Everyday Property Investing - EPI155 | Selecting a property manager

EPI155 | Selecting a property manager

09/14/22 • 49 min

In this podcast episode of Everyday Property Investing, Kaz and Lisa discuss how to select a property manager, what questions to ask and the most important factors to consider when choosing who will manage your property investment asset.

Previous Episode

EPI 154 | Challenges with Property Management

Challenges with Property management

In this podcast episode we discuss some of the challenges experienced with property management, including:

Communication
- Not responsive to emails
- Doesn’t return calls
Large rent roll
- Portfolio – Pod – Task based
- Not enough staff
- Low fees vs Good Service
Change of managers
- Replace with juniors or lower quality
- Bounce around between managers – no consistency (staff turn over)
- BDM bait and switch
Management of maintenance
- Not reporting maintenance
- Maintenance approved but not actioned
Management of tenants
- Routines not on time
- Not keeping tenant to acceptable standard
Reactive management rather than proactive management
- Constantly having to follow up the manager for routines, maintenance,
- anything!

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Next Episode

EPI155 | Selecting a Property Manager

Selecting a property manager

Selecting a Property manager to interview

Ask for referrals – BA, other investors
Google reviews
Look at the website – is it modern, updated, review staff profiles

Interviewing

How many rentals does the agency manage
how many staff and their experience
How many rentals per manager – around 100 – 120 per staff member
How involved is the principal in the property management
Do you have an assistant or do you handle everything from start to finish
How long have you been a property manager?
How long have you been working for that office?
Processes:
- Rental arrears:
  - Process on rental arrears
  - % of current tenants in arrears on rent and invoicing
- Process around routines, are they done in-house or outsourced
- Process around maintenance
- Give them some scenarios – if a tenant is 8 days behind what do you do? Will you contact me?
Fees and charges
- Investment property earning $650pw rent
  - 8% fee – $52 ($7.50 difference)
  - 7% fee – $45.50 ($6.50 difference)
  - 6% fee – $39
Go with your gut – if you don’t have a good feeling on the phone
Judge them on their communication and responsiveness during the ‘courtship’ phase
A word on self management