Managing Tenants Repairs

[Jason Rector]

I currently have 7 rentals in a centralized area for around 2 years with no tenant turnover. I do all the property management myself (10% is outrageous) and I am finding that working with tenant request for repairs to be a little challenging.

Say I have 2 tenants which report an issue. One reports the breaker keeps flipping and another reports the garbage disposal stopped working. Typically I will contact my electrician for the first issue and contact my plumber for the second issue. I will call each profession, whom I work with on a regular basis, and give them the tenant's contact information to schedule a time to work on the repair. Because I'm not involved with the actual repair, I have to rely on both the professional telling me what was replaced/fixed, and the tenant confirming that their issue was fixed appropriately.

What can I do to help improve communication between myself, the professional, and the tenant? How do property managers typically manage repair requests from many tenants to make sure everything is done in a timely manner?

[Michael Hayworth]

I disagree with both the responses above. You'll never be able to grow your book of business if you're doing everything yourself. But in the same way, you're spending too much money if you're calling a specialist tradesperson for everything.

You really need to do one of two things:

1) Find a property manager who'll do it for 7-8%. They're out there for people with multiple properties to manage.

- OR -

2) Find a decent handyman who can handle most general purpose repairs. Make him your one call when anything goes wrong, let him evaluate it, and then only if it's beyond his capabilities, pull in a specialist. Not only will he save you money because handymen are cheaper than electricians and plumbers, but he'll also become familiar with the properties as he's in each one from time to time and can give you feedback on how things are looking at each place.