Table of Contents
Professional Property Management in San Jose
A professional property manager helps with two things: making owners money and keeping tenants happy. However, those two objectives are further reduced to smaller tasks with greater detail.
On one hand, a property manager must maximize the revenue they generate for owners. This means they must keep a finger on the pulse of rental prices and adjust prices as necessary. More often than not, we encounter properties where owners haven’t raised rent in years. The simple change of raising rental prices to match the market can make an immediate difference to the income generated.
A professional property manager also gives recommendations on how the property can be modified to increase its perceived value, earning more monthly rent. On average, a home will earn as much as the other properties within its neighborhood, but sometimes a property might be an outlier and too outdated to earn that average rental price. In this instance, its best for the property to get a face-lift to be able to ask for similar prices as the neighborhood average.
The second pillar responsibility of a professional property manager is keeping tenants happy. This entails having excellent communication skills, knowing how to defuse emotional situations, and organizing repairs in a timely manner.
What’s the cost of professional property management in San Jose?
The cost of professional property management in San Jose is between 8% to 12%. A property management company with more experience will sometimes charge more than one who is newer. Other variables that determine property management rates are the property’s location, season, and the property type. For example, an apartment complex of 100+ units might have a different management rate compared to a condo. In such case, a large 100+ complex might be able to negotiate a fairer rate due to providing the management company with more work.
What are some red flags to notice when searching for a professional property manager?
When searching for a professional property manager, it’s important to find one with vast experience. A property owner should judge a property manager’s experience based on their website, how many properties they’ve successfully managed, testimonials, and more.
Another consideration is seeing which qualifications a property manager has. Are they certified? Do they have the proper licenses? In California, a property manager isn’t required to have a license if they work under a licensed broker. However, this means they will have many restrictions without a real estate license.
For example, a property manager without a real estate license is legally unable to collect rent, show units on behalf of owners, negotiate leases on behalf of owners, sign leases on behalf of owners, manage security deposits, and more. To find the right professional property manager, it’s highly recommended they have a California Real Estate license to do the entire scope of work without restrictions. Continued education is also recommended. Managing houses, apartments, and condos, can all benefit from having the proper licenses and schooling.
What skills should I look for when hiring a professional property manager in San Jose?
1. Communication and People Skills
A professional property management company must be good at dealing with people. They are responsible for a contrasting set of situations – from handing tenants their new set of keys, to possibly processing evictions when necessary. Such a drastic change in situations requires a person who knows how to speak well with people of all backgrounds.
A property manager must also be empathetic and understand people’s concerns. With understanding, a property manager can then help tenants find solutions to issues they might have.
2. Scheduling and Organizing Requests
Property managers 95% of the time manage multiple properties within their portfolio and must be good and managing many properties at once. This means they must be efficient with scheduling, setting reminders in their phone, and having a centralized platform with a to-do-list of all tenant requests to ensure no one’s needs are forgotten. A professional property manager should understand how to jiggle many things at once to prevent issues from going by unaddressed.
3. 24/7 Availability
Tenants can experience emergencies which require swift action such as water leaks or locked doors. For this reason, property managers must be available 24/7. Swift action can make the difference of between a harmless water leak that just started and a flooded kitchen.
4. Quick Communication
A professional property manager much have quick communication and be responsive. They must rarely have their phone on silent, and return all calls and messages. As simple as it might sound to respond to all calls and messages, it’s often not practiced enough and is mandatory when selecting a professional property manager.
5. A Team of Professionals for Repairs
A property manager must have a team of professionals on speed-dial ready to work for any emergencies. A professional property manager should not have to look on Google in real time for a plumber while a tenant’s sink leaks and causes damage to the property. Here at Zapien Real Estate, we have our own contact-list of professionals ready to work on unexpected repairs and save you money in the process.
Do you provide house property management in San Jose?
Yes, here at Zapien Real Estate, we provide professional 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 house 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.