Picking A Pittsburgh Property Management Company: How to Find the Perfect Fit
If you own an income property in Pittsburgh or the surrounding region, you know exactly how stressful managing it can be. From dealing with tenant requests to ensuring the property remains in good condition through the brutal summers and bitter winters, even managing a single-family rental can occasionally feel like a full-time job.
That’s where a local property management company can help.
With years of experience and industry knowledge, an experienced property manager can take over many of your responsibilities as a landlord and even interact directly with your tenants, leaving you to focus on bigger projects throughout the day.
If you’re thinking about hiring a Pittsburgh property management company for the first time, be sure you understand exactly what a property management company does and the value they can generate for your real estate efforts.
What Does A Property Management Company Do?
Your property management company can shoulder many of the responsibilities that traditionally fall on a landlord.
Those responsibilities include:
1. Rent collection. Your property management company can coordinate all rent collection, even tracking which tenants are up to date and which are behind on their payments. If a tenant has defaulted, the management company can also determine whether or not they should be evicted for non-payment, based on your values and the contract you’ve signed with the company.
2. Maintenance requests. The property management company will also manage all maintenance requests, interceding with your tenants to ensure their needs are met. Many property management contracts also have a section about approval on maintenance costs. This section allows the company to coordinate purchases, installations, and subcontractor decisions within a pre-approved price range so they can continue managing the property without interrupting your day.
3. Marketing. Whenever a room or building you own is unoccupied, you miss out on potential income. A property manager forecasts vacancies and plans ahead of time, marketing whenever there is availability and showing off the property to potential tenants. Similarly, your property manager can also coordinate all the collection and distribution of paperwork with the tenants, including signed lease agreements, bank statements and other financial details (if necessary), and references.
4. Recordkeeping. There are plenty of details to keep track of when it comes to managing a property! Lease agreements, rent payments, maintenance expenses, and other details are critical to properly tracking an income property over the years. Your property manager can take on the bulk of that administrative burden, maintaining detailed records for your reference whenever you need them.
Why You Should Hire A Property Management Company
As we discussed in the previous section, your property management vendor can manage a lot of work, leaving you free to focus on other responsibilities throughout the day.
But that’s not the only benefit. Here are a few more perks of hiring a Pittsburgh-based property management company for your local investments:
1. They can manage all of your properties. If you’ve invested in multiple properties across one or more cities, you know exactly how difficult it can be to keep up with each building and the tenants inside. In Pittsburgh alone, just getting from Wilkinsburg to McKees Rocks can be a nightmare, especially during rush hour traffic. The right property management vendor has the resources to cost-effectively keep up with all of your properties on your behalf, handling everything from yard maintenance to electrical issues to rent collection.
2. Your time is important. And the more properties you own, the more demands you’ll have throughout the day. Your property manager frees you up to focus on other responsibilities—especially important if you, like many investors, have a full-time job managing another company.
3. Property management companies are quite affordable. While costs will certainly vary from company to company, most property management companies charge around 5-10% of monthly rent for their services. So, if you own a duplex where the rent is $1,200 per unit, the management company would likely take anywhere from $120-$240 per month for their services.
How to Choose A Pittsburgh Property Management Company
If you’re interested in hiring a Pittsburgh property management company, be sure they have the right qualities before signing a contract.
A good property management company has:
A good reputation. As with all deals you sign, do your research ahead of time. Read reviews and, if possible, talk to any existing clients you know and trust to get a feel for how the company operates. This is a big decision, so make sure you’re comfortable with whomever you hire.
Plenty of experience. Property management can get complex. From managing tenant frustrations to unexpected maintenance issues, your property manager has a lot of responsibilities throughout the day. And if you have large or multiple properties, you likely want someone with enough experience to gracefully handle the toughest problems.
A deep understanding of property laws and industry best practices. This partially comes with experience, but it could also come from their team members. If they have any attorneys or professionals with similar experience on their team, they likely have a good handle on the finer points of real estate.
A professional demeanor. Real estate is a big, complicated business, and a single property can be worth hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. When you hire a property manager, you’re essentially hiring someone to manage an extremely valuable asset. That demands a ton of responsibility, and you should hire someone who carries that responsibility appropriately.
Contact New Local Realty
New Local Realty is a Pittsburgh-based real estate brokerage that will begin offering property management services in 2022. Contact us if you’d like to discuss availability or to talk about our other offerings at this time!
