How to shop PMs when you are out of state

[Nima Lama]

Hi BP Family,

How can I distinguish good vs bad Property management and when is the time to change the property managers? 

Currently I live in Cleveland and have this property in Garland TX that I purchased 6 months ago managed by local PM Company . They had  a great review online how prompt  and organized they are  but I might have missed the $$ part . Now , I am feeling that they are very costly when your house needs fixes. does not matter small issue like changing a light bulb to the large fixes.  I had a plumbing issue last month, and I resolved it myself because the plumbers that PMs have are expensive compare to what I found using my own resources . To perform the  cleaning job created by plumbing , putting fan, replacing the carpet padding moving furnitures, and sanitizing job is estimated as $650. I had conversation with the tenant and the plumber and looked at the video, damage was was not that bad. I am getting the feeling that this company is making money out of these types of work .  

Going back to January this year , when they did walkthrough of the house after old tenants left and to prepare move in for new tenant they   provided   the estimate of  5K. lots of  items in the estimate sheet looked pretty high. In my vision  when I visited the house in December last year  , house was almost move  move in ready. I  eliminated the items which I could from the list and still the total came up to almost 4K . Having no experience in the past  and and no boots on the ground, I went ahead with the estimate they provided. 

I would appreciate if someone  can help me look at the sheet and provide a educational approach . 

Thank You in advance :)