Hunting Down A Property Manager: When To Abandon The Chase

So, you’re in the market for a property manager and you are being diligent about interviewing at least three candidates. The trouble is, only one of them has bothered to return your phone calls. What do you do? Well, you’re determined to get your interviews, so you keep calling and leaving messages. But, after a few rounds of this, if you’re like me, you are getting a little frustrated. At this point, I recommend giving up the chase and finding new prospects. Here’s why.

If someone is too busy, too unorganized, too unmotivated or whatever the reason may be that they can’t pick up the phone and return your telephone call, then, do you really want them to be working for you? If you’re frustrated before the relationship begins, don’t expect it to be any different once you’ve hired them.

When you interview a property manager to see if they are the one you want to entrust your investments to, the hiring process is about a lot more than how they will answer your questions when you finally get them on the phone. Their speed of response to your initial inquiry is a first test. If they don’t respond to you quickly, is it likely that they will respond any faster to potential tenant calls expressing interest in one of your properties that is sitting vacant and costing you money? If they don’t seem organized or motivated enough to call you back promptly from the very beginning, what makes you think they will respond promptly to tenant issues once they have secured your business?

While there may occasionally be a legitimate reason for someone not returning your call in a timely fashion, this should be a rare exception, and not the rule. From my experience, there is no good reason for people in business to neglect this most crucial of follow-up skills. If they lack this, it does not speak well for the rest of their business, and you should bring your business elsewhere.

Until my next post,

James

P.S. Did you know you can get over 100 real estate courses to download, live on-going training and consulting sessions as a Real Estate Investor Bronze Member?

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