Buying property management rights can be a lucrative way to make money and diversify your options while keeping your day job, if you wish. Before you get started, it is important to learn what it takes and how to break into property management.
What are management rights?
When a residential or resort building goes up, the owner hires a resident manager to maintain the property, run a letting business for the owners, and deal with residents and tenants. You purchase these management rights for a specific period of time, either outright or by getting management rights finance.
As the management rights owner, you are responsible for welcoming guests and making sure they settle in, repairing and servicing public areas, dealing with guest issues, and letting properties. This is a 24/7 responsibility, but it is not necessary for you to personally do everything.
How do you make money?
Once you buy management rights, you are paid for cleaning and maintaining the property or overseeing those who do. All this must be done to the Workplace Health and Safety Act and Body Corporate and Community Management Act standards.
With property rights also comes the right to market, advertise, and let properties, which can be a lucrative source of income when done well. Individual property owners can use other letting agents; but most prefer to use whomever is on site.
Licenses
There are two licences you can choose from if you want to manage properties. One is the Resident Letting Agent’s Licence and the other is the Full Real Estate Agent’s Licence. When couples get management rights together, only one of the two needs a Real Estate Certificate if the other has a licence.
The RLA allows you to live off-site, if the Body Corporate allows, but only authorizes you to rent units in your complex and prohibits you from making sales. The FREAL allows you to make sales, which is often the best way to make income off your management rights.
Skills
To be successful as a property manager, you will need certain skills. You will need to be able to ensure good presentation to guests, and have a pleasant and agreeable manner. You need to be able to work independently and proactively solve problems.
Being an excellent organizer is also important because there are a lot of moving pieces in this job. You should also know a lot about the local area so you know who to hire when problems arise and how to advise guests on questions.
Qualifications
For most people, the natural first step is to get a certificate in real estate, and this is something you can do at your own pace. With a certificate, you can master the key skills you will need as a property manager as well as the concepts of marketing that will help you let and sell units effectively.
If you want to make a career of property management, you might consider getting a bachelor’s degree in property and real estate, or a diploma in property services. You can also take part in a variety of personal development courses that will help you advance in the industry.
Day-to-day life
Working as a property manager is a busy, lucrative, and rewarding job. There are always questions to answer and problems to deal with. On any given day, you will be negotiating with tenants, dealing with landlords, and keeping busy as you make sure all maintenance and upkeep are being done right.
As you gain experience and learn the ropes, you will get referrals to bigger and better properties. As long as you have someone to help with the paperwork, it is perfectly possible to manage 100 properties or more, if you have the ambition.
