Today we move forward with our exploration of potential interview questions that a real estate investor or landlord should ask property management company candidates. The original blog post for this series can be found here: How to Interview and Hire the Right Property Management Company for Your Apartment Building
We have put together a list of 12 questions to consider asking during interviews with PMs – questions #5 and #6 are below:
Property Management Company Interview Question #5
Does the property management company send out monthly income statements and financial reports? What do these reports look like and how are they delivered? Can the company send over a sample of the rent roll, income/expense statement and balance sheet for review?
The ideal property management firm will send its clients a monthly (NOT quarterly) set of reports that are easy to read and do not require a degree in accounting to figure out how much money was brought in and spent. In our opinion, these reports should be sent as PDFs via email as this medium is much Greener, efficient and faster.
Property Management Company Interview Question #6
How does the property management company handle evictions? What are the costs to evict a deadbeat tenant? Does the property management company charge extra admin time to coordinate the eviction activities between the lawyer, courts, process server and delinquent tenant?
Most property management companies will have a relationship with a local landlord attorney who specializes in tenant evictions. Find out the name of the firm that the property manager uses and find out the success rate it has for its eviction cases. The last thing that you ever want is for an eviction case to go to court with an incompetent legal council…
That is all for now – have a prosperous and profitable week! _Trevor (Disclosure: I am partner of First Light Property Management, Inc)
Links:
Property Management Interview Questions (1 & 2)
Property Management Interview Questions (3 & 4)