How to Start a Property Management Company [9 Tips + Interview]
![How to Start a Property Management Company [9 Tips + Interview]](/content/images/size/w1200/2026/02/Checkin-Interview.png)
Starting a property management business requires legal compliance and building a network of trusted property owners and contractors. Learn the key steps, tips, and practical considerations to build a compliant and credible business.
Key Takeaways:
- You need to have the necessary legal documents in place from day one to ensure your property management company operates smoothly and legally.
- Understanding your local market and competitors’ pricing is key for creating a fee structure and ensuring profitability.
- Establishing relationships with reliable contractors is essential for carrying out property maintenance requests and repairs efficiently.
- At some stage, you’ll also likely need to hire a team to help you manage your property management business effectively.
- Creating a strong company culture where employees are aligned on key values will improve employee satisfaction and customer service.
Once you have the necessary experience in the short-term rental industry, the next logical step for many property managers is to start their own property management company. However, starting a property management company means that you will take on a lot more responsibility.
Plus, you will need a deep knowledge of local regulations and the interpersonal skills to work with contractors, landlords, and tenants.
This 9-step action plan and insider tips from the co-founder of CHECKiN will help you to set up your company for success from the get-go.
How to Start a Property Management Company: Overview of the Key Steps
Decide on the legal structure of your business
There are typically two legal entities that can be used: an incorporated business or limited liability corporation (LLC). You will have to study the specific tax implications as each legal business entity has its own advantages and disadvantages, which could make one more suitable.
A real estate attorney will be able to help you establish your legal entity. Alternatively, you can visit the official website of your state. Here, you will find more information and the necessary documentation.
Create a business plan
Not only will a business plan help guide you, but it can also make it easier to secure funding from real estate investors or lenders. A solid business plan will cover the following:
- What property management services you will provide
- Your unique selling propositions
- Marketing strategy
- Management and business structure
- A financial plan
- Financial projections
Get a property management license
Most US states require that you have a property manager license. That said, as not all the US states have the same requirements regarding licensing, it is best to reach out to the local authorities first.
You will most likely have to get a real estate brokers license (this is required in most states). With this type of license, you will be able to complete real estate as well as property management activities in the United States.
Rules and regulations aside, one of the first things clients ask is if you have the correct licensing as few would want to take the risk of working with an unlicensed property manager. This is another incentive to make it a priority.
Set up your office and create a website
It is key that you have an online presence which makes a user-friendly website is a must! After you have designed your website, also remember to create a custom email address that your tenants and property owners can use to contact you regarding maintenance requests, security deposits, lease agreements, etc.
Aside from using it for communication, it can also double up as a marketing channel. You can, for example, use it to share a monthly newsletter that shares local market developments, fair housing laws updates, and industry trends which can help deepen tenant relationships.
Yet, a website is no replacement for an office. If you are only in the beginning phases of starting a vacation rental business, a home office equipped with a scanner, copier, and computer will be sufficient. However, keep in mind that from time to time you will have to meet with your clients and, ideally, this will be at your office.
Determine your pricing structure
Your pricing structure should be reasonable. If it is too expensive, you will scare away clients. If it is too low, you won’t be able to generate a sustainable source of income.
Ultimately, your market will determine how much you can charge. To determine the average price for your market, find out what a few property management companies are charging in your area.
Here are some of the common fees to research:
- Ongoing management fee: Your ongoing management fee will be your livelihood. It can range from 3 – 10% of your monthly rental income. It will be used for general costs like communication, completing inspections, etc.
- One-time fees (setup fee and leasing fee): The setup fee is on average about $300 and is used to cover the costs of creating the account. The leasing fee is usually a month’s rent.
- Eviction fee: While you do not have to include an eviction fee in your fee structure, it is a good idea to include it. In the event that a guest needs to be evicted, you will most likely need to act as an intermediary.
- Other fees: You can also consider charging late fees, a lease renewal fee, or a maintenance fee for coordinating repairs or routine maintenance.
Build your local network of professionals
You will reach a stage when your property management company will need to contract work out to third-party suppliers. After all, it is impossible to complete all the tasks without any reliable help.
Here are some of the professionals that most property management companies regularly hire:
Lawyer
One of the professionals that will be invaluable to add to your network is a lawyer that specializes in real estate and property management. A real estate lawyer will be able to help you get your company off the ground, identify potential liabilities, and help with short-term rental lease agreements and contracts.
Bookkeeper
Bookkeeping can also be a mammoth task! You will have to keep track of the rent that you have collected, paid salaries, other income that you have generated, etc. If you do not want to add a bookkeeper to your network of professionals, be sure to invest in an accounting software solution at least.
Contractors
There are many contractors that will help you manage properties as you go along. These include a:
- Handyman
- Cleaning service
- Plumber
- Security company
- Electrician
Craft your marketing strategy
Handing out business cards will not be enough to attract clients (and definitely not to retain clients). You will need to craft a good marketing strategy too.
As mentioned earlier, your online presence will be of paramount importance. You can, for example, use paid ads, and search engine marketing (SEM) to get more traffic to your website.
Then, to keep potential clients on your website for longer, consider starting a blog and adding a page dedicated to case studies. Aside from helping to boost your visibility in traditional and AI search engines, it’s also a great place to showcase your knowledge of the real estate industry and project management skills.
Build your client base
Getting new clients is one of the areas that virtually every property management business finds very challenging. Therefore, it is key that you put in a place a system that will help you with this.
While your marketing strategy will help, of course, you do not necessarily need a big marketing budget. Positive word of mouth remains one of the most effective ways to build your client base.
So, you can start by networking with real estate brokers, an HOA management company, and other stakeholders in the property management industry. Equally important, make it a priority to maintain the new relationships that you have created.
You can also join a property management organization. Not only will it help you to build your client base, but it will also make it easier to stay up to date about the rental market, latest news, technology, and other tools in the industry.
While word of mouth is a good place to start, it will not be enough. As mentioned earlier, online advertising is very effective. To help you build your client base, you can also create a landing page to collect new leads.
Be sure to include content that your clients will find valuable on your landing page. This way, they will be more inclined to entrust you with their rental properties as your content has already helped them.
Find the right tools
In addition to building a local network of professionals, it is also a good idea to invest in tools, like a property management software solution. There are numerous time-sensitive tasks that demand your attention and the reality is that without help, you will not be able to deliver a first-class service.
For example, crafting a messaging system to ensure timeous communication is one of the biggest challenges that many property management companies face. This is where a property management software solution that can automate your messaging can come in very handy.
From Host to Successful Property Management Company: Interview with CHECKiN
There are many success stories of hosts who managed to start a property management firm. One such success story to check out is CHECKiN, a rental management company that offers services for cottages as well as urban properties.
Their turnkey solutions include restocking, maintenance, calendar optimization, professional cleaning, and much more. We asked them to share some of their top tips for how to start a property management company.
Tell us a bit about your company. When did your company start?
We started as a cleaning company in 2016. Mathieu was an Airbnb host. He was already working full time and realized that even with only one apartment, it was tough. All the cleaning between guests needed to be done between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. which made it very challenging. He discussed the situation with Steve and they decided to start a cleaning company that would help only Airbnb hosts.
How did you start your property management journey?
After the first summer of running the cleaning business, some of our clients started to ask us to respond to their messages. We saw that there was also a need there. So, we started to manage our clients’ Airbnb accounts.
What challenges did you struggle with at the beginning?
It was complicated to respond to all the messages quickly. We always had to connect to our clients’ Airbnb accounts, and then switch to another account to respond to another message.
Did you face any other issues that new companies usually have to deal with at the beginning (e.g. legislation, city regulations, finance, etc.)?
In the beginning, the only problem we had was to find enough housekeepers and to train them properly. Later, it also became quite difficult to keep track of the new bookings and make sure that we didn’t forget any cleaning after a checkout. The multi-calendar of iGMS has become incredibly useful for this. In fact, we use it on a daily basis.
How did you win your first customers?
We found our first client by offering housekeeping services. Since we were doing an impeccable job, the client entrusted us with managing his listing.
How did you manage to differentiate yourself from the competitors?
iGMS really helps us differentiate our company from other property management companies since it lets us use our clients’ Airbnb accounts. This way, our clients still have access to their accounts and can see everything that we do for them. It is crucial for us to be transparent with our clients. We have nothing to hide and that’s how we’ve developed strong relationships.
Also, the fact that we have our own cleaning staff really helps us to stand out. In most cases, our competitors use subcontractors. Having our own cleaning staff offers multiple advantages.
Firstly, we can train them like we want, helping us to offer the best cleanings in town.
Secondly, they know our units very well since they’re always the ones cleaning them. Plus, it’s cheaper than having subcontractors.
We also took a lot of time to study the pricing fluctuation in the area. We consider the days of the week, the months, the events in the area – anything that can help to increase rental revenue while lowering the vacancy.
How did you manage to grow your company?
Because we were offering good services, our clients recommended us to their friends. So, word of mouth has helped us a lot!
We also encouraged our our clients to give us more apartments. This way, we could implement a fee structure that allowed us to decrease our management fees for property owners with multiple properties.
We reached a point that we needed more than two partners to manage the housekeepers and develop all the spheres in the business at the same time. We decided to hire an Operation Assistant to help us with our daily tasks. A couple of months later, we also hired a Communication Agent to help us to respond to all the messages received via Airbnb.
Do you use any other marketing channels to promote your company (ads, social media, partnerships, etc.)?
After two years, we started to use Facebook to do a bit of marketing. It was mostly to recruit housekeepers. We also did a bit of Google Ads to find new clients. Now we also use Facebook to advertise our units rented monthly and our cottages.
What are the most important principles for building a property management company, in your opinion?
Transparency is the key, which is why iGMS is so important to us. It allows us to manage our clients’ accounts in a way that they can access all the data by themselves and see what we are doing for them.
Do you have any other principles that help you to be successful in your business?
Always be humble and honest. Treat your employees and clients like you would want to be treated if the roles were reversed.
The values and principles that you apply in your life should be reflected in your business. You have to make sure that your employees understand and agree with your business values. This way, they will be able to represent you correctly and help you to grow the business. We believe that’s how you can build a successful business.
What’s your attitude toward applying automation tools to the property management process?
It’s really a no-brainer. When we started the company, we were working so inefficiently as we were not using vacation rental software. iGMS helps us to save a lot of time, and the automation tools are very helpful to avoid making mistakes.
What is the most essential advice you would give to those who want to start their own property management company?
Managing properties requires a lot of time. Therefore, we strongly suggest that you use a vacation rental software solution. It will help you save time so that you can concentrate on offering the best service to your clients and guests. Ultimately, this is the best way to grow your business.
Conclusion
Often we avoid starting a new venture as we believe it’s going to be too much work. Perhaps, you delay it because you simply don’t know where to start? With these 9 steps, starting a property management company can be easy to realize.
Plus, there are many tools that will help you too. iGMS, for example, offers a free 14-day trial. There will come a day when your company will need to rely on third-party tools. Why not be ready from day one?
FAQs
What do you need to start a property management company?
Here’s a breakdown of what you need to start your own property management company:
- A business plan that will serve as the framework for your entire business
- A registered business entity (a limited liability company is a recommended structure to protect your personal assets)
- Licensing and registration with relevant authorities to ensure you operate legally
- Property management software
- Legal contracts and templates
- A clear service offering
- A business bank account to separate your personal and business finances
Which property management services do property owners need?
Most property owners expect a general property manager to be able to help with:
- Tenant screening
- Tenant management
- Property maintenance
- Collecting rent
- Legal and regulatory compliance
- Vacancy management
- Insurance coordination
- Lease agreements
- Performance insights
How can you market your new property management company?
Here’s how you can attract new clients and grow your property management business:
- Networking with local real estate professionals and investors can help you scope out potential clients
- Incorporating various online and offline channels will help you to reach a broader audience
- Creating marketing documents like business cards and brochures signals professionalism and grows brand visibility
