Are you stepping away from facilitating home buying and selling to managing properties? Pivoting into this new role can be challenging at first. You've finished real estate school, you spent time getting experience as a real estate agent, and you have real-world experience to assist you. As you take your set of responsibilities to the next level, here are some tips to help you navigate your relationship with your new tenants.
Become familiar with the property before tenants move in. Take a preemptive step to handling future problems by spending time at the property. You want to be able to address questions about light switches, closets, working faucets and other issues better if you know the lay of the land well. It will also be to your benefit to be able to navigate the neighborhood. Do you know have far away schools, grocery stores, and restaurants are? Demonstrating to your tenants that you are an expert on the location will help them have more confidence in you.
As your list of properties grows, take time to prioritize tenant needs. The more properties you manage, the more time you will spend handling case to case issues. From front-end concerns, like scheduling property showings, to collecting rent and handling maintenance problems, it can be easy to get swamped in your list of to-dos. Rather than dealing with problems in order of when they happen or who contacted you last, start a running list of items and prioritize from there. Scheduling an air conditioning repair will take precedence over signing the lease, and having a few more hours of wiggle room to tackle each item can help you stay in control.
The bottom line when it comes to being a successful property manager is to do what you can to predict tenant needs and quickly handle matters that arise. Show that you are capable of juggling tasks and meeting client needs so that minor issues do not become major crises. All those people skills you honed during your real estate agent days will continue to serve you in this new role!