Property Management

Setting the right rental rate: You can always ballpark this by looking through the classifieds, but a good property management company actually conducts thorough market studies to set a rental price for your property. This makes sure you have a great balance between maximizing your monthly income and keeping a low vacancy rate. Collecting the rent: One of the most difficult aspects of being a landlord is collecting the rent. Property management firms have efficient, tried-and-true systems that will do a great job of collecting the rent and maintaining on-time payments. Marketing and advertising your rental unit: When vacancies occur, you want the rental unit occupied as quickly as possible. A professional property management firm has experience that helps it market your property in just the rate way to make sure someone moves in quickly. Finding and managing tenants: The property management firm will take the work out of finding and managing tenants for you. This means screening new tenants for criminal and credit checks, collecting references, and getting the lease signed. Once the home is occupied, handling routine and emergency maintenance and inspections are part of what a professional management company will do for you. Managing relationships with contractors and other vendors: Do you have deep-seated relationships with all of the maintenance workers, tradesmen, contractors, suppliers, and vendors needed to properly manage your rental? Probably not. But a property management firm does and can get you the best work for the best price, while handling the burden of overseeing necessary maintenance projects for you. Keeping you in compliance with the laws Housing regulations and property laws are complicated and confusing when you're renting and maintaining your rental property. These can include local, Provincial, and federal regulations, along with fair housing regulations like the Americans with Disabilities Act. A property manager can keep you out of hot water by keeping your property up-to-date and in compliance with all of these regulations. Allowing you to invest from afar: If you've moved to a place where investing in rental units don't make sense, you might think that investing in SFRs or other rental properties isn't possible. With a good property management company by your side, you won't be so limited in your investment opportunities. If just reading through all of the tasks that a property manager can handle for you isn't convincing enough, consider this: do you want to be able to go on vacation without interruption? Do you really enjoy phone calls about backed up plumbing at 3:30 in the morning? Chances are, you want the freedom to leave town for vacation or just have uninterrupted time with family for the holidays. You don't relish the task of dealing with emergency maintenance chores in the middle of the night, and you probably dread the thought of trying to find a good tenant when your existing ones move out. Even if you only have a single investment property that you're renting out, you can benefit strongly from hiring a property management service. They have decades of experience that you'd be hard-pressed to match yourself, and can ensure your property is maintained impeccably while still maximizing your profit. Imagine getting a call at 11:30 pm from one of your tenants 30 minutes away in a panic because one of the plumbing pipes burst and there is water everywhere. As you get out of your bed and drive towards the investment property you start thinking about how wonderful this idea seemed at first and the dreams of cash flow you once had. After arriving at the unit you realize that the flooding has seeped to the other units and now you have to fix it. This is a nightmare situation that many landlords face and may turn them off completely from real estate investment. Many purchase a property without realizing how much work goes into managing a property effectively. One of the most important aspects of property management would have to be the emergency response and resolution. As we all know there is no property that is perfect and never has any issues - from gas leaks to sewage backups there are so many surprises that arise from owning a multi-unit property in Ottawa. The older the property the more likely it will experience some sort of problem and the more units you have, the more items of operation that you must take into consideration. Many new landlords don't realize this important component of being a property owner. Effective management is key. In order to keep tenants and avoid the stress of dealing with emergencies on your own, a property management company is a sound investment. Most investors are not contractors, nor landscapers/construction workers, cleaners, leasing agents, or any of the many specializations required to effectively manage a unit. The time wasted and spent on micro managing your tenant issues is almost always more expensive than dealing with an organization that is adept at these things while simultaneously looking after your interests as the landlord. Many believe it is expensive but with costs as low as 8% of gross rent it is a small price to pay to have a team of professionals dealing with whatever arises. We deal with many former landlords who swear never to touch a building again because of past negative experiences with bad tenants, nightmare situations, etc. Rent In Ottawa Property Management Inc has staff on call, they have reliable emergency plumbers, and many other specialized and experienced professionals to call upon for whatever situation that should arise. Rather than re-invent the wheel a smart investor pays a small percentage from profits to have it professionally managed thus not having to deal with the midnight emergency. With that fee many property management companies will include bookkeeping, accounting, forms/documents, advice, and many other critical value-added services to ensure your property is professional.