Thank you for stopping by Seattle Property Management! We are here to provide property management services for apartments, houses, warehouses and just about any physical structure you can think of.  Would you like a free quote to manage your property? If so fill out our contact us form and let us know about your particular situation. You can also feel free to call us at 206-535-1880 and we can help you out!

Our property coverage area includes Seattle, Shoreline, Mountlake Terrace, Lake Forest Park, Woodway, Edmonds, Mercer Island, Kenmore, Brier. Generally speaking, we cover any property within 10 miles of Green Lake and Woodland Park Zoo. We do not presently provide service east of Lake Washington, however we would be happy to recommend a well-established property manager for the areas we do not cover.

Call 206-535-1880 to see if your property is within our service areas.

What is Property Management?

The property management industry is one of the most dynamic in the United States, employing close to 350,000 people nationally and projected to grow at least fifteen percent over the next five years. The basic idea of professional property management is to manage and oversee the property on behalf of the property owner and to ensure that the property is managed just how you want it.

Professional property managers must be licensed by the state. Maybe about half the property managers listed in the phone book are private companies owned by apartment owners and are not licensed by the state.  They are also not allowed to manage anyone else’s properties for a fee.

Who uses Professional Property Managers?

Many businesses are directly linked or involved in property management: full service real estate firms, real estate development companies, and even some mortgage brokerage firms. These companies frequently have possession of various properties, either owned by them or held by them pending sale. In either case, the properties still have to be maintained and managed and thus it makes sense for these companies to hire professional property managers to do so.

Another primary client group that utilizes professional property management services is institutional investors that hold real estate. Land and homes have always been popular investment options used by institutional investors as a low risk investment in their portfolios. Major corporations, banks, insurance companies, and other institutional investors frequently have considerable real estate in their holdings.

For these investors, their property is an investment asset that still has to be maintained and managed on a regular basis. Professional property management services are a perfect fit for this type of property owner since they do not have the time to take care of it themselves. This has become even more popular in recent years since so many residential properties have been foreclosed upon and are now in the possession of the lenders.

Similar to the institutional investors are the private Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), which have become popular investment vehicles in recent years. Essentially a REIT is a pooled – and securitized – investment which is based on one or more real estate properties.

As primarily an investment vehicle, most REIT organizers and administrators only have limited knowledge of how to manage the underlying properties and therefore they hire property management services to do it for them. Further, since many of the investors are not necessarily real estate specialists, they often rely on the advice and information provided by their property managers to make decisions about maintaining or caring for the property.

Property management services are also frequently employed by the owners and operators of subsidized, low cost and no cost housing. These owners may be government agencies (federal, state, county, or municipal) or non-governmental organizations such as non-profits and charitable organizations that own and operate housing for low income residents.

These can be some of the most difficult clients to deal with since most such organizations are heavily bureaucratic, but at the same time they can be some of the most stable and reliable if the property management services provided meet the owners expectations and requirements.

Of course there are also other types of clients as well, but the above represent the most popular employers of professional property management services. The demand for property management services has been steadily increasing in recent years and this trend is likely to continue as more people and entities come to own property for purposes other than their own personal usage.