How to Supervise my Property Manager?

[Michael D Kaminski]

Greetings!  (First post on a BP Forum!)

I have a portfolio of properties (more than 20 units) that are being handled by a single property manager. I get the owner's statement every month (from Buildium) that shows rents, vacancies, property management fees, maintenance expenses, etc. We are also in a period of stabilizing the properties so we also have significant CapEx, most of the construction being handling by the property manager's in-house crew.

I am getting the feeling that my property manager is taking advantage of me by charging too much for maintenance fees and CapEx. Only for example, should replacing a toilet cost cost $400 instead of $200? Is there a way to analyze the owner's statement so that I can challenge the property manager, aside from gaining all the experience with "reasonable" costs myself so that I could analyze on my own? I guess my question is whether there are services that would do this type of analysis? (On a non-BP podcast, I hear the speaker suggest using a VA to do this same analysis.) I still have a day job so chasing down different quotes is difficult, but maybe I need to find someone to do that? Is that the only way?

Any advice would be appreciated.  Thanks.  

[Michael Diossa]

First question to ask is, are they doing their job and well? are the tenants happy with the services in a reasonable matter?

Second- Doing a quick google search the average cost to replace a toilet by a professional is around that price of $400. Granted you could do it yourself and save close to half that.

A PM can save you money by giving you the right suggestions for unit turnovers to increase the rent and yield more. 

A PM should be hired to alleviate the stress and responsibilities that come with being a landlord not with the idea solely on profit. 

Personally the most effective bet is too call other local PM companies yourself because only you can truly express your concerns and maybe get better pricing.It should only take 15 mins per call.

Keep in mind usually smaller less experienced organizations will give you a cheaper option.