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June 23, 2014

10 Things I Know About... Property management

10. Excel at relationships

Real estate is a relationships business. If you don't know how to treat people and build deep relationships, you won't last long. You need to interact well with tenants, vendors, other real estate professionals and commercial property investors.

9. Have solid financials

Without reliable financials, how will you know how your investment is performing? What's its internal rate of return? Is it a good time to sell? To refinance?

8. Know property values

Knowing your property's market value is essential. This not only applies to getting a fair price when you sell an apartment building, or office or retail property, but accuracy in rental rates as well.

7. Be ready to handle fires

This isn't one of those things you want to have to scramble for at the last minute when your building is already smoking. Make sure you have a team in place to handle any issue, whether it's financial, legal, insurance, or construction-related.

6. Be open to paying brokerage commissions

Vacancies are lost income. If you can rent a space faster by paying a brokerage commission, pay it. Losing months of rent to avoid it is not a winning gamble.

5. Know landlord-tenant laws

Massachusetts has extensive landlord-tenant laws, and they aren't very forgiving to landlords who break them.

4. Have a good insurance agent

Insurance companies didn't become financial giants by paying every claim. Make sure you have a strong insurance agent that will properly protect your assets.

3. Vendors and value

Vendor selection can make all the difference in the profitability of any commercial property or apartment complex. Don't hire the cheapest vendor. Look for the best value.

2. Technology can help

Everything from marketing, rent collection, bookkeeping, banking and managing tenant interactions can benefit from it.

1. Investor field can grow

Changing federal securities laws have created new and interesting possibilities for real estate financing. While these laws are new and untested, they may provide more opportunity for investors to own real estate as part of a balanced portfolio.

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