Investment Property ManagementA rental manager for a large property management company spends a lot of time advertising for tenants, interviewing tenants, approving tenants and setting rent levels as well as defending those levels to tenants and government authorities in jurisdictions that have rental controls in place. One of the worst nightmares that a rental manager can have is to rent to a bad tenant. They cause a lot of damage, do not pay their rent and it is hard to get rid of them. Screening of tenants is one of the most important things that a rental manager can do.

Rental Manager – Manage Rent Levels

Rent levels have to be set based onĀ  market conditions. Also the type of tenant you want in your building, the amenities that are offered in your building. As well as the occupancy rate for your building. Rental managers must take all of these conditions into account when setting rental levels. They offer discounts in some cases to tenants as enticements at various times.

Low rents may attract the wrong type of tenant which means you get people who are not good at paying their rent. They do not have pride in the place they live. High rents can sometimes mean that units stay vacant for a longer period. You do not have the rental income. But then you do not have the damages either that many people cause.

Some governments have in place rental controls to avoid rent levels from increasing too fast. They will have prescribed increases that are approved each year. The rental manager must be able to justify their increases and show that they are within the level that has been prescribed by the government regulations. If the rent increases will be larger than allowed, sometimes they can be approved. However substantial documentation must be provided to substantiate the increases that are above the allowed limits.

Balance Income and Expenses

In addition the expenses must be covered by the rental income. There is a balance between income and what can be spent each year in terms of regular expenses to operate the building, maintenance, upgrades and a reasonable profit. This also must be taken into account by the rental manager when setting the rental rates for the coming year.

This is a significant balancing act that most rental managers must deal with in addition to dealing with tenants, reviewing applications and setting contracts / leases for units. There are good and bad tenants at all income stratas. The trick is to pick out the people who will always pay their rent on time and take care of the place they rent for you. No one wants a deadbeat renter.

You even have to be careful of rental managers who will say nice things about tenants merely to get them out of their building because they are in fact a bad tenant. This actually happens much more than you think.

Screen Tenants

Take the time to screen tenants and always use a screening service. The service may cost you some money, but it will be worth it in the long run when you avoid a lot of damage or lost rent when they skip town and do not pay their rent. This is money well spent. In one case we know of, a couple applied to rent an apartment and were in a bad credit situation.

They had over 20 credit cards and were not making he payments on these credit cards. Can you imagine if you rented to them. What do you think the chances are thatĀ  they would be able or willing to pay you the rent check on time? There is very little likely hood that they would pay your rent and then you would be facing court costs to get rid of them and collect what is owed to you.

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