Longs is a growing community in the greater Myrtle Beach/Grand Strand area, and we’re happy to see the number of investors and landlords who are renting out homes in this high-demand market. When you’re getting ready to buy a property or rent out a home you already own, you’ll have to decide whether to be a hands-on landlord or to turn the leasing, management, and maintenance over to an experienced professional.
We’re taking a look at the benefits of working with a property management company in Longs. You might be surprised at how much it can improve your experience, making your tenancy more pleasant and even more profitable.
Placing the Right Tenant in Your Longs Rental Property
Proper tenant screening and placement is a huge benefit of working with a property manager.
Independent landlords often find themselves rushed when they want to fill a vacancy. Maybe tenant screening doesn’t seem so important at the time that you’re showing the place because you feel good about the person and you think they’ll be just fine as a tenant.
Not screening or inadequately screening is a huge mistake.
If you don’t have a great resident, a lot can go wrong really fast. Property managers will engage in a strategic marketing plan to get your property in front of an entire pool of qualified residents. We’ll establish some consistent rental criteria and conduct a thorough screening.
Bad tenants can be tumultuous and expensive. You’ll find yourself chasing down late rent, arguing over lease violations, and sometimes even evicting your tenant. But with the right resident, everything runs smoothly. Rent comes in on time. Repairs are reported right away. There’s no anxiety over lease violations or property damage.
Property managers know how to market your property, screen your tenants, and set you up for a better tenancy.
Property Management Reduces Emergency Maintenance Needs
Most rental property owners and tenants want to avoid the drama and the stress of emergency maintenance whenever possible.
Here’s what we can tell you: Routine repairs and preventative maintenance schedules are important because they avoid emergencies when you least expect that something will break.
Emergency maintenance issues will always require an immediate response. Maybe your tenant has called to report the water heater is leaking and causing a flood in a closet, or the sewer line is backed up and threatening your toilets, or a tree has crashed onto the roof during a tropical storm. Accidents, fires, floods, and problems with locks, water heaters, and heat are often the reasons that tenants will request emergency maintenance.
Unexpected things will happen from time to time, and even the best property managers cannot prevent that. However, when an emergency does occur, your property manager prepared. We are easy to reach, and we act quickly to keep your tenant safe and to mitigate any further damage to your investment property.
Our attention to routine maintenance inspections and services means that these emergencies are rare. We know how to recognize the danger signs before they turn into maintenance emergencies. This is a huge benefit to that property management partnership. You’re not the one on call when something goes wrong.
Property Managers Protect the Value and Condition of Your Investment
It is simply impossible to make money on your Longs rental property without good maintenance practices. We just talked about emergency repairs and the disruption they can cause. Even routine maintenance can be expensive, and that’s why you want to work with a professional management team.
Part of our maintenance process is to focus on routine maintenance and preventative services so you don’t have to replace your roof, your HVAC system, your water heater, your plumbing too soon. We want to extend the lifespan of your most expensive systems.
Not only does preventative maintenance preserve the condition and value of your property, it also lets us know when things need to be updated or upgraded. If we’re called to fix an appliance three times in one year, for example, we’ll likely recommend to you that instead of repairing it, we simply replace that appliance.
Maintaining the systems, appliances, structure, and even the curb appeal and landscaping of your property allows owners to charge more in rent. It helps to attract better tenants. When you’re renting out a property that’s updated and in excellent condition, you’ll have a lot of interest. You’ll avoid vacancy and turnover costs by retaining your existing tenants.
That’s what a property manager can do for you. Our willingness to provide routine maintenance will keep your rental value high and you’ll also increase your equity, because as your tenant continues to contribute to your mortgage and other expenses, the value of that property will continue to rise.
Ask Yourself: Are you a Landlord or a Real Estate Investor?
It comes down to how you’re approaching this experience.
If you want to be a landlord, you might feel like there’s not a need to get the professionals involved. Instead, you want to spend your own time and resources on tasks such as:
- Dealing with tenant complaints
- Collecting rent and enforcing the lease
- Showing vacant homes
- Coordinating maintenance
- Staying up to date with rental laws
- Managing rental property accounting
Or, maybe you don’t see yourself as a landlord. Maybe you’d like to think of yourself as a real estate investor, even if you’re only renting out one home. None of the successful investors we work with are worried about security deposit mistakes and plumbing issues. Instead, they’re reviewing their earnings and leaving the operational work to us.
Help yourself transition out of the hands-on landlord mindset to the hands-off investor mindset. It’s the difference between feeling like you have a second job and enjoying passive income.
We work with all sorts of landlords and investors. The most successful rental property owners will tell you that their property management partners save them money, increase their income, and provide a lot of peace of mind.
Let’s talk more about your options. Please contact us at J & P Unlimited. We manage investment properties in Longs, Myrtle Beach, Conway, Surfside Beach, Murrells Inlet, Socastee and the surrounding areas.
