We just got back from the Home and Patio Show in downtown Jacksonville, and we met a lot of people who were unhappy for one reason or another with their current property manager. A couple of things came up repeatedly.
How to Rent Your House: Expert Property Management
One of the things we often heard was that people were happy with their property manager, but then that manager retired or moved away or quit, and they were assigned to someone else who just didn’t deliver the same level of service. Sometimes these people are not full-time property managers; it’s someone who does management on the side while they buy and sell homes. That seems to be a problem industry-wide, and it’s something to look for when you’re hiring a property manager.
Changing Property Management Companies
When you’re choosing someone to manage your asset, you really want to hire someone who is dedicated and able to focus on the work full time. If you get a new property manager, that’s your opportunity to re-interview. Just because you’ve been assigned a property manager doesn’t mean you need to stay with that manager. Talk to them and see if you can work with someone else in the company. Or, shop around and talk to other companies. A lot of times, brokerages will bring on new staff because it brings down their costs, and they make more money on the property. Ask how long your property manager has been working in the business, if they do the work full or part time, and if they do sales as well as management.