5 Reasons You Need a Property Manager for Your Commercial Building

When buying a commercial property, one of the most important decisions you’ll have to make is whether or not to retain the services of a commercial property manager. It’s hard enough being the landlord of a single-family dwelling. But the stakes are higher if you own a commercial building housing multiple tenants and requiring ongoing maintenance and repairs.

If you like to do things independently rather than rely on others, you’ll have your work cut out for you as the owner-landlord of a commercial building. Before deciding what to do about landlord duties, continue reading for three reasons to hire a commercial property manager.

1. Get Help With Customer Service

One of the benefits of hiring a commercial property manager is that you’ll get help with tenant relations. Dealing with tenant complaints, concerns, or other issues can take up much of your time. Odds are, you already have enough on your plate.

A commercial property manager can provide the customer service your tenants require. The service provider will take a load off your shoulders by helping with tenant retention and lease enforcement. Otherwise, you’ll be working longer hours than ideal and won’t have anything close to a good work-life balance.

You don’t want to be an absentee landlord who doesn’t provide proper customer service. Failing to meet the needs of tenants means they’re more likely than not to go elsewhere when their leases end. With a commercial property manager on your side, you can take care of tenants so that they stay in place and continue to provide the monthly cash flow you want.

2. Encourage Tenants to Fulfill Responsibilities

If you want tenants to play a role in the maintenance of the commercial property, you’ll want to ensure they comply with any duties outlined in their leases. It can be challenging for a property owner to follow up with tenants who might not be as diligent with keeping their end of the bargain. You might find yourself wasting a lot of time and effort getting them to fulfill their duties.

Hiring a commercial property manager means the service provider will pull out all the stops to ensure tenants honor their obligations regarding proper maintenance. So, if tenants are responsible for some maintenance tasks that are outlined in their leases, a commercial property manager will help ensure that these duties are being carried out promptly.

3. Perform Maintenance and Repairs

Another area where a commercial property manager can help is by spearheading maintenance and repairs. You don’t want to invest in a commercial property and then allow it to fall apart due to a lack of preventative maintenance and timely repairs.

But if you’re handling landlord responsibilities on your own, you might get overwhelmed with the tasks at hand. You’ll need to get the HVAC maintained and tuned up, have the roof inspected, ensure that the property is landscaped regularly, take care of the lighting, and do tons of other things.

Hiring a commercial property manager means you won’t have to do it all yourself. The service provider will stay on top of what needs to be done and ensure that everything gets done on time. You can also count on a commercial property manager to tap its network of skilled contractors and reputable suppliers for labor or materials needed to get things done on your property.

4. Get Help Finding Good Tenants

Some commercial property owners take it upon themselves to search for the right tenants. While it might be tempting to make the tenant search a DIY affair, going that route can be costly. All it takes is one rogue tenant to cause headaches that might persist for a long time.

A commercial property manager offers provider tenant screening services for commercial facility owners. It’ll conduct an extensive process to ensure you get the best tenants for your building. Before the process gets underway, the commercial property manager will help you devise the rental criteria.

That means the service provider will assist in figuring out what to look for in a tenant, and this will be followed up with a pre-screening application for would-be tenants to fill out.

Applicants will be asked on the form to allow the commercial property manager to conduct background and credit history checks. The commercial property manager will also ask applicants to provide information like the following:

• Rental history
• Income details
• Reference letters from previous landlords

You can count on a commercial property manager to comb over the pre-screening application to find out which applicants will make the best candidates for an interview.

While there’s no guarantee that a tenant won’t cause you trouble at some point, a good screening process headed by a reputable commercial property manager will increase your odds of finding tenants who won’t cause you any problems. These service providers charge a small percentage of monthly rental income — so it can be a small price to pay to protect your investment.

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5. Get Assistance Setting up Rent

When you’re looking for tenants, one of the things you’ll need to know is how much you want to charge. A commercial property manager will understand how much tenants pay in rent at various commercial buildings in and around the area. As such, you can count on the recommendations you get to help you set a competitive rate.

While you don’t want to overcharge your tenants, you also don’t want to undercharge them. A commercial property manager will help you set a competitive rental rate for tenants so that you attract quality tenants and don’t unnecessarily leave.

That’ll help you maximize your investment while attracting quality tenants with rental rates that are in line with what other commercial property owners in the area charge their tenants.

If you own a commercial property, you owe it to yourself to investigate the benefits of hiring a commercial property manager. Being the landlord of a commercial facility can be a huge undertaking. There are many moving pieces, and it can be hard for one person to handle it all.

When you retain the services of a property manager specializing in commercial buildings, you’ll have the help you need to lighten your day-to-day workload and maximize your investment.

Getting assistance means finding good tenants, keeping them happy, and keeping vacancies to a minimum. That’s one way you stand to earn more money and boost your return on investment.