Becoming a landlord and operating a rental property can be a profitable business. But first-time landlords and those with limited experience in rental property management often encounter several challenges navigating the rental property market and overseeing the property while handling their other day-to-day responsibilities. To improve the returns from your rental property business, review the following mistakes rental owners make.
Not Considering Turnover and Maintenance
Between tenants, you may face periods where the property has to be updated and improved before the new rental client moves in. Many new landlords fail to consider this period when evaluating their budgets for the year. This failure may mean you face budget shortfalls and have to make cutbacks in other areas.
Letting Emotions Dictate Decisions
Many first-time landlords are renting out a property in which they’ve lived. You’ve made memories in the home. Perhaps your children grew up within the property. But while these are treasured memories, they shouldn’t be decisive factors for your rental business. Rental owners sometimes allow their history with the property to cloud their judgment on its value and potential tenants.
Failing with Time Management
As a rental business owner, you may not have the financial resources to quit your full-time job in the first few years on the market. Time management is crucial when managing your rental property. For example, have you considered how often you’ll visit the home and check in with tenants? Do you have a plan if your tenants call while you’re working?
Failing to analyze the amount of time property management requires can impact your relationships and cause the failure of your rental business.
Not Qualifying Tenants
Tenants must pass a strict qualification process to determine whether they are the right fit for your property and business. If you don’t have a pre-qualification process setup, you can quickly find your property rented by highly unsuitable tenants. The profile of tenants renting within your property will also impact the quality of future tenants. Enact a comprehensive tenant screening process to protect your building’s long-term value.
Failing to Budget for Maintenance Costs
In addition to the time involved in property management, home maintenance can also take up a large proportion of your weekly schedule. For example, while you’ll need to hire a plumber or electrician for specialist work around the property, will you be completing DIY repairs on areas such as walkways and shelving? To avoid the impact on your schedule, you may wish to hire contractors for maintenance work. Contracting costs will then rise as your building ages. Take these costs into close consideration when budgeting.
Setting Unsuitable Rental Prices
Complex formulas determine the optimal rental pricing for specific cities and neighbourhoods. First-time landlords often make the mistake of setting rental prices either too high or too low. Too high, and you’ll limit your potential tenant prospects. Too low, and you may find you cannot make a reasonable profit for several years.
Why Rental Property Owners Select Pacific Quorum
As your leading local rental property management company, Pacific Quorum frees you to grow your rental business and helps you to generate consistent returns from your current portfolio.
Our team brings together experts in areas such as tenant qualification, property maintenance, and building financial management to provide clients like you with the ultimate tailored property management experience. As the largest locally-owned property management company in BC, Pacific Quorum can help you manage every element of your property and avoid the costly mistakes landlords make when attempting to fit management into their daily lives.
If you’re looking for rental property management in BC, contact us for a proposal. We provide management services throughout British Columbia in Vancouver’s Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley, Whistler/Squamish, Vancouver Island, and the Okanagan Valley. Tell us a bit more about your needs, and one of our team members will get back to you on how we can help.
