Turn-key/PM companies and tenant reviews

[Alex Corral]

Since everything can be researched now a days. I have been researching a lot of tenant reviews regarding TK and their PM companies.

Would a lot of bad reviews by tenants concern you as far as choosing a TK/PM partner? Seems to me, it would have a large turnover rate, and if there is a common complaint (ie bad finish in the property, lack of response by the PM).

I know we all aren't perfect. I work in the insurance industry and try very hard to keep people happy, but it's not always the case. But, we do not have a long list of similar complaints, so it makes me worry about picking a TK company with a large number of tenant complaints.

[James Wise]

@Alex Corral When looking at tenants reviews/complaints another thing you need to factor in is that the Property Management Company is oftentimes the only business they have interacted with that has told them "no". I don't think there are any Property Management Companies out there with mostly positive tenant reviews. They are typically negative. It's just how this business works.

A Property Management Company has to treat everyone fair but at the end of the day a Property Management Company is in the middle of two opposing sides. The owner of the property & the tenant. In almost every situation the Property Management Company needs to make a decision that will make one of these opposing sides happy & the other a little upset. As an owner of a property do you want to be the happy one or the upset one? Of course you as the owner wants to be the happy one & the Property Management Company has a fiduciary responsibility to you as the owner, not to the tenant. So that's where the "no's" start to come into play. Tenants do not like the word "no".

They go to Applebees or WalMart where the "customer is always right". They lodge a complaint about any little thing & are rewarded with a monetary item, typically a comped meal or gift card. They try to take that same concept to their Property Management Company & they are hit with a "no." They are often very confused about this and end up angry trying to go up the chain of command until someone gives them something for free. When they realize they are out of rope you then start to see negative posts.