3 Questions to Ponder If You Are Thinking About Self-Managing

Whether you have just purchased a new property, owned for years, or are just looking at your management options – many owners often consider self-managing their properties. For some, this is reasonable and the right route for the asset, but for others, self-managing can lead to property issues and failure. As an owner, you must ask yourself key questions to understand if you can self-manage or if you should hire a full-service management company.

1. How far do you live from your property and how frequently can you visit?

As a self-managing landlord / property owner, will need to make regular visits to your property for some of the following reasons: required for maintenance, inspections (insurance, annual fire) and rent collections just to name a few. The further you live, the higher your travel time and expenses will be. The larger the distance you live from your property, the higher the likelihood that you’ll miss the needed recurring visits to make sure that the property is safe and functioning smoothly, which can be a recipe for disaster. When deciding if self-managing is right for you, you must think, is it feasible for me to make regular visits to the property? Don’t worry if you’re thinking “I can’t/don’t want to do that” – it just means you should explore hiring a full-service management company like First Capital Property Group. With FCPG as your management company you will save both time and money.

• FCPG is located in Central Florida giving our Property Management team quick and easy access.
• We will inspect your property monthly.
• We will meet vendors on site to provide access and monitor annual inspections.
• We will monitor that monthly services are performed above your standards.

2. How much experience do you have with maintenance and repairs?

Things on your property are going to break / cause issues and need attention. If you can’t fix it yourself, do you know who to call? Finding qualified, reliable, insured, experienced contractors can take a while and in the mean time you may unknowingly hire people that are unethical, uninsured, do poor quality work or over charge. You will also need to think about larger projects and the time it will take to vet and monitor the contractors. Maintenance and repairs are a significant component of managing a commercial property. If you question your ability to ensure the work is done well and in a timely manner, you might want to consider hiring a property management company.

• FCPG has a system in place to make maintenance requests very easy for your tenants. One email goes to our entire team. This makes for a quicker response time.
• We work closely with our preferred building maintenance company.
• First Capital Property Group has built a network of local vendors that work very closely with our team.
• We have a wealth of experience and years in the field to advise and assist with any and all maintenance needs.
• We will handle large projects like roof replacement or repaving a parking lot from start to finish. This will include but is not limited to collecting bids, permitting, tenant communication regarding schedules and monitoring of contractors.

3. Are you willing to be on call 24/7/365?

This is a big question and it’s important to answer this question honestly – when an emergency happens at your property it needs to be addressed immediately, are you willing to be essentially on-call 24/7/365? What if you’re at a special event, important meeting, vacation, or personal crisis? These emergencies don’t happen all the time, but when they do you have to be willing to handle them immediately. Do you know the difference between a trouble signal and a supervisory signal for fire alarm systems?

• FCPG will handle all afterhours emergency.
• We have a dedicated afterhours line for all emergency. Someone will answer 24/7/365.
• Our experience will weed out true emergencies verses maintenance issue that can be addressed during regular hours. This will be savings for the property.

At First Capital Property Group, we offer full-service management options to help owners like yourself keep properties operating smoothly. From the annual inspection to the emergency, the FCPG management team is well trained and experienced in handling all situations. We specialize in ensuring your goals for your property are met and your standards of care are exceeded. If you are interested in learning more about our services, talking about the benefits of hiring a management company over self-managing, or have any other questions, please reach out via email and visit our meet our team page.