Property Management Recommendation Lehigh Valley and Philadelphia

[David London]

Looking for an alternative to my current Property Management company in Bethlehem PA. 

Looking for either a good local Lehigh Valley (Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton) company or larger company who Ideally operate in Philly as well since I plan to explore that market as well soon.

Any help appreciated. 

[Joe White]

I recommend not grilling property management companies...The top Philadelphia property management companies tend to filter out bad, predatory rental owners. My own company turns down 83% of those owners that request service. We cap ourselves to only manage a certain number of properties; so that we do not over-grow our ability to give the optimal quality service.

So we only manage properties that we see as being profitable for the owners, and it's typically the owner that is the deciding factor. We are not slumlords, and representing bad owners would make us that. You are deciding on our service; but we are also deciding on you.

I think the latest books on real estate investing, like the BRRR Book that just came out through BP seem to be getting this better than the predecessors - a good contractor or a good property management company picks and chooses the best clients, and turns down the rest.

All that said, you must ask the important questions. Just do it in a relaxed, comfortable conversation. And this goes triple with finding contractors. I always cringe when I read articles that recommend corning contractors with hard interviews. This is the wrong market for that! Now that the recession is about here, you will be able to pick and choose your vendors better in just a few years. For now, just keep it friendly.  

Discussing fees isn't allowed; but nationally expect to pay between 8-13%, with 10% being the most common. In Philadelphia, I think you will find the better companies come in around 8%. Hidden fees are Huge in the property management business, so those are also important to get to the bottom of before you sign on a company. A mark up fee on any work done on the property does seem commonplace; but it MUST BE DISCLOSED! Check your property management agreement. If its not there, then they should not have charged it.