Santa Monica Residential Property Management: Do's & Don'ts

It doesn't matter if you are providing your own Santa Monica residential property management or are paying someone/company to do it for you, there are some do's and don'ts that you need to be aware of. While you may initially think the rules posted below are trivial, the truth is that many property managers in Santa Monica have learned the hard way that they can turn into costly mistakes if they aren't followed.

• Do offer incentives, don't be a pushover. If you have just gotten started with rental properties and are trying to save a little cash, then handling your Santa Monica residential property management is a good way to do it. The first thing you need to learn is how to retain your tenants to ensure you continue making a good profit from your rentals. An easy way to do this is to offer them incentives.

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• For instance, if a tenant pays his rent on time (before actual due date, not the grace period) for 11 months, give a 50% discount on the 12th month's rent. Or, you can offer $100 off rent for each new tenant referred. Just be careful that you don't let a tenant take advantage of you and your generosity. Make sure your Santa Monica property managers are firm about the rules tied to your incentives and doesn't bend them.

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• Do interview applicants, don't forget references. There are many investors that break this important rule of Santa Monica residential property management. While they understand the importance of holding in-person interviews with potential renters, they forget to contact the references listed on their applicants. And, "references" doesn't just mean the people listed in their "references" section. You should always consider past landlords as references. No matter how great an in-person interview goes, don't forget to contact all the references listed because some people are just good talkers.

Do communicate with tenants, don't ignore maintenance requests. It doesn't matter what a tenant might be contacting you for, you need to respond to the communication in a quick manner. This is especially true if you have a tenant reporting a maintenance issue. Even if the issue is reported by a tenant who contacts you with a complaint every week, you need to check out the reported issue. Many Santa Monica property management professionals have let a reported issue go unchecked and have had a major maintenance issue arise as a result. You do not want this to happen. Therefore take all reports seriously and always communicate with your tenants!