Posts about Operations

You probably already know how important Zillow is as a listing site for marketing your rental property. The Zillow Group is composed of some of the biggest names in rental listing sites: Zillow, Trulia and HotPads. With its vast inventory of homes and abundance of tenant lead traffic, it's easy to see why Zillow has been called the best rental property listings site of 2021. But how do you get the most bang for your buck from Zillow, especially when nearly every property manager is using those same resources you are?

Finding new tenants during rental turnover is the most challenging and time-consuming part of a property manager’s job. With the average vacancy lasting thirty to forty days, it’s a major disruption to cash flow and annual income, plus the work involved to find and screen potential tenants is a significant effort.

As a property manager or rental property owner, you probably spend a lot of time qualifying each prospective tenant. You need to make sure they’re able to pay rent, that they don’t have a criminal background or other red flags (like poor credit), and that they’re a good fit on variables like pet ownership or smoking. Screening tenants is a challenge, and the stakes are high—poor screening could leave you facing a costly eviction.

As a rental property owner, you might find yourself wondering whether you should hire a property manager. At first, it might seem like outsourcing your residential property management will just eat into profits, as you’ll need to start paying a property manager salary. But when a property manager is equipped with the right tools, you’ll not only save yourself tons of time, you might actually be able to increase your rental income.

Rental turnover costs are a serious challenge for property managers and brokers, especially when the turnover rate is high. According to the National Apartment Association, the average tenant turnover rate is around 40%. So that means if you’re managing 200 units, then 80 units will turnover each year. Those add up, meaning you’ll be turning 6-7 units every month. And the cost of each of those 80 turnovers chips away at the bottom line of your rental income.