How many strikes before switching property management companies?

Question

After a few months with a property management company, they have made a few mistakes:

- Forgot to resolve a broken item in the condo for the tenant, with no communication about the fix/progress for over 2 months

- Miscommunicated rules of the lease to the tenant

We’ve also received feedback from our tenant that they aren’t very happy with the tenant-side service.

How should we decide when to start looking to switch management companies? Their fee is 9% of the monthly rent, plus 50% of the first months rent per new lease signed.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Eileen Mazza · Answer

Three and get recommendations for a new company from other trusted investors. Check out your local REIA -Real Estate Investor's Association and they are happy to provide you with some recommendations to minimize your issues and time.

James Wise · Answer

Well the 1st thing you've got to do going forward is stop communicating with your tenant. What you've done is create yourself a mommy vs daddy issue here. When little Timmy asks mommy for ice cream and she says no what does he do? He asks daddy. If daddy says yes then Timmy does this every time going forward. The tenant is probably complaining about the management company enforcing the lease in an effort to protect your interests. If you get yourself involved you have gotten in the way of them doing their job.

As for the rule miscommunication. How sure are you that that's what happened? Are the rules not laid out in the lease agreement? Are you sure the tenant isn't just telling you this as part of the mommy vs daddy issues mentioned above?