DEAR NOAH: Am I overreacting or is it time for a new Property Manager?

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"Dear Noah, 

I need help deciding what to do about the property manager of my out-of-state property.

It's a duplex in TN. I've owned it for 5 years and have never seen it. It wasn't in awesome shape when I bought it, but nothing major or urgent to fix. The original property manager was a local company and then they were bought by a larger corporation.

I've been telling my new PM for several years now that I was willing to put money into fixing things up, give the tenants a stipend for painting or gardening or anything they wanted to do to make it their own (long term tenants, most stay several years at least), etc.

The response was always like, "We don't really fix things until they're broken and everything is fine." 

I asked for a thorough inspection report and months later I finally got it. This place looks pretty damn gross to be honest.

I'm wondering if I just move on from my PM and find someone who's willing to take on a bit of a fixer upper, or keep the current PM for now, hire out someone myself to do all the work needed, then find a new PM.

Or, am I overreacting and PMs truly just lease the property, hold on to deposits, and fix things when they're broken? Is it too much to think that he would proactively tell me when the stairs are literally crumbling and the gutter is falling off the side of the house?!

Thank you, 

Hannah"


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