If you are not satisfied with your Property Management Company look no further. Here is my story first the old property management company which I will not name, my manager alone manages a few hundred properties, told me way in advance that my tenant was moving out on 9/1/15. It took him 15 days after the property was vacant to inspect the property. The old tenant left it in good condition except for the nail holes he put in the wall which the old tenant tried to patched and then painted over them with the wrong type of paint so it was very obvious it needed to be corrected. The property manager told me that he would have to get an estimate from the repair department which would take a few days. I did not hear back from him for 14 days until I emailed him first. Then he told me that he would have to repaint all the walls the old tenant tried to repair and the cost was $1903.00 and he could not start the repairs until I signed the agreement and pay first then they would have 10 days to complete the project and only then would he start to advertise the property to prospective tenants. He gave me no other solutions or did I feel any compassion about the loss of my profit for the past year on a repair paint job. He told me that we could charge the old tenant the cost of the repairs, but get this he would have suggested to repaint the walls anyway because of the nail holes (which is considered wear and tear and my responsibility). So he was suggesting to put the cost back on the old tenant. I was pissed that he even thought that way and that he would consider doing this to a good tenant who took really good care of my property which is super important to me.
So I put my property manager on blast and told him all the things I was not please with and started to search on Yelp for a new one on the recommendation of Tai Chi a property manager and good friend in San Francisco. I found Mike Alan who only had one good review, but most of the companies here only have one good review and some have many bad reviews. Anyway I called left a message, he returned the call in a few hours and I told him my problem. It was late in the day because I am in Pacific Time zone. Mike said he would go out to the home either that night or the next day. He went the next day saw the problem and suggested a cheaper repair of around $300.00 and he would get the work started the next day without me paying him in advance, awesome, and he would not add an additional fee as many property management companies do for their own pocket. If this did not work he could get the repair done for $1300.00. His first solution worked and he is doing this without any compensation because I have no contract with him. I have since signed a contract with him and the property is now about to be signed for a two year lease. The rent is 15% higher than what I got from before, but that is probably due to the current market conditions, however Mike did suggest to increase the rent just below the market to get a well qualified tenant in as soon as possible so we would not have a property sitting around not making money. Mike communicated with me very well throughout the process and I am very happy with him so far. Give him a call if you are not happy with your manager. It is such a comfort to be able to make one phone call from across the country and trust that everything that you would do as a owner is being done by Mike, my new property manager.