Property Manager questionaire

[FJW]

I am a property manager based in Lower Hutt and was looking for genuine feed back about your experiences when engaging the services of property managers.

If you currently engage the services of a property manager or you have used the services of a property manager in the past I would love to hear from you and for you to take the time out of your busy morning/day/evening to answer the below questions, your feedback will be greatly valued

1. What attributes make a good property manager?

2. Those of you who are currently using a property manager, why are you staying with them, what is so good about them that makes you want to stay on their books?

3. Those of you who have sacked their property manager why did you do so?

4. What do you think a reasonable price should be for property managers?

Thats all folks ,

Happy Investing

Warm Regards,

Fraser Wilkinson
Managing Director
Manage my Rentals

[PC]

I've found PM's to be very slack in the area of tenant damage and property maintenance.

As soon as tenants cause damage they need to pay for fixing it.
It educates them very quickly as to the costs involved.

PM 3 monthly inspections seldom pickup damage.
Generally they are ladies working part time with little idea or ability to fix minor things.
Fuse is blown - call an electrician.
Some rubbish around - call the cleaners.
Curtain hook is missing - get the handyman out.

They usually get a bit too chummy with the tenants and would rather stick it to the rich LL who pays them.

[Traff]

Questionaire

I can write you a book on why landlords leave property managers and mistakes they make as we clean up the mess daily especially in regards to education on property maintenance responsibilty for tenants. Many Pms havent got a clue how to maintain a property so they expose their landlords to excessive repair bills and large mostly avoidable costs. the loss in rent is insignificant aganst some of the bills we have to give to landlords !! I know plenty of PMs who dont even have a maintenance check sheet when they inspect so how they look after a clients property for them I dont know ( some of these are larger companies ...) Property management is not just about collecting rent but thats obviously how PMs make their money so thats what they focus on - very short sited form an owners perspective. To be fair many landlords dont pay enough attention either and they should get out of property investment as well.

[PC]

Mark do you offer a 3 monthly property inspection and maintenance service?

[Keys]

Check sheets.

So far, my check sheet is three pages long. A tick box system which identifies things to check. Some owners may believe that a check box is lazy. Indeed, to go through a property and tick, tick, tick is lazy. However, using that as a memory aid encourages actual checking of the item for us. We try to increase things to check so that we don't miss items. Continual browsing of web sites like this one is a great source of knowledge. We note every good hint and idea and try to adapt to our service. Comments by Traff and PC are taken into account. We don't advertise. We believe that "raving fans" is the best form of advertising. However, we can't please everyone.

[eagle]

After many years of looking after own properties going abroad for a while necessitated a PM.
After 2 months am changing PM because

a) when tenant left rent outstanding was not collected despite my many reminders by email
b) some of the money owing for water not collected
c) received bill for list of jobs new "tenant had requested these get done", and all could have waited until we returned in a couple of weeks (and PM had instructions we would attend to any non urgent work then and all were very minor.)
d) PM had not checked any of these jobs were necessary- just taken tenant's word
e) I commented tenant's leaving water bill was very high and could it be checked if there is a water leak. Not done.
e) when I complained PM's attitude was quite unprofessional.

To me the basic problem with this company is that they have too many managements so do not have the time to be that interested or follow up on things and things get missed or slip by.

[Propoholic]

The following property manager profiles (taken from a real estate liscencees website) highlight the core of the problem:-

After three months of travel in Australia, Erin decided to travel to Queenstown, New Zealand for a ski season in 2004 and she never looked back.
Erin began her career in property in 2007 as the receptionist at a Queenstown real estate company. Her bubbly character and ability to relate to others made her the perfect candidate when a property manager position came up in the company shortly after she started.
Erin is people focused, and she always strives to deliver the best quality service and best outcomes for her clients.

Kate's administrative experience sparked a desire to progress in the industry and she decided to pursue a career in Property Management. This reflects her passion for people and housing and Kate is looking forward to the challenge of her new position within the ......... team. Kate was raised in Titirangi with a love for nature and the wild west coast beaches. Having lived in Auckland for 23 years, she has a vast knowledge of the area and all it has to offer. Honesty, integrity and clear communication are paramount when building relationships.

Following 6 months travelling the world, Bobette joined the ........ Property Management team in December 2006. Bo brings with her 2 years property management experience.
Bo has been a resident in Pt Chevalier over 25 years attending all the local schools; Pt Chevalier Primary, Pasadena Intermediate, and, Western Springs College. After leaving school, Bo gained a Certificate of Business that led to her working for Carter Holt Harvey as a Legal Secretary, and, later for the Foundation for the Blind as an HR assistant and Special Formats Co-coordinator; which has set Bo a very strong administrative footing.

[Traff]

Propery Maintenance Inspections

Yes we have and we have a clientele of landlords both who manage their properties and who use PMs who use that part of our service to ensure their properties are well looked after in regard to the asset as well as the rent income. It is very popular with out of Auckland and overseas landlords. We will be handing a copy out at our seminar Monday night in West Auckland if you are attending along with other great stuff on property maintenance.

Cheers

Mark

[Meehole]

I currently manage our own properties and have had to learn all aspects of the PM's job for myself. In my experience there are many property managers out there that don't even own their own homes or if they do they don't maintain them themselves, therefor lacking a basic knowledge of what is required for maintenance or preventative maintenance.
To be a good property manager they must be experienced in:
Knowledge of house construction
Knowledge of financial aspect of property investment
Accounting skills
Credit control skills
Excellent communication skills with people from all walks of life
Common sense and empathy
Time management skills
Sadly there are many that have none of these attributes.

[Propoholic]

Erin began her career in property in 2007 as the receptionist at a Queenstown real estate company. Her bubbly character and ability to relate to others made her the perfect candidate when a property manager position came up in the company shortly after she started.

So, Erin (ex receptionist) with the bubbly character can instantly be managing $40,000,000 of property (100 houses/units @ ~$400,000 each) on behalf of the general public.

[Property Man]

I am a property manager based in Lower Hutt and was looking for genuine feed back about your experiences when engaging the services of property managers.

1. What attributes make a good property manager?

2. Those of you who are currently using a property manager, why are you staying with them, what is so good about them that makes you want to stay on their books?

3. Those of you who have sacked their property manager why did you do so?

4. What do you think a reasonable price should be for property managers?

Hi Fraser,

I am a property manager from Palmerston North and my parents own their own in Wellington. Since starting the company as a director for Manawatu Property Ltd in 2008 we have never lost one piece of business. Next month we will lose our first and that is because the owner is moving back into their property.

There are some great points raised above by other members, and sadly it is true. Property managers are generally crap. I have had numerous headaches with property management firms in the past because they don't know the first thing about property management and property investment.

The final straw for me was when I found out a tenant had given a 21 day notice on 2nd December 2007. This means the property was going to be vacant at Christmas and I would be lucky to rent it out before the new year. When I asked the property manager why the tenant was moving out it was because the rent was slightly too high. When I got in touch with the tenant he said it was too late but if the rent had been dropped $10 he would have stayed. This frustrated me because the property manager had never passed this information onto me. Generally dropping the rent is bad, but when you weigh up the situation it can sometimes be the best path to go down. It would have been ideal in this situation because a) I wouldn't have the vacancy over the new year period - it was vacant for 3.5 weeks b) The rent was overpriced to start with so once they moved it it was dropped $10. When I went to talk to the management company at the time who was looking after the property I walked into their office and there was a photo board with all the current listings and a flyer. My property wasn't on it, and it had been 'listed' for rent for 2 weeks now.

Therefore if you want to offer a service that beats your competition and is essentially the best then do the following

-Invest in property yourself or at the least, own your own home. You can't manage property investments if you don't do it yourself.

-Learn the RTA inside out.

-Continually educate yourself in property management by doing some of the courses out there that are offered. They cost but are well worth your investment.

-Listen to your owners and tenants.

-Don't manage more than you can handle. Otherwise your service offered will slip.

-Last but not least, without offending, your website doesn't not look very professional or complete. If you would like any website advice, or the possibility of a new one, feel free to PM me or go to Pay As U Go Website and get in touch. Your website is an important part of your company, and will be where potential clients will go to read about your services and what you offer.

All the best, and I hope some of this information helps.

[Keys]

If you would like any website advice, or the possibility of a new one, feel free to PM me or go to Pay As U Go Website and get in touch.

Maybe your signature requires modification?

Just a hint.

For $1.99 a day we build a website custom to your business. We will host the website and provide a domain name if you don't already have one

[Property Man]

Maybe your signature requires modification?

Just a hint.

Thanks Keys for your hint. That is too long for one line. Maybe something different again

[Keys]

Thanks Keys for your hint. That is too long for one line. Maybe something different again

OK.

Your PT signature states $1.49 per day.

Your website states $1.99 per day (front page).

Please clarify either one of them.

[Property Man]

Ok Cheers Keys. Noted. Thanks for the spotting. Did you have a look at the site? Got any thoughts regarding the idea? Rent a Website is fairly large in the UK but not in NZ. Gives new businesses a chance to get their site on the web without the large upfront costs required by most web developers.