Whether you are new to investing in Baltimore’s rental property market, or a seasoned investor looking to expand your portfolio in Baltimore, it’s always wise to build good local relationships first. Typically, investors consult real estate agencies when looking to buy property in any jurisdiction. However, establishing a relationship with a firm specializing in rental management in Baltimore, earlier on your investment decision, can yield long-lasting benefits.
Getting the Lay of the Land
While both realtors and rental managers deliver essential services to prospective rental property investors, your rental property manager likely has better relevant knowledge of the rental property business. That’s because they are in touch with hundreds of renters, rental property owners, and city, state, and federal agencies on a constant basis.
As an investor, you need that type of in-depth, and ongoing, knowledge and expertise, because dealing with renters, city officials, maintenance contractors, and lawyers (for dispute resolution) might not be you strong point. Property managers know the lay of the land, and have local networks that investors can tap into.
Relationships Matter
Perhaps, the most fundamental difference is in the relationship that you’ll establish with an expert in property management for Baltimore apartment rental units, and that which you have with a real estate agent selling the property to you. Most “agent-type” relationships are transactional. What do we mean by that? Well, it’s typically a “one and done” transaction – there’s no legal commitment between you and the real estate agency once the sale is complete.
So, following a sale, could you ask the realtor about rental issues? Would they be able to give you some guidance about landlord-tenant laws? The answer: Most likely, yes. However, a professional realtor will probably place a caveat on their responses to your questions: Please seek advice from a professional.
And who might such a professional be? A specialist in rental management in Baltimore!
Because of some overlapping training and experience, both rental property managers and real estate agents do have knowledge about each other’s domains. However, when you establish a relationship with a property manager, you get specialized experience and expertise of the rental property business – which is an ongoing and longer-lasting relationship. It does not typically end with a single rental deed, or with the handling of one tenant dispute.
Valued Relationship
The relationship between rental property investors, and their property managers, spans a continuum of services. Some of these include:
- Consultations on rental property investments
- Rental property maintenance
- A range of tenant services, including tenant care, financials, reporting and record keeping
- Filling vacancies
- Property marketing
When you work with an expert in property management for Baltimore apartment rental property, they’ll support you with a broad array of services – from board accounting to mundane maintenance requests and everything in between.
More tech savvy rental property managers even provide state-of-the-art online portals, through which investors, homeowners, renters, and home owner associations may access a range of digital services online – 24×7. And that’s a value proposition that builds the reputation of your properties, while providing continually accessible, transparent services to your renters and other stakeholders. It’s priceless!