Top 20 Questions to Ask When Finding a Property Manager
November 28, 2008 – 1:30 pmWe are seeing many rental properties hit the market due to the economy. Some first time real estate investors or ‘forced’ real estate investors don’t want to do the managing of their property themselves and are looking for property managers to help them. Here are the top 20 questions in no particular order to ask when finding a property manager:
- How many properties to you currently manage?
- How many of your properties are currently vacant?
- How do you advertise the rental property?
- Do you pay for advertising?
- What is your average days on market?
- What is the monthly management fee?
- Do you take any part of the first months rent as a fee?
- How long have you been in business?
- How many rental sites do you advertise my listing to?
- What is the percentage of tenants you have evicted?
- Do you have any property management certifications?
- What is your tenant screening process?
- What is your average email and phone response rate for potential tenants?
- What is your average response rate for tenants?
- What accounting software do you use?
- How many employees do you have?
- Who do you use for plumbing, contractor work, etc and are they insured and bonded?
- How do you collect rent? Online, offline, etc.
- Can I see a copy of your lease agreement?
- What other management companies in this area do you recommend?
The best answers and reponses to these questions coming soon.
One Response to “Top 20 Questions to Ask When Finding a Property Manager”
Good list of questions. We manage about 400 units today - mostly single family. It is fair to say when asking about eviction rates consider the area whre the units are listed. Our intercity rentals tend to have a much large eviction rate than some of our more rural properties.
I would think on that question the response should be compare to where your units are at.
By Glenn Lehman on Dec 14, 2008