Non-responsive property manager blues?
This is a common complaint that I have heard over the years. Never from our own clients of course 🙂 , but it seems to come up again and again, regardless of the geographic market or time of year.
Now of course there is no excuse for not returning calls and emails to your clients, but in the defense of property management companies everywhere, let me help explain how things can work.
First of all, please keep in mind that for a property management company to make a profit, they need to have quite a few clients. Each manager can generally have 50-150 sets of tenants under their umbrella. In a tight market with low vacancy rates, this is relatively manageable, but in a loose market with high vacancy, this can be a very difficult task.
Now, in the perfect world, each one of these 50-150 sets of tenants pays their month on the first of each month, but as most landlords know, this isn’t always the case. The property manager can easily have 10-20 midnight moves, non-payments, etc. that occur on the first of the month. Tenants also love to bring up issues on the first of the month for some reason, probably because that’s when rent is due, and these issues are always top of mind when rent is due.
Tip for contacting your property management company
My tip for you here; if you are having a tough time getting ahold of your property manager is…don’t call him or her on the first of the month! Let them deal with the major catastrophes that occur in residential property management first, then maybe call him or her on the 5th of the month. It seems like common sense, but you’ll be surprised at how more responsive your manager will be.
Looking for responsive property management? Please give us a call to see how we can help.
Chris Stepchuk
June 3, 2017