Hello BP! I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on what qualities and skills make a property manager truly stand out. Whether you're an experienced investor or just starting, having a reliable and efficient property manager can make all the difference in the success of your rental properties. Here are a few key traits I've found important, but I'd love to hear your insights and experiences: • - Communication Skills • - Organizational Abilities • - Knowledge of the Local Market. • - Problem-Solving Skills • - Proactive Maintenance • - Financial Management What other qualities do you think are essential for a property manager? Have you had any experiences, good or bad, that highlight the importance of certain traits? Looking forward to your responses!

Great question! As both a property management professional and an investor, I can attest that the qualities you’ve mentioned are spot on. I'd like to add a few more traits that I've found crucial for a property manager to truly stand out: • 1. Integrity and Transparency: Trust is the foundation of any good relationship, especially between a property manager and a property owner. A property manager who is honest and transparent about both the good and the bad situations that arise can help build long-term trust and avoid unpleasant surprises. • 2. Tenant Relations: A property manager with excellent tenant management skills can reduce turnover and increase tenant satisfaction. This includes handling tenant issues with empathy, maintaining open communication, and ensuring that tenants feel valued and respected. • 3. Adaptability and Tech Savviness: The property management industry is rapidly evolving with new technologies and tools. A property manager who stays current with industry trends, leverages property management software, and adapts quickly to changes can offer a competitive edge. • 4. Legal Knowledge: Understanding local, state, and federal laws is essential. A great property manager ensures compliance with all relevant regulations, which helps to mitigate risk for the property owner. • 5. Negotiation Skills: Whether it’s negotiating leases, handling vendor contracts, or resolving disputes, strong negotiation skills can make a significant difference in operational efficiency and cost savings. In my experience, a property manager who excels in these areas not only helps protect your investment but also maximizes its profitability. I’ve encountered managers who were fantastic in most areas but lacked in one or two key traits, and that was enough to impact the performance of the property. Conversely, I’ve seen property managers who excel in all these areas, and the difference they make is night and day. •

#1. Agree, Clear, consistent communication that is transparent and proactive, answer the questions before they ask it. And not just email communication, phone, if they call, answer. They want to speak to someone a lot of the time, a phone call is worth a 1000 words. #2 Repair Management, tracking expenses, following up with outstanding work orders, ensuring work completed with photos by vendors, notifying owners when there is a repair request by the tenant and track the time it takes from work order to completion, track the amount of repairs to a home at end of year so owner can see those expenses and try to get them on service contracts and off home warranties.

I self manage my units so my views are more related to the actual work of property management rather than communicating results to property owners. The most important factor in successful property management is not a personal quality or trait, it's having EFFECTIVE processes in place to support the business. Assuming effective processes are in place. The qualities and traits of an outstanding property managers are: 1) A direct communication style. --comunicating information in a manner that leaves no ambiguity regarding planned or expected actions--seeking (requiring) clear unambiguous answers or responses,--documenting agreements in writing. --Following up on actions and commitments: 2) a service mindset which is demonstrated by providing --a quality tenant experience. --strong financial results for property owners.

We try to tell our staff to treat the owners money like it is your money. Don't waste money if we can help it. It's not a hotel, the houses won't be perfect (unless it's new construction or luxury).

Newbies don't care about any of this. Even if they say they do, their actions speak louder than their words! Many of them mistakenly believe all PMCs are the same, so they usually just go with the cheapest PMC. So, price is all that's important to them.

Communication is the # 1 issue. Owners are ok, not happy lol but ok with paying for items and issues, just want to understand what's going on. let me add, and execution.

As a multifamily investor who rely heavily on PM, and who has been burnt by dubious PM, @Stephanie Michael response above reflect perfect my view of what makes a good PM. Inherent within these five qualities is the good communication skill. To this, I'll also add knowledge of the local rental market.

@Drew Sygit Sure, I'll bite. hah! To onboard? I've seen newbie owners step over dollars to pick up pennies. For sure. To maintain their business after a year or two? Referrals? To be considered a "good property manager" like the topic says? Not so.

What do you think makes a good property manager?

Managing Your Property

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What do you think makes a good property manager?

Nina Penuela

Property Manager · Florence, AL · Member since 2024 · 34 posts · 17 votes

Hello BP!

I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on what qualities and skills make a property manager truly stand out. Whether you're an experienced investor or just starting, having a reliable and efficient property manager can make all the difference in the success of your rental properties.

Here are a few key traits I've found important, but I'd love to hear your insights and experiences:

- Communication Skills
- Organizational Abilities
- Knowledge of the Local Market.
- Problem-Solving Skills
- Proactive Maintenance
- Financial Management

What other qualities do you think are essential for a property manager? Have you had any experiences, good or bad, that highlight the importance of certain traits?

Looking forward to your responses!

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Adam BartomeoBusiness Member

Real Estate Broker · Cape Coral, FL · Member since 2015 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes

Almost everyone said communication and although, communication is important it is NOT #1! I am actually pretty surprised at the answers here. It's no wonder so many people get taken advantage of...

1. Integrity - Hands down is the #1 quality. Even if they are not communicating you can be assured that they are doing the right thing, the right way.

2. Execution - Execution is the reason you hire a PM in the first place, you don't hire them because of their communication skills. You hire them to execute with revenues and expenses. If a PM has integrity and is getting the job done, then there is very little to communicate about.

3. Communication - This is the #1 complaint about PMs throughout the US BUT if you really dig into the complaints then you will understand why the PM isn't communicating. The PM's aren't communicating because they aren't doing #1 and #2!

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Michael Sexton
King of Prussia, PA · Member since 2024 · 1 post · 0 votes
2y
Alot of good responses in this thread! Communication is very clearly #1, based on responses but also my own personal belief. The role of a PM is to be your partner in managing your property, good partners communicate to each other constantly & never leave the other party in the dark. Some owners want to be more hands off, some are more hands on, both routes are fine, but it's the PM's job to understand that. Our clients trust us to do the right thing, not because we simply ask them to trust us, but that trust is earned through our actions
I think a lot comes down to experience when choosing the right PM for you. In my experience, why we are chosen in our market comes down to the reputation we have built for ourselves. This starts by doing right by the customer & delivering on what we say we will do. Does the PM have the staffing required to run effectively? Are they able to provide reporting in a timely manner? What are the processes in place for tenants to report an issue to them? Are they able to get the job done even when dealing with an unruley tenant?
Ultimately, choosing the right PM comes down to figuring out what your own specific goals are and then aligning those goal with the right PM. Most of my clients bring us on to fine tune their existing properties/processes, but also to help them scale their business by helping them buy time back by offloading the management responsibilities.
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Jerry AgbonPro Member
Raleigh, NC · Member since 2015 · 40 posts · 19 votes
2y
Quote from @Stephanie Michael:
Great question! As both a property management professional and an investor, I can attest that the qualities you’ve mentioned are spot on. I'd like to add a few more traits that I've found crucial for a property manager to truly stand out:

1. Integrity and Transparency: Trust is the foundation of any good relationship, especially between a property manager and a property owner. A property manager who is honest and transparent about both the good and the bad situations that arise can help build long-term trust and avoid unpleasant surprises.
2. Tenant Relations: A property manager with excellent tenant management skills can reduce turnover and increase tenant satisfaction. This includes handling tenant issues with empathy, maintaining open communication, and ensuring that tenants feel valued and respected.
3. Adaptability and Tech Savviness: The property management industry is rapidly evolving with new technologies and tools. A property manager who stays current with industry trends, leverages property management software, and adapts quickly to changes can offer a competitive edge.
4. Legal Knowledge: Understanding local, state, and federal laws is essential. A great property manager ensures compliance with all relevant regulations, which helps to mitigate risk for the property owner.
5. Negotiation Skills: Whether it’s negotiating leases, handling vendor contracts, or resolving disputes, strong negotiation skills can make a significant difference in operational efficiency and cost savings.

In my experience, a property manager who excels in these areas not only helps protect your investment but also maximizes its profitability. I’ve encountered managers who were fantastic in most areas but lacked in one or two key traits, and that was enough to impact the performance of the property. Conversely, I’ve seen property managers who excel in all these areas, and the difference they make is night and day.
As a multifamily investor who rely heavily on PM, and who has been burnt by dubious PM, @Stephanie Michael response above reflect perfect my view of what makes a good PM. Inherent within these five qualities is the good communication skill. To this, I'll also add knowledge of the local rental market.
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Bob S.
Real Estate Consultant · Cleveland · Member since 2020 · 6k+ posts · 3k+ votes
2y
Communicating is #!
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Gino BarbaroPro Member
Rental Property Investor · St Augustine, FL · Member since 2014 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
2y
@Nina Penuela
Great list. I would add Emotional Intelligence. They are dealing with people's lives, personal effects. They need to know how to have difficult conversations, yet be firm when they need to be.
The focus needs to be on delivering superior customer service, and to be able to work with the maintenance team.

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Jake KnightPro Member
Property Manager · Indianapolis · Member since 2017 · 303 posts · 146 votes
2y
Quote from @Nina Penuela:
Hello BP!

I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on what qualities and skills make a property manager truly stand out. Whether you're an experienced investor or just starting, having a reliable and efficient property manager can make all the difference in the success of your rental properties.

Here are a few key traits I've found important, but I'd love to hear your insights and experiences:

- Communication Skills
- Organizational Abilities
- Knowledge of the Local Market.
- Problem-Solving Skills
- Proactive Maintenance
- Financial Management

What other qualities do you think are essential for a property manager? Have you had any experiences, good or bad, that highlight the importance of certain traits?

Looking forward to your responses!
This is a great list and it goes along with communication but transparency is paramount. I would also add fiduciary to the list.
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Twannisha Jackson
Rental Property Investor · Cleves · Member since 2023 · 132 posts · 82 votes
2y
honesty (just be real, good or bad).
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