Property Management - What makes yours the best or the worst?

Question

Hey everyone!

Our property management company is growing every day and our turnkey clients LOVE us. We're always trying to improve, though, so I'm wondering:

1. What are some stresses and issues you've had with your property management company?

2. What do you LOVE about them?  As we continue to grow over 400+ doors, we're always looking for the best way to serve our current and future clients.  We use RentManager and find it superior to Buildium and Appfolio, but...

3. What software do you find to be the best, and why?

4. We do very well at keeping long-term tenants, we keep properties maximized at market rents, we offer small incentives and rewards for our tenants paying on time long-term, and a host of other things that make our clients and tenants love us.  What additional suggestions do you have that we may be missing to ensure we're the local area leader long-term?

I originally had about 48 questions, but I figured I'd start with the basics and just ask these 4 LOL.

Terrell Garren · Answer

My property manager drinks coffee and reads for a couple hours each morning before he ever shows up to work.  He starts work around 10, takes a lunch break at 11:30 and quits work around 3.  He takes frequent days off with no notice. Last August, he left on a motorcycle and was gone for 28 days.  He takes three times as long as a professional to make repairs and usually breaks a second thing while fixing the first thing.  He is one lazy dude. He does keep overhead low - office is an old Ford Ranger, cell phone, tool box, one spreadsheet, one LLC, one checking account and Cozy.  He selects great tenants, deals with issues with compassion and decisiveness as needed. And did I mention, he does the job for free.

Ujwal Velagapudi · Answer

I think this is great to see what other customers like/dislike, so I'll just vent a little...

I loved that a former PM would always answer my calls with a great big enthusiastic greeting and make sure to get on everything I needed. But the calls weren't always answered, and would go days without any response. I like the immediate feedback, to be able to just pick up a phone and get clarity on an issue within minutes. I soon realized, which is what I hated, that nothing was ever written down, items were not addressed, and I could barely ever get a hold of them when stuff was going wrong. I would rather hear the bad news than not hear from a PM at all. Communication is very key, especially for out of state/country investing.

Expenses & managing it like I would: Need full transparency on my expenses. If you have a markup, just tell me. If you have a preferred vendor that you get discounts from or some financial incentive, just let me know. I understand this is a business, and I'd love to work together, but let's all be transparent especially when PM's have full financial visibility over my investments. I'd like to know that my big ticket repairs are going to have multiple quotes along with pictures/videos of the issue neatly packaged so I can approve (~$500+) immediately and get the work completed for our tenants.

The PM is the face of my investment for all of our tenants, so there has to be respect, trust, and some rapport built over the years. Tenant - PM friction was a big issue for me as there were just unanswered maintenance orders (or extremely slow), disrespect shown towards tenants, etc. I understand there are headache tenants, but it has to be resolved with more communication, not by being silent. I saw a difference when I had a much more personable front-line PM employee who was just so caring and really took care of each tenant like they were her next door neighbor.

Dave Spooner · Answer

@Bryan Blankenship I manage my properties myself, so I can't speak to the property management relationship side of your question, but I did want to throw out an often overlooked aspect of the software PMs choose to use: the tenant experience.

As a property manager, you rightfully evaluate software based on your experience day-to-day interacting with it and your owners experience on their login portal. Makes sense, they're the ones paying you. But many managers and landlords don't put enough focus on the tenant's experience with the software.

Amazon spent $23B on R&D in 2018, a huge chunk of which went into figuring out how to get more people to click a buy button. Paying rent, signing a lease, submitting an application - these are all basically eCommerce activities and you should look for a software partner that takes the tenant digital experience seriously and studies what makes them click.

You'd be surprised how much it can impact vacancy rates, collection percentages, late fee collections, etc.

Account Closed · Answer

I have always maintained the PM is the most critical part of the investment. A bad PM can turn a great buy into a lousy return and a good PM can make an average buy into a stellar return. Another thing to keep in mind that Property management of C class property is a very tough job and you could not pay me enough to do it. So I am happy to let my PM make a living as long as I am making my returns. Having said that these are my top criteria

1. Honesty. You have to be able to trust the PM. You can't second guess from hundreds or thousands of miles away

2. Responsiveness: I get my calls/emails returned the same day. Always. And I only deal with the principals of the business (the PM and his wife who co run the business). I don't talk to random employees

3. A great website and system. This make it super easy for me to check all my documents. Leases, invoices etc.

4. Professional accounting: Monthly statements, deposits, tax accounting etc. My PM is happy to run QB reports per my requests and specifications. Especially at tax time it makes my life much easier.

Now the negatives. Almost all PMs want to overdo turns. I understand why. Its easier for them to rent it that way. So we always have a bit of back and forth about what is truly a must do. I wish a PM would offer the turn list with must have and nice to haves separated.

But overall, I judge by returns. I have bought held and sold properties for the last 6 years and made a great return. In the end that's what matters. And my PM has been a key contributor to that.

Bryan Blankenship · Answer

@Ujwal Velagapudi I appreciate your reply, and we all need to vent a little now and then LOL. I wholeheartedly agree about the communication being key. We always respond to emails within 24 hours (usually more like 2 hours) and calls/texts pretty quickly, too. Even if we have to go do some digging, research, or make some other calls to get answers, we respond. I mean, if you don't reply, it's basically like saying, "you're not a priority, I can't even take 30 seconds to answer you." No one wants that. My Client Specialist has received accolades for always being so responsive and on top of things, which I LOVE. Don't get me wrong, I am not the best about reading and responding to emails, but that's why I have such an amazing team around me that DOES. :)We usually give our clients at least a couple options if we're doing anything major in their properties unless there's only one way to get it done and we already know we have a quality specialist at a great price. Since we also do renovations as a primary focus, I think we may be better-equipped than a lot of property management companies to achieve this.As for our tenants, we've had dozens who stay long-term because we DO respond to them and treat them like they matter. Even if they submit a maintenance request that we know we can't get to immediately, we take the time to say "Hey, I know your dishwasher needs serviced, but we have had a couple emergencies pop up and our guys are tied up for the next couple days. I'll get back in touch with you as soon as we have a better idea of their schedules so we can get this fixed for you." Again, communication is so very vital, just like you said!Thanks again for the input, sir, I always appreciate other perspectives and tips! :)

Bryan Blankenship · Answer

@Dave Spooner Excellent points, sir! Years ago I was on the other end of this as a tenant, so it's a good reminder not to forget about or overlook that at all. The easier it is to apply, move in, pay rent, and get maintenance done, the better for everyone involved.Thanks for the reply! :)

Nick Peters · Answer

Can't fire a guy like that!

Bryan Blankenship · Answer

@Terrell Garren LOL. There is a whole lot to be said for the simple principles of compassion and decisiveness. Yes, it's a business, but it's a business that involves people, and their homes - their safe havens and places of comfort. Sounds like you've got a keeper there :)

Property Management - What makes yours the best or the worst?

Most Popular Reply