How do you Know you're choosing the right Property Mgmt Company?

[Alaina Lindquist]

We all know that working with property management companies can be difficult. I have worked at two property management companies in San Diego and both are on completely different spectrum's on how they are run. Owners put a lot of trust in a property management company to fill vacancies ,  make sure current tenants are being taken care of, rent is being paid on time, and that they are receiving monthly statements that reflects the income and expenses correctly. 

If you have never worked with a property management company before, how do you know if they are the right fit for your investments? Location? Management fee's ? Size of the company? Reviews? Theses questions plus many more are very important to consider before locking yourself into a year commitment. 

All property managements companies are pretty similar in terms of what role they play for your rental.

• Fill vacancies with qualified tenants in a timely manner
• Collect rent on time 
• Maintenance Oversight 
• Bill pay
• Direct Deposit of Owner contribution
• Lease Enforcement 
• Accounting & Bookkeeping 

What sets some property management companies apart from others is, what measures do they have set in place to run functionally as a team and avoid easy mistakes that shouldn't be made. 

A few important questions that you need to ask them are:

What their management fees are?

Are there any tenant placement fees?

Do they use in-house maintenance? Is there a mark up on that?

Average time to fill a vacancy?

All la carte? or full service? 

What technology and efficient systems do they have in place to stay ahead of the times?

Are their property managers licensed realtors? 

These are just a few questions that could help any owner is their process of looking for the right property management company.