Sunday, November 14, 2010

Condominium Property Management

A condominium is where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights associated with the individual ownership and controlled by the association of owners that jointly represent ownership of the whole piece.

Looking after a Condo suite is a full time job. From the moment you receive the keys to the day you sell the Condo, a good management company can make the difference between a profitable investment and a poor one.

Property Managers in Toronto will step in and perform, on the owner behalf, all the day-to-day tasks with regards to the condominium. These tasks include rent collection and bill payments. During the normal operation of a tenanted unit rent checks might return NSF, tenants might want to pay cash or use another banks to pay the rent dues. A local point of contact is needed. Bills need to be paid and constant contact must be kept with the billing agencies like the city, the condominium building management and the utility companies.

The local property manager is your tenant's point of contact for questions, requests and assistance. The professional property manager will be able to inspect the tenanted suites, supervise the tenants and buildings and keep an eye on the owner's interests.

When you get possession a tenant needs to be found. In Toronto, tenant screening needs to be done very carefully to avoid renting the property to an incompetent tenant.

Credit Check, Letter of Employment, references are one part of the screening and the experience of meeting hundreds of tenants is the other. Finding you a tenant quickly is important but doing it in a professional way is even more important to the success of your investment.

Three Qualities of Excellent Property Management

Whether you own a single executive office building or a string of apartment buildings, you want to make sure you are getting the best possible return on your investment at all times. Smart real estate investors use a property management service to handle the upkeep on their properties as well as keep them filled with quality tenants. Like anything else, not all property management companies are created equal. So here are three qualities to look for to make sure you're getting the most for your money.
  • Focus on Occupancy: The bottom line is you need to make payments to the bank and simply cannot afford to have offices or rentals lie vacant for prolonged periods of time. An excellent team will employ various strategies and market your property on the right venues to ensure high occupancy rates. A service understands that quality is as important as quantity and will do everything possible to draw in desirable tenants.
  • Impeccable Building and Grounds Maintenance: If you want tenants to become long-term tenants, the buildings and grounds on your property must be well-kept and made to look as attractive as possible year-round. The best property management teams contract only with quality and dependable services and repair providers so you can be sure that everything will be ship-shape at all times.
  • Excellent Customer Service: You shouldn't have to worry about the daily ins and outs of operating your properties; after all, that's what you hire a management team for! Monthly financial statements, timely rent collections, annual reports and other customer service essentials are a must.
If your current management team is simply not cutting in with one or more of the above, it may be time to look for a new one. After all, your real estate investment is too important to leave to chance.