Property manager company has bad reviews online

General Landlording & Rental Properties
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Property manager company has bad reviews online

Amie D.
SFR Investor · South Bend, IN · Member since 2013 · 342 posts · 56 votes

Hi all,

I've gotten to the end of my rope with my current PM and am looking for a different company. The town is a smaller college town so there's not a huge selection. I only have one house in this town, but it's in a good area and is not hard to rent. I live out of town and am required by local codes to have a local manager, so can't just do it myself.

One of the larger management companies has gotten bad reviews online, not from their owners, but from the tenants. The negative reviews were mostly because they got apps denied or did not get their security deposit returned for damages they felt unfairly charged or overcharged for (knowing that they have strict screening and go after getting paid for damages might actually be a plus to an owner), but also some commented that when they moved in the properties were dirty/in disrepair.

How much of this would you pay attention to versus attributing it to tenants who were just unhappy in general with deposits not being returned, etc? Is it a bad sign that I find more bad reviews for this company from tenants versus other companies, or could that just be because they are in general larger?

Thanks!

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  • Tevis Verrett
    Lender · Woodland Hills, CA · Member since 2013 · 362 posts · 115 votes
    13y

    Dear Amie D. the noise that whiny crybaby naysayers make using the internet as their bully pulpit, should be looked at with a grain of salt.

    I am an e-commerce titan selling a commodity on the internet. My most beloved customers rarely comment. . . but dont give a guy an additional discount, on an already discounted product, or dont ship an overnighted item for free. . .and I just might wind up on yelp as an unfair retailer.

    The internet is a very powerful tool for all of us. We can vet a tenant on Facebook, or find out the financials of a company even before we invest.

    With opinions, I listen but dont yet judge. If it was from known friends here on BP, I give it a LOT of weight.

    For the legions on twitter or yelp, or reseller ratings, a grain of salt.

    If I were you, I would ask to talk to both happy and not so happy property owners.

    Being a PM is an adversarial relationship to a tenant by it's very nature.

    So vet em, and please keep us informed of your progress!

    We are stronger, together!

    Tevis

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  • Derek Faller
    Rental Property Investor · Bend, OR · Member since 2013 · 81 posts · 24 votes
    13y

    I wouldn't put too much weight on tenants feedback on the PM. People who feel they were wronged or didn't get good service are the most vocal, whereas people who got good service or even service as it should be rarely comment. So if there are 10 bad comments, there are probably at least a few hundred that got good service and didn't post comments.

    Plus you should be more concerned with comments from other property owners. Tenants don't rent or pick places to live based on who the PM is, they base it on the house. You mostly want to make sure the PM is going to work well for you, which sometimes means your tenant may not be happy with the results if the PM held them to higher standards then they have.

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  • Prashant P.
    Real Estate Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2010 · 283 posts · 81 votes
    13y

    Just to give you another angle, a tenant review can be important as well. If I were a tenant and the PM did not answered my calls or fixed problems in my apartment, I would be upset.

    Having unhappy tenants may result in a greater turnover. You have to remember that the PM has two customers you and the tenant. Anything the PM company does with the tenant is a reflection of you.

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  • Amie D.
    OP
    SFR Investor · South Bend, IN · Member since 2013 · 342 posts · 56 votes
    13y

    Thanks for the viewpoints. They have been in business in that town for 25 years and are right down the street from my rental house, which are some reasons why I have been considering them. I am with a smaller company now, a real estate agency with just one guy managing the rentals, and he does not respond to my messages in a reasonable timeframe (this is just one of my many complaints with him). I am thinking if I went with a larger company, there is more than one point of contact if I need information, and a company that has been around for that long must be doing some things right.

    Actually what's funny is I rented out rooms while I went to school there and seem to remember a guy I rented a room to had similar complaints about renting from this management company, they took his deposit unfairly, etc. I had no problems with him as a renter and he got his deposit back in full after renting a year from my place. I've sent him a message as this was a while ago.

    I don't know that I would eliminate them from consideration due to this, but I guess it would be fair game when I interviewed the company to ask why they feel I've seen so many complaints of this nature about their company online, and see what explanation they provide.

    I'm also going to interview other companies, but it seems to be a theme that comes up on sites that review their management services.

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  • Steve Babiak
    Real Estate Investor · Audubon, PA · Member since 2009 · 13k+ posts · 8k+ votes
    13y

    Here's a site that allows tenants to rate landlords; read the reviews and look at the ratings - it's not all bad:

    http://www.whoseyourlandlord.com/landlords

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  • Amie D.
    OP
    SFR Investor · South Bend, IN · Member since 2013 · 342 posts · 56 votes
    13y

    Steve Babiak, thanks for the link. Unfortunately the town my rental is in is not listed there, but I see your point, not all of them get cut down. I am somewhat concerned about it. I don't necessarily want to have a management company with a bad reputation in a small town.

    It's a headache because it's adding to my already long list of things going on right now: find a new property manager. I've been considering selling my rentals and this is one big reason why.

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  • Amie D.
    OP
    SFR Investor · South Bend, IN · Member since 2013 · 342 posts · 56 votes
    13y

    Ok, this is what I heard from the guy I used to rent to:

    "And, Yeah, they where pretty bad. Lied to us about a few things, very slow to fix problems, kept our security deposit even though we left the house better than we found it. Thankfully only dealt with them for a year. I'd recommend using some one else. But again, this was a bunch of years ago so they may have gotten better since then? But personally I would try to avoid them if I could. "

    This concerns me because it's from someone I know who was also a good renter from me and an honest person. The reviews I've seen, in various different places on the internet, for this property management company all seem to say the same thing he does. So, I don't know if they have odd policies or what the deal could be? Perhaps they make some of their profits from unfairly keeping the deposits from tenants as "damages"?

    What also concerns me is "slow to fix problems" and the comments I've seen from some other reviewers that the places are dirty.

    I've seen some positive comments too, but a majority have been negative in nature.

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  • Account Closed
    Real Estate Investor · Austin, TX · Member since 2013 · 37 posts · 10 votes
    12y

    Hi Amie,

    I wouldn't place much weight with tenant complaints unless there are quite a few and you see a pattern. The PM works for the property owner and no matter what you do there are some tenants you just cannot please.  The key it to ensure they are treating tenants legally and fairly.

    Great question! Here are 25 important questions we recommend you ask any property management company you are screening. I personally had a horrible experience with 3 different management companies which led me to start my own company.

    http://www.jmbgrouppm.com/blog/item/23-questions-to-ask-a-property-manager.html

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