Finding Prospective Real Estate Tenants

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Once you have acquired a rental property, or converted real estate that you already own to a rental, the next action you have to take, assuming it is unoccupied, is finding tenants.
This may seem like one of the most daunting tasks you have to perform. Difficulty aside, it is definitely one of, if not the most important one you will undertake.

It’s about their qualifications

When I first was thinking about this topic, it was from the perspective of where would I look for good tenants. As I fleshed the idea out further, I realized it isn’t about where to find a tenant. That is the easy part. The trick is to qualify the prospects you find until you are left with a potentially high-quality tenant.
Given this, I’m going to approach this by discussing what I think are the most important qualification factors for prospective tenants, and end with a short discussion on where to advertise.
Here are the qualifications I will discuss:

  • Monthly Income
  • Credit Score/Credit History
  • Rental History
  • References

Please don’t sue me!!

This may be a tad overdramatic, but at the same time, I feel it is warranted. I am NOT a real estate professional, or an attorney. I am pulling from knowledge about the landlord/tenant laws in the states I operate in as well as rules regarding discrimination.
If you have questions related to what qualifying criteria are legal where your properties are located, I encourage you to investigate the landlord/tenant laws applicable to that country or state.

How much income does a prospect need?

This is probably the most important qualifier as it will overshadow any other issue. If you bring in a tenant who does not have enough income, their standard of living, and thus their stability will be negatively affected. This in turn, means that your rental income will be less stable. When a tenant is right on the edge of being able to pay their living expenses, then things start to get squirrelly.
The rule of thumb that I’ve always gone by has been that you should spend from 25-30% of your gross income on housing. Except for high incomes, the closer you are to the higher percentage, or exceeding it, the more likely it is that you will be house poor. In other words, you might be able to pay all of your expenses, but will not have much if any left over afterward.
Having said that, this ratio may be changing, and not necessarily for the better. The higher rents have risen in the past few years, the higher the percentage of one’s income is required to pay them. I heard a recent stat that said the percentage of income being put toward housing in places like San Francisco and New York is upwards of 40-50%.
Places like NYC and SF are outliers and present a unique rental situation that is not ideal for most investors. Most regions of the country are not like that. When I am looking for tenants, I look for gross income that is at least 3 times the rent. That will give a ratio of at most 33%. I have had no problem finding prospective tenants with this income level.

What does their credit look like?

I initially had Credit Score and Credit History listed as two separate topics, but they really need to be looked at in context of each other.
In general, the higher a persons credit score, the more responsible they are with money in general. If they routinely pay all of their bills on time, including any recurring bills like car payments, student loans, etc., it generally means they handle all of their finances the same way.
This topic gets more complicated when you look at credit history in combination with credit score. Someone may have a very low credit score, but it may because their credit history is not very long. This could mean that potentially negative items are having a disproportionate effect on their score. This is not to mean you should simply ignore a low credit score, but potentially ask questions to determine whether it is indicative of a larger issue, or a short-term problem.
This is one area that may be more dependent on the rent that is being asked. Higher rent is going to require higher income prospects, and in general, their credit scores are higher and histories are longer and more favorable.

What is their rental history?

The rental history of a prospective tenant gives a glimpse into their living habits. It may show if they have moved around a lot, and potentially the conditions under which they left their prior residences.
At the same time it is always important to find out the rental history, it may be somewhat unreliable. Depending on the circumstances under which someone left or is leaving their last residence, the landlord may say something positive simply in order to get the tenant out. I’ll leave it to you to decide the ethical bounds of this tactic, just know that it can happen.
It is also entirely possible that looking into the rental history may not yield much information other than confirmation that the prospect did live somewhere, and how much they paid for rent. This may be due to laws regarding disclosure of information or a fear of liability or slander if the tenants were described in a negative light which caused a denial of application.

What do people say about them?

Asking for references on an application is the final piece of the tenant-qualifying puzzle. As with the rental history, your mileage may vary. If you don’t ask, however, you’ll never find anything out.
References may shed a lot of light into people, depending on who they are. If it is a close friend, or relative, you will generally get a largely positive description. If it is a boss or some other person, you may receive more detailed information. Either way, you will need to take what you hear with some doubt, and just try to find the common thread running through the conversation.
If all you have to go on is a reference, then you need to find other ways to qualify tenants. If, however, you are on the fence either way about a prospect, then discussion with a reference may help you make the choice.

Where are these people?

Well, here you are. You have an application put together with questions about income, credit score, rental history, and references. The only problem left is you have no-one to show it to. Fortunately, there are a number of straight-forward options for finding prospective tenants. Let’s talk through a few of them here:

  • Use friends/family network: Spread the word among friends and family that you are looking for a tenant. Give details about the unit that is available and who you are looking for. This can actually work fairly well as people will generally send good prospects along, assuming that your relationship with them is good.

  • Free Online Service, eg. Craigslist: At least in the United States, most major cities and areas have a Craigslist page. You can post advertisements for your available unit and will be contacted by interested parties. This option does require some work as the listings are chronological and will need to be renewed every few days to bring to the top of the list. Also, when setting up appointments, you will have to deal with no-shows. That is the primary downside of this option. Upsides are that these pages get a lot of traffic, and have a wide range of viewers.

  • Paid Online Service, eg. Apartments.com: This is exactly what it seems. You either pay to put a listing up, or you pay to contact people who express interest in your free listing. Either way, there is a cost. Your results may vary. I don’t think these sites get as much traffic as the free ones. Their prices can also be very high per month. My vote is to stick with the free sites.

  • Advertise in Local News papers: Run an advertisement in the local paper. These will usually be a flat fee and will run either once or for a set number of issues. They are generally more costly than the online only services. In some cases, an online ad will be included as well. There are two main reasons to consider running an ad in the paper:

    1. Your property is in an area not well served by an online marketplace like Craigslist.
    2. The demographic in your area does not have computers or widespread internet access.

    You should make the decision of whether to run an ad based on your knowledge of the area. You should be able to figure out if it is necessary by checking for a Craigslist page and seeing what traffic it has referencing your area. If you are out of the area, you will want to go on your property manager’s recommendations and local knowledge.

This should give you a good overview of what factors you need to consider when qualifying prospective tenants. The more information you can obtain about them, the better your decision-making will be. With that comes the caution of being aware of what factors you may not include in your process. These cover the general ones like race, religion, sexual orientation, etc. You definitely need to be aware of the relevant landlord/tenant laws in your area as they will give you specifics.
You should come up with a specific set of criteria that you will apply to all prospects. This will help avoid any perception of bias for or against a prospect.
Once you have this criteria outlined, start advertising using some or all of the methods listed above. My preferred method is Craigslist, as it receives the most consistent and varied traffic in my areas of interest.

What are your selection criteria? Where do you find most of your prospective tenants? Please leave your answers in the comments.

The Importance of Responsiveness in real estate investing

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In any business, there are certain characteristics that stand out with successful people. One of the most important ones in my experience, that is often not mentioned, is responsiveness. This is applicable whether it is you as the investor, or someone on your real estate team, whether property manager, attorney, etc.
In this article, I will talk about:

  • What is Responsiveness
  • Why is it critical that you are responsive
  • Why is responsiveness important for your real estate team?

What is Responsiveness?

According to Webster’s Dictionary,
Responsiveness: 1. reacting in a desired or positive way 2. quick to react or respond

Both of these definitions can be applied in the sense of responding to peoples’ needs, be they tenants, agents, HOA, etc., whether positively or negatively, in a timely manner, and following through if something is promised.

Why is it critical that you are responsive?

The simplest possible answer to this is that real estate investing is a business, and you don’t work in a vacuum. There are other people involved, whether they be your tenants, a real estate agent working for you, a mortgage company, etc., and their ability to be successful in business depends on you and others fulfilling obligations that you make to them.
Responsiveness is really like completing an implied contract. Sometimes this is actually formalized in a agreement, as when you have a mortgage that you agree to pay on a certain date every month. If you do not follow through, there are defined penalties.
Other times, the call for responsiveness is in a more tenuous agreement, like when you tell someone you will do something for them. There is a tacit agreement that you will provide something that they are asking for as it relates to your business. Of course, this could be in your personal life as well, but that probably goes without saying. Some places where this comes into play are with a realtor who may be helping you find or sell real estate, a tenant who calls with a problem, or with an attorney who is helping you with legal documents.
Each of these situations requires you to be responsive because they all need your input in order to do some portion of their jobs, or to maintain their living space. One way to look at this is to think of everyone who needs something from you, as a client, whether an actual client/tenant or not. If you do not provide them information they need, you may miss out on a real estate deal, or miss a legal deadline, or have a tenant leave because they do not feel you are maintaining their unit properly for it to be habitable.
Not being responsive not only can cost you money and/or missed opportunities, but it also reflects on you personally. If people sense that you are not getting back to them in a timely manner, they may choose to not work as closely with you, meaning you may miss deadlines or lose out on an opportunity. There may also be an impact on your reputation, and cause other people to not want to work with you.

Why is responsiveness important for your real estate team?

Many of the same reasons mentioned above will apply to the team of people that you put together to help manage your real estate investment. I would argue that responsiveness on the part of your team is even more critical because they are working with people on both sides of the business. They need to work with you to keep you informed of any changes, needs, issues, etc., and they need to work with clients and other contractors to ensure compliance with contracts, projects, requirements, etc.
One specific area where responsiveness is critical is on the part of a property manager. If you have real estate in a location that is not close to you, and it is being managed, then close communication becomes critical. Since you are not there, you cannot visit the property to check in regularly. The property manager is your sole point of contact, as well as that of any tenants.
If there is a problem at your property, you need to be able to count on the property manager to let you know as soon as possible. This falls under the desired reaction definition, where they know that in an emergency, they need to tell you not just what is wrong, but how they are initially handling the situation, and finally, a long-term solution. If this communication does not happen, then a problem might persist, and/or get worse and propagate into additional problems.
As well, if you issue an order to your property manager, they need to respond either within a reasonable amount of time, or provide an immediate response in which they state a time-frame for action. This is important because some items are time-sensitive and you need to be confident that your directives are carried out.
You can find different examples of critical responsiveness concerning each of your real estate team members.
Finally, the degree to which your team is responsive reflects on you as a business owner. There is actually a twofold reflection on you since the focus is not directly on your interactions, but on those of people you have hired. The first impression for people is that responsiveness is a barometer of how much you and thus your team value other people’s time. The second is more second order, in that if people find your team to not be responsiveness, they may see this as a failing of the team members, but also of you in your ability to train your team, recognize critical business skills, and finally your judgment in hiring the right team members.

A responsive recap

The first thing to keep in mind is that real estate investing is a business. All businesses succeed to a degree by how they manage interactions with other people. One aspect of this interaction is responsiveness, the ability to respond in a desired and/or positive way, or being quick to react or respond to a given situation.
The need for responsiveness applies whether you are completing a task for a client, providing direction or information to someone on your real estate team, or interacting with a contractor.
If you are not responsive to a client, most likely a tenant in the real estate case, then they may very well think you do not consider them to be important. At that point, they may simply stop attempting to work with you, which may mean that problems occur at your property that go unreported, or they may simply move out, either immediately or at the end of their lease. This could mean the loss of a desirable tenant and thus steady income.
If you do not pay attention to requests or issues with neighbors, you open yourself up to potential legal action, property disputes and potential damage to your property.
Your team needs you to be responsive because in many ways, you have the final say on their tasks. If you don’t give approval, everything slows down, deadlines may be missed, and small problems may turn into large ones.
Conversely, you need to have a real estate team that is responsive as well. If they ignore tenant requests or problems, those may turn into more serious issues, or the tenants may simply leave. If they do not respond to you in a timely manner, you may lose track of where a project or property stands, and miss a deadline, or let a project get off track. This can cost you time, money and hassle. Finally, if your team is not responsive with each other, or other contractors, you will likely encounter delays and inevitably pay more for projects or services. More seriously though, in this case, is that your reputation may be damaged and you may lose the opportunity to work with the best people for a particular service or in a real estate partnership.
It is important to remember that just as it is a business for you, it is also business or a material need for your team and your tenants. When you have made a commitment to someone, it doesn’t matter if you are doing this as a part-time gig, or a full-time business, they have an expectation that you will follow through.
If you make the effort to be responsive in all facets of your business, and surround yourself with a team who share that goal, you will likely find yourself with more people wanting to work with you, and better relationships with tenants and neighbors. Taken together, that adds up to a successful real estate business.

Pets in Real Estate

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Pets are like family, but this is a business!

People who have pets think of them as part of their family. They want them to live with them, and don’t want to have to leave them behind for any reason.
When you become a real estate investor, you must ensure that you don’t transfer your feelings of how a pet should be treated onto your tenants. A pet should be treated as another tenant, and their potential impact on your property must be taken into account.
Ultimately, you will have to weigh the costs and benefits of whether to allow your tenants to have pets in your property.
This post will discuss the following:

  • The benefits of allowing pets

  • The downsides/costs of allowing pets

  • Protective actions to take if you do allow pets

  • When a pet stops being a pet

The benefits of allowing pets: Vote Yes for Pets

The case for allowing pets is pretty clear. If you put yourselves in the shoes of a tenant, their pet is part of their family. If someone is looking. For a place to live, they want to take their entire family to go with them. Many places have restrictions on allowing pets, thus there is a greater demand for units that do allow pets. That would tend to shift the supply vs demand needle more in your favor. How you choose to take advantage of that is your choice.
The other part of that equation to realize is that if you allow pets, you are essentially opening up the entire pool of people looking for housing as possible tenants, instead of limiting it to those who do not have pets.
You may find pet owners to be more responsible. Most pet owners understand that there is a potential for accidents to happen and make an attempt to mitigate problems before they occur.
Studies have shown that people who own pets tend to be more happy and content. Having happy, content tenants is something we all strive for, so if a pet may add to that, what is the harm?

Pets are great, from a Distance

The harm, as they say, is that no good deed goes unpunished. The negatives far outweigh the positives when it comes to allowing pets in your unit.
Let’s run down a list of the potential issues.

  • Excessive wear and tear, cleaning, repair costs: Pets by their nature create additional dirt and waste that must be dealt with. If the tenants are not responsible, this dirt and waste may become a significant and costly nuisance at move-out time. In some places, you may be able to charge a non-refundable pet deposit to cover this extra damage, but it is not always enough. This leaves you with attempting to recoup your costs through other means, either from the regular deposit or through legal means.
  • Conflict with neighbors: Unfortunately, not everyone is as happy to have pets around as their owners. When pets make noise, visit the neightbors unexpectedly and leave gifts in various places, the fallout may spread from the tenant to the owner. If this is allowed to continue, even in a situation where you are not aware of it and then handle it promptly, the perception may remain. It may, in fact, remain long after the tenants have departed. People have a long memory when they are inconvenienced, no matter how insignificant it may seem to you. The point is that the easiest way to avoid this is to remove the source of the inconvenience.
  • Liability Issues: Along with the wear and tear and repair costs, the liability that you take on by allowing pets is probably the biggest deterrent. Liability can come in many forms, but I think the largest area is in relation to pets attacking other pets or other people. Even though the pets are not yours, it is likely you will be named in a lawsuit because you rented the unit to the tenant when they were in possession of the pet, or allowed them to bring the pet into their home.
    This, unfortunately, is not limited to pets that have a bad reputation. Even the most docile dog or cat or bird or what have you, can be provoked on occasion, whether knowingly or not, and retaliate.
    If someone is hurt, seriously or not, it compounds the problem. Best, if possible, to avoid the situation altogether.

Proactive Measures to take if you are going to allow pets

Getting ahead of a problem is your best defense. If you are going to allow pets, then you need to make sure that you do everything you can to limit your potential liability.
A good first step is to think through the type of pets that are appropriate for the living space. A large open property is going to be different than a house or townhouse or condominium. Not allowing pets too large or too numerous for a space may help limit many hassles before they even start.
Ensure that you are complying with any regulations whether from the city, community, or Home Owner’s Association. Many of these agencies have given a lot of consideration to what is appropriate or not in your area. Don’t reinvent the wheel.
Determine what, if any, additional fees a tenant will need to pay if they have a pet. This may be in the form of an additional deposit, which is a one-time payment, or an additional amount of rent due every month. I think the best way to handle this is to characterize the charge as a non-refundable cleaning deposit. If this runs up against some local gov. definition of a deposit, then simply call it a cleaning fee. Be sure to remember that though you might call it a deposit, it is going to be recorded as income immediately due to it not being refundable.
As with many other items, being clear about your rules and regulations prior to a tenant moving in is critical. This starts when you are advertising your unit or property for rent. Make sure that the ad contains any limitations on type, size, number, etc. of pets that you will allow.
The next step is at the time of lease signing. Include any of your personal rules and regulations related to pets. Also include those rules and regulations imposed by any local governing body, whether county or city ordinance, neighborhood or community rules, down to Home Owner’s Association rules.
While it may seem like overkill, as long as they are current, providing this documentation ensures that your tenant is aware of and in possession of the text. This removes great potential for the "Oh, I didn’t know" argument to be raised. One great resource for standard forms, like leases, lead-paint certs, etc., if you are in California, is the California Apartments Association. Here is a link to the National Apartment Association as well, so you may find a local chapter with documents tailored more closely to the location of your property.
Lastly, and this somewhat repeats above, but it is worth it: Document Everything!!
Provide the tenants copies in the lease. Have them sign pet regulation sections of the lease. Have them initial important points within the regulations.
If you are going to allow pets, taking these steps may save you a lot of time, hassle, and potentially, money.

When a pet stops being a pet

This may seem an odd title, but it is exactly what could happen in a couple of situations. It is important because of who considers the pet to no longer be a pet, but instead, something more than. That classification unfortunately mens that you will be forced to modify rules that you have in place already, in accommodation.
In this case, I’m referring to times when you may not be able to apply your pet regulations. These situations are covered by the following regulations:

  • Department of Justice – Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): Service Animal regulations – The only animals covered are dogs. In cases where this regulation applies, however, there are very strong restrictions about what you may ask. You may ask essentially if a dog is a service dog, and what task they are providing assistance with. That is all. Aside from that, they must be allowed into any areas where you would normally allow the public.
  • Department of House and Urban Development (HUD) – Fair Housing Act: Service Animals and Assistance Animals for People with Disabilities – This is a much broader regulation and is much more likely where you as a property owner may be affected.
    The main points are that you must make a reasonable accommodation for an animal that works, provides assistance, or performs tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability, or provides emotional support that alleviates one or more identified symptoms or effects of a person’s disability.
    A key difference between the ADA and HUD regulations are the ADA is specific to Service Animals defined as dogs, and the HUD regulations encompass those but also include Assistance Animals in a broader context. This means that it is much more likely for a situation to arise where you may have to accommodate an assistance animal.

It is important to note that while the HUD regulations are broader, in those situations, you are permitted to ask for documentation stating what the disability is, and what benefit or service the animal is providing. If those are provided, then you must make an accommodation.
You may run up against this regulation at two different times: When you are attempting to rent the property, or when you have an existing tenant who wants to bring in a pet that they claim is an assistance animal.
When an applicant discloses that they have an assistance animal, as listed above, you have two choices:

  1. You may choose them as the new tenants. If you do this, you are not able to charge them a specific "Pet" deposit, because the animal is not considered a pet. It is considered part of the family, and so the tenant is only liable for any damage not considered wear and tear.
  2. You may choose to pass on the applicant. If you do this, it needs to be extremely clear that the decision had nothing to do with the applicant’s possession of an assistance animal.

If the tenant is already in possession of the unit, you may request documentation of the disability, and the animal’s role in mitigating effects. In this situation, I would definitely have an attorney on hand for review, etc. It is going to be necessary to review the supporting documents provided and ensure that they state an actual disability and role for the pet. If there is a valid disability and role, then you will have to provide accommodation.

Wrapping it up

Well, we’ve covered a lot of topics here. Let’s walk back through everything we went over. The decision to allow pets needs to be a business decision. That doesn’t mean it is easy, as you have to take your personal feelings and emotions out of it.
If you allow pets, you are going to increase your potential tenant pool. The rental unit may be able to command a premium on rent and fees due to the more limited number of places that allow pets.
The reasons not to allow pets are largely due to avoidance of things that could happen were they to be allowed. You may face increased wear and tear, and possibly damage in addition to normal use. This may or may not be covered by the tenant security and/or pet deposit. Long-term hard feelings with neighbors may arise if a situation persists and they perceive that you let it carry on. You may face unexpected liability due to the type of pet you allow, or simply because pets can be unpredictable.
If you do decide to allow pets, first think about the types of pets that are appropriate for a particular rental unit. Next, determine what, if any, additional fees or deposits you will charge a tenant who wants to have a pet. Finally, make sure that you clearly document the rules and regulations from city/county/state, down to community, home owner’s association, and then your personal limitations on pets. Ensure that the tenant has copies of all relevant rules, and that these are signed and initialed as part of the lease.
Lastly, remember that what looks like a pet, is not always a pet. Both the DOJ using the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have regulations on what constitutes a service animal or assistance animal. In the case of the HUD regulations, you have the right to ensure that a person has a real disability, and the animal is assisting with or mitigating some symptom of that disability. If these conditions are met, then you will need to make reasonable accommodation either when the tenant moves in, or when they want to bring this animal into their household.
Deciding whether or not to allow pets is never an easy decision, especially if you are an animal lover. Real estate investing is a business, and while personal beliefs will always influence how you run a business, you must also be willing to look at the issue from a pure business perspective. In this case, that means considering how allowing pets may affect your potential profitability and liability.

Evaluating a property manager

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The Need for a Property Manager

When you purchase rental real estate, you will shortly realize that you have to manage the property. In many cases, you may choose to do this yourself. In some cases, including but not limited to, if the property is a significant distance from you, or managing personally does not fit your current work-flow, you are going to need to find and hire a property manager. This could be an individual, or a management company.

My Property Management Experience

When I first became involved in real estate, I truly had no idea what I was doing. Firstly, I was working with properties that were out of state. Secondly, the property manager that I was using was the family of a friend who also owned real estate in the same city. This worked out well for a while, but when the going got tough, the gaps in experience were exposed, on both of our parts. I went through another individual and then a company before ending up with the company that I use now. There have been some definite growing pains and lessons learned in this process.

Evaluation Criteria for a Property Manager

What I’m going to discuss now, are some of those lessons learned, in the context of what to look for when hiring a property manager. Here are the evaluation criteria I have come up with:

  1. Responsiveness – When you contact them, they should get back to you promptly. If there is a problem on the property end, you should be notified quickly with potential solutions.
  2. Proximity – They need to be close to your properties. If they are not close, they will not visit them, and your properties, and thus your profits, will suffer.
  3. Professionalism – In interactions with you and with tenants, handle problems at a high level, be polite but firm when dealing with problems. If there is an issue, you need to be informed promptly.
  4. Real Estate Knowledge – They need to be experienced in the business. Finding tenants, rent collection, accounting, construction estimating, able to prioritize repairs.
  5. Pricing – They should match what the local market is for management. From what I’ve seen, it is usually 10% of the income, including rent, late fees, etc. when they handle leasing a unit, there is generally a fee of the first months rent. There is a lot of variability in what people offer. I think the best is when people state something up front, and them stick with it. Much as it might be frustrating to ask for a change and have it refused, there is something to be said for a company that knows what works for them and is willing to stick to their guns.
  6. Communication – the most important thing, bar none. If they won’t talk to you, or respond to you, find someone else. If you don’t understand something, ask. You should expect a logical answer. If they are legit, they will have one. My best experience with a company was when I had a series of requests that were denied and I didn’t understand why, I called them. Just getting on the phone an being able to establish common ground, helped a lot.
  7. Business Relationships – When you own real estate, you are going to have to have work done in one form or another. A lot of this may fall in the handyman category: basic repairs, cleaning, etc. Sometimes you are going to need a plumber or electrical or some other more specialized work done. Sometimes you will need work done outside of business hours. In all of these situations, you are going to have to rely on your property manager to find someone to get this work done. The more relationships they have with a network of contractors, or handymen and other specialists, the easier this process will be. A larger network also means they are more likely to know who provides the best quality service.

Finding a Balance

Upon reading this list, I’m sure the next questions is going to be along the lines of how important and what precedence should be given to each topic. The easy thing would be to say that this is going to be unique to each investor, dependent on their individual preferences. While this may be true to a degree, I expect that none of you came here looking for some half-baked cliché about what will or won’t work. Here is what it boils down to:

  1. The company or individual you hire has to be close to your property. It is the gravity model of real estate; the further away, the less impact it has on them and the less they think about it.
  2. Property management should be their primary focus, and they should have significant experience at it. I would shy away from a company that offers management as an add-on service to a realtor’s business or some such. When the going gets tough, they will focus on their primary business and your property will be left hanging.
  3. Having a professional organization. This follows closely with number 2 in that having experience likely means they have work-flows and procedures in place to handle both standard activities and unexpected occurrences. If it seems like they are reinventing the wheel, run away fast!
  4. Communication is key. This might be number one in that if they are slow getting back to you when you are first contacting them, it is a red flag.

What did I miss?

There you have it, my best ideas for what you need to evaluate a property manager. As I said, people have different ideas and needs. You might think some or all of these are great, or just the opposite. There may be, it is likely even, that there are qualities I didn’t even list that are deal-breakers for you. Either way, I want to hear what they are, so please, leave your thoughts in the comments.