full background check, and frankly, most laypeople don’t know how to do that.

3. Underestimating the Danger of Vacancies

It’s great to maintain a wealth-building property investment … but the game only works if the property is rented out most of the time. Without renters, you have to pay the mortgage, a responsibility that can quickly become unsustainable. Without a property management company to help you market, you might find it’s harder to keep your home full than you would have imagined.

4. Failing to Respond to Tenants

It’s tempting to view your home as “good enough” and let those calls about the annoying cabinet or the broken fence go to voicemail. But in this day and age of tenant rights, that can come back to bite you. Especially if the tenants try to fix the issues themselves, and end up doing more damage than good.

5. Not Using a Property Management Company

This is hands-down the biggest mistake we see landlords make. Yes, it’s tempting to believe you can do it all yourself, but the truth is, property management is a business because it’s difficult to do it all right. If you want to make money, find the right tenants, protect your home, limit vacancies and grow your wealth and security over time, you need the right help.

That’s us. If you’re ready to stop fretting over your properties and start rocking at the landlord game, we’re here to help. AZ Residential Management offers marketing, leasing and monthly management to make your life easier and give you your time back. Get in touch today.