Property Management Information for Property Owners

There are a few things that homeowners need to know about hiring a Property Manager...

Why hire a Property Manager (PM) rather than manage the tenancy yourself?

• A PM has experience with many tenancies, we have experience in selecting tenants, the root of a successful tenancy is matching the right tenant to the property.
• A PM understands, knows and respects the rights of landlords and tenants. 
• Having a third party like a PM facilitates a professional relationship in how a tenancy is conducted, one of mutual respect, expectations and understanding.
• A PM can mitigate financial losses based on their experience.
• As a PM I live and work on Pender Island, allowing close proximity to your property.
• As a local resident, I am familiar with the many local resources we have when needing repairs or improvements to the property.

How Do I Get Started?

1. The first thing is to contact me either by email charris@coastalliferealty.ca or phone me at 250-629-9998.
2. The next step is to arrange for me to see and evaluate the property. There is no charge or obligation for this service. I will give you a market evaluation on the rent you can expect based on my experience. I will also give you some feedback on necessary repairs that may be required, perhaps some advice on improvements that will increase the chance or renting the property or increase the market value. I may also identify expected expenses likely within the next year.
3. Once you feel satisfied that you have found the right property manager, I will send you a contract to sign so that I can start looking for a tenant for you.

What Does A Property Manager Do?

• Find Tenants,
• Process and evaluate Tenancy applications,
• Generate Leases and Rental Agreements,
• Begin the tenancy with a condition inspection report including a catalogue of photographs,
• Collect rent,
• Investigate tenant concerns,
• Satisfy Owner concerns,
• Arrange for repairs,
• Book routine maintenance such as annual chimney cleanings and seasonal gutter cleanings as well as septic pumpouts,
• Pay bills and expenses from the Owners trust account,
• Provide routine inspections of the property, required for most insurance policies,
• Send disbursements electronically to their bank accounts each month,
• Send monthly email statements to clients that summarize the current month's activity and year to date numbers,
• When requested, providing annual budgets for the property,
• Advise on Insurance matters.

This is not an exhausted list but a generalized list of routine functions of a property manager.

So How Much Does It Cost To Have a Property Manager?

Surprisingly inexpensive when you consider that I take pride in the fact that I am pretty much on call 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. Yes I have spent Christmas Day organizing emergency repairs.

The ongoing cost is 15% of the rent each month. If the rent is $1,000.00 a month then my fee is $150.00 + GST. So that is $1,800.00/year + GST which calculates to less than $5/day to have a peace of mind and know your property is in good hands.

When finding and starting up with a new tenant there is an administration fee of half a month's rent. Again if your rent is $1,000.00/month then this administration fee would be $500.00 + GST. There is a lot of time and effort to start up a new tenancy.

Credit checks, we charge $25/per credit check for each Tenant. This is an expense that is usually not incurred until the end of the application process so if it is discovered that a tenant is unsuitable prior to that, we don't incur the expense.

When we arrange for repairs we do not charge anything extra, the invoice for the repair is the amount you pay.

Privacy

All the Tenancy agreements list Coastal Life Realty Ltd. as the acting Landlord, which we can do, and given authority to do in our contract.

It is unlikely you will ever have any contact with Tenant. When there are issues to resolve, we may at times discuss possible solutions together and I will propose that solution to the Tenant. This offers you a peace of mind of not being involved in the day to day management of the property.

There are times when we encourage the landlord and tenant to meet, particularly when they are sharing a property and where compatibility is fundamental in the success of tenancy relationship.