Owning a rental property is financially rewarding. Apart from generating a steady income, these real estate assets offer tax concessions, act as a hedge against inflation, and have tremendous potential for appreciation. However, rental properties also come with the added responsibility of maintenance, tenant management, and multiple financial and legal processes. To run your real estate company smoothly, availing property management services will be an ideal investment.
In this blog, we will shed light on the reasons why you should enlist the service of a professional property management company. Along with this, we will also share a list of real estate management services that are on offer for you.
What is Property Management?
As the term suggests, property management refers to the process of overseeing residential, industrial or commercial real estate assets. Generally, landlords and developers involve third-party operators to handle the operations and administration of their properties. This work can be bifurcated into the following categories:
- Rental and tenant management
- Renovation and maintenance
- Property sale and purchase
- Accounts and finance
- Marketing and advertising
- Legal and insurance advisory
Hence, not restricted to only setting rents, such companies also manage budget, offer legal services and handle maintenance work. While some companies oversee the entire marketing and advertising services, others offer softwares that act as an all-in-one solution for lead nurturing.
What are the Benefits of Availing Property Management Services?
From calculating taxes to filling vacancies, property management requires handling a plethora of activities on a daily basis. Plus, with multiple stakeholders in the picture, catering to their needs and addressing serious issues needs a holistic approach. This is where availing property management services come into play.
Real estate management companies handle three of your immediate demands: Better returns on your investment, efficient rental management, and maintenance. Here is how they address and handle your key concerns:
- Setting the rental price after thorough market research
- Filling vacancies and collecting rents on time
- Conducting business in a transparent manner
- Working on improving tenant retention rates
- Grievance redressal and resolving tenant queries
- Preparing and enforcing lease and rental agreements
- Overseeing insurance and asset management
- Tax planning and handling the related documentation
- Increasing the value of the concerned property
- Hassle-free and quality maintenance of your properties
- Handling vendors along with pricing and purchase management
Property Management Services that are High in Demand
Let us now explore the different types of property management services and how they make running a real estate business more smooth and hassle-free.
1. Rental Management
Companies that offer property management services set the right rental price based on market trends. Along with screening tenants, they also conduct a background check of tenants, prepare lease agreements, and collect the rent on your behalf. Maintaining your property after the tenants move out, filling in the vacancies, and settling the monthly utility bills is also where these companies will assist you.
2. Maintenance & Refurbishment
There are some companies that provide property management services related to repair and maintenance. They have experienced architects, interior designers, painters, and other stakeholders who can handle both repair and renovation work. This includes, but is not restricted to, finishing raw apartments, interior and exterior painting, landscaping, plumbing and electrical repairs, flooring, and building modular kitchens.
When cosmetic and structural issues are identified and repaired early on, the chances of developing larger and complex problems in the future will be minimized. This will increase the rental value and will maximize your profits.
3. Marketing and Advertising
With so many tools at their disposal, customers are now switching to online portals and applications to research about the property they want to invest in. In order to connect with these clients, you need to dominate the web space and display the listings at the right moment. Outsourcing these activities to full-stack real estate marketing and advertising agencies is the most suitable solution to grow your business. Given below are some of the services that these agencies have on offer:
- Website and landing page development
- Pay-per-click and social media advertisement
- Search engine optimization
- Email marketing and lead nurturing activities
- Brand building and online reputation management
- Video and content marketing
4. Handling Legal Processes
When we talk about property management services, it is imperative to discuss how the companies offering these services can streamline the legal process. Apart from issuing or replying to notices, they can help in preparing property documents for the sale-purchase process. Since they are adept with various laws, they will be able to render advice in the event of litigation.
Apart from issuing or replying to notices, Property Management services also expands the horizon to providing tenant verification and legal documentation services to reduce the risks for landlords by providing them insights by conducting background checks on tenants, These services reduce the legal and documentation expenses of property owners seeking to expand their reach of clients and Tenants.
5. Accounts, Finance & Insurance
Property management companies will help you navigate through multiple taxation and finance laws pertaining to the real estate industry in India. They will track your expenses and income generated from the units leased out and will provide a comprehensive summary of the same. In addition to this, they will provide assistance in filing taxes, formulating and managing budgets, and selecting and assessing insurance policies.
6. Safety and Security
From retail outlets and residential apartments to office complexes and industrial units, every real estate asset requires an efficient security system. Availing property management services for securing your tenants and properties is now a necessity.
These firms offer highly integrated surveillance systems that secure the perimeter round-the-clock. Along with video surveillance, they can track the number of visitors through biometric systems. These companies can also conduct a full audit of the premises and offer comprehensive risk assessment solutions.
This includes conducting routine checks on plumbing systems, electrical wiring, and structural integrity. By promptly repairing any leaks or faulty electrical components, judicial use of such facilities can prevent costly damages and potential hazards. Additionally, one can also prepare for natural disasters by implementing safety measures and emergency response plans. Therefore, by prioritising proactive property management, owners can maintain the value of their investment and provide a safe and comfortable living environment for tenants.
7. NRI Property Management:
Recently there has been a surge of demands for new kind property management services other than just traditional offerings. One of such services in demand is NRI Property Management, With rise of property investors from overseas investing in Indian real estate created a market for various tailored services to cater needs of NRI investors.
5 Secrets of Efficient Property Management Companies
From investors and technicians to tenants and landlords, property managers interact with many stakeholders. Alongside leadership and organisational skills, they possess certain competencies that help them juggle between multiple tasks. So a good property manager will know how to manage unruly tenants while handling the maintenance work of the concerned asset.
Here are 5 qualities that you must consider when hiring a manager or while availing property management services form a company.
1. Communication Skills
Communication is the corner-stone between clients and property management services providers. Apart from keeping you updated on the property status, property managers also need to be responsive to tenant queries. Explaining the rules and regulations set by the society or a landlord to the tenants and vendors is also one of their responsibilities. So managers who can communicate all the details in a lucid way, thereby making the process simpler for you as well as the tenants. is what will add value to your investment.
2. Knows the House Inside Out
Phil Dunphy surely knows his listings well. An excellent property manager will know too!
Since every property has its own USPs, researching and highlighting such features is essential. Research does not limit to the property interiors and exteriors, but clients should also be made aware of the neighbourhood. Hence, garnering information on transportation facilities, nearby entertainment and shopping complexes, proximity with business hubs and educational institutes, etc is a necessity. A good property management company will accumulate all the necessary data and will acquaint the clients with the details of the project.
3. Streamlines your Work
From house maintenance to handling financial transactions, property managers will be required to manage multiple tasks daily. In order to work efficiently and effectively, property management services providers will set processes that streamline your work. For this, they’ll either use online and offline tools or will take the help of good file management systems.
4. Implements Online Tools
A good property management services company is well aware of the fact that success today depends on technology. However, upgrading or installing new systems will not suffice if the employees don’t know how to use the software, applications, or web-based programs. Only when they go through a comprehensive training program can they use these products on a full scale. Here is how leveraging technological advancements will help you manage your business:
- Online registration of tenants
- Registering or renewing lease
- Complaint management
- Visitor and vendor management
- Ordering food and essential items
- Listing properties online
- Running ads on latest listings
- Monitoring marketing & advertising performance
5. Chalks out a Long-term Strategy
To run a flourishing real estate business, the property management services company will formulate a long-term strategy for you. This will help you stay focused and assess the shortcomings of your current strategies. For this, the firms might ask questions like how well are you performing in terms of tenant retention or how efficient is your team in handling financial transactions. Once they figure out the “what,” “why” and “how,” they will be able to offer comprehensive solutions for your business.
Hence, there are scores of property management services that can cater to the needs of agents, developers, landlords, and tenants. By availing these services, you can maximize your returns by earning high yields. This is possible if you lay equal emphasis on implementing online tools and taking assistance from a team that can handle multiple tasks efficiently.
