Prop Mgmt Team Doing Their Job?

[Bailey A.]

Hey guys,

I want to make sure I'm not overreacting as a new investor. Its been a little over a month since I've handed over my property to a management company to lease out and take care of. I originally posted it at $1,400 (too high) and didn't have any showings so we decided to take it down to $1,300.  After lowering it I could see that contacts almost tripled on Zillow which was encouraging.  However, I only had two showings and nobody was interested.  

BUT something just wasn't sitting right with me.  Contacts at this point were between 65-70. When I asked the manager about the number of contacts he responded that most were dead ends and that Zillow "spits out fake data".  I did originally list it myself and had 5 leads that went nowhere so the dead-end thing I can understand.  But that was 5 people. Not almost 70. So! I had my friend contact them through Zillow and its been a week since she's heard anything back.  On top of that, she contacted them when it was listed at $1,300. Now its listed at $1,250.  So it kind of makes me wonder what other interested people could've been missed at that price.

I haven't mentioned anything to them yet.  They are successful and their references had nothing but positive things to say. I also have never done this before and don't want to put my foot in my mouth. Advice?

[Jon Shoop]

Hi Bailey, it's a big hard to say without knowing more. But if your friend sent in an application for it and hasn't heard back in over a week then that's definitely something to be concerned about. Sometimes mgmt companies get overwhelmed with things. If you've reached out and expressed your concern on top of them already lowering the rent without contacting the interested $1,300 parties then I think it's time to kick it up a notch. You can do this by putting more pressure on them to get it taken care of with a good tenant. We aren't having any trouble getting our properties rented throughout DFW and North Texas.

This doesn't normally happen with a company that has their I's doted and their T's crossed...