Should You Have To Manage Your Property Manager?
I’ve written a lot about the importance of taking the time up front to prescreen your property manager to find one who has good follow through skills. That they possess adequate knowledge, of course is a prerequisite, but I emphasize that you really try to get a feel for how they run their business. Why? Because once you hire them, you really don’t want to have to manage them.
To a certain extent, you will be “managing” your property manager, but this activity should be limited to the following:
First, when you’ve just hired a new property manager. Your new property manager requires a little more attention from you to make sure that he or she is really the right person for the job. It just makes sense that you need to pay close attention in the beginning to make sure that they are getting the job done right. Now, “in the beginning” can be a little misleading, because, things may start off fine, and go smoothly for quite a while, but the real test may not come until the first non-payment or eviction comes up. When it comes time for the property manager to enforce the lease, you want to know that they are fair, yet firm. Your property manager should not be delaying evictions because they believe a tenant’s promise that they will pay in a week, etc.
Second, you will have occasional opportunities to check in with your property manager when certain things come up. For example, if you get a notice from the city about a violation on your property, you need to update your property manager about it so that they can take care of it. This is also a good chance to check in and see how things are going. You can ask about rental increases for upcoming lease renewals, questions about recent statements, inquiries on maintenance to be done/that’s been done, or about certain tenants who’ve been a problem in the past.
What you should not have to do is tell your property manager to start the eviction process for someone who is not paying rent. They should already be on it! You should not have to call your property manager every month to find out what is going on with your properties… they should be sending you timely statements on all of your properties and should communicate via email, telephone, fax or mail, regular updates on any non-paying tenants (regarding where they are in the eviction process or if they are one a payment plan, etc.). Lastly, your property manager should always be available to call you back within a reasonable amount of time. There is nothing more frustrating then having to chase down the person who is supposed to be working for you!
Until my next post,
James
P.S. Upgrade to our Real Estate Investor Bronze Membership to access all our property management and real estate investor training resources.
Related posts:
- Hiring A Property Manager So, you’ve decided to hire a property manager to make your investing business run a...
- Should You Use A Property Manager? If you look through some of the various deals that we have analyzed on our...
- How To Shop For A Property Manager NOTE: Resources linked below are for our Real Estate Investor Bronze Members that are logged...
- Document All Conversations With Your Property Manager I just added the Property Manager Communication Log for you to use to document all...
- Is Your Property Manager Doing His Job? Often times, you won’t really know if your property manager is doing his job until...
- Choosing a Property Manager: Weighing Experience and Resources An important thing to consider when hiring a property manager to take care of your...
- 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...
- Why Manage a Property When You Can Get a Professional To Do It This article was submitted to me for publication. While I do provide an extensive set...
- The Goal of Great Property Management: Reducing Vacancies If you own rental properties then you are probably familiar with all of the headaches...
- Beware Of These Tenants: Advice from A Property Manager Here is another great article submitted to us that I think you’ll really enjoy and...
