Choose Wisely When Regarding Your Property or Association Management

Before you can decide on a company that fits your needs, first start by asking what services you are looking for in a property management program.

• Are you looking for your property to be well maintained, get maximum return on investment, and consider the property to be a part of your retirement or investment strategy?
• Are you looking to remain involved in some of the activity in the building and want the management company to provide accounting services, financial documents, and facilitate maintenance?
• Do you travel outside of the area, or do you live a distance from the site?  If so, you may want your management company to be more involved.

Tenant relationships are another aspect in which you may want to seek assistance.  Say you have an office located in the same building as your tenants, you would probably look to a property management company to be the liaison to your tenants so you are able to focus on the day to day operations of your business.  An additional benefit to having a liaison is that the you do not have to get into an uncomfortable conversation with someone from a neighboring business if some type of disagreement would arise.

What are your needs?…

• How much time are you willing to invest in the management of the building?
• How much are you looking to spend for management service?
• Can the management fees be included in the monthly operating expenses paid by the tenants (this may determine the level of service that is affordable)?

Once you have an idea how much time, money, resources you are willing to invest, you will have an idea of the level of service you are seeking.

Also consider choosing a company with the ability to be flexible, and grow with you.  Maybe your plan is to be somewhat involved in the process now, but as your portfolio grows, perhaps you would desire a full service option, so you have time to dedicate to other things.  Or is your investment a “retirement hobby” and you plan to become more involved later, requiring less from your management company.  If so, flexible service options are important to you.  Find a company that can service all of your current needs and provide flexibility if those needs change in the future.

Good communication is another key to a successful property management company.  Find a company that is able to provide consistent communications in order to keep you abreast of all situations, depending on your involvement level.  If you require frequent updates, make sure your company can provide you with timely information.

In summary, a property owner needs to find a company with the ability to tailor services to fit their needs, be flexible, adapt to growth, and be a good communicator.

Cardinal Point Property Management is available to help you in all aspects of Property Management / Leasing, and services all areas within 25 miles of Portsmouth, NH (including ME & MA)

As always, please feel free to contact me regarding any property management questions.  Advice is always FREE

Happy Renting!

Til next time,