Questions to Ask When Choosing a Property Manager
Greetings and Hello BP Investors! This post will help to serve those interested in looking for a residential Property Management company in the San Antonio, Texas region - or anywhere else in the country. In this post - I will attempt to highlight some of the things you should be looking for as you browse around town looking for a property manager.
1) Are they members of the National Association of Residential Property Managers (NARPM)? If not - keep looking. This means they are not professional enough to care to improve what they do, and you run the risk of not getting the advantage of the latest information for investors - such as new laws, common practices, new technology, or professional education opportunities.
2) How are their online reviews? Do they even have an online presence? If the company you are looking at has a poor online presence, or does not even care enough to pay attention to it - that would be an indicator that they do not care about their reputation from you or anyone else. Look elsewhere. Inside Tip: A lot of reviews may be from disgruntled tenants. Take that as a badge of honor. The management company is targeted as the bad guy, but really they are standing up to the tenant for your investment. If the tenant does not clean the home, they have to be charged....and the management company is obligated to do that out of that tenant's security deposit.
3) Do they have a full disclosure website? Or is it the bait and switch with "call us for a management quote" so they can sell you over the phone with whatever they think they can get you signed up with? Here is a tidbit - it takes the same amount of time, cost, and staffing to rent a $1,000 home as it does a $3,000 home. If the management company offers you the same knee jerk price that has been around for 50 years - keep looking - you will probably overpay.
4) Do they use a custom attorney approved lease agreement - or the Texas Association of Realtor lease agreement that has more holes in it than Swiss cheese? If the company you are looking at, no matter how big, uses the TAR lease - it means they have no intentions on making improvements or customization anywhere - ever. Want an example? The Early Termination section in the TAR Lease, paragraph 28, is about as clear as mud. Good luck explaining that to a tenant who just wants to break the lease the right way. ALSO - we have seen managers not even fill out leases correctly putting their owners at a severe disadvantage!
Want another example? Does that Management Company have regimented lease rate increases, or do they just put the rental rate at a certain amount for 10 years on auto-renew? The San Antonio market has experienced significant increased rental rates. I hope your property management company is paying attention!
5) Do they offer any incentives for owners such as Rent Protection, Damage Assurance, Eviction Assurance, Leasing Guarantees, Pet Guarantees, and Tenant Liability Insurance?
6) Does that Management Company offer a Single Owner Point of Contact? Or, is it management by committee with one person doing the leasing, another person handling the maintenance, another person handling the tenant issues, and another person handling the book keeping? In that scenario, everyone is in charge of nothing. Look for a company with a single owner point of contact who is accountable for your home!
7) Are the financial incentives of the Management company you are looking at aligned with yours? Does the Portfolio Manager assigned to you see financial rewards, and see financial pain by the gains and losses of owners and tenants? If the Manager you are dealing with is a straight salaried person - do they REALLY care about how much rent you get?
8) Finally - Do they have a method to sell your home? At some point, you will want to sell a rental home either in 30 days or 30 years. Does that management company refer it out to someone outside their agency causing potential hand off issues? Ensure the company you have manage your home understands and can handle the sales process, it will save a tremendous amount of time in vacancy by NOT having to turn it over to another agency to sell.
In closing, I hope this will help any investor / home owner out there make a decision on which company they choose. As a Management Company Owner and Broker - we have spent a great amount of effort perfecting our systems and services to meet and exceed the market needs. Get in touch with us if we can assist you. Take Care!
