Most people start considering rental property abroad once they start thinking of retirement or in some cases, consider a house for vacationing abroad. Some people buy early on and go about the clever way to rent their vacation home out when they’re not using it. This is the perfect retirement planning strategy and will also generate you extra cash flow that will cover the necessary maintenance costs, as well as paying off that major house loan you took out to pay for your rental property.
Taking various factors into consideration, owning a rental property in a foreign country has many challenges and not being a citizen of that country, as well as not being present when certain issues present themselves, can be extremely frustrating and quite difficult to resolve.
You might be thinking, just what could go wrong? Well, for one thing, owning a rental property abroad requires two different levels of management which includes property management and rental management. Both of these are usually provided by an organization or the same person but might require different resources which could make it difficult to manage. While the rental manager has the responsibility of ensuring your property is occupied when necessary and takes care of all the paperwork involved, a property manager looks after the property and ensures that all utility bills and taxes are paid, as well as take care of any necessary maintenance or regular quality checks when a tenant checks out of your vocational home.
Finding the Perfect Rental Manager
In order to find the ideal rental manager, you need to first buy your property. These managers will guide you and end up providing you with loads of information regarding rent, location and which types of tenants you should target.
The Roles of Property and Rental Management Teams
Keeping records – Due to the fact that you’re somewhere far away, it is the rental manager’s duty to ensure that the necessary documentation, such as receipts, are kept safe and can be retrieved when required.
Processing statements – Be sure to look for a rental manager that provides you with monthly statements that shows all income and expenses for the relevant property.
The processing of payments – Before hiring a rental manager, ensure that his/her methods are trustworthy, especially when it comes to processing payments and be informed of the method of how he’ll be sending the money to you. Be sure to check for any extra fee, as well as exchange rates before processing payments.
Paying your rental property’s bills – When it comes to regular payments that need to be made, such as utility bills, cleaning and gardening services, phone and internet bills and any added maintenance bills, find a rental manager that can pay the bills for you in a time efficient manner upon forwarding the statement to you.