How to find the perfect property manager
In an agency sector where it’s increasingly hard to maintain an income and create new revenue streams, property management presents a way to keep money flowing into a lettings business. Whether you’re expanding your team or would like to offer property management for the first time, you’ll quickly discover that finding the right management candidate is a tricky task. But don’t lose faith…read on instead.
Why employ a property manager?
Property management can be financially rewarding but it isn’t, however, for the faint hearted. Lettings negotiators can rarely take on the additional property management needed – there’s too much compliance, administration and time-consuming tasks to do both properly. A dedicated property manager will keep landlords, tenants and your bank balance happy– the nirvana in lettings.
What to look for in your search
Firstly, experience is everything. You’ll need to employ someone who knows about lettings laws and regulatory requirements – forget saying ‘no experience necessary’ as you’ll need someone who can hit the ground running. A property manager will be responsible for the day-to-day tasks and you’ll need confidence that they are organising legally-compliant lets or you’ll leave yourself open to fines or even imprisonment! Time management skills are essential, as dealing with emergencies and meeting deadlines need to be juggled with property visits, contractors, billing and much more. Accuracy is equally as important, as there will be budgeting, invoicing and reports to file – one slip may cost you a client.
Recruitment costs – it’s not cheap or easy
A study by Oxford Economics puts the cost of hiring a member of staff at over £30,000. That’s money lost on the recruitment process, missed revenue while getting a new employee up-to-speed and training. In fact, it takes as long as 28 weeks for a new worker to reach their optimum efficiency – that’s almost seven months of sub-par performance potentially damaging your business. Good property managers are hard to find and are often poached if they have a stellar reputation. You may have to resort to an agency and pay crippling fees, or match demands should a good property manager threaten to leave.
Why should you outsource property management?
Firstly, outsourcing isn’t a new or American concept, and the chances are you’re already outsourcing floor plans, inventories and EPCs. Finding a trusted partner who can do the job better than you and with cost savings makes perfect business sense, and property management is no different. Outsourcing to ARPM has many benefits, which include:
- A well-resourced team whose efficiency is not affected by annual leave, sickness or Bank Holidays
- Instant set-up – staff who are already trained and up-to-speed, with over 10 years of lettings law and compliance knowledge
- 24/7 on-call response – a team ready to deal with emergencies and queries on a round-the-clock basis
- Pay per property managed – why waste money on underutilised staff? With outsourcing you only pay for what you use
- White label service so you can seamlessly offer full property management under your own agency name
- Never turn away business – resources that allow you to grow your property management business
- Save on desk space, equipment, recruitment costs and ongoing training
The benefits of offering property management will only become clearer as the lettings industry adapts to a raft of changes. Open a new business pipeline or strengthen a current one by exploring white label property management with ARPM today.
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