Out-of-state investor: Am I the weirdo for wanting my PM to follow the PMA?

Question

Hey BP,

Out-of-state investor here looking for a quick reality check from seasoned remote landlords and PMs.

My wife and I really try to treat our property managers like partners - the last thing we want is to micromanage or insert ourselves into the nuanced business of property management. Lately, though, with one PM in particular, we keep running into friction over what feel like basic ground rules:

• Ignoring approval limits: Our PMA requires written approval over certain thresholds. They recently dispatched and billed an 'over-the-limit' HVAC repair with zero heads-up or emergency notice.
• Not enforcing the lease they wrote: They just signed a new tenant to a lease that puts lawn care and pest control on the resident. When I asked to drop our paid lawn vendor for that side, they pushed back saying "99% of our multi-family owners pay for lawn care"—and suggested I buy the tenant a shed for a mower if I actually wanted them to do it.
• Zero visibility & slow comms: We don't know a work order exists until it hits our monthly statement. It takes days to get an email response, and—I just checked our history—they have never actually answered the phone or returned a call since June.

Ignoring approval limits: Our PMA requires written approval over certain thresholds. They recently dispatched and billed an 'over-the-limit' HVAC repair with zero heads-up or emergency notice.

Not enforcing the lease they wrote: They just signed a new tenant to a lease that puts lawn care and pest control on the resident. When I asked to drop our paid lawn vendor for that side, they pushed back saying "99% of our multi-family owners pay for lawn care"—and suggested I buy the tenant a shed for a mower if I actually wanted them to do it.

Zero visibility & slow comms: We don't know a work order exists until it hits our monthly statement. It takes days to get an email response, and—I just checked our history—they have never actually answered the phone or returned a call since June.

I get that managing small multi-family properties is messy and reactive. Be honest with me: Am I the weirdo for expecting the PMA and the executed lease to actually be followed?

I know plenty of folks will say this is just an assumed risk of out-of-state investing, and I don't disagree—but frankly, it's 2026. The tools exist for at least the communication side of this relationship to work better.

For those of you managing remotely—or running a PM shop—how do you handle this? Have you successfully "reset" expectations with a drifting PM, or are these red flags that mean it’s time to start shopping for a new manager?

Appreciate any candid advice!

James Jones · Answer

No, you are not the weirdo. The agreement is the deal, and a property manager who rewrites the lease, ignores a written approval limit, and will not return a call since June is not a partner. I run 236 doors in Memphis with an in-house team at Memphis Passive handling leasing, maintenance, and collections, and the same rule applies inside our own shop: what is written down is what happens, and every change gets documented. A $250 surprise bill is not about $250. It is the sign that the next one will be bigger and you will find out later. Give it to them in writing, once, with a clear deadline. If the lease and the approval limit are not followed after that, replace the manager. Your numbers only work if the team running them follows the plan.

John Cafarelli · Answer

Hi Travis, no, expecting the written agreement and the signed lease to be followed is not micromanaging. For an out-of-state owner, those documents are the main way to know what should happen when no one can check in person.

One helpful step is to ask for a simple system that makes compliance easy to check. Experienced landlords often ask for a copy of each work order when it is opened, not only when it appears on the monthly statement, with the amount, the vendor, and whether approval was required. That way, an approval limit is tested before the work is done, rather than discovered after the invoice arrives.

The same approach helps with the lease. If the signed lease says one thing about lawn care or pest control and the manager's practice is different, ask for the discrepancy to be put in writing, with the lease clause cited, and for any change to be made as a formal amendment rather than by habit. That protects both sides and avoids confusion at renewal.

Finally, agree on a short monthly check: work orders opened, amounts over the approval limit, and any lease terms that were not followed. If that record stays empty for a few months, the system is working.

Jim Johnson · Answer

You're not being unreasonable. There's a difference between micromanaging a PM and expecting them to follow the agreement you both signed. The HVAC repair might have been urgent, but they should still be able to explain why approval wasn't obtained. And the lawn care issue should've been addressed before the lease was signed, not after.

I'd give them one opportunity to get things back on track with clear expectations around approvals and communication. But if they're consistently ignoring the PMA and you can't even get a returned phone call, that's a pretty good reason to start interviewing other managers.

Alim Abrahim · Answer

Travis, if you’re the weirdo, it should go both ways. Ask your manager the same question: would they settle for 80% of their fee, since they’re only following about 80% of the PMA? I doubt they’d call that reasonable either.

The agreement is the job description. Approval limits, the lease they wrote, returning calls: those aren’t extras, they’re what the fee pays for. A written reset is the right first step, and if they push back on following their own documents, you have your answer.

For what it’s worth, the owners of our operation here in OKC after having owned property all around the country for a couple of decades, eventually fired the PMs that were underperforming and built their own management company, just so they could build the culture and protect owners’ assets the way they felt owners deserve.

You’re asking for exactly what that’s supposed to look like.

Marc Winter · Answer

Sounds like you got very good advice from the previous posters!
The current manager broke rules, and broke faith. The operative word here to move forward is "NEXT!" Move on to better management, and good luck.

Dan Worth · Answer

Travis, you're not the weirdo; an approval limit only means something if they ask before going over it. I'd send one written email that lists each issue next to the PMA section it falls under, then ask for three specific fixes: work orders in an owner portal or emailed when they're opened, a heads-up before anything over the limit, and either enforcing the lawn and pest terms in the lease they wrote or a lease addendum that changes them. Give it 30 days, and use that time to reread the termination clause and quietly interview one or two other managers, so if nothing changes you can move without scrambling.

Leo Stein · Answer

Thanks for laying out the operator side, Drew. Your distinction between an emergency that makes advance notice difficult and the need to update the owner afterward is useful. I can also see why automatic alerts can create noise before the PM has context. Publishing the work order once the facts are known, with the invoice and before-and-after photos when available, gives the owner visibility without making them guess. I appreciate the candid perspective.

Drew Sygit · Answer

You're right it's not easy managing rentals in general.

That doesn't excuse bad behavior though.

• Ignoring approval limits: Our PMA requires written approval over certain thresholds. They recently dispatched and billed an 'over-the-limit' HVAC repair with zero heads-up or emergency notice.It can be difficult to immediately alert an owner about an emergency repair, but there's no excuse to NOT update an owner at all.
• It can be difficult to immediately alert an owner about an emergency repair, but there's no excuse to NOT update an owner at all.
• Not enforcing the lease they wrote: They just signed a new tenant to a lease that puts lawn care and pest control on the resident. When I asked to drop our paid lawn vendor for that side, they pushed back saying "99% of our multi-family owners pay for lawn care"—and suggested I buy the tenant a shed for a mower if I actually wanted them to do it.Going to attribute this to an "honest" error. We do NOT make our tenants in 2+ unit properties responsible for lawn maintenance - even is side-by-side units. Besides nowhere to store their lawnmower, it leads to uneven maintenance between tenants. The PMC should just admit this mistake, but don't expect them to eat the cutting bill.
• Going to attribute this to an "honest" error. We do NOT make our tenants in 2+ unit properties responsible for lawn maintenance - even is side-by-side units. Besides nowhere to store their lawnmower, it leads to uneven maintenance between tenants. The PMC should just admit this mistake, but don't expect them to eat the cutting bill.
• Zero visibility & slow comms: We don't know a work order exists until it hits our monthly statement. It takes days to get an email response, and—I just checked our history—they have never actually answered the phone or returned a call since June.FYI we hear this OFTEN from owners interviewing us to find a new PMC, we don't understand why (1) PMCs think this is acceptable (2) Owners tolerate it! We used to have our management software set to alert owners as soon as a WO was created. We turned that off years ago because owners were contacting us with questions before we even had a chance to figure out what was going on. It is our standard procedure though, to publish a WO to an owner as soon as possible. The human element of this means there will be mistakes, but they do NOT occur often. Going to guess you also do not regularly receive a detailed invoice to support the WO charges? Also no Before & After pics?
• FYI we hear this OFTEN from owners interviewing us to find a new PMC, we don't understand why (1) PMCs think this is acceptable (2) Owners tolerate it! We used to have our management software set to alert owners as soon as a WO was created. We turned that off years ago because owners were contacting us with questions before we even had a chance to figure out what was going on. It is our standard procedure though, to publish a WO to an owner as soon as possible. The human element of this means there will be mistakes, but they do NOT occur often.
• Going to guess you also do not regularly receive a detailed invoice to support the WO charges? Also no Before & After pics?

Ignoring approval limits: Our PMA requires written approval over certain thresholds. They recently dispatched and billed an 'over-the-limit' HVAC repair with zero heads-up or emergency notice.

• It can be difficult to immediately alert an owner about an emergency repair, but there's no excuse to NOT update an owner at all.

It can be difficult to immediately alert an owner about an emergency repair, but there's no excuse to NOT update an owner at all.

Not enforcing the lease they wrote: They just signed a new tenant to a lease that puts lawn care and pest control on the resident. When I asked to drop our paid lawn vendor for that side, they pushed back saying "99% of our multi-family owners pay for lawn care"—and suggested I buy the tenant a shed for a mower if I actually wanted them to do it.

• Going to attribute this to an "honest" error. We do NOT make our tenants in 2+ unit properties responsible for lawn maintenance - even is side-by-side units. Besides nowhere to store their lawnmower, it leads to uneven maintenance between tenants. The PMC should just admit this mistake, but don't expect them to eat the cutting bill.

Going to attribute this to an "honest" error. We do NOT make our tenants in 2+ unit properties responsible for lawn maintenance - even is side-by-side units. Besides nowhere to store their lawnmower, it leads to uneven maintenance between tenants. The PMC should just admit this mistake, but don't expect them to eat the cutting bill.

Zero visibility & slow comms: We don't know a work order exists until it hits our monthly statement. It takes days to get an email response, and—I just checked our history—they have never actually answered the phone or returned a call since June.

• FYI we hear this OFTEN from owners interviewing us to find a new PMC, we don't understand why (1) PMCs think this is acceptable (2) Owners tolerate it! We used to have our management software set to alert owners as soon as a WO was created. We turned that off years ago because owners were contacting us with questions before we even had a chance to figure out what was going on. It is our standard procedure though, to publish a WO to an owner as soon as possible. The human element of this means there will be mistakes, but they do NOT occur often.
• Going to guess you also do not regularly receive a detailed invoice to support the WO charges? Also no Before & After pics?

FYI we hear this OFTEN from owners interviewing us to find a new PMC, we don't understand why (1) PMCs think this is acceptable (2) Owners tolerate it!
We used to have our management software set to alert owners as soon as a WO was created. We turned that off years ago because owners were contacting us with questions before we even had a chance to figure out what was going on. It is our standard procedure though, to publish a WO to an owner as soon as possible. The human element of this means there will be mistakes, but they do NOT occur often.

Going to guess you also do not regularly receive a detailed invoice to support the WO charges? Also no Before & After pics?

Failing on two out of 3 of the above issues is enough to give them written notice you will not tolerate and to start looking for a new PMC as a backup if they do not improve.

Leo Stein · Answer

Thanks, Travis. A documented reset sounds like a fair next step, especially since you see this as a process gap and not a reason to assume bad intent. I’d keep the request narrow: cite the approval clause, ask for work-order visibility and a clear emergency exception, then agree on a contact and response window. If the software can send an alert when a work order opens, that could help; even without it, a short written update should be part of the workflow. Not legal advice.

Travis Cooke · Answer

Hi Leo. Thank you for this wisdom. I'll try the documented reset, none of us are perfect after all, sometimes we all need a little 'realignment.' I suppose what matters is how they respond. Thank you again.

Out-of-state investor: Am I the weirdo for wanting my PM to follow the PMA?

Out-of-state investor: Am I the weirdo for wanting my PM to follow the PMA?

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