What kind of references can your property manager give you? Do they have a list of referrals and recommendations that they can present to you upon request? Property management is a customer service business towards both landlords and residents and your prospect should have a lot of happy customers on both sides.
Due Diligence on Your Manager
A property manager should absolutely be able to give you a list of at least 3 or 4 tenants that would have nice things to say about them. You should be able to get references on how quickly and efficiently they are able to dispatch maintenance teams to take care of repair issues. You should also be able to get a reference from the contractor who has been dispatched to make that service call. Is the property manager fair to work with and do they pay their invoices on time?
You should also ask for references from other landlords and property owners. Are they satisfied with the service they get from their property manager? Ask them questions about how timely reports come in, and what type of reports they are receiving. Ask them questions about their relationships with the tenants. Do the rents come in on time?
Google, Facebook Bing, Yahoo, LinkedIn and More…
You should also check out your prospective property manager on social media sites and consumer report web sites like BBB.org. What is the buzz on the property manager online? Do they have good references, bad references, or none at all? You may need to put on your detective shoes here to find out more about them.
You are about to entrust them with your investment property worth hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars. You will want to start out with the same type of screening process you would put a rental applicant through. Open up your favorite browser and search them on Google, Facebook, Bing, Yahoo, LinkedIn and more. A quick Google Search should at least turn up some leads that you can track down and follow. Think about it. When you ask for them to supply references, they are most likely to only give you references to people they know will have something nice to say. You really need to hear both sides of the story.
Trust, But Verify
To sum it up, you are looking for references from tenants, you’re looking for references from contractors, and you are looking for references from other landlords and property owners.
It may be a lot of work to get 3 of each reference from a property manager. But the amount of time and effort you’ll put into screening your property manager is a pittance to the amount of time and energy you will waste by not screening your property manager properly and trying to pick up the pieces to get rid of them.
You would not take a tenant into your building without asking for landlord references or job references. Do not make the mistake to assume the property manager is going to be reputable and professional. You have to check all of the property manager’s references too.
Do you have any ideas on this topic you could share to help our online community?
Please chime in to share a comment or review.
Warmest regards,
Brian Lucier
Belaire Property Management
Regional Property Manager
(978) 448-0669
info@belaire.co
www.belaire.co
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