Property managers can be instrumental in providing professional help to landlords concerning their responsibilities and making informed decisions regarding real estate investment. However, this comes with experience in local real estate and a passion for
finding the best management solutions for landlords.
Ideally, property managers should be communicative, good at market research and feel highly responsible towards the asset and the tenants. Unfortunately, despite entrusting a company with these responsibilities and paying the requisite costs, homeowners often end up being disappointed in their services and switching to a different company.
While this isn't an easy decision for landlords, let us try to understand the reasons why they feel compelled to switch, so you can spot the red flags well in advance.
1.
Lack Of Communication
Property managers are required to communicate effectively with both landlords and tenants. They should regularly convey important aspects of the rental to the owners. However, some managers fail to share crucial information like the additional maintenance costs, tax-related expenses, management policies of the company, and marketing costs, which ends up coming as a surprise for the owner.
Worst case scenario, they may even be negligent in informing owners about the ongoing maintenance issues, tenants requests, rental damages, rent collection, missed rent payments, lease renewals, or the need for evicting tenants. This lack of effective communication leads to the loss of the owner's confidence in the company's service, so they choose to hire another company that prioritizes and practices open and transparent communication.
2.
Incorrect Accounting Practices
Accounting is another important aspect that Virginia homeowners entrust to their property management companies. Managers are expected to be very particular about rental accounting and bookkeeping as it affects the taxes owed by the landlords while filing with the IRS. When a firm fails to live by this expectation, landlords might feel the need to hire different professionals to look after their property.
Inefficient accounting by the rental management company gives an unclear picture of the ROI which may lead to bad financial decisions on part of the landlord. The managers' inability to create detailed profit and loss reports is another reason why homeowners switch from one property management company to another.
3. Placing Bad Tenants In The Arlington Property
Landlords rely on the rental managers to
find quality tenants for their rental properties. They expect the manager to
screen the potential renters in great detail, checking their rental, financial, and criminal background.
However, if the rental manager ends up placing tenants who turn out to be irresponsible with rent payments and the use of the unit causing severe distress to the owners and their revenue, there is a high possibility of them being fired. It is less of a headache for owners to terminate their contract with the company when they have to go through legal disputes, loss of rental income, and frequent maintenance costs rather than giving up their peace of mind.
4.
Poor Maintenance Practices
These are the top four reasons why homeowners switch from one rental management company to another. You can avoid the distress of undergoing poor management services by consulting a reputed and experienced company like Arlington Realty Property Management. We have been functioning in the real estate sector since 1984 and can offer you a positive property management experience.
To kick your property management efforts into high gear, give Arlington Realty Property Management a
buzz today at 703-836-2525 or email mypropertymgr@gmail.com.