Nervous to buy out of state, looking for property management.

[Alex Stoll]

I'm looking to buy a few rentals in Kansas City in 2019, but am frequently warned of the dangers of out of state investing. It seems like a good amount of those issues stem from sub-par property management. So, I'm looking to link up with a really good property manager. Anybody have suggestions for good managers they've worked with?

[Filipe Pereira]

@Alex Stoll I deal almost exclusively with out of state owners and must say that you're absolutely right in saying that management is key. I would throw a "caution flag" by saying that there are still good management firms that are not NARPM credentialed.

The reason I say this is because there are minimum unit requirements (500-Unit Years of experience acquired over a minimum of five consecutive years) that quite frankly plenty of PM companies will never hit. I'll use myself as an example, given that we don't cover Kansas City and stick solely to CT. I'm not sure I want to manage more than 50 units a year, so that would make us ineligible for NARPM certs - but I guarantee you we're better than some of the NARPM certified companies out there. Because we cap our unit count we offer a much more owner focused service and our clients love it. 

I realize I'm totally in the minority here, but just wanted to drop some "food for thought". It always interests me when I see posts with tags in locations where we have clients out of.  

Best of luck, and happy investing! If you don't trust the pm, don't hire them! 

Filipe