If you own one or more of the estimated 1.3 million short-term rental properties in the United States, you may wish to hire a short-term rental property manager to handle maintenance, marketing, and more. This guide will break down how to find and choose the best short-term rental property manager for your needs.
Finding a Short-Term Rental Property Manager
You can find a short-term rental property manager by:
- Ask Fellow Investors for Referrals/Recommendations
- Try Your Local Real Estate Agencies/Associations
- Drive Around Town and Look for Well-Managed Properties
- Google Short-Term Property Management Companies
Ask Fellow Investors for Referrals/Recommendations
First, send emails or texts to fellow investors you are on friendly terms with and ask for referrals or recommendations for short-term rental property managers. By getting referrals or recommendations, you know that the property management company in question:
- Has done a good enough job in the past to be referred by your friends or peers
- Has maintained its reputation enough to be willingly recommended
- Has some experience in the industry (since it already worked for your fellow investors)
When you inquire about referrals or recommendations, ask specific questions of your fellow investors. Get them to tell you what their experiences were with the property managers, how much they paid, the services they received, whether there were any issues, etc. If there were any issues, dig deeper and ask for details.
Do not go with the first short-term rental property management company that you find or are referred to. Instead, create a short list of potential companies, as some companies may not be taking on new clients or they may have other elements that make them less than stellar fits for your portfolio needs.
Try Your Local Real Estate Agencies/Associations
As you build your list of short-term rental property managers, you should also inquire at local real estate agencies and associations, including realtor offices that you work with frequently. Local real estate agencies and associations, such as investors’ groups or realtor companies, often work with short-term rental property managers.
Ask the same questions and inquire about the same details here as you would when asking for referrals or recommendations from fellow investors. Try to learn as much about a company as possible before interviewing them for a prospective management position.
Social Media
Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram are excellent places to find short-term rental property managers.
Open up your social media profile pages and start searching for local property management companies in your area. The best property management companies will have well-designed social media pages with lots of photos to attract new clients and guests.
Flip through these photos to learn more about the types of properties that a potential management company operates and manages. You’ll also often be able to find companies’ corporate websites on their social media pages.
Don’t forget to look for the profile pages of real estate or investment groups on Facebook and browse through the followers of those pages. Many property management companies follow these pages to attract new clients and stay in the know with industry news or local developments.
Drive Around Town and Look for Well-Managed Properties
While this method takes more time out of your day, it allows you to see a property management company’s work firsthand. For example, if you drive past a vacation condo complex in your area and notice that it is well-maintained and the buildings look stellar, you already have a glimpse as to the kind of work the property management company does.
This also allows you to target short-term property management companies that maintain and manage properties that are similar to yours. It will also help keep you away from companies that manage properties that don’t look up to standard.
Google Short-Term Property Management Companies
Lastly, don’t hesitate to Google “short-term property management companies near me” when needed. This simple search can bring up extra results or potential partners that you may have missed.
Combine all of these methods for the most comprehensive list of potential property managers possible. Then you can start narrowing things down.
Things to Look for in a Short-Term Rental Property Manager
Finding a good short-term rental property manager is just the start. Now, you need to look for a few key attributes to know whether the company will be ideal for your needs:
- An Excellent Website with a Portfolio
- Nearby Properties You Can Check Out
- Stellar Reviews
- Services That You Need
- Experience with Similar Properties
- Knowledge of the Local Market
- Clear and Fair Fees
- They Are Insured
An Excellent Website with a Portfolio
A good website indicates that the property management company is serious about attracting new clients and gives you a chance to learn more about the company before phoning them or sending them an email.
A good short-term rental property manager website should:
- Be navigable – it should be relatively easy for you to go from page to page, to locate photographs of managed properties, and to locate contact information
- Load quickly
- Include comprehensive information about the company, its services, and the kinds of properties and manages. If it doesn’t include information about fees, don’t worry; you can get that information from the management company itself later
Take time to dig through a property management company’s website before deciding whether you’ll contact them further. The website should include enough information for you to determine whether it’s potentially a good fit.
Nearby Properties You Can Check Out
A short-term rental property manager should have at least a handful of nearby properties you can visit personally. A management company might have the best website and the best ads, but you should only work with them if you see its work in person.
Think of visiting currently managed properties as sampling a short-term rental management company’s wares. The last thing you want is to sign on with a company that does a less-than-stellar job or that doesn’t have a good portfolio of properties already. Leave trying new companies to other investors – you want tried and true organizations that have already accumulated some experience.
Stellar Reviews
The best rental property management companies will have sterling reviews from past and current clients. Those reviews can tell you a lot about what to expect from your professional relationship with the same company.
Start your search by looking for online reviews on platforms like Google, Yelp, Trustpilot, or the Better Business Bureau. These platforms are repositories of positive and negative reviews for organizations like short-term rental property management companies.
Even if the company has positive reviews by large, you should dig deep into those reviews and see what they mention in terms of specifics.
If most of the reviews are positive, but practically every reviewer notes that the property management company takes a while to respond to maintenance complaints, you can bet you’ll run into the same problem should you decide to work with that company.
Services That You Need
When choosing a short-term rental property manager, be sure the management company in question has a comprehensive list of services so you know it can do what you require. For instance, if you need a rental property management company that provides concierge or front-desk services in addition to room maintenance and grounds maintenance, you need to make sure that such services are listed on the company’s website before contacting them.
The best short-term rental property management companies will have thorough lists of their services and packages either on their website or on physical brochures/advertisements. Some of the most common services offered by short-term rental property managers include:
- Room cleaning, housekeeping, and maintenance
- Grounds maintenance (e.g., mowing the lawn, trimming the hedges, shoveling snow, etc.)
- Marketing rental properties
- Tenant processes, such as payment collection
Experience with Similar Properties
One of the most important things to look for when selecting a short-term rental property manager is prior experience managing properties similar to your own. Simply put, you want any property management company you work with to know how best to manage your portfolio properties to maximum profitability.
For example, if you have a handful of short-term vacation rental condominiums, you want a property manager who currently or has already managed similar properties in terms of:
- Square footage
- Features and amenities
- Location
- Property type
If a property management company already has some experience managing similar properties, it will be more likely to do an excellent job with your properties as well. This company will know how best to manage the maximum number of tenants at your properties, how to keep your properties looking great, how to market your properties, and may even have a list of interested clientele.
Let’s say that you have a vacation rental cabin nestled high in the mountains. If a company has already marketed (and successfully managed) a similar property, that organization might have a few tips or tricks it can use to quickly get a tenant into the cabin and make sure it is filled throughout the year to ensure a stream of passive income to your pocket.
Prior experience with similar properties also helps management companies know how to tackle common problems associated with those property types. Again, if you have a vacation cabin high in the mountains, that cabin will need regular seasonal maintenance work, particularly in the snowy winter. But if the company has already tackled that issue, it might know best how to keep the snow handled and has already hired seasonal workers to take care of it.
Knowledge of the Local Market
Each local market has its unique circumstances which can impact how easy it is to find tenants to successfully market your properties.
If a property manager has deep knowledge of the local market, odds are they have experience with similar properties. Finding an experienced local company will be familiar with the challenges your properties will face.
Additionally, you never want a short-term rental property manager who comes from out-of-state or out of the area. Even if those large companies offer good prices or other apparent benefits, it will be difficult for them to give your properties the attention they deserve. You also want a property manager to be able to be a resource for your guests, an out-of-state manager won’t be able to offer insights like a local will.
Clear and Fair Fees
Always look for a short-term rental property manager who charges clear and fair fees. These are usually percentages of rent anywhere from 10% to 50%, with 25% to 30% being more common.
Good short-term rental property managers are upfront and won’t try to hide fees in the contract or in “extra services.” Furthermore, make sure a rental property management company charges a fee based on rent collected rather than rent due. The management company should charge a percentage of the rent collected from paying tenants, not from how much money you would hypothetically make if the rental properties were fully booked.
In addition to a flat fee for its services, many short-term rental property management companies will charge ancillary fees for services like:
- Extra cleaning
- Dealing with unpaid charges
- Property marketing, particularly if this changes seasonally to attract new short-term vacationers
As you speak with a short-term rental property manager and learn more about their fee policies, make sure that they don’t charge exorbitant contract cancellation or early termination fees. For instance, if a rental property management company charges you thousands of dollars for terminating your partnership ahead of time, don’t work with them.
Also, be sure to research fees for your local area and that the company you’re looking at falls in line with the others.
They Are Insured
You’ll also want to know that a short-term rental property manager is fully insured. A short-term rental property management company needs to carry several different types of insurance, including general liability insurance, errors and omission insurance, and worker’s compensation insurance.
Full insurance shows that the property management company takes its responsibilities seriously. It also shows that you are working with a legal organization.
All property management companies that employ workers must have worker’s compensation insurance by state law (in most states).
If you work with a fully insured property management company, that takes more of the insurance load off your shoulders. You need your own insurance, of course, but the management company’s insurance policies will help to cover some of the eventualities you may encounter in this line of business, like accusations of tenant discrimination, accidentally damaged or destroyed property, etc.
What to Ask in an Interview with a Short-Term Rental Property Manager
After doing your research and finding an excellent short-term rental property manager, here are a few questions you should ask them:
- What kind of experience do they have managing short-term rental properties like vacation rentals?
- What experience do they have in the local market?
- What is their typical occupancy rate?
- How will the property management company advertise your properties to maximize their tenancy?
- How can guests book my property?
- How does the property manager handle maintenance and seasonal cleanup, like shoveling snow, getting rid of fall leaves, etc.?
- What does the company’s fee structure look like? What kinds of fees will you be charged in addition to the general monthly fee?
- How long has the company been in business?
- How does the company handle cancellations? This will tell you whether the company is likely to try to charge an early termination fee.
- What kinds of services does the company offer? For instance, does the company just handle management and housekeeping services, or does it also handle reception, concierge services, guest check-in and checkout, etc.?
- What will your responsibilities as a property owner be if you decide to work with this management company?
- How often can I expect communication and updates?
As you can see from the above list, many of these questions reinforce or ask for details about things you should have already researched. You should still ask these questions in an interview with a potential property manager so you can confirm their truth and learn more about their specific experiences, policies, and fees.
Pay attention to how the short-term rental property manager answers these questions and what their attitude is throughout the meeting. If they are professional, courteous, and to the point, it’s a good sign that they’ll be an excellent business partner.
In contrast, if a short-term rental property manager has a bad attitude, doesn’t answer questions thoroughly, or wants to move the meeting along quickly to get you to sign paperwork, you should not hire them.
