Investing in Tampa but can we trust Property Managers?

Question

Hi Everyone,

Such a nice website! Thank You for people who are behind this!

We want to invest in Tampa and Clearwater areas.

But we stay in CA. But we found a property managers online who are ready even to purchase a home for us.

So my question is how to check if property management company is authentic? Is there some ways to check the company title online?

Also they are referring us to local lenders. Again, how to check if those are legal?

Your opinions and answers would be a great help for us!

Thank You!

Maral

Colin G Murphy · Answer

Hi Account Closed

Seems like you got some great legal advice on checking the authenticity of these potential partners. In order to drill down a little further and find out if they are the best potential people to source and manage property for you, I would ask the following questions:

How long have you been a property manager?

Do you personally invest in real estate in this area?

How many units do you currently have under management?

How many people in your office work in property management?

What is the average length of time it takes to fill a vacancy?

Can you send me a copy of your property management agreement (i.e. for landlords)

Can you send me a copy of your standard lease?

What is your late rent policy?

What are your management fees?

What do you charge for recruiting new tenants and renewing existing leases?

Do you charge for monitoring and maintaining vacant units?

How do you market your properties?

How do you screen prospects?

How do your tenants contact you?

What do the landlord reports look like and how often do you send them?

Are you able to provide two references that I can speak to? Ideally investors who have multiple properties with you.

Then I usually finish by saying something along the lines of "Thanks very much in advance and apologies for all the questions!

Peter Mckernan · Answer

Hello Account Closed

Welcome to the site! I have a friend that lives in San Carlos, right up the road from your area.

I would do a couple checks on this property management company, I would ask them if they could contact some of their clients to get a reference on how they are as a company (that's if they let you), I would go out and visit the company's office (there is just a feeling you get if it's right or wrong), you can check the real estate commission out there in Florida and see if the company is listed, and the other option is that you could check that counties records for the Doing Business As (DBA).

Those are the items right off the top of my head that I would suggest. Buying a property out of state takes a lot more due diligence than it does with a property within state, and that is because you are so out of touch with the area to turn around and get there you want someone on the ground that you trust 100% (that's in any scenario, but it's just magnified the farther you are from the property you own).

Good luck!

Adrian Smude · Answer

Account Closed welcome to BP! One way is to post on here asking people if they have worked with them.  You can also do google search for reviews.  If you come over here you can go to local REIA meet ups and ask local investors if they have any feedback on the companies.  Hope everything works out!

Account Closed · Answer

Thank You Brad Bartlett, yes we checked all the things which were told above. Many thanks to Peter Mckernan also! Interesting does Your friend also in Real estate?

Account Closed · Answer

Thanks Phil Earley!

All the links were very helpful. Especially i checked in BBB and in NARPM

Account Closed · Answer

@Jeffrey Kops, thank You for the link for the blog, i read it.

And yes, i am checking Your website, let me see what we can do.

Account Closed · Answer

Thanks Adrian, I am talking about Bahia property management in Tampa, if somebody worked with them? Google reviews are amazing.

Meetups are good idea but in near future we don't have plans to visit there.

Brad Bartlett · Answer

Welcome to BP. I’m a new BP user myself.

Checking with the Florida Real Estate Commission is a good place to start, but the lack of complaints doesn’t help much. FREC is responsible for real estate licensing law. It’s possible to comply with the law, but still not provide good service for management clients. The biggest complaints I hear from people towards management companies is difficulty in reaching the manager and a lack of good reporting. Has it been easy to reach the manager? Make sure the management agent has experience with the property type you own and ask for a sample reporting package. Ask for their reporting schedule and make sure the schedule is frequent enough for you and the reports are detailed enough for you. The reporting schedule and details of the reporting package should be part of your management agreement.

The best way to know if a management company is “authentic” is to ask other people that use the company. If that isn’t feasible, I would look for a property manager that has the Certified Property Manager (CPM) designation from the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM). CPMs are required to demonstrate management expertise and abide by a strict code of ethics. CPMs have a fiduciary responsibility and are required to put the client first. Also, real estate management firms can earn the Accredited Management Organization (AMO) accreditation. The AMO means the company has a certain level of standards and must also abide by a strict code of ethics.

Phil Earley · Answer

Maybe start with the Florida Real Estate Commission to see if there are any complaints on file.

Double check their score on the BBB.  Consumer complaints here are from legitimate people unlike many of the other anonymously posted sites out there.

Narpm.org  is the National Association of Residential Property Managers.   See if you find them there.

Hope that helps.

Jeffrey Kops · Answer

Hi Maral,

Welcome to BP! Your questions are good ones. I'm am agent/property manager here in the Tampa area, and you do have to be careful. The funny thing is I just read a great article this morning from BP about how to select a property manager. Here is the link:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2016/01/25/property-management-worth-it/

I hope this helps.

If you would like to talk, please feel free to contact me. I would look forward to the opportunity to speak with you.