When/if to look into a new Property Manager?

Question

Just curious when would be a good time to start looking elsewhere in regards to a new Property Manager. My property (purchased in February), a 4-plex in Sacramento, was vacant to begin with and has not had any luck in aquiring tenants and I'm not sure if it's due to in part to a lazy PM or said PM with too much on their plate to put much attention to my property. I live in another country and was referred this PM by my Real Estate agent who I worked with to get the property.

After researching the PM, I noticed a "rip-off report" with this person, however that was on the disgruntled renter side and not the owner side. I'm starting to think about shopping around for a new Property Manager and was wondering if I could potentially black ball myself within the Property Management world or if it is even worth the hassle to change PM's as how much value added do they really provide when the property is vacant to begin with?

Does anyone have any experience with this?

Arjun K. · Answer

I really like that observation on "adequately responsive".  That's basically what i have now.  But I do not have time to manage my property manager... make sure they give 30 day notices on time, do not extend leases to month-to-month, etc.  I think tenants like them and they are responsive to tenants, but that is not enough..

Blair Murphy · Answer

Thanks everyone for the replies. I really appreciate it! The property is/has been rent-ready and I keep in touch with the PM on regular weekly to bi-weekly basis to touch base (email). I have family in the area who are able to be my eyes and ears for me and we're all starting to get the feeling that we need to look elsewhere. I'll be visiting the property in the Summer to get a look for myself.

Phillip Dwyer · Answer

Sounds like either a property condition issue, poor marketing, incorrect rent pricing, or a combination of all three. If you haven't done so already, there's a property manager interview questionare you can download from the files on BP.  I also think if the property manager isn't interviewing you as a prospective client as well, this is an indication he/she will work with anyone. You want a pm that is picky on what types of property they will manage and who they will work with.

Lynn McGeein · Answer

Really like how you phrased that -- "adequately responsive" describes our old PM perfectly, and easier to get stuck there than with the really bad ones who you can usually weed out right away.  Good clue for anyone out there making this decision, because there are very good property managers out there, and settling will cost you in the long run.

Jeremiah B. · Answer

I had a similar experience recently - though I was fortunate enough to be in-town.

The PM is a nice guy who was adequately responsive; and we tried to be nice and patient, and made the mistake of staying with him longer than we should (vacant for 4 months).  However, the questionable management that we saw when the place was vacant continued and they made several mistakes - including one major mistake on the lease.  All told, we figure that the poor management cost us ~4K.

We fired him last week.

IMO - you MUST trust your PM to do right by you.  If you don't - it's probably time to move on.

Kyle J. · Answer

Definitely start looking for a new PM right away.  Like yesterday.  That is a ridiculously long time to wait to fill a rent-ready property.  Have you actually had the chance to see the property to confirm there isn't anything wrong with it?

Lynn McGeein · Answer

Finding new property management was very difficult for us with our out of state property.  Not sure how often you plan to come and inspect the property yourself, but it would be well worth it to see for yourself what the issues really are, maybe narrow down options for new management online through email and phone, then personally interview them while you're in town.  We had a home that usually rented very quickly but under our first PM was still vacant for 2 months after paying her people to turn it over (first time we didn't do it ourselves).  We flew in from the west coast for a wedding, drove down to check on it while we were there, and found that nothing had been done (and she knew we were coming to inspect!).  We stayed in town and cleaned, hired a painter because the one she hired "touched up" by leaving patches of another color all over the walls, drove a trunk load full of food (open cereal boxes, pasta, food left in fridge, etc.) then another full of trash to a dumpster, replaced a missing bedroom door that never got deducted from the security deposit of the last tenant.  It rented very quickly after that.  It took us about 3 months to find new property management, and it was well worth the effort.

Matt Devincenzo · Answer

Is this property rent ready? if so and they haven't been able to get a tenant for 3-4 months now I'd say it was time to look for a new PM about 2 months ago.

What kind of communication have you had with your PM up until this point? I know when I first start with a tenant sometimes it has taken 6-8 weeks for the payments from the PM to start getting sent to me just because of the initial delay of starting things up. Or if the PM is holding some rent to maintain a maintenance reserve which I do for my IRA held properties to make paying for items easier later.

But if your PM has been in contact with you and their response has just been they can't find anyone, then I'd say you need to have moved on already.