So You Want to be a Landlord? 10 Reasons to hire a property manager...

So you want to be a landlord? Protect your investment and hire a property manager.

See the other posts in this series:

1. So You Want to be a Landlord? Pick a Niche...

2. So You Want to be a Landlord? Analyzing Potential Properties...

3. So You Want to be a Landlord? Finance It...

4. So You Want to be a Landlord? Make it Stand Out...

So now you have your rental property...you've made it stand out...and now you're ready to rent it out. I typically recommend to investors with only one or two properties to manage their own properties for a while. I do think hiring a property manager makes sense but I think property owners need to understand what they are paying for.

So you want to be a landlord? 10 Reasons to Hire a Property Manager...

1. Rent Collection: Experienced landlords will tell you...collecting rent is the hardest part of owning investment property. PM's have the systems in place to make sure you get your rent on time...

2. Rent Maximization: Many new property managers underprice their properties. Professional managers know the area and how to price your property for maximum profit.

3. Finding the Best Tenants: Professional managers know how to conduct background searches, criminal reports, eviction reports and overall tenant screening. Inexperienced property managers often make expensive mistakes in the screening process.

4. Top Notch Marketing: Property managers know which mediums work for your target market. Often times they have deals with newspapers, websites, etc that can save you huge on marketing money.

5. Legal Expertise: It's way to easy to get in a lot of trouble because you simply didn't know or didn't understand a law. A good property manager knows the laws and how to properly deal with tenants.

6. Property Maintenance: It's the manager's job to make sure you are alerted whenever maintenance issues arise. They should also be doing periodic inspections to make sure your investment is protected.

7. Record Keeping: Record keeping is one of THE most important parts of property management whether its a professional or you do it yourself. A professional property manager will make your tenant and financial records are in order and ready for you at tax time.

8. No Midnight Calls: If you ever hear a property owner complain- its usually about the 7am Saturday overflowing toilet calls.

9. Cost Effective: Most property managers charge from 6-10% of monthly rents. For $1000 rental property that's only $60-100 a month. That's $2-3 per day.

10. Quality of Life: This is the primary reason I chose to hire a professional manager to mange my properties. By handing over the daily management, it frees me up to do other things.