A good San Diego property manager is worth their weight in gold – especially if your goal is saving money while managing your rental property. This idea may seem a little counter-intuitive – how does paying someone else, especially someone who may charge more than the mom and pop shop down the street, save you money? The key is in avoiding the common pitfalls that can come with doing it yourself, or by working with a property manager that does not have experience or success in the field of property management.
Well-Vetted Residents
A successful property manager will have a strong application process that includes a credit/background check, calling previous landlords for references, and making sure there are no obvious red flags about any future residents. This helps you save you on things like maintenance. While some types of maintenance are normal with any rental property, residents who do not treat your rental with respect can quickly cost you thousands during their time living there and even more when it comes time to make the home ready for the next resident. A good San Diego property manager will have both the processes in place and the track record to pick the best residents possible to live in your rental.
Shorter Vacancy Cycles & a Tighter Rent Collection Process
Beyond just finding well-suited residents, another key thing that a good property manager does to help you saves money is to ensure that you have a steady stream of rent coming in. A successful property manager will have shorter vacancy cycles because they have a team and plan in place to advertise, market and hustle to fill vacancies as quickly as possible. Vacancies are one of the major ways that you can lose money with a rental property. You do not want to end up in a situation where you are still paying the mortgage, but no money is coming in.
In addition, once you have found an ideal resident, a San Diego property manager will help with the logistics of getting that money to you – making sure to avoid late rent collection that may hurt you if you are trying to pay your bills on time.
Established Vendor Relationships
As previously mentioned, some level of maintenance will be unavoidable. However, you don’t want to take the short-view and not keep up with the daily repairs and maintenance of your rental – no one wants to live for a slumlord. Knowing that you will need to work with a number of maintenance vendors throughout the lifetime of your rental, a successful property manager can help save you money by using their well-sourced list of vendor partners. Rather than choosing someone at random, a good San Diego property manager can take the guesswork out of it and use vendors that they know from experience are licensed, do high-quality work and at an affordable price, and the property manager will take care of the coordination with the vendor and resident so that you can sit back and relax.
Your Personal Bookkeeper (Almost)
Regardless as to if you’ve actively chosen to invest in rental property, or just fell into it, hopefully, you are taking advantage of all the benefits available to you – including reducing your taxes through property depreciation. While having a property manager is not necessary for being able to depreciate the property itself or capital expenditures (that new refrigerator you bought this spring, or the new driveway you’re putting in next year), having a San Diego property manager on your side is really like having a salesperson, marketing coordinator, maintenance person, and bookkeeper all rolled into one. A good property manager can help you keep track of what money you’ve re-invested in your property so that you have good records come tax time. Your tax accountant will thank you, as will your bank account when you maximize your tax write off. Your property manager will keep records of all income and expenses that you always know how your investment is doing.
How Much is Your Time Worth?
Beyond just the tangible benefits that lead to more money in your bank account, there is also another major benefit to partnering with a San Diego property manager – if you’ve ever been a DIY landlord, you are probably very aware of how time-consuming and unpredictable it can be. You do not wish to be the emergency contact when there’s a maintenance request in the middle of the night. Don’t Risk giving up your time off or your nights, weekends, and holidays to deal with resident issues. Even if you are a workaholic – how much is your time worth? There are almost certainly better things you could be doing.
Work with a Reputable Property Management Company
A reputable San Diego property manager may not seem like the cheapest option upon first look; however, in the long run, they will save you money. By using their experience to your advantage, they are your best ally for maximizing the benefit you receive from your properties. Reach out to Realevate Specialists to find out why we are the best at what we do and how we can help you more effectively manage your rental property.
If you want to learn more about our property management services, then contact us online or call our Mission Valley office at 858-997-2100 or our Temecula office at 951-461-0100 for more information.
We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. See Equal Housing Opportunity Statement for more information.
