6 Questions To Ask When Choosing A Property Manager

If you don't do your homework, choosing a Property Manager or management company to manage your rental property can be a very long and painful process. It can take weeks, even months of trial and error to choose the property management firm to manage your real estate holdings.

So to try to make the process less painful, owners should ask these 6 questions:

1. How long have you been a property manager?

You always want to choose a company that is well seasoned and reputable in the industry and who manages properties for others that you know of in the marketplace. If they work with other people you are familiar with, you will know that you can assess their competence based on testimonials from others.

2. What types of properties do you manage?

Select a company that specializes in your kind of property be it a single family home, du-plex, tri-plex, quad-plex, apartment or commercial. This will assure you that the company is knowledgeable when it comes to the unique challenges and opportunities each type of property brings.

3. What type of insurance do you carry?

To help protect yourself and your valuable asset(s), choose an organization that carries errors and omissions insurance and general liability at a minimum.

4. How many units are you currently managing?

The more units the company manages, the more experienced they are at handling just about anything you can throw at them -- giving them an advantage over less experienced firms. Avoid property managers with few units under management. More often than not, these companies have only been around for a short period of time and they lack the quality controls of a more established firms.

5. How many property managers does your company have?

This gives you an idea of how many properties per property manager they manage. A ratio of 50-75 units per manager is ideal. Managers will have the time to address any issues that arise in the course of a week.

6.What is your repair process?

Do they automatically perform certain repairs without your approval? Will you receive discounts rates due to volume considerations the company receives from vendors? Will you receive multiple bids if it's a large repair?