We often receive questions about the best way to interview onsite property managers.
For the record, Onsite property management refers to providing services at the property site. For companies like CREM Management, these include repair and maintenance, apartment/office space turnover services, and rent collection, depending on the location. This is separate from in-house property management, which we cover elsewhere in the CREM Management Blog.
Since CREM Management has been in business in Southern California since 2009, we have collected some best practices to help you find outstanding onsite property managers.
In this post, we will discuss the following How-Tos: 1) How do interview the onsite property manager? 2) What are the best questions to ask? 3) Which Social Media sites might you survey for property manager companies? And we will talk about Don’t-Dos: 1) Don’t rush. 2) Don’t forget to check references. 3) Don’t fail to ask tenants what they need.
How-Tos:
Interviewing Tips
The best way to do an interview is in person if you possibly can. This is not always possible for remote property owners but even a Zoom meeting will give more information than a phone call. On Zoom calls, you can notice things like body language, professionalism, confidence, and eye contact, to name a few.
With or without Zoom, it pays to have some hard questions prepared in advance, covered below.
Decide whether you need to have someone or a company that specializes in the type of property you need to be managed, or if a company with a lot of experience and a good track record across several property types (i.e., many variations of residential and commercial) like CREM Management would be best.
Do you need someone with expertise in a particular geography? Some national property management companies are spread throughout the United States. CREM Management specializes in California’s Orange and Los Angeles Counties to ensure the highest and best return on the investment from your properties here.
Interview several property managers. Compare. Go with the numbers. Check social media, yes, but go with your gut.
Best Questions
Many questions relating to pricing and such can be found on companies’ websites. However, it is great to listen intently to how your prospective property manager answers these questions during the “Zoom Interview Meeting.”
How long have you been in this business?
What services do you provide?
What is unique about your company? What is your USP, Unique Selling Proposition?
What do you think is the number one issue for your clients’ properties? How do you know this?
What trends do you see in the ___________? Fill in the blank with “commercial rental market,” or “Southern California economy,” or “return on investment in downtown Los Angeles apartment rentals in the next five years”? This area will help you decide if CREM Management or any other company offers what you require in an onsite property management company. And they will help you clarify what you seek.
What tools do you use to evaluate the rental market and project cash flows, as well as understand market conditions? (CREM Management delivers all of these metrics and more with the very latest transaction management and associated task management software.)
Your ability to get the best onsite property manager for your building/property hinges on your questions. You will get better at asking questions as you go through the process—much like a job search.
Social Media Reviews
Social Media sites have value as reference points, but not all are created equal. And not all are “legit.” As Gartner®—an American technological research and consulting firm—says here, “LinkedIn is a natural social platform for B2B marketers. But you can’t ignore other relevant networks such as Facebook (Meta), Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, in order to reach a broader audience. Every platform has a different emphasis and characteristics, requiring diverse content types and messaging strategies…”
As you interview onsite property managers the best idea is to pick a few social media sites that fit your property type. An apartment building property manager may have a different social media presence than a commercial property management firm.
Don’t-Dos:
Don’t rush
You might be tempted to choose a property management company quickly. (We’re all in a hurry.) But doing your homework and setting clear goals for what you’d like in your property manager take time. And getting the highest possible return on your real estate investment hinges on thorough preparation.
Don’t forget to check references
Reputable property management firms, like CREM Management, will have testimonials on their websites and will also be happy to supply names and contact information for their clients. Have a list of questions for them too!
Don’t fail to ask your tenants what they need/want
If you’re new to the property management game, you may want to know what your “new” tenants seek. They may be very pleased to know you’re interested in their preferences. Even if yours are existing tenants and you are seeking a new property management company, you have a golden opportunity to update and upgrade their and your experience!
With a new property manager, you may receive new services that your current company does not provide. You may also decide on a property management company that services the resident’s/tenant’s side as well, like CREM Management in Southern California, which will provide insights for questions to ask your new or existing tenants. “How are the ________ (payments, repairs, moving-in/out, etc.) services working for you? What could we do to improve these? How have the services affected your decisions to stay or look for other spaces to live/work?
Conclusion
Interviewing for an onsite property manager in today’s commercial and residential property management industry is becoming more serious. Real estate prices in Los Angeles and Orange County in Southern California continue to rise, but that only means that having a healthy, predictable return on the investment from those properties is increasingly essential. We at CREM Management help our clients
Get Optimized Rental Value for Their Property
Gain Crucial Insight into Current Market Conditions
Determine Their Cashflow from Monthly Rental Value
Vetting an onsite property manager should be attacked with the same organization and forethought as looking for a job. You will get better at it as you go. The best advice is, like the Boy Scouts say, “Be prepared.”
Please feel free to contact us here. We would be glad to be your first choice for a third or fourth interview—after you have learned what you really want in a property manager. Or if you are going to interview us early on and come back for a second one, we’d like that a lot, too.
