Some apartments and condo complexes are operated by the landlord
himself; others are run by a professional management team, brought in by
the landlord to assist with his or her daily affairs but also to
provide services to tenants. Of course, the decision of whether to move
into a professionally managed community is entirely yours-but there are
some significant benefits to professionally managed communities that you
may wish to consider.

Maintenance Issues

Think
about it from this perspective: Why would a property owner bring in a
professional management company? One reason is to help address
maintenance issues as they arise; the landlord may lack the time or the
ability to respond to problems that crop up, but a professional company
will be able to bring in maintenance crews or local vendors and attend
to these affairs promptly.

Couple this with one of the other big
reasons why landlords enlist professional companies-to help with tenant
retention. The property management company is tasked with keeping
residents happy, ensuring they extend their leases many times over. Add
these two points together and you arrive at the fact that, in most
professionally managed communities, residents are given easy access to
emergency maintenance services-which is typically preferable to having
to place a call to the landlord himself, and ask him to come down with a
toolkit and fix things!

Common Ground

It is not jut a matter of maintenance and repair work, of course. There
is also the matter of common areas-whether it is a swimming pool or
simply the lobby area of your apartment complex. Without a professional
management company in the picture, it may fall to the residents to help
keep these areas well-maintained. When a management company is in the
picture, however, it will typically go to great lengths to keep common
areas well-maintained and appealing.

Again, it all goes back to the very reason why the management company’s
services are enlisted-to keep residents happy, but also to protect the
landlord’s own investment in the property. Maintaining common areas
fulfills both of these responsibilities. For the tenants of these
professionally managed communities, this is a big plus.

Cultivating Community

Finally, it is worth remembering that a professional management company
will probably offer some services that a lone landlord never would-like
programs designed to foster community unity and pride. This is all part
of the concept of tenant retention, of course, but it does not change
the fact that the management company will likely plan programs or events
to encourage a sense of community. The management company might also
play a role in helping to peaceably settle disputes that might arise
between neighbors.

Living in a community like this may not be to
everyone’s tastes, of course. With that said, a professional management
company does add some real value to a living experience-something worth
thinking about.