Inspect Your Rental Property, WITH your Property Manager.

You have rental properties that are managed by a property manager. Fantastic! I would suggest rather than a set it and forget it approach you have an active relationship with your property manager.

It is important to develop and maintain a good working relationship property manager. Don't do all the hard work in the beginning of finding one that you connect with and then stop there. Yes, you will get the rent in your account each month and you will get your reports on the condition of the house etc, but you need more than that. If you just leave your property in the hands of your property manager, then you run the risk of things falling through the cracks.

Yes your property manager is being paid to adequately look after your property, but it behooves you to be involved and one of the best ways to do this is attend property inspections for a couple of very good reasons.

1 - You see how your property manager interacts with your tenants (if they are there): Does there appear to be a good relationship with your tenants? Do they go the extra mile in some way or another?
2 - How thorough are they?: Are you happy with what the property manager sees during the inspection?  
3 - You can see with your own eyes the condition of your property: If you have multiple properties you may not want to attend every single property inspection, but attend at least 1 a year for each of your properties.

You attending an inspection and showing your attention to detail can be the difference - consciously or not - for the tenants to really take care of the property. A property manager is a 'middle man', and is easier for the tenants to downplay their comments.

Also keep in mind that what your property manager finds acceptable, may be totally unacceptable to you. It is easier for you to be clear with what your expectations are for the property if you are there with your property manager once in a while.

Always keep in mind that an investment property is not something that you should put to the back of your mind. Your property manager is no doubt a hard-working ethical person, but they are still your employee. You are their boss, the property manager will manage the property, but you as the landlord need to manage expected standards. It is important  that you do not micro-manage your property manager and to respect their expertise. If you argue every issue and repair that the property manager raises, you might find that they just stop telling you what the problems are. This means that the only time you find out the true condition of the property, is  when you want to sell it! There is nothing worse thinking that you are sitting on a gold mine when in reality you are sitting on a  'renovator's delight'. 

So the moral of the story is 'stay involved' - there is nothing like a dose of reality to get you motivated to perform maintenance!

What is your relationship with your property manager like?