Question for property managers

[Arif K.]

I had my first experience with a property management company managing my SFR. One of the things I hated was that apart from the 10% commission, all repairs initiated by the tenants were automatically deducted from the rental income before I received a monthly owner draw. Ordinarily, I would be fine with this but I started noticing the repairs exceeded 20% of my rental income on average. When I dived a little deeper, I saw that every call made by the tenant resulted in a service tech visit and per-visit fees were deducted. On top of that, I saw three separate visits to repair closets in three separate rooms. When one closet has a problem, why not repair all three on the first visit? This is just one example.

To the property managers, do you offer the option to invoice every month instead of deducting it from the rental income directly? I would rather see my full rental income, minus commission, deposited each month and receive an invoice for work performed so I may review it. Also, do you seek permissions for each repair or only above a certain amount? Do you also send a service tech with each call or work with the tenants and consolidate visits for multiple issues?

[Drew Sygit]

@Arif K. why would a PMC want to debate with & chase an owner to get maintenance, or any other invoice, paid?

That doesn't appear to be the real problem you are having.

Here's some ideas to check on your PMA and discuss with your PMC:

1) What is the contractual Owner Approval Threshold?
- Most PMCs have it between $300-$500

2) How many times each month are these allowed before owner approval required?
- One of our local competitors sets up owners by allowing unlimited under threshold Work Orders each month! With no limit, it can be "death by a thousand paper cuts!"

3) Why isn't the PMC requiring tenants to submit pics/videos for nonemergency issues, to solve a percentage of issues via phone?

4) What method does your PMC have for you to challenge maintenance expenses?
- Did all 3 closets have the same pre-existing issue or did the tenant cause the damage at different times?

5) What is your PMCs policy about you requesting them to charge tenants for damages?
- You will still have to initially pay, but you will be reimbursed when tenant pays the PMC.