We spend a lot of time talking to rental property owners about why it behooves them to work with a professional property management company in Tampa when they’re leasing, managing, and maintaining their properties.
Today, we’re talking specifically about tenants and the relationship they have with property managers.
We’re often asked: do tenants want to work with property managers? Or, would they rather rent directly from a landlord?
Here’s the answer, according to our decades of experience.
Good tenants always prefer to rent professionally managed homes. They enjoy the consistency and support a professional management company can provide.
Problematic tenants prefer to rent directly from landlords. They know what they can get away with.
Reputation and Tampa Property Management
For a lot of tenants, working with property managers is better because of the trust they inspire. Tenants can go online and read reviews of property managers. They can’t do that with a private landlord. A property management company is an established entity. They work hard to protect their reputation and to provide good customer service.
Leasing and Screening: Avoiding Scams and Risk
Tenants prefer property managers during the leasing process because it cuts down on the risk of scams and trouble. All of our marketing materials will be branded with our company name and our contact information. Tenants can easily call us or email us about a listing they see, and we’ll be able to confirm it’s ours. We can also confirm the details of the listing such as rental price and terms. When a listing comes with just a phone number or a random, untraceable email address, it’s hard to trust that they’re actually talking to the property owner.
Tenants appreciate working with professional managers to avoid scams. Owners appreciate working with us because we screen so thoroughly
If an unqualified tenant knows they won’t pass our screening process, they’ll go in search of an independent landlord who is less likely to screen as thoroughly.
Most property managers will deny applicants with:
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- Poor credit
- Unverified income
- Prior evictions
- Dangerous breed dogs
- Terrible rental references
Landlords won’t always do the necessary digging to discover these problems. Good tenants are perfectly comfortable going through a robust screening process. Unqualified tenants will try to avoid it.
Responsive Maintenance and Property Management
Maintenance is one of the most pressing concerns for tenants. They want to know their repair requests will be responded to as quickly as possible. They want to be heard, and they want to work with property managers who will proactively maintain the home they’re living in.
Most tenants know that with a property management company, they’re getting an easy and efficient maintenance reporting process, a 24-hour emergency helpline, and a team of highly qualified, trustworthy vendors who will be easy to work with. Landlords are not always as responsive. It might take longer to get the work done, and that’s a source of frustration for many good residents.
Good tenants appreciate the conveniences that come with professionally managed rental homes, such as online rental payments, tenant portals, and preventative maintenance. If you’re wondering how to attract and retain great tenants, consider working with a Tampa property management team.
We’d love to talk more about this topic. Please don’t hesitate to contact us at Hoffman Realty.