The decision to hire a property manager to oversee your real estate investment in the Austin, Texas area can make great difference in many ways over the duration of your ownership.
Over time, a property manager will save owners time, money and can help prolong the life of their property.
Below we highlight the benefits of using a property management company in Austin, Texas!
Accurately Pricing Your Rental Home
Everyone wants top dollar for their merchandise - landlords are no different. It’s typical for us to speak with owners who value their rental home immensely - as they should - but can also fail to see how a tenant won’t want to rent a 1 bedroom home for $3,000 a month..
Working with a property manager can get you off on the right foot from the beginning. Price your rent amount too high and your property could sit for months on the market, price it too low and you could miss out on serious money over the course of a year.
An Austin property manager has access to the MLS and the most accurate data that gives them a full picture of what homes similar to yours in the area are renting for. This can help align your property with precisely what the market is willing to pay in your area.
Like most things, knowing is half the battle
Interested in learning how much your property can earn in monthly rent? Request a FREE rental market analysis to see comps in your area!
Proper Tenant Screening
If COVID taught us anything, it’s that landlords need accurate tenant data going forward. An Austin property management company is going to have criteria set forth for any tenants that want to live in their homes. Not just that - they are strictly going to follow those criteria and not accept a tenant should they not meet that.
Landlords can be emotional and sometimes make decisions that end up hurting them when it’s all said and done. An Austin property manager is going to help see your property for exactly what it is - a business. Their goal is to turn your property into an asset, not a liability. With the proper tenant screening, this is a more obtainable goal and can help set you up for success with your rental property(s).
Efficient Rent Collection
If you or your current property manager is still struggling to collect rent then you may have an issue. Technology has come a long way and your Austin property manager should be able to offer your tenants an online portal to pay rent, request maintenance, and more. Paper checks are slow, outdated & can easily be lost or misplaced.
Your Austin property manager should even have the means to help your tenant set up ACH payments straight from their checking accounts. Giving you that extra peace of mind when it comes to the security of your rental payment!
Year-End Accounting & Tax Protest
Being organized is a landlord’s best friend. The year-end financials for your rental home should also be easy to find, understand and submit. Your Austin property manager should have systems in place, like an online portal, for their owners to check in on whenever they wish.
If you’ve been letting your tenant pay cash here, Venmo there, money order over here - you're going to have issues tracking this information down come tax time.
Not only should your Austin property manager provide the benefit of organizing your property’s financials they should also be able to provide assistance with protesting your property taxes every year. Yes - every single year.
This is a popular service and saves owners thousands of dollars every single year. Just the introduction to this service alone can help pay for your property manager every year!
Marketing Your Rental Home
In this regard, all property managers ARE NOT the same. Everyone can list a property on the MLS, it comes with being a REALTOR®. The truth is that little action alone then syndicates your property out to basically every popular real estate website that exists in the world.
There are still things for your property manager to go above and beyond when it comes to marketing your property and finding a tenant as fast as possible.
Stone Oak has worked hard for our website to become a resource to tenants looking for rental homes in the Austin, Texas area. When your property is managed by Stone Oak it’s exposed to tens of thousands of potential renters on our website. Over the last year, our rentals page has received over 32,000 visits as of writing this post.
That’s a lot!
Exposure is your property’s best friend and at Stone Oak Property Management, our goal is to expose your property to the largest pool of qualified tenants possible. This helps cut down on vacancy time as well as provides a great selection of criteria-meeting, rent-paying tenants!
Fewer Legal Burdens
Another COVID lesson learned was the number of landlords and property owners who weren’t prepared to handle the Texas JP Courts and the eviction process.
You can have all the protections in place such as good screening, but tenants can always change. If you aren’t knowledgeable or prepared to navigate the courts, an eviction can be a long drawn-out process that leaves you months without a rent-paying tenant and a liability for a property.
This and the fees you’d be paying to a law firm can be avoided by hiring an Austin property manager. Your property manager should be well versed in the JP court precinct that handles your home and should handle any and all eviction proceedings swiftly. Leaving you with peace of mind that the issue will be rectified in the shortest amount of time possible!
Benefits for Tenants
Renting a home from an Austin property management company can be preferable for tenants due to the response times on maintenance and other items. Usually, landlords aren’t landlords full-time, and should a tenant contact them with an emergency that is conflicting with something the landlord has planned, things can get ugly.
If you aren’t able to drop everything you're doing at a moment’s notice and address a tenant emergency you should not be a self-managing landlord.
Inevitably, the situation will arise and your tenant will be upset when you can’t get to it. From there a chain of events can kick off leading both you and the tenant to despise each other.
Renting from a property management company, tenants are given direct routes of communication for paying rent, submitting maintenance, etc. Your property manager will have teams dedicated to your tenant's inquiries both during and after business hours. Letting you continue your day uninterrupted and at peace.
Your Austin property manager is obligated to do everything according to the Texas property code. Failure to do so can get them in big trouble, so this means response times will always b great for you and the tenants living in your home!
Help Increase & Maintain the Value of Your Property
It can be a nerve-racking thought having someone live in your home that isn’t you. While you feel the pride of ownership, do you think your tenants feel the same? Probably not.
The best you can do on that front is to stick to your screening criteria, but another piece of the puzzle is hiring a property management company you can trust to maintain your home. Your property manager should be keeping an eye on your home for you! Whether it be property walk-throughs, check-ins, or survey forms - your Austin property manager should always be in the know about the condition of your home.
They’ll help you address any needed maintenance and make sure maintenance items don’t fall through the cracks and cause more damage to your home (and your wallet) in the future. Your property manager can help determine upgrades that will help increase not only the amount you charge in rent, but the worth of your property should you want to sell in the future.
These only scratch the surface of the benefits a property manager can provide to property owners and investors in Austin, Texas. Of course, you’ll want to consider the cost of an Austin property management company when making your decision to hire, and some other factors.
Want to learn more about the services a property manager would provide for your home? Read more about our Austin property management services.
