When Should You Fire Your Property Manager?

A property management company handles all the affairs of your rental property, from marketing to handling payment and maintenance.

While a property manager should work in your best interest, you may be losing more money and credibility by working with an incompetent manager.

 In this article, we will share some telltale signs of bad property management.  Here are some signs.

Legal troubles.

Although many states mandate that management companies have licenses and a legal team, not all excel at following the law- This could be due to untrained personnel and poor company values. If your management company is regularly involved in litigation, this could be a sign that the company is inept. Since they deal with tenants, most of the cases deal with rental property law.  

It is necessary to note that one court case doesn’t make your management company bad- things like that are bound to happen.

Your rental property is vacant.

This is one of the obvious signs of an under performing management firm. Ideally, your property should be vacant for more than a month.  If it is getting to the two-month mark, you should consider ending your property management agreement.

Note: the location of your property, price, design, and market appeal can also affect how well you attract your target audience.

If your rent is lower than the average.

We always advise clients to keep up with the price of houses and other similar commercial property when their real estate is situated. We are not asking them to be skeptical of the management company but to evaluate their performance. You may believe your property is doing fine because of how well it attracts and retain tenants but be sure that it is truly the case.

If your rent is cheaper than average, your business may be performing poorly, and your manager is using low prices to attract as many individuals or companies as possible.

Poor communication.

Effective communication is crucial to the survival of any business venture. If there is an emergency, it is assuring to know that you can get a hold of your manager and resolve pressing issues. Your manager should respond to calls and emails within a day or two.

As your partner, your property management company in Bakersfield should be up to date on business operations. This includes vacancy rates, business policies, maintenance requirements, etc.

Low retention rate.

If you discover that tenants are leaving more than usual, you should be wary of the management. The maintenance or management firm may be understaffed to effectively handle all their portfolio. In many cases, the root cause for this is poor maintenance of the structure or unfair policies.  

Final thoughts.

If your rental real estate is being managed by a bad company, firing them is only half of the solution. Since you already use one, chances are, you don’t have the luxury to oversee the property yourself.  Finding a reputable company that offers property management in Bakersfield, CA, will help you recover from the damages done in the past and rebuild your brand.