The most important thing to know when choosing a manager for your property is that the choice itself will be one of the most important decisions that you can make. A good manager can keep a property profiting year after year and a bad manager can take the exact same property and lose a lot of money in a very short period of time. Because a manager has so much control over the success of your business you should hire slowly and fire quickly. 

No matter how many managers you interview you will find they all say pretty much the same thing. All management companies know how to advertise, fill out paperwork, run P&L reports and perform maintenance. The difference between companies is often things like how they treat their tenants or how quickly they complete maintenance requests. Do they have a website or tenant portal? Is their software easy to use for the owners and the tenants? How quickly do they respond to messages from tenants or owners? 

Often I have found that where most managers fall short is in communication. Many property managers just want to be left alone and run the property. Many owners just want to let the property management company do their thing and watch the checks come in. The only time the owner knows anything is wrong is when the checks aren't coming in as quickly or the amount on the check is lower than normal. Without good communication this could be the start of very bad times for the Owner. Often when the obvious things start showing up there are 5 times as many unobvious things that are going on that shouldn't be. That's when the owner starts getting involved and finds out that the manager hasn't been doing anything with the property for 6 months or more. Eventually the tenants get sick of their maintenance requests getting ignored and they leave. Sometimes this can happen very quickly.

This is why I believe the true test of a manager lies in what the owners and tenants are saying. Owners will know how well the management company communicates with them. They will also know what the managers are good and bad at. Because all owners have different expectations, this is a good test of how flexible the management company is of meeting their owners needs. Tenants will see things like how the management company is taking care of the building or how long it takes to respond to maintenance calls. They also interact with the managers and understand their expectations. It's very important to realize that not all negative comments from tenants about their management are bad and not all positive comments about their management are good. A good manager is looking out for the best interest of the person or company they are managing for and the welfare of their tenants. The tenants also need to know that they are required to follow all the rules of their lease. Walking this line and keeping everyone happy is very often not possible. Keeping an open mind and evaluating all comments together is the best way to give a proper evaluation of a management company.

In conclusion, the best way to hire a management company is to do your research. Talking with the managers and tenants is a good start, but doesn't always ensure everything will work out. Keeping good communication with your manager and talking with your tenants should minimize the damage a manager can cause should they decide to slack in their duties.