15 duties of a residential property manager

Property managers serve as trusted advisors who can solve problems relating to properties and increase revenue and profitability. Those who pursue this field take on a variety of responsibilities and benefits, making it a good choice for people who enjoy teamwork and leading people. Here is a look at the various duties of a property manager.

Responsibilities & duties of a residential property manager would vary depending on the nature of their work. While some professional property managers are employed by homeowners and real estate investors, others do a solo business or join an established property management firm. Regardless of whether you work for a residential property management company, a homeowners’ association, or are a business owner, here are the 15 common property manager responsibilities that you would be expected to perform.

1. Finding New Tenants

Tenant management is one property manager’s main responsibilities– the strategic challenge, the day-to-day challenge is what it’s all about. Tenant management deals fundamentally with two main tasks: indoor and outdoor tenant relationship management. This includes generating leads for prospective tenants and property viewings, as well as processing their applications and supporting tenants throughout their tenancy. If you own a property and looking forward to renting it out to people, residential property managers are there to assist you in finding good tenants and effective promotional strategies to fill the empty apartments.

2. Tenant Screening

A tenant screening involves an objective, detailed inquiry of the prospective tenant’s personal and financial history, including credit score, debts and obligations, employment and source of income, criminal record, and other attributes that can enhance the tenant’s good intention to maintain the property and pay the rent. The screening process for good tenants is a detailed and time-consuming process that can help professional property managers keep down their operation-related costs and frustrations.

Tenant screening is a crucial activity for property managers to ensure tenant dependability and integrity, as well as financial stability. The screening process can also help enrich tenant selection and reduce the occurrence of avalanches of unpaid or problematic rent payments. A thorough screening process infrequently beneficial for tenants as well, as it can prevent them from being saddled by one-size-fits-all leasing conditions. Tenant screening is cost-effective and can really add value both for property owners and potential tenants alike.

3. Leasing

As a property manager, you will act as a leasing agent representing your clients. You are responsible for showing apartments to prospective tenants, in the hope that they will rent the advertised properties. You will need to arrange appointment times, arrange viewing sheets, and schedule viewings. Your role is critical to your client, the landlord. At many times during the lease, you will be called to act on behalf of the landlord to rectify any potential disputes that arise during this period.

You would also be required to let go of tenants who broke the terms of their leasing contracts. You also have the responsibility to provide the landlord with administrative support, which includes reviewing the lease, applying for security deposit refunds when the tenants move out, the preparation of leases and other management agreements, and customer service.

4. Occupancy Management

As a property manager, your job isn’t really over after you’ve found a tenant and have an agreement signed. Occupancy management is one of the trickier aspects of property management and is often one that done incorrectly. Occupancy management involves activities that affect the tenant move-in and moving out process. By following legal compliance, you can ensure that you comply with landlord obligations.

5. Lease Renewal

A comprehensive lease renewal process is essential to the successful completion of leasing. It is one of the duties of a residential property manager to ensure that service requests are raised in a timely manner; communicate directly with tenants; prepare tenant statements, and ensure lease expirations are in line with the original rental term. The property manager needs to be well-organized at this stage to effectively handle tenant lawsuits, requests for lease renewal, upgrades, and lease terminations within the specified time guidelines. He needs to comply with particular lease renewals regulations of leasing laws and rights. During lease renewal, the property manager ensures tenants have a relatively hassle-free time through a systematic process.

6. Handling Complaints

One of the most important duties of a residential property manager is addressing tenant complaints. A property manager has full responsibility for the repair or improvement of all apartment properties. Tackling the tenant’s complaints in a timely and effective manner benefits both the landlord and the tenant. For the landlord, it ensures all structural obligations are met. Apartments with leaking roofs, unsafe interiors, or defective appliances become undesirable and reduce richer profits. For the tenant, it translates into a quiet and comfortable home, significant costs saved in case the property starts deteriorating or in case it needs to be refurbished. Most people consider it a good thing to live in a property that is well-maintained and where they can live peacefully without having to spend money that they don’t have. By establishing open communication and offering positive remedies to potential issues, a residential property manager can offer tenants peace of mind and positive tenancy.

7. Coordinating Tenant Turnover

Efficient tenant turnover is critical for any residential property. Some tenants tend to be unaware of what exactly will happen as you start explaining the details of the move-out. This causes delays in rental payments, may become frustrating to the landlord. As an experienced property manager, you are required to keep the landlord informed every step of the way, from preparing the move-out checklist to ensuring you can get access if need be as part of your lease termination. This includes informing tenants when they can’t be found and what you’ll do to move forward.

8. Collecting Rent

Collecting rent is one of the most crucial duties of a residential property manager. Arranging proper rent payments for your landlord, the property owner is not really different from any other business. An experienced property manager deals with this task smoothly to maximize revenue. Only a thorough understanding of your tenant’s financial situation can enable you to collect rent payments for your clients. You will have to be good with numbers, and you will have to ensure that you include all accounting related tasks in your daily routine.

9. Adjusting Rents

An ongoing element of residential property management is figuring out the rent. This requires property managers to track leases, measure tenant performance, set rent increases, then adjust with your clients. If you want to increase profits, all these elements will have to be considered critical, especially for landlords.

10. Managing Tenant Move-out Inspection

When it is time for tenants to move on, a property manager is tasked with conducting a unit move-out inspection. He will check on and note any conditions that may affect how much you plan to return as a security deposit. If necessary, you can have a professional cleaning company come in as well.

11. Updating Tenant Records

As a residential property manager, you will be responsible for upgrades, lease renewal, and lease termination. Updating tenant records, letting the property owner know of any upgrades, arranging lease renewal, coordinating new leases, checking records of tenants, and distributing rent forms are some elements of patient relationship management.

12. Securing the Property

The downside of leaving properties unattended is the stealing of tenants’ possessions or even disappearance of merchandise. As a residential property manager, you will need to leave tenants with a thorough understanding of the critical defects. A property manager is obliged to provide all clients with prompt and proper notification of security repairs to secure the property complex. All of these obligations are part of the typical leasing process. During lease cancellation, the property manager ensures that the landlord is able to deal with any security matters, including ensuring that all access points to units are properly processed.

13. Overall Supervision

One of the critical duties of a residential property manager is supervising repairs and monitoring overall estate maintenance. A professional property manager stays in active communication with staff as managing repair, renovations, maintenance, work schedule, and supplies coordination. If rent cannot be moved in on schedule because of repair or maintenance issues, the property manager is responsible for generating alternate rent payments. A residential property manager will also notify the owner of any problems that arise and the progress of seeking solutions.

14. Financial Management

A property manager is a financial manager. Financial management is undoubtedly an interesting aspect of property management, which requires a certain skill to balance all financial matters of operation, including funds brought in from incoming rents and costs from operational expenses. In property management, everyone from the landlord to the property manager is included in making critical financial decisions. A property manager is an obviously important part of any real estate investing structure. Even if the landlord only intends to rent properties to tenants, duties of a residential property manager dictate that he must help save landlord’s time by handling documentation involved in the property, such as implementing leases, sending bills for repairs, collections, to even doing the bookkeeping. With a residential property manager, you can effectively avoid the six pillars of real estate mistakes that claim great deals of profit from the small landlords and real estate investors.

15. Following All Laws Mandated By Local & State Governments

If you think that rent collection and lease renewals are where the law ends its mandate for property managers, you would be far from the truth. Property managers need to follow the majority of laws imposed by local and state governments, including changing rules and regulations regarding standards and details. Following and keeping up-to-date with laws will help you keep the property safe, your tenants satisfied, and your income on an efficient level.

How Can Residential Property Manager Make Their Job Easier?

Duties of a residential property manager are definitely demanding, especially if owners expect specialists to take control of every aspect of a residential property. Certainly, if property management is so complicated, there must be a means to ease the burden and complicate things less.

iBillding is an innovative application aimed at the property management industry and which may trigger a paradigm change by giving a new dimension to residential management, with respect to the systematized administration of the real estate. It enables the residential property manager to lower costs, boost efficiency, enhance productivity, and, most importantly, make residential management much easier. If you are a professional property manager, you need to try iBillding today!