Setting Expectations with Property Manager

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Hey all, I have a multi family unit that is under management. Their rate is pretty competitive, and the company itself uses AppFolio to manage the properties, which already puts them miles ahead of the PMs I talked to that couldn't even use email.

I was curious as to whether or not I'm being unreasonable with expectations of my PM. They are good with maintenance but are a little sloppy unless I remind them of a few things. For example, we have a rather large maintenance project coming up and I've had to ask 2-3 times for them to price it out for me. Furthermore, they were slow to inform me when a tenant failed to pay last month (it was the last month on their lease, so we just kept the security deposit, but still). Usually if I email them about something non-urgent it takes anywhere from 1 hour to 2 days for them to respond. Usually their emails don't touch on all of my points unless I explicitly list out line items for them. If I call them about something urgent (using the same phone line that the tenants would use for an emergency) they either answer right away or get back within 10-20 minutes. However, sometimes the voice mail box is full, which is definitely a little unprofessional.

The biggest strike against them is that they failed to rent 2 units out for September 1. My units are close to Boston, and I find this unacceptable since the rental market is so hot. Some of the tenants were downright disgusting, so that was off putting to anyone who visited the units, but management also priced them too high and only started to lower the price when we had 3 weeks left. Furthermore, I think management should have told the tenants to clean up if the unit was really that gross.

I only have been using them since March so the level of trust just isn't there. But I'm also curious if I'm expecting too much from a PM. I know that nobody will care like I do, so I have to be able to let things go.

I'm curious as to what people's experience with PMs are and if my experience sounds OK or not. For not having to deal directly with tenants, I think management is still worth it for me. I have a pretty weak stomach for emergencies.