Property Management Company in Bloomington Indiana/IU

[Jing Tan]

Hi everyone, we are in the process of closing our first duplex purchase in Bloomington IN, close to IU campus. Since we are out-of-state investors, can someone recommend a property management company in the area? I've searched in the forum, but was not able to find anything. Thanks!

[Charles Sinn]

What area of town did you buy in?  Some companies specialize in student rentals, others in traditional single family homes with less turnover.   The property management companies seek to make a lot of their profits from the annual turn-over.  So its is important that you learn about their pricing up front.  Especially in regards to leases that are any less than 12 months long.  Many leases in Bloomington are 11 months + 2 weeks, and some are 10 month leases and it affects how they deal with the tenant turn over, pricing etc...

When talking to them about timelines and pricing, be sure to run through the steps they take week by week from July-September so that you know what to expect from them each step of the way.  

Also - Try to find a company that encourages multiple year tenants, with some sort of benefit given to a tenant who stays longer than one school year.  Otherwise, you will find that the management companies would end up looking forward to the turnover and all the revenues they get from turning over the unit.   

Also#2 - There are bad operators in town.  Try leaving some after-hours voicemails with questions and see how quickly they return your calls.   Also see how hard it is to get personal cell phone numbers of key employees.  The more forth-coming they are with those, the higher the likelihood is that they are a good operator who takes care of their...stuff.