We have talked with you before about the importance of communication between an owner or investor and their Baltimore property management team. We’ve shared what you should expect when you’re working with a management team and wondering how you’ll hear from them and how often.
Today, we want to dig a little deeper into the importance of communication in owning real estate investments. We want to show you why communication is the key to maximizing your ROI.
Every investor wants to earn as much as possible on the homes they’re renting out.
Here’s how communication makes a difference.
Better Communication Leads to Better Investment Decisions
You’re working with a Baltimore property management company in order to improve the performance of your investment properties.
This requires communication. We talk with our investors early and often. These aren’t conversations about rental collections and toilet troubles. We’re talking with you about your investment goals and the best path forward in achieving them.
An informal communication process can be just as effective in driving up ROI as a formal process. Our formal process is an accounting statement monthly and additional information loaded into your owner portal to help you access reports and make decisions. Informally, we’ll talk every month or every quarter about how your properties are performing and what might help them earn more. We’ll talk about the market and how we can leverage rental values, population changes, and tenant demands.
Your property managers have an interest in your success, and we’re here to help you earn more on your properties. We know better than anyone that such an outcome requires great communication. Don’t bother working with professionals who can’t help you make good decisions. Our experience, insight, and professional connections and networks can lead you down a better and more profitable investment path. We want to help you grow your business and your portfolio, and to do that, we need to talk.
We’ll keep you in the loop and help you make the right choices. Even better – we’ll protect you from potentially catastrophic decisions.
Our consistent communication helps you make more profitable decisions by:
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- Holding ourselves accountable to your expectations and our promises.
- Allowing us to earn your business every time we provide new information, insight, or recommendations.
- Building trust that we’re in this together and here to help.
A record of strong investor communication and a documented history of better-than-expected performance will help you attract new investment opportunities and earn more on those you currently have in your portfolio.
Honest conversations are important in making the right decisions. You’re not going to earn more money when you have people telling you what you want to hear all the time. Surround yourself with those who are ready to have difficult conversations when necessary.
Productivity is Improved with Great Communication
To increase your ROI, productivity is key. You need your tenants to produce by paying rent every month, following the lease terms, and renewing those lease agreements so you can avoid turnover and vacancy costs. You need your properties to produce by earning top rents and remaining in excellent condition. You also need productivity from your Baltimore property managers.
Communication drives productivity.
Inefficient communication wastes time. Surely you’ve been stuck in meetings that could have been emails. When communication is lacking or inefficient, you’re wasting your time and your resources. A property manager can streamline communication and ensure you’re not wasting time – or money – on things that you shouldn’t be worried about. It helps you do better business as an investor and property owner.
The cost of time wasted is difficult to quantify but you know it when you see it. You’re missing deadlines, you’re spending more time on maintenance projects that you expected, you’re waiting for deals to close because someone was confused about what someone else meant. It’s an endless, frustrating cycle that doesn’t contribute to your ROI. In fact, it drains what you earn because of all the waste.
Good property managers take care of the communication and protect your time. We communicate clearly and efficiently. We’re productive, and that makes you productive. From our leadership on down, we help our owners earn back their time and prioritize what they need to do to take those further steps towards investment success.
Baltimore Property Management and Tenant Communication
Responsive property managers in Baltimore and the surrounding areas are focused on establishing and maintaining good relationships with your tenants. This is crucial to your ability to attract and retain good residents, and it contributes directly to your ROI. You don’t want to lose tenants because of a lack of communication from your management team. But, it can happen.
Your property managers will be your liaison to your tenants. There’s no need for you to touch base with renters about maintenance issues, renewals, problems, or conflicts with other tenants. Your management company is responsible for staying in touch with residents. We manage the entire relationship. We make sure we’re doing everything we can on the tenant side to earn you more money. We’ll ask if tenants are having a good rental experience. We’ll respond promptly to maintenance requests. We’ll establish and enforce policies pertaining to rent collection, maintenance reporting, and pets.
You can expect us to share the highlights with you. You’ll know if we have to evict someone. If a lease is broken. If a major maintenance issue is reported. But, we’ll never expect you to chase down late rent or manage a dispute between neighbors. That’s where our communication skills are put to your best use.
The way your property manager communicates with tenants will establish how easily you can count on timely rental payments and lease renewals. Think about how this impacts your ROI when you’re hiring a management partner. Before residents move in, make sure you ask your property manager about what will be discussed and shared with the tenants. You want to be sure they’re going over the lease requirements, particularly rent collection policies and what to do in case of an emergency.
Property managers and tenants should talk to each other throughout the tenancy, and while you don’t need to be informed every time that happens, you do want to know when there’s something going on that affects your property and its performance.
While you shouldn’t be part of every little conflict or drama that your tenants are involved in, you do want to be available to your property manager when they want to discuss your tenants. Listen to the advice you get about tenant retention because avoiding turnover saves you money and increases your ROI.
How to Communicate Better with Your Baltimore Property Managers
When you’re working with a professional Baltimore property management company, you won’t have to worry at all about communicating with tenants. Your property manager will take care of that for you, and the communication will be handled with expertise and professionalism.
Your main job will be to communicate openly and honestly with your management team. You’ll need to discuss your investment goals, talk about your plans for the property, and listen to the advice you’re given about pricing, upgrades, and maintenance. Share all of your expectations early so you can be sure everyone is on the same page.
As we mentioned early, look for opportunities to have informal conversations as well as formal communication protocols. It can make a big difference in how your property performs. The relationship you establish with your management team is important to your growth and your ROI. We’ll check in with you whenever you want – and we’ll make sure our conversations are productive and meaningful.
Make sure your property managers have all of your correct and current contact information. This might seem obvious, but you’d be surprised at how often owners and investors forget to update management partners with new phone numbers, email addresses, and physical addresses.
We will be careful and protective of that information. If we need to reach you during an emergency, you aren’t going to want us scrambling to find you.
Be open and transparent, especially with your property management team. We want to feel empowered to share recommendations and advice. This is the expertise and the value you’re paying for. If you trust us to do what’s best for you and your property because of our commitment to good communication, we’ll all be better off for it.
Before you hire a management company, talk about what you need from them in terms of communication.
Technology Enhances Communication and ROI
Use the technology that’s available to you. A good property manager will provide an online portal for owners, where you can stay up to date with everything happening at your property, and you’ll be able to communicate electronically from anywhere in the world and at any time.
Personal communication has no equal. Those quick phone calls, in-person meetings, and general run-ins are invaluable. However, you should leverage the tech that’s growing so rapidly in the property management field, and let it do its job towards earning you more money.
We love talking about communication. If you’d like to hear more, please contact us at Stripe Management. We work with owners, investors, and properties in Upper Marlboro, Prince George’s County, Washington, D.C., Capitol Heights, District Heights, Baltimore, and anywhere in the DC metro area.