How do you choose your Property Manager?

[Sam Sharata]

There are a number of forum postings out there on the subject of hiring Property Managers (PM) for rental properties; especially from out of state investors. While most postings are geared towards asking for referrals to sharing nightmare stories of dishonest or incompetent PMs, I have yet to find a discussion about the qualities one should look for, or what questions to ask a PM. How does one go about interviewing and choosing a good PM? Is it their fees? Number of years in the business? The number of properties managed? Clearly a mix of these, but there must be more to it. Would definitely be interested in hearing what you all think.