Hello everyone, could you please recommend a reliable and affordable property management company in Wake County/Raleigh area. I’m looking on recommendations based on personal experience, please.
It’s my first investment property so any tips are welcomed, regarding the monthly rates and other important things, or what to avoid for example. We are not living in the area so it feels like hiring a property management company would be the smartest decisions.
Thank you everyone very much for your replies and I hope you have an amazing week!
With 236 doors, I've hired and fired enough PMs to know what actually matters.
Ask: how many doors per manager (over 100-150 and service slips), average days vacant, do they mark up repairs (get this in writing), and what's the real fee. 8-10% plus a leasing fee is normal. Ask how they handle Section 8. If they don't know the inspection process, walk away.
Get two out-of-state owner references, plus ask for one owner who left them and why. That tells you more than any sales pitch.
Don't hire the cheapest. Hire the one with the tightest numbers. A bad PM costs you more in vacancy and deferred maintenance than their fee ever will.
First decision is local vs remote PM. A local PM has an office and crew in your market and can be at the unit within hours, which helps with showings, turns and inspections. A remote PM covers many markets through software and subcontracted vendors. Fees and reporting are often better, but they're only as good as their local vendors. One house in one market, I'd lean local; planning more markets, remote can scale.
Then vet either type:
Doors per manager (past ~100-150 service slips) and how many look like yours
Average days vacant and tenant retention
Two out-of-state owner references, plus one owner who left them and why
Who physically visits, vendor markup, and the repair approval limit ($300-500)
We’re a Property Management Company (PMC) in Metro Detroit ONLY, with 25+ years of experience, and we’ve seen owners make the same mistakes, over & over again when looking to hire a PMC – which drives us nuts!.
In our experience, the #1 mistake owners make is ASSUMING all PMCs offer the exact SAME SERVICES and PERFORM those services EXACTLY THE SAME WAY.
So, owners mistakenly think price is the only differentiator – and look for a PMC like they’d shop for groceries☹
We encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others by reading posts here on BiggerPockets from owners that picked a PMC solely by price and regretted it.
We recommend exploring as many sources as possible to get referrals AND cross-reference them to get as much accurate information as possible.
Check out NARPM.com, BP’s Property Manager Finder (), etc.
Even if someone gives you a referral, do NOT make the mistake of assuming that just because a PMC met their expectations, they’ll meet your expectations. We all have our own expectations and what works for someone else, may not work for you.
If you’re new to all of this, it's often a case of not doing enough research, as you don't know what you don't know!
So, ask more questions!
EXAMPLE: PMC states they will handle tenant screening – what does that specifically mean? What documents do they require, what credit scores do they allow, how do they verify previous rental history, etc.? You’d be shocked by how little actual screening many PMC’s do!
This also leads owners to ASSUME simpler is better when it comes to management contracts.
The reality is the opposite - if it's not in writing then the PMC doesn't have to provide the service or can charge extra for it!
A well written management contract should clearly spell out what is expected of both the PMC and the owner, to PROTECT both and avoid misunderstandings. Why do you think purchase contracts are so long and have such small print?
We recommend you get management contracts from several PMCs and compare the services they cover and, more importantly, what they each DO NOT cover.
EDUCATE YOURSELF - yes, it will take time, but will lead to a selection that better meets your expectations & avoids potentially costly surprises!
P.S. If you just hire the cheapest or first PMC you speak with and it turns into a bad experience, please don’t assume ALL PMC’s are bad and start trashing PMC’s in general. Take ownership of your mistake and learn to do the proper due diligence recommended above😊
Here’s some articles we’ve contributed to BiggerPockets about screening a PMC BETTER than you would a tenant!
With 236 doors, I've hired and fired enough PMs to know what actually matters.
Ask: how many doors per manager (over 100-150 and service slips), average days vacant, do they mark up repairs (get this in writing), and what's the real fee. 8-10% plus a leasing fee is normal. Ask how they handle Section 8. If they don't know the inspection process, walk away.
Get two out-of-state owner references, plus ask for one owner who left them and why. That tells you more than any sales pitch.
Don't hire the cheapest. Hire the one with the tightest numbers. A bad PM costs you more in vacancy and deferred maintenance than their fee ever will.
Local referrals matter. The money clauses matter more once the first repair hits your owner statement.
I'd ask for the management fee, leasing fee, and how vendor markups and trip charges show up in writing. Same for the dollar threshold before they spend without asking, what reserve they can hold, and whether every repair that hits the payout comes with an invoice attached. If late fees and admin fees aren't spelled out, they show up as mystery lines later.
For a first remote property, a clean monthly statement that ties to the bank deposit beats the cheapest percent. Read the fee schedule like you're reading a lease.
To a bunch of PMs, but unlike some of the comments on this thread asking general questions (like ChatGPT suggested them), I would ask them specific scenarios,
For example, what would they price your house at, what are the neighboring rentals priced at that actually leased at those prices, and what volume of inquires would cause them to lower the rent. We learned this the hard way on our own rentals and vacacy math on the rent roll. At $2k/mo, three extra weeks of vacancy would cost $1,400. An extra $100/mo would take 14 months to make up for in rent.
So now I spend way more time verifying the list price of the first home I come across than I used to. Listing a home slightly below comparable homes and then monitoring the resulting inquires is also super helpful to determine a higher list price before signing a rental contract. If you list high initially and then reduce the price later, your historical price drops are visible on listing sites for long periods of time and can create concerns with prospective renters as to why you would lower the price. Also, test the leasing line on an active listing and see if the person selling you the contract actually answers the phone or returns your call. If not, keep looking.
And try to talk to the actual person who would be the point of contact for you. Ask them questions, not the owner. The owner is usually way more experienced and is able to sell better.
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