Biggest Issues For Property Managers?

Question

*This question is for any property manager or people with prior property management experience*

What would you say are the biggest issues that reoccur when dealing with tenants, vendors, etc? Which are the hardest to deal with, and which are the most time-consuming?

Thank you so much, I just joined the community and am looking forward to learning more about the property management industry!

Lorien Rollins · Answer

Hi Michael, and welcome!

I am a seasoned multi-and-single-family property manager in the Charlotte (and surrounding) area.

Vendors: I always ensure to connect with at least three specialists in the same field, for example: carpet cleaners/replacements, roofers, emergency services (water extraction or organic growth remediation) this way when it comes time for their services you can get a bid from each of them. I also ask for referrals, I do not just choose the first one I see that has a handful of five star reviews.

Tenants: As long as your screening criteria is where you want it to be (my preference is rather high), your lease agreements are rather air tight, and you keep an open line of straight forward and honest communication you should not have too many issues with your tenants. Sure, you may come across a few that put in too many maintenance requests from time to time, haha, but most of that can be handled with a phone call and doesn't always require a tech (or you if you are self managing) to be dispatched.

Software: I cannot stress this enough, make sure whatever software you choose is user friendly, for you and your tenants! Personally, I use RentRedi, but in the past have used Yardi, OneSite, and Entrata.

Employees: as I have managed teams, hired, and fired, what has helped me best is to remember to hold them accountable. Be sure to provide them with your expectations from the jump.

If you work for an investor/asset manager: transparency is KEY, and knowing the market. I have managed assets up to 36MM, and am in commercial brokering with deals from 10MM to 30MM, at the end of the day just be clear and concise when communicating.

Feel free to connect, and best of luck on your PM/RE journey!

Michael Smythe · Answer

@Michael Ferrante despite there being a labor shortage, maintenance is never fast enough for the tenants or cheap enough for the owners.

Samuel Eddinger · Answer

I'll give you three answers.

For vendors it is ones that are not good with their money and they are constantly hounding you for money and/or do not do good work.

For tenants it is ones that do not follow the lease and/or want every little thing repaired in the property.  It takes a lot of time to collect late rent, and/or deal with tenants issues.  Ones that want every little thing repaired are usually perfectionists.  The one benefit is they usually leave the property in great shape!

For owners it would be that they think of you as their own personal assistant and not as a professional and they monday morning quarterback every little thing that goes on in your property.  Another problem we have is owners who are not good with money and are unable to cover the cost of our vendor's invoice.  These same owners get mad when we do not start the project at risk and get mad at us instead of themselves.

For internal teams, it would be that there is always so much stuff going on and frequently no person is able to be made accountable for the work that is or is not completed.  There is a lot of burnout and complacency in the industry as team members are constantly being yelled at by tenants, vendors, and owners.  Motivating my team is basically my full time job!

Peter Tverdov · Answer

Vendors you need a deep roster because they come and go. Then some of them start hiking prices because they think you're made out of money. Make sure they have insurance and are licensed (if required) we have gotten more strict with that. If they want cash, take a hike. If they cannot be paid net 30 or net 15 bare minimum take a hike.

Owners: If they walk, talk and act like a slumlord, they are. Lose them and lose them quickly. We cut owners all the time who do this or ones who scream at me, our staff or just call us up to crap on us if something wasn't done how they wanted it. It's too stressful of a job to not have an owner be your biggest fan.

Tenants: Be fair but firm. They don't stay in the Plaza hotel, house will never be perfect but also treat them well. If they are late, file eviction without hesitation.

It's a fun business but ever evolving and you get your ass kicked from tenants, owners and then sometimes the town inspectors.

Biggest Issues For Property Managers?

Most Popular Reply