A property manager is not synonymous with a landlord. In the case of privately owned rental homes, a landlord may hire a management service to deal with the business and maintenance while the landlord is ultimately the owner of the residence.If you own a home that you are considering using as a rental, or if you are looking into some real estate investments for rental purposes, you may be interested in the services of a property management service. These businesses take the work out ownership for you. You merely have to maintain the financial part of the investment.One instance for which this situation is often used involves homeowners who need to move temporarily for job, school, or military reasons but intend on returning to the area to live, and therefore do not want to sell. A property management company, in the absence of the landlord, will take on the responsibilities of finding occupants, maintaining and up keeping the dwelling and surroundings, and collecting rent. You, the landlord, pay them a monthly fee for their services out of what you charge for rent. This situation works well if you can gain enough rent from a tenant both to pay the company and to cover the mortgage, tax, and insurance on the property. There may be little profit, but there will also be little misery that often accompanies being the landlord of rental units.If you are perhaps looking into going into rental property as a business, it can be a lucrative career field. It can also be a time consuming and thankless job. Finding and keeping occupants, keeping up with maintenance requests, and keeping up with the legalities of evictions are just some of the things that deter people from the business. If you own several properties, you can hire a management company for them.The property management company will be in charge of occupancy and prospective occupant background checks. They will also take repair calls, maintain the premises, handle evictions, and take care of utility transfers and other things that must be done as dwellers come and go. The company will take their payment out of the rental check and send the owner the rest. You are then responsible for paying the mortgages and taxes on your assets.Trying to landlord and manage your rental units is what drives a lot of people away from the business, so enlisting a company to take care of property management is certainly an investment suggestion to research. The company has your best interests in mind because they know if you are not profiting then they will lose your business. They will, therefore, be selective when it comes to prospective occupants. They want to keep clean, responsible people in your rental so that repeated maintenance and evictions do not occur. They have to market your property well to keep your business, thus the goals of the landlord and the company are mutual.