What Does A Property Manager Do? Bankrate Caret RightMain Menu Mortgage Mortgages Financing a home purchase Refinancing your existing loan Finding the right lender Additional Resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Bank Banking Compare Accounts Use calculators Get advice Bank reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Credit Card Credit cards Compare by category Compare by credit needed Compare by issuer Get advice Looking for the perfect credit card? Narrow your search with CardMatch Caret RightMain Menu Loan Loans Personal Loans Student Loans Auto Loans Loan calculators Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Invest Investing Best of Brokerages and robo-advisors Learn the basics Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Home Equity Home equity Get the best rates Lender reviews Use calculators Knowledge base Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Loan Home Improvement Real estate Selling a home Buying a home Finding the right agent Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Insurance Insurance Car insurance Homeowners insurance Other insurance Company reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Retirement Retirement Retirement plans & accounts Learn the basics Retirement calculators Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Advertiser Disclosure
Advertiser Disclosure
We are an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. Our goal is to help you make smarter financial decisions by providing you with interactive tools and financial calculators, publishing original and objective content, by enabling you to conduct research and compare information for free - so that you can make financial decisions with confidence.
Bankrate has partnerships with issuers including, but not limited to, American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi and Discover. How We Make Money
The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within the listing categories. But this compensation does not influence the information we publish, or the reviews that you see on this site. We do not include the universe of companies or financial offers that may be available to you. SHARE: On This Page
Alexander Spatari/Getty Images October 20, 2022 Rae Hartley Beck is a writer and editor with over eight years of experience in personal finance. Her work has most recently appeared in Bankrate, MoneyWise and Investopedia. Rae specializes in credit card rewards, investing, real estate, home improvement, lending and financial advice for millennials, Gen Z, Gen Alpha and their parents. Troy Segal is Bankrate's Senior Homeownership Editor, focusing on everything from upkeep and maintenance to building equity and enhancing value. Bankrate logo The Bankrate promise
At Bankrate we strive to help you make smarter financial decisions. While we adhere to strict editorial integrity, this post may contain references to products from our partners. Here's an explanation for how we make money. Bankrate logo The Bankrate promise
Founded in 1976, Bankrate has a long track record of helping people make smart financial choices. We’ve maintained this reputation for over four decades by demystifying the financial decision-making process and giving people confidence in which actions to take next. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. All of our content is authored by and edited by , who ensure everything we publish is objective, accurate and trustworthy. Buying or selling a home is one of the biggest financial decisions an individual will ever make. Our real estate reporters and editors focus on educating consumers about this life-changing transaction and how to navigate the complex and ever-changing housing market. From finding an agent to closing and beyond, our goal is to help you feel confident that you're making the best, and smartest, real estate deal possible. Bankrate logo Editorial integrity
Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. Key Principles
We value your trust. Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens. Our editors and reporters thoroughly fact-check editorial content to ensure the information you’re reading is accurate. We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers. Editorial Independence
Bankrate’s editorial team writes on behalf of YOU – the reader. Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether you’re reading an article or a review, you can trust that you’re getting credible and dependable information. Bankrate logo How we make money
You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers. We’re transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money. Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service. Many people like the idea of , but they don’t relish the . Whether it’s a rented-out vacation home, a small apartment complex or an office building, owning property comes with maintenance tasks and financial responsibilities that can be a lot to handle. That’s especially true if the property is located out-of-state or if you’ve another, full-time job. Hiring an outside property manager might be a good solution. Here’s everything you need to know about how property managers work, and how to work with one. What is a property manager
A property manager is a person or company hired to handle the administration, operation and maintenance of a piece of real estate on the owner’s behalf. Usually, these professionals work with . But they can be in charge of any sort of real estate, including individual residences or residential compounds. While a property manager can include a person who fulfills a groundskeeper-type role, most are much more than a real-life Hagrid. If anything, they’re closer to a Dumbledore: Headmaster-like, they handle the day-to-day operations of properties like and office buildings that have rent- or lease-paying tenants. What does a property manager do
Individual property manager duties will depend on the type of property they’re managing and the duties you hire them to complete. Responsibilities can include: Collect rents Advertise and represent the property Screen tenants Manage tenant turnover Sign leases, approve subleases Check for lease compliance, track tenant deposits Coordinate housekeeping for common areas Perform building upkeep and repairs (or hire a third party to do it) Manage exterior maintenance like and snow removal Manage the books: property income/expense accounting, tax reporting Process evictions Manage guest communications and booking for vacation rentals What are the types of property managers
There are many types of property managers. managers handle office space, industrial facilities and retail businesses (malls, shopping centers, etc.). property managers deal with : apartment high-rises, a , housing projects, etc. property managers are the ones who handle individual homes or estates. They typically work with several landlords at once, many of whom are remote or have numerous properties. If you live in a resort town or , many property managers will focus on short-term rentals — getting guests for your home for the high seasons. In addition to handling your rental’s booking, they’ll also oversee furnishing, cleaning, repairs and even supplies-stocking, and their management fees will be higher to match. How are they compensated
Compensation for property managers varies based on the geographic region, their exact services (the more they do, the more they charge), and the nature of the property: its type (commercial, multi-family, etc.), size, age and location. Usually, it’s a monthly fee, a percentage of the lease income, rather than a fixed salary. According to the National Association of Residential Property Managers’ “,” most management fees average between 5-10 percent of the gross monthly rent per unit, but of course it can depend a lot on the area. For example, “in Philadelphia, property managers will charge monthly fees that range between 8-12 percent of the rent,” says Alex Capozzolo, co-founder of Brotherly Love Real Estate based in Philadelphia. While it’s typically a percentage of the rent collected, “other forms of compensation can include a flat fee per unit managed, and in some cases, property managers may also receive a monthly bonus or commission for meeting certain performance goals,” says Boris Dorfman, fund manager at LBC Capital Income Fund, a private money lender for based in Los Angeles. In some areas, property managers get perks — a reduced or outright free rent — to live on the property and manage day-to-day maintenance issues. These folks are known as property managers in residence, aka the “super.” When to hire a property manager
A property manager is a good idea whenever you’re overwhelmed by managing your properties yourself or can’t do it properly. “For investors with a larger portfolio, a property manager can be an invaluable asset in terms of keeping track of repairs, rent collection and tenant relations,” says Dorfman. “Large properties such as multi-family housing require a high level of maintenance and upkeep that is not possible to manage individually,” adds Capozzolo. Even property owners without an extensive portfolio may find a property manager helpful, especially if they’re out of state or too busy managing their work and family lives, or understandably unskilled at corporate finance. Owning an income-producing property is in effect owning a business, and correctly filing taxes, maintaining the books, and staying on top of local regulations often amounts to a job in itself. Conversely, a property manager may not be a good idea when you can easily manage the property yourself, both financially and literally (no, you don’t mind finding a plumber at 3 AM to fix a tenant’s burst water pipe). Or if your situation is a relatively simple one: a , or other simple single-family home, or a that you occupy one half of. It might also be hard to justify a property manager if your profit margins are razor-thin as it is. Paying 8 or 10 percent of your rental income may not sound like much, but you may not be able to afford it if you’re barely making more than mortgage and maintenance expenses on the property already. How to hire a property manager
Ideally, you want to find a property manager located as close to your property as possible so they can quickly deal with emergencies and inspect the property regularly. In larger burgs, there may be prominent property management companies you can hire — a preferred option if your property is a sizable apartment or office building — but in smaller towns hiring an individual to manage your property may be your best bet. If you have the space, you may want to hire a qualified tenant or keep a unit available for an on-site property manager in exchange for reduced rent. Finding a property manager is like finding any sort of professional: referrals, referrals, referrals. might know (in fact, some property managers belong to the ). If you belong to a local real estate investors group, reach out to your network and ask for names of reputable property managers in your area. SHARE: Rae Hartley Beck is a writer and editor with over eight years of experience in personal finance. Her work has most recently appeared in Bankrate, MoneyWise and Investopedia. Rae specializes in credit card rewards, investing, real estate, home improvement, lending and financial advice for millennials, Gen Z, Gen Alpha and their parents. Troy Segal is Bankrate's Senior Homeownership Editor, focusing on everything from upkeep and maintenance to building equity and enhancing value. Related Articles