When I go through this process, and especially when I did it for the first time, I had a list of questions to help me find out not just what the fees were but how the company handled certain situations, like eviction, security deposit, repairs, reporting, inspections, etc.
While all these questions need to be asked, I also try to not be a robot about the process since I want to get to know the person a little better during the discussion. During one PM interview everyone got a good laugh when I inquired about how they do their eviction process. The PM answered the question and I followed up with, but what if this happened...you know always playing the devils advocate. The PM gave an answer that was "matter-of-fact" for the consequences of the tenant but it was how the PM said it that made us laugh. It lightened up the conversation because it was something that everyone shared in rather than just one side asking questions and the other side just giving answers.
If I'm interviewing over the phone then I can write down the answers and compare later. Once I was in the PM office on other business (they also are a realtor) so I got a chance to speak with the owner.
I didn't write anything down as it was an impromptu meeting. It was also because I wanted to focus on our conversation and keep the discussion fluid. Luckily I have a good memory and our conversation went well and I wrote the responses later when I had time to reflect.
In my comparisons, I had actually put them into an excel spreadsheet and color coded the cells green or red based on their answers. Yes, I did this the very 1st time I had to find a PM because I didn't know how else to come to a conclusion other than my gut feeling.
I'm sure there are other questions but these are my standard.
1- How long have you been in real estate?
2- How long have you been a property manager and do you have a agent/broker license?
3-What do you like about this job?
4-Is this your primary job?
5-How many employees do you have and what is the composition of the office (eg, will an owner be assigned one person they deal with or do you have several "managers" to handle the properties)
6-What are the number of properties that you currently manage?
7-What mix of properties do you manager, such as SFR, MFR, commercial?
8-Can you tell me what percentage of turnover of owners has been in the last 2-5 years? Owners that have left the service of the company.
9-Do you invest in property and if so, what types?
10-What is the vision of your company? Long term goals?
11-Of all the issues that you have dealt with in managing property, whether it was a tenant or owner, what was the worse situation and how was it handled?
12-What is your fee structure? (this is an open end question as the fee structure varies so much that I just flow with the answers to generate more questions on fees)
13-What reporting do you provide?
14-Is there an online owner portal?
15-How are contracts (leases) executed for the owner-tenant sign off? Is there an electronic means?
16-What minimum do you ask for repair escrow account?
17-Can you provide references?
18-Is there a penalty for terminating the PM/Owner contract?
19-How do you handle evictions?
20-Please explain your tenant screening process?
21-What inspections do you provide and are photos and property walk-through documented? (Prior tenant move-in, 6-month, tenant move-out...I look for this to be their answer)
22-For small repairs, are you using a person/company that is licensed or a "handyman"? ie if it's an electrical or plumbing issue, who is doing the work.
