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When it comes to rental management, many landlords and property owners turn to traditional property management companies. However, despite the fact that traditional rental management services have been a trusted option for generations, they are far from ideal.
One of the biggest problems with traditional property management companies is that they are expensive. In fact, it is common for traditional property managers to charge 8-12 percent of the monthly rent collected per month. So, for a property with a rental income of $2,000 per month, your fees for a traditional property manager could be as high as $200-$240.
Having to pay 8-12% per month is something that many rental property owners would prefer to avoid. However, many of these people do not know what they can do to avoid paying these costs. Well, if you are a rental property owner, here are some alternatives to traditional rental management that you can take advantage of to reduce your dependence on traditional property management companies and save some money in the process.
Property managers typically handle things like setting and collecting rent, filling vacant units, handling maintenance requests, etc. The more of these things that you can do yourself as a property owner, the less that you will have to pay a property manager to do on your behalf. Some property owners hesitate to try to do these things themselves just because they are unfamiliar with them. However, many property owners adjust and start getting used to doing at least some of these things by themselves. As with anything else, practice makes perfect.
So, even if you are not familiar with how to do basic maintenance at your property such as unclogging a sink, or changing the smoke alarm, these are things that you can learn. The more that you do them, the more comfortable you will get with them.
A virtual rental manager is an alternative to a traditional property management company. Virtual rental managers provide solutions that help property owners solve 3 primary problems: end-to-end tenant placement, maintenance requests, and rent collection. A good virtual rental management company uses technology to solve these problems. In doing so, the costs can be significantly lower for using a virtual rental manager compared to using a traditional property manager to manage your properties.
How Does a Virtual Rental Manager Work?
End-to-End Tenant Placement
For tenant placement, property owners can purchase a special smart lock system from a virtual manager such as Marble. Once this system is installed, Marble can generate temporary pin codes for verified prospective tenants. Prospective tenants will then be able to enter the pin codes into the smart lock system and gain access to the property for their allotted one-hour tour time.
In other words, a virtual rental management company can prevent you from actually having to put boots on the ground at your property in order to show it to prospective tenants. This dramatically reduces the amount of human labor that is required to show properties to tenants, saving you time and money. With Marble’s smart lock system, entry codes can be sent over Bluetooth. So, property owners don’t even have to have wifi set up at their properties for the smart locks to work.
Additionally, Marble will post your listing to over 40 different listing sites like Zillow, Trulia, HotPads, Apartments.com, etc. in order to find great tenants. Once tenants express interest, Marble requires them to verify their identities with a government-issued ID and a facial recognition scan.
If the prospective tenants decide that they would like to apply to rent the property, Marble directs them to an application and screening page. After the tenants fill out the application, Marble generates a full credit, criminal history, income, and eviction report to screen for high-quality tenants. All the property owner has to do is view the report and decide whether or not they would like to rent the property to the tenant. Marble also automates the entire lease signing process.
Maintenance Requests
As a property owner, it is inevitable that you will get maintenance requests on a regular basis. Marble has a 24/7 phone line available as well as a ticketing system for maintenance requests. Tenants can contact this phone line whenever they have a maintenance request, whether that issue is large or small.
Once Marble receives the maintenance request, it gives the property owner the chance to fix it himself or herself. If the property owner does not wish to fix the issue, then marble can send one of its vetted vendors to go and resolve the maintenance issue.
Marble partners with many different vendors throughout the nation. So, regardless of what the particular maintenance issue is or where the property is located, Marble will be able to send the right professional with the right skill set to the property to complete the job quickly. In fact, for emergencies, vendors are usually skilled within 3 hours of the request being made.
Rent Collection
With a virtual rental manager such as Marble, all rent payments are submitted through the mobile app or website. This simplifies the rent collection process for property owners. Because all of the payments are being received through the app or website, the system can do automated financial accounting, late fees, etc.
Because Marble allows for automated rent collection and financial accounting, you can just sit back and watch the payments come in. You will also have complete oversight over all of the rental payment information for all of your units. This will allow you to keep your operation incredibly organized and for you to never have to manually collect rent or deal with checks.
Conclusion
If you own a long-term rental property or properties, then a traditional property manager is not the only option for property management. In fact, it can be much more affordable and practical to handle some of the property management aspects yourself, or to use a virtual rental manager.
Virtual rental managers can help you to automate many of the most tedious and time-consuming aspects of property management. This can eliminate headaches, save you money, and increase the profitability of your rental business.
If you are ready to start enjoying the benefits of a virtual property manager, then consider trying Marble today. It’s only $50 per month. You can try Marble out for free here.
Create your account for free and a Marble representative will walk you through everything.
Marble Living, Inc. is a technology company that helps you manage your long-term rental properties. Communications between you and Marble are protected by our Privacy Policy. Marble also provides access to self-help services at your specific direction. We cannot make any decisions on behalf of any property owners. Your access to the website is subject to our Terms of Use.