Handing over the reigns to a PM - some observations and questions

[Christen G.]

Hey all,
It's been a pretty good 2 years for my partner and I. We dove-in head first after identifying our strategy (buy and hold SMF for cash flow, reinvest, continue to grow) and have acquired 8 doors (3 buildings) in just under 2 years. Our systems are just about rock-solid (some lingering P&L clean up, could use a better GC/Handy-person on call) and our occupancy should be taken care of through this weekend's showings. So we've decided to find and hire a PM to free up some bandwidth. Yay!

Some observations and questions for the group: First, I've done some reading and asking around for recommendations in local REI groups and got 5-6 contacts of PMs or PM companies that I contacted via email. Honestly, I was shocked that all of them responded so quickly and eagerly - and somehow all of them had the time and bandwidth. (Am I in the wrong business>?!) From there, I was even more shocked when 2 of them sent me docu-signs with their agreement and asked me to sign before they even would look at the property, get on a call or meet up in person. What a business model!

Fees:

7-10% of monthly rent seems to be commiserate with our area but the rest of the fees are really all over the place depending on the company. Some are flat rates for re-leasing, some are no-fees, some are a % of rent, some have maintenance call-out fees, some have in-house no fee maintenance calls.

Questions:

- Is it unrealistic to ask someone to meet up with me to walk the (vacant) properties with me and/or meet up nearby the occupied ones to show them the place? A couple of them balked at that.

- Is every fee/number negotiable with these folks? It seems that way.

- Is there a standard accounting method? Do they open up a new account for us and send us statements and cash flow monthly or just take our current accounts over/get access to our current banking systems? I'm getting a little hung up in the minutiae of this aspect

- What questions should I be asking these (hungry) PMs? I feel like I have my bases covered, but am wondering if I'm missing anything obvious or if you have any tried and true questions that help weed out the bad ones.

Overall - can you help me get over the fear I'm having about handing my units to a company who (seemingly) will sweep in, re-lease to their paperwork (thus charging me 8 re-leasing fees), disrupt the tenant and their current habits (all of which are well-trained save for an older Section8 gentleman) and ask them to make changes? 

I worry because quite frankly our tenant pool isn't one that adapts super well to change, they aren't that technologically inclined (online / app = payments - lol - some of these folks are depositing cash into our bank accounts on the 5th) and I worry that this change will disrupt, cause move-outs, more fees, etc...

Thanks in advance for your insight, heckles and advice.