How to manage out of state property with no manager

[Jolene Blackbourn]

I purchased a house a few months ago.  Since that time the manager has not communicated with me, my tenants had no central air all summer and I didn't know and there were many other issues.  My property manager quit last week.  I apologized to the tenants and said let's start over as of 9/1.  They owe me back rent and are angry about the repairs that I didn't know about so I think we are pretty even.  They have decided today to move out and break the lease.  It's already such a mess that I'm happy to get them out and start over.  But I'm not sure how to do a post move out inspection or get a new tenant in!  I'm half a country away!  I just paid for a year of BP and Avail and would hate to see that money go to waste.  I hated the property manager so not sure I want to try a new one.  How do you show a property to a prospective tenant from out of state?  How do you do all this back and forth in between stuff from out of state?  I'm in CA and the house is in KY.

[Michael Smythe]

@Jolene Blackbourn What screening process did you use before hiring this PMC?

Encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others - by reading posts here on BiggerPockets about owners not having their expectations met by their current Property Management Company.

To avoid going through the same poor experience, keep reading.

Even if someone give you a referral, don’t make the mistake of assuming that PMC will meet your expectations, just because they met the expectations of the referral source.

We also can’t believe how many owners hire the first PMC they speak with!

Then they complain their expectations aren’t being met!

In our experience, the #1 mistake owners make when selecting a Property Management Company (PMC) is ASSUMING instead of CONFIRMING.

It's often a case of not doing enough research, as they don't know what they don't know!

Owners mistakenly ASSUME all PMCs offer the exact SAME SERVICES and PERFORM those services EXACTLY THE SAME WAY, so price is the only differentiator – and they often select the first PMC they call!

So, the first question they usually ask a PMC is about fees - instead of asking about services and HOW those services are executed.

EXAMPLE: PMC states they will handle tenant screening – what does that specifically mean? What documents do they require, what credit scores do they allow, how do they verify previous rental history, etc.? You’d be shocked by how little actual screening many PMC’s do!

This also leads owners to ASSUME simpler is better when it comes to management contracts.

The reality is the opposite - if it's not in writing then the PMC doesn't have to provide the service or can charge extra for it!

We have a 14-page management contract that we've added our real experiences to over the years, with the intent of protecting both us AND the landlord. Beyond the Monthly Management, Placement & Maintenance fees, all other fees in our contract are IF EVENT -> THEN fees.

We don’t know any PMCs to recommend in the area mentioned, but since selecting the wrong PMC is usually more harmful than selecting a bad tenant, you might want to read our series about “How to Screen a PMC Better than a Tenant”:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/3094/91877-how-to-screen-a-pmc-better-than-a-tenant-part-1-services-and-processes

We recommend you get management contracts from several PMCs and compare the services they cover and, more importantly, what they each DO NOT cover.

EDUCATE YOURSELF - yes, it will take time, but will lead to a selection that better meets your expectations & avoids potentially costly surprises!

P.S. If you just hire the cheapest or first PMC you speak with and it turns into a bad experience, please don’t assume ALL PMC’s are bad and start trashing PMC’s in general. Take ownership of your mistake and learn to do the proper due diligence recommended above😊