Having one rental property is enough for many landlords what with all the things that they have to be responsible for and be on top of. Therefore, if you are planning to invest in several rental properties, you have to be ready to step up your game as both a landlord and the property manager. Taking care of several rental homes could be a full-time job so if you are not considering leaving your day job, the best you can do is to find a manager that can handle the challenges of managing multiple houses.
Since you will be giving the manager plenty of trust since he or she will be taking care of a substantial investment, you have to be sure that the property management company you choose would be the best fit for your needs. With that said, you should learn about what things to look for in a property manager that would be tasked to handle several rental houses.
One thing that you should look for is aggressive marketing of your property. Keep in mind that every day that a property is vacant, it means money out of your pocket. If the managers you chose are not very aggressive with marketing your property, then you cannot expect to see plenty of returns on your investment as soon as possible. Make sure that the company knows how to advertise your property for maximum exposure.
Rent collection can be a problematic part of running a rental property business. Late payments could lead to financial problems for you especially if you have already earmarked a use for the monthly rent you will be receiving at the end of the month. This problem could be doubled or tripled the more property you rent out. A good property management company should have a system in place to make sure that rent collection is done in a timely and systematic way.
In case of evictions, handling more than one is already a big problem. What if you have to evict two or more tenants? It would be too much work for a single individual so you have to be sure that the property management company you will be working with knows the process of eviction and can complete it as soon as possible when the need arises.
By making sure that the property management company you will be working with can handle all the most important things, you would reduce the risk of getting into costly problems with your business.