First Rental - first situation

[Amer Mallah]

Hi, I'm looking for some other opinions on this situation we (my wife and I) have found ourselves in.

We discovered BiggerPockets just under a year ago and have been steadily listening to every podcast. We were inspired to rent our first home instead of sell it. 

So, it has taken us a long time to get this point, but we decided start with a Property Management company. The one we found was very professional, seemed to have experience in the area. They met us at the property, had a bunch of suggestions and ideas, we had already spent a big sum before we even spoke to them in renovations preparing for rental and hit our budget and asked them to start the search.

They found a tenant who was willing to move in. The tenant asked for a 10% rent reduction for the first year in exchange for handling some of the unfinished work, which is fine for us, (it would still be cash flow positive). On the lease signing day, the PM company said the tenant didn't show up, which we just viewed as an opportunity to continue to work on the house and no big deal.

Then, we get a call out of the blue directly from the potential tenant who made a really strong case about how they'd be a great tenant, how much they loved the property and wanted to be there long term - it was close to many excellent public schools (walking distance to a great K-5), but they really had a huge problem with the responsiveness and communication of the Property Manager and felt that they blew the deal by not showing up at other agreed upon times and just general flakiness.

The thing is, this is our first rental and we don't know what to expect from the Property Management company, but the criticism on the responsiveness and availability does ring true for us, many emails have gone unanswered (we've had better luck on the phone). Maybe I'm expecting too much in terms of response to emails, ideally I'd like to see all emails answered in less than one business day, but my expectation could be too high and I just don't know. That being said, the PM did do their job of screening and finding a tenant. 

On one hand, I think it's a salvageable situation. The PM should obviously be motivated to do a good job and I'm sure will work to resolve any issues, if not, then they would lose our business. The tenant and us, as the owners, have a longer term stake in it - am I looking at it incorrectly?

I don't just want to jump to any conclusions. I'd love to hear some more experienced buy and hold people weigh in on this. 

Thank you guys!

[Amy E.]

Hard to say who to believe, did the PM lie and not meet the tenant?  Did the tenant lie and flake on the meeting?  Or was it just a miscommunication (which I would blame on the PM, because that's their main job).

If you want to stick with the PM, then you need to sit down and have a discussion about communication.  Be specific and say things like, "If I email or phone or text, I epxect a response within 1 business day", etc.  And, by the way, I do not think that is unreasonable.  I try to respond to my tenants the same business day, even if its just to let them know I can't resolve the issue that day but am working on it.  My gut feeling is that if YOUR emails and calls have been un-retunred or they have been slow to respond, the tenant is likely telling the truth.  Additionally, it is concerning the tenant knew how to contact you.  The point of having a PM is that you don't get called....

Personally, if this is your first and only rental, I would manage it myself and fire the PM. Worse case, you have the tenants from hell and you learn a lot. Best case, the PM did their job and got you a great tenant through their screening who is someone you can easily manage yourself.