When hiring a Property manager what is on your check list?

Question

What do you look for when hiring a property manager?

What are some red flags that tell you to avoid that property manager?

Caroline C. · Answer

@Jennifer Ryan here are some of the things we look for:

- understand their business: how old, how big, etc

- properties: what types do they manage, avg rental amount range, avg lease length, vacancy lengths

- fees: onboarding, tenant placement, monthly, renew fee, inspections, etc

- tenant screening: in house or no, how screen, how many past landlords contacted, does owner have word in final say

- collecting rent: process for late rent, collection, eviction

- maintenance: in house or no, how do they communicate with owner, do they hold maintenance fund, process for major repairs

- Misc: online tools for owner and tenant, how do they pay owner, what day of month do they pay owner

Also, make sure you don't sign a contract that locks you in for a year. If you are unhappy, you should have the ability to exit within a reasonable timeframe.

John Warren · Answer

@Jennifer Ryan I would make sure they have experience in the area where you invest and that they mange the same type of property you own. For instance, you don't want a manager who specializes in student rentals managing your C class rental property. I would also see how many units they have under management and how long they have been in business.

Hiring your PM is a tough decision. We recently hired and subsequently fired within two months a PM for our property in Berwyn, IL. The PM talked a good game, but was able to run our stable, cash flowing building into the red in just two months of mismanagement! Don't be afraid to hire slowly and fire quickly with your PM.

Scott Passman · Answer

@Jennifer Ryan  There are a couple great good worksheets in the "FilePlace" under the tools section of this site.  Just type in Property Manager and will give you 2 great questionnaires of things to look for and ask.  That has much of what I ask, but other things would be their attention to detail on their listings and how much effort they appear to put into them.  Responsiveness and willingness to take time with you to answer questions is huge.  Red flags might be things like signing a 12 month contract with them with payment penalties to break out, a litany of fees for odds and ends that's clearly designed to make you pay more, high costs to lease or turnover a unit, lack of transparency with maintenance orders/costs etc.  Lots of info on these threads about the topic, but those FilePlace documents might provide some good insight for you.

When hiring a Property manager what is on your check list?

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