The most critical aspect of rental property management Charleston is to ensure that homes are occupied and their value continues to increase. However, there are a lot of mistakes that new property managers can make that could negatively impact the business and homeowner profits. Property management is a fast-paced industry that connects managers with dozens of people every week, making mistakes happen. If you know about these five common property manager mistakes ahead of time, you can avoid them.
- Not Understanding the Rental Market-The first big mistakes that rental property management Charleston managers can make is not understanding the rental market. Cities like Charleston have many neighborhoods and smaller neighboring towns and cities. The average rental rates in each of these places vary, as well as the home values. Property managers need to know the market they are renting homes in.
- Making Application Concessions-The application process should be thorough. A good tenant will be able to pass a credit and background check as well as income verification and references checks. Just because the background and credit come back great, doesn’t mean you should skip the references and income verification. You can find out a lot about a person by talking to their references and employer.
- Not Charging an Application Fee-An application fee serves two purposes. One is that the fee helps to offset the costs of background and credit checks. The second is because if a tenant cannot afford the application fee, how will they afford the deposit and rent?
- Not Understanding the Competition-Part of understanding the rental market is understanding the competition you have. Rental property management Charleston companies should always be keeping an eye on the competition to know when they increase their rent, offer specials, or have events.
- Not Focusing on Retention-Rental property management Charleston managers have a lot on their plate. There are dozens of new people moving to Charleston every day and filling properties can be the majority of your day, but you can’t forget about resident retention. Once a rental home is occupied you want to keep good tenants living there.
If you are looking for a property manager for your rental homes in Charleston, contact us here.