Blog

Charleston is a vacation destination but also has a huge population and a lot of renters. When you have a Charleston property management service, you’ll want to do everything you can to expand your business as homes are turned into rental property. Of course, you can’t just jump into managing multiple single-family homes without improving your property management service. Here are a few things the best Charleston property management companies do when they are expanding their properties:

1. Online Owner Portal- Communication between a property owner and a Charleston property management company needs to be easy, simple, and fluid. When you use property management software to utilize tenant and owner portals for online rent payment, uploading lease or vendor documents, maintenance requests, and even email with owners.

2. Be Flexible- When a Charleston property management company begins taking on new owner clients, they need to have ways of being flexible because each owner and property will be different. Some owners may not like using an online owner portal to communicate and prefer phone calls. Others might want extraordinarily little contact with your Charleston property management service, while others may want to check–in frequently. It is up to the property manager to be flexible with their clients.

3. Use Efficient Processes- Whenever possible, a Charleston property management company should use the same screening, leasing, and maintenance processes with each of the homes they manage. While there may be some minor differences in what owners want, most will leave the property management in the manager’s hands and remain mostly hands–off. The more the company can streamline the processes involved in renting, the more units they can handle.

4. Use Preferred Vendors- Establish relationships with local vendors such as cleaning services, painters, plumbers, electricians, etc. When you have multiple homes that need maintenance and repairs, establishing a list of preferred vendors will usually save a Charleston property management company a lot of time and money.

If you own a rental property and are looking for a Charleston property management company that is efficient, flexible, great at communication, and can save you money, call Scott Properties at 843-790-0148.

Charleston Property Management | Finding the perfect property manager can be difficult, and some property owners may go through more than one property manager before they find the best one for long term employment. If single–family home property managers want to ensure they have a great working relationship with the homeowners, there are a few things they can do (or not do) that could help them to keep the job and not get fired.

Check out the most common reasons that property managers tend to get fired:

1. Property Maintenance- A home is a huge investment for owners, and they need to rely on their property manager to ensure that the property is being kept in good shape. Tenants have a big responsibility in keeping homes intact; however, the property manager needs to ensure that maintenance issues are taken care of promptly, so they don’t become worse, and that they are doing inspections and holding tenants accountable. When homes start to fall apart, and things aren’t getting fixed, a property manager is likely to be fired.

2. Communication Issues- Working with people you cannot communicate with is difficult, and homeowners and property managers need to be able to do this easily. One of the best ways is to use an online portal where you can upload documents and manage tenant accounts online. Make communication with the owner easy, so you don’t need to worry about being fired over a miscommunication.

3. Poor Occupancy Rates- If a property manager is not keeping homes rented out, the owner isn’t making any money. In fact, they may be seeing a lot of money going to waste on employees and marketing, which will not bode well for the property manager. You have to keep homes filled to keep your job.

Property managers who can keep homes in good shape, communicate well, and keep homes filled, will have great success in this industry.

If you’re looking for top Charleston Property Management companies in SC, call Scott Properties at 843-790-0148 and find out what we can do for your rental property.

Typically one of the greatest priorities a landlord or property manager has is making sure that tenants pay their rent on time. However, there are only certain types of payments that should be accepted, and these payment types should be clearly outlined in all lease agreements.

In most cases, rent should be paid by check, money order, cashiers check, or with a card or other electronic payment through an online tenant portal. There should be provisions in the lease that detail to the tenants exactly what payment methods are acceptable. It is highly unadvisable to accept cash payments for a number of reasons:

Cash is hard to account for. A deceitful property manager might claim that a tenant was $100 short on the rent when they were not. A tenant could claim they dropped an envelope with cash in the rent dropbox, but there may not be any evidence. Checks and money orders can be reissued and tracked, so can online payments.

A property manager should keep as little cash in the office as possible. Rent is expensive, and if your tenants are dropping off large sums of cash to the property management office, this turns your business into a target for burglary and robbery. This is the last thing a property manager wants because it will make tenants feel unsafe, even if they live far away from the rental office.

You must treat all tenants equally and cannot make exceptions for tenants. If the lease says no cash payments, and a tenant brings the rent into the office in cash, you should ask them to go get a money order. Do not make an exception, even if it’s the day rent is due and five minutes before the office closes.

The best property management companies in Charleston are flexible and have great payment options for their tenants, so that paying the rent is easy. If you want to know what kind of payment system Scott Properties uses to help our tenants pay on time, every time, give us a call at 843-790-0148.

When you work in Charleston property management, customer service is one of the most important parts of the job. If tenants and potential renters believe that a Charleston property management company has poor customer service, they won’t rent from them, which means that property owners will not be receiving rent payments.

Here are the best ways to ensure your Charleston property management company will provide the best customer service to your tenants and owners:

Response Time– When tenants and owners aren’t getting responses to their calls, emails, or text messages, it reflects very negatively on your Charleston property management company. All people want to be heard and know that their concerns are valid, especially people who are relying on you to keep their property safe and valuable.

Value– Part of how people perceive your customer service depends on how valuable they believe your service is. Are they getting the best bang for their buck? Does the rent live up to the property and neighborhood value? Is the property manager reliable, trustworthy, and knowledgeable? If owners feel like they aren’t getting what they are paying for, they may not want to continue working with the Charleston property management company.

Professionalism– A great property manager needs to be professional and run their business in accordance with state and local laws and ordinances. A professional property manager ensures quality tenants, a great maintenance team, has a great response time and offers a valuable service. If a property manager does not seem professional, a tenant or owner is more likely to rate their customer service poorly.

Customer service is important to your Charleston property management company because it is one of the factors that people will respond to when filling out reviews on Yelp, Angie’s List, Facebook, your business website, and Google, among other places.

If you are a property owner who is looking for a highly rated Charleston property management company, you should call Scott Properties as 843-790-0148.