What You Need To Consider When Hiring a Property Manager

Once you have actually found a good rental, the next step is to pick a great property manager.  In searching, you want to do a thorough interview, and in doing so, you will be able to determine if they are worth working with.  Here are some questions to keep in mind when choosing a property manager:


How do they control maintenance costs?  
Make sure the manager has you approve a list of vendors, which will include a plumber, handyman, electrician, painter, etc.   Ask your manager to contact you only if a certain project goes over the maximum expense.

How do they advertise vacancies?
As a landlord, your goal is to have maximum exposure for your vacancies to shorten the time that a rental goes unoccupied.  A good manager will be aggressive n their advertisements.  You don't want your property staying vacant for too long.  Aim for free advertising, like Craigslist or Facebook.

How do they show properties?
The process used to show properties describes whether they will be successful or not in obtaining quality tenants.  For example, if your manager only shows properties 8-5, this decreases your odds of getting a tenant with a day job.

How does the company screen tenants?
Ensure in-depth credit,criminal, employment, and prior residency checks, these checks can find any negative history and keep you from some big losses.  All it takes is one bad tenant to turn you off to rental properties.

How does the company deal with accounting and owner reports?
Your property manager should have a quick system to provide all lease expiration data on your properties, move-in/move-out inspections, lease documents, open work orders, and tax information.


How does the manager deal with after hour emergencies? 
Most property managers will have a 24 hour maintenance emergency line to handle requests immediately.  Be sure the manager has a line and it is staffed 24-7.

How do they deal with evictions?
Ask your manager how often they file for eviction on their current properties.  Usually a high rate of eviction can determine that the manager is not accurately screening applicants.  A renter should be able to pass a basic credit check and have an adequate landlord reference.


As a property investor you have the choice of managing your properties yourself or delegating the day-to-day operations to managing agents.  It is critical that you choose your manager wisely as the company can considerably increase the return from your property.

Whatever type of property you need – residential, retail, office, wholesale or industrial – we at Landmark Group can help you buy, sell, maintain or renovate. We can also help you manage your property. Just give us a call.

Customer Service in the Pumpkin Patch

A Blog based on the principles of The Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy To Grow a Remarkable Business in Any Field by Mike Michalowicz It goes without saying that customer service involves “customers”. After reading a review of Mike Michalowicz’s book: The Pumpkin Plan, I began to weigh the whole issue of customer service. How do I determine the best approach to customer service and handling the needs of my customers when my time is limited? I first needed to look at my customer base and within that base what customers added the most value to my business. Then I needed to determine what customers were the worst and of the worst I would see what method I could put in place to ditch them (FIRE THEM!). For the customers that added value to my business, I would nurture them; blow them away with customer service and let them know by my action how much I appreciate them. These are the customers that don’t require a lot of attention, and provide me with great referrals, and are not demanding. For the customers that attempt to suck the energy out of me, I would FIRE THEM. I would show them the path to go somewhere else and suck the energy out of someone else (my competitor, perhaps). By firing a customer I am able to regain my TIME which is extremely valuable to me and my company. Landmark Group provides property management services in the Omaha, Nebraska area and has served it’s customers for 25 years.