Doing turnovers -- whats "standard" for property management?

Question

Hi all,

We are going through some challenges with our property management company and wanted to get some opinions on how turnovers are generally done. It is their policy that they wait until the tenant has moved out, then within 7 business days deliver a bid to us on what needs to be done to get the apartment ready for a new tenant, we sign this and then they get in their within a few days and do all the painting, floors, etc whatever is needed. THEN they will take pictures, advertise, and find a tenant.

The whole process seems insane to me. We're automatically having a 2 week vacancy just by having to wait, and then however long it takes to find a tenant. They won't negotiate on this policy and say it's standard practice. Is this true?

They claim you can't get an accurate bid for work until everything is moved out and you can't advertise it until the work is done because the condition of the apartment will be so much different. I get that, but I have shown apartments in the past telling the applicant all the work we plan to do and that has worked out fine.

Deanna McCormick · Answer

You will find your best tenant pool right away,, the tenants that wait till the last moment to move are usually not best.. people start looking 60 days out.. some even more if it's a desirable hot neighborhood..

It's your money your losing, and if you let your PM call the shots then your not the boss.

If you want to find out if they are properly advertising and trying to market your property have a friend / person shop them so you know how quickly they are willing to set appointment up to see the property..   Large apartment complexes shop their own employees / leasing agents so they know they are doing proper job from first phone call to showing, to application. and following fair housing laws..  Right now your PM is the boss.. not you.

Deanna McCormick · Answer

Is this for single family home or apartment.. I might understand a SFH taking a week but an apartment or condo NOPE>

Why isn't your PM advertising unit as soon as vacate notice is given. Doing a prelist of items that needed supplies are for to fix / replace. Honestly I've worked in apartment complexes with over 320 units,, we might have 15 to 20 turns a month.. and they were usually all 24 hour turns,, that's including some with carpet installs,, all had paint, maintenance check work, turn cleaning and carpet shampoo if needed.  You need to lay down the law and get a handle on why your being put off.

We would list apartment available as soon as notice was given, tenant was notified at notice apartment would be shown with 24 hour notice, they didn't need to be home and we rarely had any issues.. yes some were trashed and we had to put off till they vacated but this was rare. We didn't lose much on vacancy turns,, our occupancy was usually 99 to 100 percent every month.  We loved early vacates and would prorate rent  back for early outs.. get a system in and figure out someone who can do the job.. the 1/2 month rent loss is way out of line.

Chuy Gonzalez · Answer

Sounds like you need a new management company.

Matt Kowske · Answer

And another reason is they require 50% payment before any work starts, so because they can't accurately assess the bid before the tenant is out it is a liability for them to get a 50% payment on work that might end up costing more than they quoted... thats their reason anyway. I wouldn't mind paying 100% of the pre-move-out estimate, assuming you aren't going to uncover thousands of dollars in repairs behind someones dresser or something. They are protecting themselves, but to a degree that is costing us too much.

Matt Kowske · Answer

Thank you for all the replies. I believe they are short staffed (they also have a tendency to not reply or not reply quickly to emails), but also understand some of the reasons they would operate this way after reading this thread. There are numerous problems, but this is the one that I feel is costing us the most money. We've decided to terminate the contract and go back to managing the buildings ourselves... not something I'm looking forward to, but it's so hard to find a good PM!

Joel Wilmoth · Answer

Totally agree with the motivation and desire to speed up turnover.  In SFR, particularly in B1 and C properties, in 25 years of management I have not been able to get a commitment until a place is vacant.  All the reasons cited above starting with difficulties with existing tenants (yes the lease says they must cooperate), to the fact the home will not show well..at best because they are in process of moving but worse, because they have not treated it well.  Once vacant, we quickly get to work but it really depends on what has to be done to make the home "rent-ready."

In a perfect world you could rent a SFR while still occupied.  Apartments are different and I could only speculate why.  Mostly due to supply and demand based on location and amenities I suspect.  Houses are different.

My problem with the scenario posted, is how your manager is responding.  I always believe it best to try and explain the process and then support it with images quickly upon vacancy.  It is in our interest to return the property to the market.  Most managers are not being paid when a property is vacant.

Shaun Patterson · Answer

The reason it is done like this sometimes is because the Pm company wants to have the property in the best condition to show the tenants. This might be based on the area that the property is in and the tenant class type (AB or C tenant).  For A tenants if they are spending 2.5k+ per month for rent they want to see the place and make sure nothing is wrong. For B to C They are looking for something to move into at a good price and will make request after they move into the property.  I'm not sure why they have such a long time frame for the whole turn around time but that just might be because they may not have the manpower to handle shorter turn over rushes.  It is as @Deanna McCormick stated its mostly paint, carpets, and fixing what ever small cosmetic items that come up. Now once in awhile you will find the trashed apartments I can see that taking a while.

Doing turnovers -- whats "standard" for property management?

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