I have been looking in a certain area not near where I live to buy some investment properties…I touched base with a few property managers in the area to try and get a feel for who I would like to use for various reasons…All I came across was PM’s trying to shove properties down my throat…Then to make matters worse they act like if you don’t buy the property through them they won’t manage it…Or as one put it “it may not be in the best area for me to manage”…LOL…The entire town I’m looking in is a dump but this one is worried about one side or the other…
So far my experiences with property managers is a few things…laziness,arrogance,pushy high pressure sales tactics and misrepresentation of numbers…High pressure sales tactics are pathetic at best…
The “train leaving the station” sales pitch is not the way to build a relationship with a customer who is trying to build a portfolio of properties that YOU will manage for a fee…
Sorry to rant here but I’m about ready to express my NY attitude on a few of these characters…
What I have learned from this forum and from my own experiences I should just stay away from property managers and buying RE away from my eyes…Having someone take care of my money is a pipe dream at best…
My investment properties that I own in Brooklyn I have always managed and actually enjoy it…The properties that I have seen managed by property managers were always run down,dirty and just over all unkept…I take pride in my properties looking nice and clean and cannot expect a hired hand to treat things that I own the same way I would…
It’s dissappointing that this is my first experience dealing with PM’s…This has definitely changed the way I look at RE investing…It’s all for the better anyway because what I have learned is you may be getting the properties cheaper because they are Upstate but after you factor in %30 vacancy rates,rehab/maintain $$ because the homes are old clap board barns,%10 manage fee and plus what ever he tries to squeeze you for on the side there is little to nothing left…
:-[Not all Property Managers are like that. We manage properties for people from other states who have property in the Atlanta, GA area. We try our best to go out our way to serve our owners. We don’t get business by being pushy or mean. A lot of our investors are from Brooklyn, NY. We only do exactly what our title says, manage properties ;).
I know that all property managers are not like what I encountered…What bothers me most is I went to great lengths to get all my ducks in line only to meet up with a bunch of wannabe scammers…In the end it’s the best thing that could have happened…I don’t know how comfortable I would feel having my property %100 looked after by a PM and expect to make any money…Every manager I spoke to talked about just sending me money etc etc and every time all that went through my head is I can see me just sending them money…Oh this broke and it cost this much,oh I wrote a new tenant you owe me for that,Oh I signed a lease thats $$$,oh this person needs to be evicted,this person trashed the apt,this apt has been vacant etc etc…
To me it seems that the only person who makes money off the property is the PM and he has zero risk,zero financial interest and all too gain from it…What the PM’s worst case scenario, they quit??..Now I’m a city boy having to find a new PM to give me problems…
I clearly stated to these people that I intend to build a portfolio of properties…Thinking in my head maybe this one has enough sense to want to do the right thing and eventually have a few properties to manage for himself…I just think it’s easier for these type of PM’s to move onto easier prey rather than deal with a investor who may just drive up to boontown and call them on their antics…
I will continue my search for a good PM upstate and see where it leads…