Professional Property Management in Southern New Jersey
What are Property Management Services?
A property management company takes responsibility for maintaining a residence and its grounds and dealing with owners or residents. On a daily basis, they oversee the operation of condominium complexes, townhouses, rental buildings or co-op communities which includes responding to any concerns the tenants may have.
As a result, they perform a number of services on behalf of owners and investors who may not have the time or don’t live close enough to check up on their properties.
Routine Maintenance
One of the main duties of a property management company is to handle maintenance issues and requests from tenants. If there are extended power outages or downed trees in a complex, the management company needs to deal with these issues promptly and professionally. Indeed, unresponsive landlords are the top cause of tenant turnover.
While many requests are handled through their own contractors and maintenance people, large issues must be outsourced to specialists. For instance, if there is a problem with roofing or siding needs to be replaced, a property manager can help with selecting and hiring the right company to do the job. Depending on the overall cost of the project, however, the manager may have to get permission from the owner or condominium board members beforehand.
Nevertheless, it is common for a manager to take care of lawns, landscaping, and to schedule property inspections. Moreover, their proven relationships with different contractors can be very helpful to tenants. Often, a property manager will connect tenants with contractors who can fix issues inside their units such as broken appliances, faulty plumbing or electrical problems. In addition to routine problems and after-hours emergencies, a residential property management company can also help to prevent things like code violations.
Finding Tenants and Rent Collection
Many property management companies also get involved in the marketing side by showing units to prospective tenants. Their expertise also helps with both moving in and moving out. The longer a property stays vacant, the more it costs the owner. Consequently, property managers are instrumental in reducing these losses by actively trying to renew leases and advertising vacancies as soon as current tenants gives notice.
In addition, a management company can handle collections for rental properties. Although things are considerably easier these days with online payments, problems still arise with late payments or nonpayment of rent.
A property manager can also save an owner a great deal of time and difficulty if someone defaults on their rent payments. If you need to hire a lawyer or go to court, having a third party to serve as your representative can make the process go much more smoothly. Their years of experience in these matters enable them to resolve these issues through the proper legal channels if necessary.
Screening Tenants
Professional property managers also cut down on other legal headaches by conducting in-depth applicant screenings. In other words, they look at applicants' employment and rental history and do the necessary background and credit checks. They also ensure that everything is done in compliance with fair housing and discrimination laws.
Financial Record Keeping
One of the great benefits of hiring a property manager is having them take care of the financial side of things. For a large residential community or complex, maintaining the books and keeping track of invoices is crucial for keeping taxes to a minimum and staying up-to-date with their vendors. Having someone to produce financial reports and reconcile them with the budget gives homeowners peace of mind; it also enables them to stay current with their annual reporting and tax obligations.
Common Questions About Property Management
Listed below are a few of the most common questions we receive from owners, investors and homeowners’ associations interested in a hiring a property manager.
What do property management companies charge?
A typical fee arrangement for a property management firm is between 8-12% of the monthly rental value of the property plus any expenses. With condominium complexes, fees are usually calculated on a per door or unit basis. For example, many management companies charge between $20-$30 per unit per month.
Does a property management company need to be licensed?
Although many property managers need to have a real estate broker’s license, some real estate boards also require a property management license to conduct any business involving managing and leasing rental properties. Similar to a real estate license, property management licenses involve pre-licensing coursework or instruction from an approved source, passing a property managers exam, and continuing education classes.
What are the benefits of using a property management company?
Some of the advantages of hiring a professional property management company include avoiding bad tenants, fewer legal problems, lower repair and maintenance costs, more efficient rent collection and maintaining the value of your property.
What Sets Corner Property Management Apart?
The difference between Corner Property Management and other residential property managers is that we have adapted our services to our customers’ needs. By listening to customer input, our platform has evolved according to the concerns of both residents and the homeowners’ associations that oversee them. For the past two decades, we have worked tirelessly to make sure that we provide the services that our clients need and want from us.
Prompt Customer Response
At Corner Property Management, we know how frustrating it can be when calls go unanswered, or you can never get someone on the phone. For this reason, we will always have a human being on the other end of the phone when you call.
If you do not reach a team member right away, any voicemails or emails will be answered that same day. Furthermore, any after-hours communication will be returned by 12:00 p.m. the following business day. In other words, you will never have to wait days or weeks to hear back from Corner Property Management.
We believe in being available when you need us the most. In case of an after-hours emergency, you will have your property manager’s cell phone. We also give you our managing partner’s cell phone on the off chance that your property manager is not reachable.
Reduced Delinquencies
Due to our systematic monitoring and tracking process, we are able to keep delinquent homeowners to a minimum. We can also put together payment plans for delinquent owners or tenants.
Access to Our Technology Platform
Our tech platform makes it easy to put together easy-to-read, comprehensive financial reports for association board members. We can also store documents and provide invoices upon request. To help our homeowners’ associations stay on top of their finances, we provide easy access to our online platform.
As a result, board members and residents can:
- Access their account history and association documents
- View outstanding violations, works orders, vehicle, and service requests, etc.
- Residents can even submit a service request online.
By making this information more accessible, not only can we manage your property more efficiently, but we can ensure that homeowners and board associations will always be kept in the loop.
Service Company Evaluations
We use our own ten-point performance standards process to evaluate our repair contractors and maintenance companies. Consequently, we only hire the most efficient vendors and providers to maintain your property. We want to be sure that they deliver a consistently high level of service to your property or complex.
We also help our homeowners by conducting negotiations with suppliers and vendors, so that they receive the best service at the most competitive price. And we always keep our residents and board members well-informed by preparing monthly work order status reports. As a result, you will never have to check with the property manager for status updates.
Preparation of Project Specifications
If an association or a homeowner needs help with the specs of a project, we can have an engineer prepare complete and detailed specifications. In this case, all bids will take the same criteria into account, and all vendors and service providers will be apprised of the project requirements. This cuts down on the kind of cost overruns that often result from incorrect assumptions by bidding contractors or service companies.
Regular Property Visits
After two decades, we know that the best way to keep abreast of a property’s condition and to forestall potential problems is to conduct frequent site visits. We recognize that it's just not possible to deliver high-quality professional property management solely from behind a desk.
A Seamless Transition
At Corner Property Management, we are well aware that changing your property manager can be both troublesome and time-consuming. For this reason, we offer a detailed, written transition plan and checklist to make the change to our system as seamless as possible.
One of the things we pride ourselves on is our service team approach. We want our residents to become well acquainted with the people on their management team and for the team to get to know the residents and their property.
Properties Served by Corner Property Management
The following is a list of the different types of properties we handle at Corner Property Management.
- Condominiums
- Townhouses
- Apartment Complexes
- Commercial Properties
A condominium, or condo, is a cluster of housing units where the homeowners own their individual units and everyone shares ownership of the common areas. Typically, the individual units share walls although this isn’t a requirement. The central difference between a single home and a condo is that condo owners don’t own a plot of land. Generally, they only own the inside of an individual unit. In other words, all the outside property in a condominium complex is jointly owned by all of the homeowners.
One of the main advantages for condo owners is that they aren’t responsible for exterior maintenance and repair issues related to the common areas. Condo homeowners’ associations normally elect a board to represent them and make decisions in these matters. For these reasons, homeowners’ associations usually enlist property managers to take care of things like mowing the grass or common area landscaping.
Similar to condominiums, townhomes are single-family homes that shares one or more walls with other individually-owned units. Commonly, they are structured in rows a couple of stories high or more. In this case, residents own the inside and outside walls, lawn, and roof. A community homeowner’s association usually decides the maintenance costs.
Townhome owners are usually responsible for the exterior of their home and the land around it. One of the main differences between a condo and a townhouse is that the shared spaces in townhome communities are usually much smaller than those of a condo. For this reason, townhome owners takes on more responsibility for their home and property. As a result, they maintain a bit more independence over their dwellings than condo owners.
Corner Property Management also takes care of apartment buildings. The thing that separates apartments from condos is ownership. Commonly, apartment buildings such as high-rises have a single owner, often a corporation, which leases out individual units to tenants instead of having separate owners like condo complexes. These buildings, however, are often managed by a professional property management company just like condominiums.
In addition to residential properties, Corner Property management also handles commercial properties such as strip malls, professional office complexes or industrial sites. The demands of these properties are slightly different because owners are looking to generate returns on their property while increasing their overall value. As a result, CPM tailors its services to the needs of each property and its owners. They have the knowledge and experience to maximize returns on your property while protecting and maintaining your investment.
Coverage Areas in Southern New Jersey
Within southern New Jersey, Corner Property Management provides service to residential and commercial properties in the following towns and surrounding regions in Burlington and Camden Counties: Lindenwold, Cherry Hill, Collingswood, Cinnaminson, Pine Hill, Pennsauken, Bellmawr, Willingboro, and Camden.
If you are interested in making a change or hiring a new condominium or apartment manager, please reach out to us through our Contact Form on the Contact Us page.