What will a property manager provide?
A property manager can give you all sorts of services, depending on your own situation and how much you actually want to pay for those services. Property managers charge upwards of a ten per cent referral fee for finding you a tenant in the first place and making sure that the property's always occupied. That could be a great asset when buying to let, because it means you're going to reduce your void periods. Property managers can really help out with rent collection, because they mean that you are guaranteed to get that money each month into your bank account, because it has to go through the agent to do that for you. So there's no knocking on the door and taking your money in a brown paper envelope. Then there's such things as actually managing the maintenance of a buy-to-let property on your behalf. A lot of management companies will have their own maintenance staff available, so that's another headache that they can take away, but again, they will charge an extra fee for that. Some property managers will also offer a guarantee of income which means that they will only set up a contract with that tenant when they are comfortable that they will always get paid each month. That gives you, as a landlord, a guarantee on your buy-to-let property. Again, it costs you money, but it can be a massive weight off your mind, especially if you're doing this part-time, or alongside a full-time day job. It really does pay for itself. Overall, it really depends on your situation and how much of that you actually want to do yourself.
