Property Management Situation / Advice?

[Sam Booth]

Hi all,

I am a brand new investor just purchased my first 2 single family homes out of state. We got one last year and its been rented under management and everything has gone great on that one. 

We got the 2nd home this year, and we're having issues with the (same) property management company. They were going to finish up some loose ends (just small random things, haul trash, install threshold, etc) on the house for me through their preferred handyman. (They also did this on the first home to get it ready as well).

I got a list back from them that included some of the things I wanted done, and some new things they added. When I asked about these new items, my property manager doesn't seem to be communicating with them or me very clearly. Should I be sticking to my list or leaning on the property manager's handymen to advise what to be done? To be clear, I am very handy myself, having renovated 99% of both these homes myself. I just had some loose ends for them to finish.

In addition, at the same time, our normal payout on house #1 was short a few dollars. I have been waiting almost a month for them to let me know what the situation is here. 

What's your advice?? - I realize now I probably should have made sure everyone was in agreement on the list of work to be done, but I am past that point and want to make sure everything is done right and smoothly. Also, I already paid for the work, the total amount they had requested. Please help!

[Nathan Gesner]

The #1 red flag in any relationship is when someone shuts down communication. If they are unwilling to communicate, that demonstrates they may be hiding something, poor customer service, overwhelmed and unable to handle the job, etc. It's a strong indication that you may want to find someone else to hire.