Let’s say, for the sake of a hypothetical, that you own a house in South Lake Tahoe which you’re looking to rent out during tourist season. South Lake Tahoe is one of the busiest and most active tourist destinations in northern California; located in El Dorado County, which lies right along the border with Nevada, it offers access to gambling, fine dining, boutique shopping, and a wide variety of both winter and summertime activities year-round. Chances are good that if you want to offer your property for rent, you can find someone to meet your price; so, you’re good, right? Case closed.
Not quite.
South Lake Tahoe offers a wide variety of vacation rental property, and it sees a wide variety of prospective renters. Scam artists, drug users, and other less-than-desirable tenants have an easy time fitting in with the tide of prospective renters… and you’d better believe that they’ll make a beeline right for the front door of anybody who’s renting their property personally… as opposed to taking advantage of a property management firm.
Why? Well, there are lot of different reasons.
- Property management firms pay in bulk to have background checks done on all prospective tenants. People with a history of problematic behavior and abuse of the properties where they’re staying are turned away.
- Local maintenance and repair work professionals have standing relationships with the local property management firms. In return for a steady supply of work, they offer discounted rates – savings which can be passed on to the customer. Because of this, management firms pay close attention to the state of a property. They keep an eye out for damage, fix and repair problems as they occur, and evict tenants who are in violation of their lease agreements.
- Property management firms are responsible for getting the rent they’ve collected to their properties’ owners, which means that if a tenant skips town it’s on them. These firms will pursue tenants who attempt to skip out on rent owed, involving law enforcement and taking legal action where necessary.
- The representatives of a property management firm have a good understanding of market value, and of what makes a property more appealing. They will find little ways to boost the value of a property in their care; as a result, the owner of a property which is being managed by a management agency can typically charge more for rent than they would necessarily do otherwise.
For these reasons, as well as for a number of other considerations, both major and minor, the less desirable tenants go right for the privately owned and managed properties, and avoid those which are being handled through a management firm or agency. This puts private property managers in the distinctly disadvantageous position of not only having to vet prospective tenants themselves, but also having to deal with the bulk of the less desirable potential renters. As a result, most individuals who rent properties out for a significant portion of their income wind up hiring a vacation rental property management agency to take care of their various locations; in the long run, it makes solid financial sense.