Please help me assess my Dallas PM

[Allen Lee]

Hi all,

I'm new to the forums and landlording. Renting out a SFH in/around Dallas. I'm new to this and am wondering how my PM is doing? I got this PM on a family referral but didn't vet personally.

Day 1. Prev tenant gives notice. PM does CMA at my suggestion and new rent decided. Prev tenant complained about carpeting but PM says carpet is OK.

Day 8. After asking PM for status he puts up new ad. Misspellings and single poor photo.

Day 30. Prev tenant leaves. A few showings but only one application so far which PM doesn't like.

Day 33. Phone call with PM. He says cleanup/touchup will be occurring next day or two. Now that property is vacant he says will show better.

Day 49. A couple more showings and some have complained about the carpet. PM thinks the carpet should be replaced now. So far 7-8 showings, 2 Apps but PM says apps are poor.

Day 52. Sent friend to inspect property. Cleaning crew was there. Carpet was just replaced. Friend said "house was dirty". Pics look OK.

Day 61. New professional pictures up after I prodded PM for new listing.

Day 78. (Today). PM claims running background check on new app.

My concerns:

1. Possible mispricing, the CMA said one thing but our prop may be below-market in upgrades leading to longer DOM.

2. Generally the PM seems very slow. Everything could have been done much quicker. 

3. Incorrect initial judgement on carpeting.

Hi guys any feedback would be greatly appreciated! How is this PM's performance on a scale of 1(bad) to 10(good)? Thanks so much!

Allen

[Bruce Lynn]

1.  No one likes their property manager.

2.  I say most places rent better vacant.   So pictures of homes with tenants in them and in the process of moving probably don't show well, take pictures well, and are often not easy to show.   Lots of tenants want 24 hour notice, even if that is not in the lease or want to be present for showings, or turn away people when they do try to show.  So nice you now have some baseline pictures you can use over and over to avoid this the next time as long as the present an accurate picture of the current condition.

3.  This time of year is typically not peak rental season.  Normally I'll try to get 12months+ leases to get them back on school year if you are in a school driven place or potentially have a school driven property....so right now I try to get tenants to do something like an 18 month lease....so end of lease runs to end of May end of June or end of July.   Of course this depends on who your target market is, the location, style, etc.

4.  Can PM share the apps and credit/background reports with you or let you run them and pick the tenant?

5.  If you don't like the price, you can change it.  It's your home, if you think there should be a price adjustment just let them know....they should be working with you, but I doubt they would fight this and demand you leave it higher priced.  They make money by renting properties, not by leaving them vacant.   A little lower rent sometimes can save you thousands.   It's weird too about pricing, both on sales and rentals.  Sometimes just a minor price adjustment...maybe even $50/month can make a big difference.  At this point you might lower a bit and see if that changes the number of showings you get.   Even in the winter months, I'd say you probably want to be getting about 1 showing a day and 2-3-4 on each of Sat/Sun to know you are in the right price range.

6. Tenants these days in my experience are just about as picky as buyers.....they want things clean, repaired, and sharp.  The apartments they're coming from often have plenty of upgrades and amenities.   You may have heard of best product/best price strategy and that's where you want to be to keep your places occupied and producing revenue.   They want them clean....if it is sitting vacant for 30 days, I'd still be sending someone in at least 1x month to tidy up...may not need full clean every month, but dusting, picking up dead bugs, etc needs to happen.  Same with yard card.

7.  I would also ask what % they are offering other agents.  If it is not 50% than have them push that up.  Apartments often offer 1 month to the tenants agent, so if you are competing with apartments you may also want to bump it up to 1 month's rent.

8.  Pick the right tenant...if they're saying apps are bad, then I'd wait for the right tenant.  Bad ones costs you money.

9.  Have you included fridge and washer/dryer?   That can help sometimes.

10.  If you post the address, I'm sure all of us here can give you some pointers on pictures, price, etc.  Maybe someone here wants to rent it...never know where the next renter will come from.    You might also post the link to your facebook, your linked in, your twitter and all social media.  Then share that post with your sphere that might be interested or know someone who is interested.

Best wishes and good luck.