(And don’t delay on completing your onboarding documentation and tasks)
Before a rental property can be listed to find a tenant, there are many things that need to be checked off the “To Do” list. This could include completing onboarding documentation and general turnover maintenance, changing locks and keys and/or refreshing the unit with new paint, for instance.
This is what’s called the rental property make-ready period. In real estate investing, the shorter you can make this rental property onboarding period, the more profitable you can become. Since vacant rental properties don’t produce income, the longer the make-ready period, the more months you’ll be burning cash.
Partnering with an experienced Austin property management company such as 1836 Property Management, can optimize your rental property onboarding process and reduce the amount of time it takes to get your property listed and leased.
1836 Property Management Reduces Onboarding Days
There are certain tasks that have to be completed any time a new rental property is onboarded. How much time these tasks take directly affects the make-ready period, which in turn affects your income and returns.
At 1836 Property Management, we collect statistics on just about everything, including data points regarding the onboarding and make-ready processes.
In almost all cases, when the team at 1836 Property Management is in charge of the entire rental property onboarding process, projects are completed faster and correctly the first time, leading to better performance on-market. Here’s a little 1836PM data for reference….
Rental properties spent an average of 14 days in the onboarding process in August when that process was completely managed by 1836 Property Management. In that same month, rental properties in which a project manager or owner was involved in make-ready tasks spent an average of 25 days in the onboarding process.
The discrepancies grew even larger in September, too. Processes managed completely by 1836 Property Management spent an average of 20 days in onboarding, compared to 44 days when a project manager or owner was involved.
Those differences can be extremely impactful in terms of rental income, especially if you are involved in multiple rental properties.
Costs Increase When Too Many People are Involved
Rental property owners should always do their due diligence, ensuring that all projects are being done properly, on time and for the best price. But, there are some areas that are just best left to an experienced Austin property management team.
When property owners insist on finding their vendor, getting multiple bids or performing repairs on their own, it will almost always cost more in the end. One of the main reasons for this is that this increases the amount of time involved in the make-ready process, which increases holding costs.
There are also other major pitfalls to doing this. Vendors rental property owners find might not be licensed or experienced in handling the repairs. Owners often don’t live in the same state as their rental property, making it more challenging to find reputable and established vendors that can guarantee their work.
While you might be able to find the work for cheaper elsewhere, that never results in quality work. This can result in having to redo the maintenance, which only adds to the holding costs.
In addition, deferred maintenance can result in major problems at rental properties. In its Story Time video series, 1836 Property Management discusses a situation in which deferred roof leak maintenance turned into a caved-in ceiling and cost thousands in repairs.
What Investors Can Do to Assist with the Process
Owners do, in fact, play a vital role in the rental property make-ready process. They can assist their Austin property management team by providing the proper keys, onboarding documents and maintenance reserve funds in a prompt manner.
Owners should let their property management company hire their trusted, licensed, experienced and fully vetted vendor partners to complete projects, but they should be ready to approve estimates and bids, and provide funds to do so, as soon as possible.
Your Austin property management company can organize the rental property onboarding process from start to finish.
One thing to keep in mind is that the ultimate goal of the rental property make-ready process is to provide tenants with a nice place to call home. It’s OK to ask questions if you have them, but always be respectful. This will result in happier tenants, which always aids the performance success of real estate investing.
Trust the Professionals at 1836 Property Management
You hired an experienced property management partner for a reason. Trust that the professionals at 1836 Property Management have the expertise to handle all aspects of the rental property onboarding and make-ready processes from start to finish.
Professional property management companies do this work every day. They understand how to best handle every situation efficiently and cost-effectively. After all, it’s in their best interests to create a situation in which your rental property produces consistent income for you.
So, spend your time elsewhere, and leave the rental property make-ready process to the professionals.
At 1836 Property Management, our team of professionals has years of experience in the Austin market. Contact us today to find out more.
By: Kayla Gonzales, 1836PM Marketing Manager
