So how do you choose a properties manager?

properties

Just like with the selection of properties to buy, or the selection of a real estate agent to work with, or the selection of a tradesman to work on your properties, it is somewhat of a numbers game. Go with recommendations from friends or other landlords, interview prospective managers, ask them how they have dealt with particular problems in the past, and then try them out. you can always change them later on if you do not see eye to eye. However, it may not always be so easy to change agents, especially if you have bought the properties with the tenants in it.
Let me tell you about an experience I had with an agent in the UK. I bought a properties with tenants in it and by extension I got saddled with the agent who had originally rented it to them. As it was my very first investment properties, I didn’t want to have an agent manage the properties for me, I wanted to manage it myself. But it wasn’t that easy. the agent kept their security deposit because he had found the tenants and even though it was my properties, he demanded that they pay the rent to him and then on top of that, he withheld that rent and didn’t pay it to me. I had no legal recourse unless I evicted the tenants which ultimately I had to do. It was all very amicable as the tenants knew what was happening. they spent one night away from the house to make it legal, I then presented the eviction notice from the courts to the agent and he was forced to return the security deposit and pay me what he owed me on the rent. after that, my tenants came back to me, we signed a new lease and I managed the properties myself. But as a warning, it does not always work out that way where there is an amicable eviction and wresting your properties away from another management agent.
Just because you use one management company to look after one or several properties, it should not be a foregone conclusion that you always use the same firm for any subsequent properties you acquire in the same area. In fact, engaging two competing firms can be healthy, in that they will each try to do well by you to win over more business. this relates back to my earlier programme on selecting builders. always get three quotes for any job and don’t get complacent by using just one builder all the time. the same applies to agents.
You can lose your tenants and your rent very quickly if the properties manager does not respond quickly to repairs or complaints from tenants. let me tell you about a situation I had when I first went into the properties investment business in the UK. I had some tenants move into one of my properties and they had signed a lease agreement and paid a month’s rent in advance as well as a security deposit. I had turned the management of that properties over to an agent with the understanding that my tenants would call them with any problems that arose and they would act on my behalf immediately upon hearing about any issues that needed to be resolved.