Why Work With Keyrenter

What Keyrenter San Diego Property Management brings to the table is rare amongst other property management companies. We bring you the type of skills and qualities you really want in someone handling your valuable asset.

1) Experience
It is easy to throw out a list of services but actually having concrete ability to deliver on those services is paramount! A pm company might say that they will help you with an eviction, but if they don’t have extensive experience on how to complete the eviction process quickly and correctly, their inexperience could cost you weeks of unpaid rent. When interviewing with a property management company you should ask them, “How many properties have they managed previously? What types of properties have you managed? Do they have any experience with rehab project, bad tenants, eviction, pest control, etc?” A good property manager will have experience with these situations and a skill set in place to handle issues effectively.

2) Investor Expertise
To the point at the beginning of this article—you want to be sure that a property manager is going to care for your property as if it were his or her own. The best way to do that is to have an investor mindset. Even novice property managers should have a basic understanding of the difference between the internal rate of return (IRR) and net present value (NPV). They should be able to calculate cap rates and cash-on-cash returns.
Having an investor mindset allows owners and property managers to see the “big picture” and equips them to make critical business decisions, like when to increase rent and what to upgrade or renovate in the home. A pm who lacks knowledge of these important concepts shouldn’t automatically be disqualified, but you’ll want to make sure that they show an eagerness to learn more about real estate investing.

3) Patience and Courtesy
Property management can be difficult at times. An exceptional property manager needs to have the ability to be patient and kind—with contractors who are behind schedule; with unruly tenants; with investors who can sometimes have unrealistic expectations. If you start snapping all the time at people, you won’t go far in this business.
When interviewing a potential property management company, look for someone who is great at listening. Look for someone who is great with customers. Gauge whether a person can handle complaints and stressful situations well. Patience and courtesy are key to building good relationships and relationships with customers and vendors are key in almost any industry.

4) Assertiveness
This might seem to contradict #3 since we just told you to be patient, but successful property management is a balancing act. Most of the time, property managers will need to be patient—but on rare occasions, a property manager will need to be aggressive. He will need to track down rent late payments. She will need to hold a contractor’s feet to the fire. The ability to be aggressive, when necessary, is a quality to look for in a potential property manager.

5) Professionalism
The ability to be patient at times and aggressive at others requires a property manager with the utmost expertise and professionalism. A PM must be able to get navigate the rocky terrain of interacting with residents, contractors, and others in a kind but firm manner—especially when dealing with sensitive business matters such as a person’s home and very way of living. We always look for someone who speaks professionally, treats others with respect, and dresses for success. However, Professionalism goes beyond this as well. You want your PM to also professionally provide you with excellent services in a way that reassures you. A rental property could be someone’s biggest investment and so only a professional that exemplifies this quality will do.

6) Strong Communication and Listening Skills
You need to have a property management company to have exceptional communication skills, both written and oral. They should be able to convey to you (and residents) what’s happening at the property at any given point in time and give you regular updates without you seeking them out. Clear, precise communication helps to reduce the incidence of disputes and ensures that your investment runs like a well-oiled machine. On the other side of that coin is listening. Every property is unique or has special needs. A good PM listens to their owners about the particulars of the property and notes these special items. Your property manager should listen well to tenants in order to truly maximize on tenant retention. Listening is key to all relationships both on a personal and business level.

7) Well-Organized
In property management, if a PM doesn’t have great organizational skill this is game over! For real! Property management has so many moving parts. A property manager could be leasing one unit, renewing leases for another, renovating a house across town, and managing eviction proceedings for yet another. In order to stay on top of all of these details, a property manager must have exceptional organizational skills. When interviewing PMs, ask how they stay organized on the busiest of days. Their response will give you insight into how they manage multiple competing priorities at once. Time blocking is a popular tool and can work wonders but there are other methods to. Listen to what they have to say and judge for yourself.

8) Technology Driven
Property Management as an industry has attracted a lot of attention in the tech world. New technologies are in place and some being developed right now for this fast-growing industry. Software applications such as Appfolio offer driving technological advancements that allow the property manager to work smarter, not harder. With all the moving parts of property management, a company really has to embrace technology or else it simply will not be able to do as much, as efficiently, or as quickly as those that do.

9) Quick to Act
In life, things go wrong – they just do. Tenants ghost property managers, property manager quit a company and leaves a quake of chaos, building catch on fire, you name it! Things can go wrong and someone’s ability to manage these problems is critical. You want a property management company that is proactive and in step with whatever is thrown at them. Procrastination of a highly stressful situation is human nature. It is important that a management company doesn’t allow this proclivity to set in amongst its employees. An amazing property manager rallies at a difficult situation and gains momentum to put those fires out.

10) Creative
This might seem like a strange trait to list as a top 10 quality to have in a pm. But I kid you not, crazy things happen in property management. Sometimes, situations occur that are not black or white. There may not be a standard practice to implement. Some situations require thinking outside the box and being creative. Also, the time-consuming tasks of property management can drudge the average landlord down; finding a creative way or time in order to effectively accomplish a task is the sign of a highly intelligent and capable pm.