What does a Santa Cruz property manager do? We get that question a lot. Property managers handle the entire rental process for you. It breaks down into three segments; leasing, tenancy and move out.
Leasing
The leasing process starts with getting the property ready to rent. This means doing all the advertising, showing the property, processing potential applicants and screening the applications and then approving a tenant. Then, there is the lease to write up and review with the tenant. Once the lease is signed, we collect the security deposit and begin turning over rent payments to you.
Tenancy
The tenancy part of a property manager’s work is to manage the ongoing month to month duties associated with taking care of the property and the tenant. Property managers will answer any questions the tenants have and take care of any problems. We collect rent, pay any bills on the property and distribute your rental income. We also handle maintenance issues as they come up and supervise any emergencies that might occur at the house. Your property manager will communicate with your tenants and vendors, post necessary notices and conduct annual inspections.
Move Out
Finally, there is the move out process. When the tenant moves out, either because they give notice or because you give the tenants notice to vacate the property, our job is to make sure everything goes smoothly and you get your property back in good condition. We follow a whole procedure that starts with the pre-inspection. This is required by law and after that pre-inspection we do a walk through after the tenant has actually moved out, to see if there is any damage left behind. We return the security deposit to the tenants, keeping out any charges that apply to the repairs we need to make. Once we successfully close out that tenant, the whole process starts over again and your property manager begins preparing your property and putting it on the market to find a new tenant.
In a nutshell, a property manager protects your property and keeps you legal and out of court. There are a lot of logistics and communications involved in taking care of a property, and your professional property manager will take care of all that for you. If you have any further questions about what a property manager does, or you’d like to talk to us about our services, please contact us at Portola Property Management.
