Virginia's residential rental vacancy rate is holding steady at just 4.9%, which is well below the national average. This is excellent news for landlords, but it also means lots of extra work to keep your tenants happy.
Staying up-to-date with property maintenance and repairs is one way to ensure lease renewals, but it's also one of the most time-consuming and costly responsibilities for landlords.
Outsourcing tasks to a property manager is one way to save time on maintenance coordination, but their fees don't cover the cost of repairs and maintenance.
Read on to discover how a Charlottesville property manager can help you save time and money on property maintenance.
What Do Property Management Fees Include?
Property management companies offer a range of packages and types of fees to suit landlords' needs. The most comprehensive of these is full-service property management.
When you sign up for this service, an experienced team of property managers takes care of the following tasks on your behalf:
- Property marketing
- Rental valuations
- Lease management
- Tenant background checks
- Tenant relationships
- Rent collection
- Property inspection services
- Maintenance coordination
Additionally, property management companies can usually advise landlords about laws applicable to residential properties, and may also offer eviction protection services.
Maintenance coordination is one of the most impactful services offered by these professionals. It helps preserve property values, encourages tenant satisfaction, and helps prevent breakages and replacements.
What Is Maintenance Coordination?
Maintaining your property in a habitable state is one of the legalities of allowing tenants in a rental home. This requires ongoing routine and preventive maintenance tasks.
It takes significant organizational skills to stay up-to-date with these tasks, but property managers take it all in their stride. They work according to a seasonal maintenance calendar to ensure your property remains in good condition year-round.
These tasks help reduce the wear and tear on your rental unit to avoid unnecessary repairs and untimely replacements. Some of these routine responsibilities include the following:
- Annual roof inspections
- Pest control
- Landscaping and lawn care
- Gutter cleaning
- Servicing HVAC systems
- Testing safety equipment like smoke detectors
In some cases, your tenants may agree to undertake simple tasks, like lawn care, but you must state their responsibilities clearly in the lease agreement.
Property managers oversee all these tasks and also manage tenants' maintenance and repair requests. They negotiate the best prices with local contractors and attend to urgent matters promptly.
When the work is done, they will inspect the outcome and forward the invoices to you for payment. In some cases, they may deduct any amounts due for maintenance from your rental income.
Other property managers set up a reserve fund using a portion of the rental income each month. This helps ease the sting of unexpected repair costs.
Save Time and Money with Charlotteville's Leading Property Managers
Are you at your wits end trying to keep up with maintaining your property and managing repairs?
PMI Commonwealth can assist you with maintenance coordination as well as a range of other services for your properties in Charlottesville, VA. We are backed by over 20 years of real estate experience and are eager to help you grow your investment portfolio.
Explore a simpler way to manage your investment properties today.
