Apartment Property Management in San Jose

Apartment Property Management in San Jose

Apartment property management is a type of residential property management where a property manager manages multiple apartments simultaneously. Normally, apartments are managed by complex as a whole, and rarely ever managed by individual units (as opposed to condo property management). An apartment property manager must be highly experienced because they adopt many units at once. A complex can very from as little as 2 to 100+ units all on a single property.

What’s the cost of Apartment Property Management in San Jose?

The cost of apartment property management in San Jose can range from 7% to 12% depending on the property manager’s experience, skill level, total units on the property, area, and more. If a property has many apartment units, they can negotiate a fairer rate when hiring a property manager because of the work provided. For instance, an owner with a complex of 100+ apartment units can negotiate a lower rate than a property with 8 units because the property management company will receive more work.

What are the responsibilities of an apartment property manager?

The responsibilities of an apartment property manager cover a wide range. Firstly, a property manager has a financial duty to raise rents and keep them up to date to maximize earnings for the owners. Secondly, they also have a responsibility to handle any issues tenants might have such as plumbing leaks or locking themselves out. Thirdly, an apartment property manager handles all rent collection, and possible evictions. Their role is to handle they day-to-day operations on the property to minimize the workload owners have to do.

Lastly, when an apartment is vacant, its the property manager’s job to schedule repairs, get the property rent-ready, list the property, screen and background check tenants, and write leases. There is much more an apartment property manager does in the real world and these are only the fundamentals.

Do the responsibilities of an apartment property manager differ from the responsibilities of a general property manager?

Since apartment complexes are generally much larger than single family homes, duplexes, and condos (condominiums), a property manager must be seasoned and well-experienced. Apartment complexes can be considered the “final-level of property management” due to the number of different people, units, and physical land a manager must deal with. More land means more things to supervise such as trees, larger roofs, wider pavement, etc, all of which must be maintained. When looking for an apartment property manager, it’s important to vet them carefully to ensure they are capable of handling such responsibility.

What skills should I look for when hiring an apartment property manager in San Jose?

1. Social Skills

Property management is almost entirely a “people business”. Most tasks a property manager will do involve communicating with people, empathizing, and solving issues in a timely manner. An apartment property manager must have experience will defusing angry customers, empathizing with people’s circumstances, and replying to messages and calls in a timely manner.

2. Organizing and Scheduling

Organizing and scheduling are vital skills for an apartment property manager. If a property manager does not properly schedule tenants’ issues, a tenant can easily be forgotten in the sea of work, which can then worsen the issue they originally had. For instance, if a tenant’s sink leaks and a property manager does not property schedule a plumber to resolve their issue, the leak can grow into a larger mess. A property manager MUST be an expert in scheduling and organizing to ensure everything is handled from all angles and no one is left unattended.

3. 24/7 Availability

Due to the nature of this business, a property manager must rarely if ever have their phone on silent. Similar to firefighters, emergencies can occur at any time which the property manager must be ready for. An experienced and responsible property manager must be available 24/7 and is always on the clock.

4. Responsiveness

As simple as it may sound, a property manager must be responsive. I mention responsiveness as a virtue because I’ve heard of many managers who do not answer their phone or reply to messages in a timely manner, which eventually leads to a larger issue for tenants. Something as simple as answering all phone calls and replying to messages is often overlooked. These fundamentals are what separate a decent property-manager from a great manager.

5. Reputable Professionals

Property managers should have their own contact-list of professional vendors. If they don’t, it’s a red flag. A property manager should have established relationships with painters, plumbers, landscapers, and more, which they can call at the drop-of-a-dime for repairs. Here at Zapien Real Estate, we use our own contact-list of reputable, reliable, and affordable vendors to help you save money on unexpected repairs.

Do you provide apartment property management in San Jose?

Yes, here at Zapien Real Estate, we provide apartment property management in San Jose. We often have special deals to help owners save in property management costs and fees.

What’s the process of hiring you as my apartment property manager?

1. Contact Us

Firstly, you must contact us through our site or call to request the service you’re interested in.

2. Initial Consultation Meeting

Afterwards, we will meet in person to have our initial consultation. Here, we will learn about each other to see if we’re a good fit, and most importantly, we’ll learn what your goals are with your property.

3. Fill Out Paperwork

If we decide we will be a good fit for each other, we will proceed to filling out the paperwork for our property management agreement and discuss the details.

4. Property Preparation and Repairs

Before any marketing is done, we will prepare the property and perform any repairs that might be necessary. This is the step to make the property rent-ready. If you do not have the funds for necessary repairs, we can often cover the repairs and will be reimbursed by you later. This way, you can cover any repairs and essentially get a loan interest-free as a thank you from us.

5. Marketing Strategy

After the property is rent-ready, we will think about the best marketing approach. Marketing is essential to finding the most qualified tenants and get your desired asking price. Platforms we often use to market properties are Zillow, Redfin, HotPads, our own private contact-list, and more.

6. List Property

We will then take pictures, professionally edit them, and list the property across all platforms we work with. Pictures tell most of the story. Surprisingly, a property can earn more by simply taking higher-quality pictures, as opposed to using poor images for the same exact property.

7. Property Showings

At this stage, many people have responded to our listings and are interested in viewing the property. We will take care of scheduling, contacting, and showing the property to all those who are interested and handle everything for you.

8. Applications

Here, we collect all applications and prepare them for screening.

9. Tenant Selection

In order to select the best renter, we conduct screenings, background-checks, rental-history checks, and credit checks. We then select the tenant that best meets out criteria.

10. Lease Write-up & Signing

During this step, we write the lease and collect all signatures. Ordinarily, we use an online platform called DocuSign to distribute, sign, collect, and store leases.

11. Move-In Inspection

We then conduct a move-in inspection with the tenant and document the property’s condition for the record. Prior to the tenant moving in, it’s important for the property’s condition to be documented to assess possible damages when moving out.

12. Rent Collection

Then, we’ll set up the tenant in our rent-collection software and prepare them. We’ll also answer any questions they might have on how to use it. The software is pretty straight forward.

13. Ongoing Management

Finally, the tenant happily moves in, the owner is pleased with the vetted tenant, and we continue to manage the property and collect rent. We will also ensure the renter is up to date with any renter’s insurance and leases as time goes on, and routinely provide reports to the property owners.