Just because you’re a home owner, doesn’t mean you can't benefit from having a dedicated property manager. In fact, quite the opposite is true! Luxury homes require diligent care to ensure they retain their worth and don’t become a money pit of unexpected maintenance expenses. Most of us are fully aware of the standard property management landlord relationship, where the PM acts on behalf of the landlord to take care of things such as rent collection, repairs, and act as a point of contact for any tenants for the term of their tenancy. But what about when you own and live in your property? Many people rely on their PA, housekeepers, even just themselves to take care of their home, but there are some real benefits to appointing an experienced property manager to do this for you instead.
Money
Money talks they say, so that’s where we will start! One of the main attributes to a service like our home care package is that we save our clients money, a lot of money. On average our repair and maintenance costs are at least 10-20% below the average market rate for any given job. How? Because we bring our contractors a reliable work stream and have done for many years so we can negotiate competitive prices for our clients. Not to mention the work guarantees that come with that, meaning that you don’t get lumped with another bill for the same repair in 3 months time. We also know how much things should cost, from repairing a toilet to painting a ceiling, or fixing the boiler to leak investigations, everything has a price and an experience property manager will have a good sense of what is reasonable price wise. We have seen some insane cases over the years, where contractors have tried to quote as much as £15,000 for something that ended up costing just £340 + VAT. It’s reasons like this that we say our service pays for itself. in the longer term.
Prevention
Preventative maintenance is something that often gets missed when clients decide to care for their own home via themselves or other non-property experienced staff. Never underestimate the value of a good PPM schedule (planned preventative maintenance)! A good schedule can easily save you thousands of pounds, and ensure you're not left with nasty surprise repair demands from your home. A thorough PPM schedule should include everything from your guttering and window cleaning, to boiler servicing and HVAC filter changes. Preventative works don’t only save you money in the long run, they also help you to avoid the inconvenience of things going down when you need them, like your heating and hot water systems and even your fridge/freezer! In luxury properties there are often more complex systems and things to consider like underfloor heating systems, swimming pools, steam rooms, and air purification systems, etc.
Point Of Contact
Having a single point of contact is a beautiful thing. It relives stress, and allows clients to simply enjoy their homes and life’s! Not knowing who to call for what is a real headache, then scouring the web for a good contractor, negotiating costs, work dates, materials choices, the list goes on. With a good property manager all of this is eliminated and you are able to sort out most issues with one simple call, email, or text. The next time you hear from them will be with the solution, proposed dates, and the cost. The back and forth for even a basic task when you are not experienced can be phenomenal, and when it isn't the cost is usually above what you should be paying.
Emergencies
Another advantage of having a dedicated property manager is the 24/7 emergency support you can receive with a good agency. This again, can certainly save you money, but also offers peace of mind when things do go wrong as you always have someone to call ready and waiting to assist you. The last thing anyone wants is to have to scramble around at 2am sourcing an out of hours plumber for a burst pipe. So having that service on call is really handy to say the least.
Vacant Care
Did you know that most home insurance policies require you to let them know if you plan to go away for more than 2 weeks? Failure to do this actually voids your insurance policy, and let’s face it most of us would like to go away for more than 2 weeks at a time when possible. A dedicated property management agency will keep check on your home whilst you are away by carrying out weekly vacant checks. This will usually included everything from running taps to avoid pressure drops and air locks in the plumbing system, flushing loos and using products to protect them from limescale build-up, airing rooms and cupboards to avoid mildew/damp and moth infestations and coming back to that unforgettable musty smell, and checking the property is safe and secure with all windows and doors fully locked and any alarms set correctly. Vacant care services also keep prying eyes that might be watching your home at bay, as they will see that the property has been used recently (we have a whole host of tricks we use to do this). Vacant care means that your home will always be ready and waiting for you when you do come home too, rather than returning to a host of issues and having to take a dreaded cold shower because your boiler is on the blink!
These are just a handful of reasons to consider a professional property management service for your home, if you would like to learn more and receive a free no obligation quote for your property contact our home team today