If you own one or more homes currently occupied by tenants, chances are you have a property manager assisting you with the ins and outs of leasing. No doubt, a professional property manager is a good person to have as your advocate in situations like this because they understand the nuances of leasing.
However, when the time comes to sell your home, beware of property managers that offer to do it for you. You might have a great relationship with your property manager. You may be enticed to let them handle it because it seems like the easiest option—but the seduction of convenience could end up costing you a lot of money.
Imagine you’re at the dentist about to get your teeth cleaned. You mention that you have a bit of a sore throat. When the dentist looks in your mouth, he happens to notice that your tonsils are inflamed. “While you’re in the chair,” he says, “I might as well remove those tonsils.” Do you trust that this dentist has the experience necessary to get the job done? Do you think getting this surgery is a good idea? Can tonsils even be removed with dental tools? Or do you exit the office, leave a disgruntled review on Yelp, and vow to never go to the dentist again?
In the above scenario, the convenience of killing two birds with one stone isn’t so enticing, is it? This is because you understand that dentists specialize in removing tooth decay, filling cavities, and repairing fractured teeth—not tonsillectomies.
In business, your specialty defines your focus. We at the Rob Jensen Company specialize in guard gated communities in Summerlin, Las Vegas, and Henderson. Every day, we focus on marketing luxury real estate locally, nationally, and globally to attract qualified buyers. We understand the market, pricing, and the ins and outs of negotiation. Our expertise negotiating real estate sales comes from years of experience working with buyers and sellers.
On the other hand, property managers have a different focus. Just as the best Realtors focus on buying and selling real estate, the best property managers specialize exclusively in leasing properties. Yes, they engage in marketing, but their efforts are geared toward attracting renters, not buyers. Their expertise is in running rental applications, doing background checks, and arranging property walkthroughs for potential tenants. They excel at negotiating leases because they understand landlord and tenant laws, how to raise the rent, and how to evict tenants.
Some property management companies are just too big to give their clients the service they deserve. The bigger the operation, the more likely things are to fall through the cracks. They can lose track of tenants, rent can come in late, and landscaping can die. These things happen more often than you might think. You definitely don’t want a company like this representing your home sale.
Then there are the property managers that dabble in both sales and leasing. They like the consistency and residual income that comes with leasing, which keeps them afloat so they can occasionally represent a buyer or seller to earn a bigger commission. This doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t know what they’re doing, but it may indicate that they’re not the best at what they’re doing. When it comes to selling a high-end home, you shouldn’t settle for the proverbial “Jack of all trades, master of none.”
We at the Rob Jensen Company are masters of one thing and one thing only—marketing and selling guard gated real estate. When the time comes to lease, you should call a property manager. But if you want to sell your home for top dollar in the shortest amount of time possible, you’re going to need a luxury real estate firm that specializes in sales, and that’s all we do.
