New Property Manager Taking Too Long on Turn. Should I Fire Them?

Question

I just bought a property in a new market and hired a property management company for the first time there. The turn of the unit was not a big scope of work -- about $1000 of mostly general cosmetic items. They got keys on August 1st, didn't actually start work until the 6th, and finished work yesterday the 13th. The turn itself in 8 days seemed high end of reasonable, yet reasonable nonetheless. However, when you add in the first 6 days of nothing happening then it feels too long. Very little urgency from them.

In spite of all the work finally being done yesterday, I'm now being told their picture guy is out of office today and doesn't work weekends, so he's not going out until Monday, the 17th, at which point it will take them 2 more days to get the pictures to their marketing person. So all-in-all, it's going to have taken them 19 days from the day they got keys just to get a listing up.

I feel like this is an unacceptable amount of time to have wasted on a simple turn. I'm seriously considering taking them off the unit and hiring one of the other companies I interviewed to do the rest, but I also know the transfer would only cause further delays, so I'd prefer not to. Do you guys feel this took too long? What would you do from here?

JD Martin · Answer

No good way to answer without more information. What was the actual work that needed to be done? $1000 to swap two appliances is different than $1000 to swap half a dozen light fixtures, do some drywall patch and repair, etc. From what I can see, it took them 5 days to start work (they got keys on 8/1, started on 8/6 = 5 days), 7 days to complete work (Started 8/6, finished 8/13 = 7 days). Two of those days were weekend days, so they finished in 5 business days. They finished on Thursday and photo guy can't get there until Monday.

On the surface, I think all of it sounds pretty reasonable to me. Unless you are their only customer, I think it seems presumptuous of you to expect that they've got guys sitting around just waiting for your property so they can get it done immediately. 19 days from the day they got the keys to listing doesn't sound that bad to me. But it's hard to say without knowing what the repairs were.

Some of this also depends on where you are. You are in Florida, but if you are buying a property in a different southern market things move slower down here. That's just the way it is, and if you don't like it you either have to manage yourself or find a different market. I am originally from NJ and us Yankees just expect things to be up and done, but it doesn't work like that in much of the rest of the country. Florida is pretty much Yankee land. So you adapt.

Jason L. · Answer

I cooled down after I read some of the responses, said my piece to them, and we've moved on. I'm sure I overreacted a bit to think firing them was the right move. They promised to turn the pictures around into a listing by Monday night, and I know that's ultimately the best they could have done under the new circumstances.

I guess where I was frustrated was knowing they took 4 days to get the turn quote out to me at the beginning of the month, forgot to schedule the picture guy this week, and then just had a very "oh well" attitude about it. That's legitimately 8 days that were lost to the ether. Felt like there was no urgency. That's what I was most mad about. I'm empathetic to having to oversee multiple units during a pandemic and listen to nagging owners (like me!), but forgetting to schedule the picture guy and then just shrugging off 4 extra days is not protecting the owner's investment (which is in fact the mission statement of the PM company). To them it's inconsequential; "just a few extra days". To the owner it's quantifiable -- $50 per day in lost rent for 4 days equals $200 lost.

And I am a former Yankee living in Florida, so I guess I can relate to your response :)

Michael J. Abel · Answer

I have seen a slow down on a few of my rental turns over the last couple months due to COVID. If your property manager set expectations which were not met then I would discuss with them. There is no guarantee that another property manager will do better. You will constantly need to manage them.

Steve Morris · Answer

If it is way out of line, get a new manager.

People don't understand that about vacancies.  If you have 10 units, that's 120 rent-months.  If you get 2 vacancies that take a month to turn and least, that's 2 lost rent-months = 0.6$ vacancies.

If it takes 3 months to turn the 2 units, that's 2% vacancies.

Lesson - You can buy a place and turn a bunch of units (always follow the leases and local rent laws) and actually not take too much of a hit, IF you can do each turn quick.

Kris L. · Answer

@Jason L.

I would say the first step is to bring your concerns up with the PM and find out what, if anything, they are going to do next time to ensure a faster turn.  It’s possible this was a one time thing.  For instance, a PM company I use got quarantined for 14 days due to half their office catching Covid.  I was lucky and my property didn’t actually need anything during that time.

Jonathan R McLaughlin · Answer

@Jason L. Dog days of Augusta tough anywhere and sept 1st. A big rental date. They may not be costing you any money yet.

Check to make sure the average rents in sept are not higher than august in your area. This may be a strategic use of time.

Jane S. · Answer

I'm seriously considering wholesaling, since there are no cash flowing SFRs in my market, and I dont want to risk having a misadventure like this with an OOS investment. Seems like once you hire a PM you are at their mercy, and they hire the same people who work for apartment complexes and dont show up to fix leaky toilets that tenants need fixed, broken stoves, etc. My most recent rental took 3 weeks to completely make rent ready, with me doing a lot of it, but that was because none of my preferred contractors were available timely due to UNOWAT. The security deposit from previous tenants who did damage covered most of the vacancy loss. But it was max aggro.

Caroline C. · Answer

@Jason L. as someone who has been through several pms in several markets over many years, that experience is unfortunately pretty typical. Some are better than others at communicating these sorts of delays, but good communication won't make it go faster, and you'll be equally as frustrated as the excuses keep coming. Best thing you can do is research several other companies so that if you find you need to make a switch down the line, you are all ready to go.

It's hard, but in the research, you need to get prospective pm's to provide customer references that have been through meaty turnovers - because investors typically don't know they have a bad pm until there is a costly turnover or tenant stops paying rent, etc.

Scott Robinson · Answer

@Jason L.

Hi @Jason L. I would definitely talk to them about what happened and your expectations to ensure they are on the same page as you. I would watch them carefully on how fast they get the unit rented. Obviously we are in strange times and there can be good reasons things happen, but there are not usually a lot of PMs in each area and some times its better to stay with the devil you know than burn bridges. The scenerio you have is not that bad. If they continue to show a lack of concern for your rental then you definitely need to take action. That being said, it never hurts to talk to other people using PMs in the same area and get their opinions. This might be the best way to make your decision.

Lucia Rushton · Answer

@Jason L. PMs are the hardest team member to find, in my opinion. It’s great to say fire them but you need to read your contract. They, not you, may be in control of your property. By your description I have come across lots of terrible PMs here in DFW. honestly more bad ones than good ones.

Definitely express your concerns but also read your contract and see what’s your out clause.

Also just as a suggestion, next time you pick a PM as a long distance investor, do lots of due diligence and research on them - don’t just go for low price because you can end up with empty promises. By the sounds of your story, they don’t really care.

Best wishes!

New Property Manager Taking Too Long on Turn. Should I Fire Them?

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