Hiring a property manager is one of the best moves you can make for your rental property management strategy. This dedicated company, or individual, will be responsible for keeping your property occupied, collecting rent, taking care of various issues that arise, and ultimately making sure your rental property remains profitable. It’s a way of turning this into a passive investment while potentially increasing your bottom line.
However, not all property managers are equally suited for the job, and not all of them are going to take great care of your rental properties. Breaking up with a property manager is sometimes the right move, but the transition can be difficult – so it pays to be sure that this is the right decision.
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Signs It’s Time to Find a New Property Manager
These are some of the most important signs that it’s time to move on and find a new property manager:
1. You can’t reach them.
One of the most obvious signs that your property manager isn’t working out is that you can’t reach them reliably. You call them. You text them. Then you email them. But it often takes them days, or even weeks to respond, if they respond at all. This is a job that demands consistent communication, so if you can’t even get in touch with this company or individual, it’s a red flag.
2. Your property is vacant for too long.
Every experienced rental property manager knows how important it is to keep properties occupied; vacant properties are financial loss machines.
It’s true that you may not have to pay for property management services while the property is unoccupied, but unoccupied properties are still a red mark on your ledger. If your property is vacant for too long, it could be an issue with your property manager.
3. Repair requests are being unaddressed or neglected.
Depending on the laws in your area, it may be legal to fail to respond to a repair request for up to 30 days. Still, it pays to respond to repair requests quickly and efficiently. If you can’t rely on your property manager to do this and handle issues when they arise, it may be time to move on.
4. Contractor work is shoddy.
Pay attention to the contractor work that’s done on your property. Property managers often have to find vendors that strike a reasonable balance between affordability and quality, but you shouldn’t be overpaying for low-quality work.
If there are consistent issues with the contractors or vendors chosen, consider having a talk with your property manager; if it fails to improve, the best choice may be to part ways.
5. Your tenants are unhappy.
Unhappy tenants are a detriment to your rental property management strategy. That’s not to say you have to sacrifice profitability to make them happy, but you should at least give them a reasonable place to live and good communication. If your property manager can’t do that, it’s a bad sign.
6. Neighbors are complaining.
Are the neighbors complaining? Are they trying to reach you directly because of all the issues associated with your property? With a good property manager in place, this should never happen. Talk to the neighbors to get a better ground-level perspective on what’s happening at your property.
7. Legal compliance is slipping.
If there’s anything more important than profitability in your rental property, it’s legal compliance. If you don’t conform to the laws in your area, you could get in serious legal trouble. That’s why it’s so important to make sure that your property manager is consistently and methodically adhering to the law.
8. There are no regular inspections.
Inspections are relatively inexpensive and aren’t especially time-consuming, but they can catch major issues before they become a genuine problem for your rental property. If your property manager isn’t working to coordinate these inspections, or if they aren’t visiting the property in person at least periodically, you should start looking for a new manager.
9. You no longer trust them.
It only takes a few issues to start eroding the trust you have in your property manager. If you feel like you can no longer trust them to handle issues or be honest with you, the partnership probably isn’t going to work out.
10. You just have a gut feeling that something is “off.”
Keep in mind that you don’t need any concrete reasons to part ways with your property manager. If something generally feels off, in your communications or in the efforts your property manager has made, it’s perfectly reasonable to look for a new partner.
Photo by Aldric RIVAT on Unsplash
Moving On
If you notice several of the above signs, you should seriously consider parting ways with your existing property manager and looking for a new one, though not necessarily in that order. Do your due diligence to find a new property manager who can competently manage your rental properties, and read your existing contract to make sure you can exit cleanly and professionally.
With a new, more responsible property manager in place, you should have far fewer headaches, greater revenue generation, and superior peace of mind. It’s not always easy to part ways with a strategic partner, but it’s often the only realistic way forward.
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