Property Managers treat owners like "mushrooms".

[Phillip Gainey]

The keep us in the dark and feed us ****!

Latest story. Vacant property put in the hands of a pm on June 20th. Notifies owner there are a couple of leaks and a few other issues. Owner thinks, okay, we'll just get it done and get it rented.

Owner keeps getting told, "still waiting on estimate, blah! blah!". July 27th, Owner sends email wanting to know what the status is. PM tells him he needs a new roof. "Didn't you get my message, blah, blah!"

Turns out the PMs roof guy, was actually working on another project. Wasn't even available to do the work until tomorrow (so he says). About two months after property was handed over to this PM.

Owners should NOT have to play private investigator to find out what the hell is going on with their property. Unfortunately, the do.

Hey property managers! What's so freaking hard about just leveling with owners. "Sorry, our roof guy is real busy. Gonna take quite awhile for him to get the job done. Want me to try to find someone else?" NO! I want you to put the freaking house "on hold" for two months, so I can keep making mortgage payments with no rent coming in, you freaking MORON!

Have a nice day.

PG

[Bienes Raices]

Originally posted by Phillip Gainey:

Kind of hard if you are out of state.

My point is that, either way, they should be up front.

Most have vendors they work with. Their loyalty should be with the owner, not the vendor. IOW, don't lead the owner on and delay getting the property "rent ready", so you can provide biz to your vendor.

BTW, I called another roofer, who was there the next day and I had a WRITTEN estimate the next day after that. He was way too expensive, but that's not the point.

The point is communication. "Hey, Mr. Owner, we have a vendor who does decent work for cheap, but he is real busy, will take a couple months. What do you want to do?"

I am slowly learning that working with PMs is no different than dealing with any other biz. If you think you are getting a run around, drop them. Don't let them waste your time.

I see your point, but I think it's a good rule of thumb in life to just assume anyone you haven't dealt with before is unethical and/or incompetent, until proven otherwise. That way you're never disappointed.