All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

@Account Closed another example of an owner not doing enough research and asking enough questions about HOW their PMC will provide their services:(

This probably isn't covered in the PM contract, so they can do what they want.

Couple of issues:

1) This should have all been considered a single event and covered under one Work Order. Them splitting it up is an ethics issue. Ask them to explain.

2) They should provide you with the materials receipt, which you'll need for the warranty! Ask them to explain how you're supposed to have a warranty w/o them giving you the receipt.

3) Labor Charges: should be defined in your PM contract OR they should present a bid for your approval with labor & materials.

Now a couple of thoughts in the PMC's defense:

1) If you didn't get a receipt, how did you match the exact same model at Lowe's, so the price of $530 is apples-to-apples?

2) Owners NEVER take into account the time required to:
- Evaluate & select materials
- Order materials
- Pick up materials
- Coordinate access with tenant
- Dispose of waste
- Scan and process receipts

2) According to Angie's List, labor cost can be $250 to $700

https://www.angi.com/articles/how-much-does-microwave-instal...

 Their office staff ordering the microwave and coordinating delivery and install would qualify as "labor," so I don't think there's much there. 

I'd honestly just call them and ask. I can't really tell if you have the contractual right to cancel mid year from what you've provided here, but they might be happy to part ways. Sometimes we get calls like this from clients and it's a blessing, lol. 

Yes, the lease would stay in place regardless of who is managing the property. 

 Sure thing- happy to help you in any way I can. 

Marking up invoices is unethical in my opinion, but it's not illegal and I don't know if your contract allows the PM to do that- it's very likely that they have every right to do so. 

Read up on the termination clause and get a feel for your rights. A good PM will have a 30 day, no cause termination policy. Keep in mind that there may be legit charges associated with termination- for instance, they may need to hold some funds in escrow to cover lingering utility bills or cleaning after that 30 day period. 

Best of luck!

I own and operate a property management company- we don't mark up invoices and provide anything our clients want to see. 

The short answer is yes, they should provide you with an itemized reciept and if they are markign up, that should be a clear line item. In my opinion, if they don't want you to know that they are doing that, then they shouldn't be doing it. 

If they are, they should be able to clearly and confidently explain how they added value in that transaction. 

This is actually they entire reason I started my own PM company- I believe that the % you pay is for them to handle the day to day stuff like this, seems unethical to charge more when they actually have to put in some work. 

We do everything we can to be transparent with our owners. We provided receipts and explanations of maintenance that was done. Sometime the explanation is not as detailed as the owner would like so we would do our best to provide a satisfactory response. If a company is unwilling to provide this information it would immediately throw a flag for me and create distrust. 

As for the extra dollars unaccounted for, it could be a number of things - repair persons fee, management fee, failed repair, etc.

They should be able to provide that. Some won't but I would want that so they aren't pulling random #'s out of the air. They should be able to provide the microwave cost and labor on top so you know what they charge on repairs. Is there anything specific in your agreement with your PM on this? 

We have in our management agreement what amount of work we're authorized to have done without an approval from an owner (ours is $350)  If you don't have that, I would request that.  I also would 100% expect an invoice for the microwave.  Major red flag for me that they won't give you one.

 I second this! We've gone the full property manager route and didn't regret it because we've been lucky enough to have decent PM companies; however, we have found we can do this ourselves and it isn't time consuming or difficult. The part that's hardest for me with remote properties is showing the units, but you'll find that you can pay someone to either handle the tenant acquisition process (about $250). Sometimes the PM company or even your Realtor will be willing to do it for you for a fee. Other than the showings (which are batched on a certain day/time), the rest I'm able to do myself. I use Baselane for most tenant-related features including tenant vetting, developing the lease, collecting deposits, collecting rents and for all my bookkeeping related features. I DO outsource maintenance. The hardest part about this is initially establishing the relationships with your handyperson and other trades like plumbers so they can be your go-to source when you call. Arguably, a PM company is going to have these trades available at a cheaper rate (theoretically) due to scale, but the PM company is also probably going to mark it up, so it ends up costing about the same. It just comes down to how much of this you want to do yourself vs. outsourcing. But I agree with Grace that self-management is totally do-able and you can decide how much or how little of it you want to do yourself.

@Account Closed ok thank you for sharing... I will say this... they definetely did not overcharge you for the sprayer; they may have even undercharged you for that one, depending on what they had to do. If it's $390 for a doorbell change, wired, all in... ummm... might be on the high-end but it's def. not 'gouging' and def. not unreasonable.... sorry I know it's not what you wanted to hear, again I encourage you to hire those services yourself and you will quickly realize that the trades will charge you the same or likely more, without providing you all the 'extras' like contacting your tenant, or accessing  your property on their own without you present and then locking up, posting it to your property account ledger, etc. etc. --- if they even take the small job at all. I hope this helps, thank you so much for sharing.