How Do I Find A Property Manager?

Finding a property manager has never been easier. You can easily find a property management company from your sofa, office, or bedroom. Instead of spending hours combing through Google listings to find details about every property management company in your area, iPropertyManangement.com has done the work for you. Our website lists over 1,000 property management companies in cities across the United States.

It breaks each property management company down to the important information you need to create a Post-it sized list of companies you want to do real research on. So, instead of taking the time to search each company in your town’s website for basic information, you can use that time to do an in-depth search of a small handful. You’ll use less time and find a company that is the perfect fit for you.

Just follow these steps:

1. 1. Click on the locations tab on the top right of the iProperty Management website.
   2. Find and click on your city and state on the locations list.
   3. Look through the list of property managers that comes up.
   4. See reviews. These can be a starting point for eliminating property management companies with unhappy clients. The property management company in the example below has a 5 star rating from Google and Yelp.

1. 1. Look at the company’s Better Business Bureau (BBB) grade. Businesses are graded by the BBB on a scale of A+ to F, just like school grades. The BBB decides the business’ grade based on criteria like the number of complaints they have received about the business, the type of business it is, how long the business has been around, licensing and government actions. You can use a company’s BBB rating as part of your evaluation criteria.

1. 1. Check how many employees they have. It’s important to compare how many employees they have to how many properties they manage and how many properties you plan to give them. If each employee can only effectively manage 30-40 properties, make sure you’re not asking for more than what they can handle.

1. 1. Find out rates. The company below charges a standard fee of 5 percent of the gross rental income. That means they only make money if they do their job. If your property collects no rent, they collect no money. Read our guide about understanding property management rates, pricing, and fees.

1. 1. See what services they provide. There are three types of services a property management company can provide you with:

 

Residential Property Management: They are responsible for collecting rent from tenants living in the properties they manage. Residential property managers are technically on call 24/7 because the tenants occupy the property 24/7. Many state laws require the landlord or someone acting on behalf of the landlord to respond to complaints within a short period of time. They deal with collecting rent from people as opposed to corporations.

Commercial Property Management: They are responsible for collecting rent from tenants who use the property during business hours. Typically, commercial property managers won’t be called during non-business hours. Additionally, the issues governing commercial properties aren’t as crucial as in residential properties. For example, a business can put an out of order sign on a bathroom door, but a residential tenant needs to have running water and power in their home.

Home Owners Association (HOA) Property Management: HOA boards consist of property owners volunteering to improve the property. However, these owners don’t get paid to do all of this work and often do not have the time. Many HOA boards hire property managers. Instead of the manager collecting rent from tenants for landlords, the landlords turn into the tenants. The property manager becomes responsible for collecting dues from the landlords. For every unit the landlord owns, they pay dues. The property manager then uses the dues to repair, maintain and improve the property, under the guidance of the HOA board.

The company in the example below works on residential and commercial properties. However, they do not work for Home Owners Associations.

1. 1. Get basic contact information. You can use this information to contact the property management companies for face-to-face interviews.

Initial Evaluation

It would be very difficult for you to look into every property management company in your area. However, going through the classifications on your area’s list can help you narrow down your options to a more manageable list. From there, you can begin to really vet the property management companies you are considering and find the perfect one for your properties. Look into what people are saying about each company on social media and through word of mouth. Meet the property managers at the company to learn what they do and their temperament. Look at the work they’ve done with other clients to make sure it’s up to par. Talk to the tenants whose properties they manage. Do they do a good job? What do the contracts look like? While you cannot leave every stone unturned for a hundred property management companies, you can do it for a dozen. Use this site to get the hundreds in your area down to a dozen.