An apartment room damaged by flood water
Selecting a good property management company is crucial to making your life as a property owner pleasant. Picking the wrong one can make your life seem like a bad dream. This is not an area that you should go cheap on. Select a management company based mainly on providing the services you want, rather than the expense of the company. Here are some tips to consider.
Find Certified Property Management companies in your area. Check with the Better Business Bureau to see if any complaints have been filed with any of the companies. Drive around buildings owned by these management companies and see if they are the type of company you would want to manage your building.
Talk with some of the tenants of these buildings while you are out and let them know you are doing a local management company survey and want to know their opinion. Also, interview the other remaining companies. Some areas that are important to consider: appropriate tenant forms, tenant requests, prompt response times, detailed leasing contracts, eviction procedures, consistent rent collection and thorough tenant screening procedures.
Be sure that you are aware of and agree with all costs of repair and maintenance rates in the management agreement. Watch repair costs closely because management companies are known for having them add up. Make sure that the rent is placed into an account that you and your management company have signed onto. This will ensure that you have access to your money in case there is any kind of dispute. Also, know that some companies have been known to claim that a unit is vacant while continuing to take in rent for it.
In order to not encourage this type of action, especially when working with a less reputable management company, it is a good idea to have your selected management company provide you updated rent rolls that include the phone numbers and names of each of your tenants on a monthly basis. This allows you to verify occupancy.