Multifamily Minute Reader Reflections: What Do You Look for in a Property Manager?
A poll of our 40,000 subscribers shows that while other qualities are important, a property manager's experience trumps all. But should it?
Last week, we asked our 40,000 Multifamily Minute subscribers about property management. Namely: What quality do you consider the most important when choosing a manager for one of your communities?
Survey Results
The full results are below.
Quality | Percent of Respondents |
|---|---|
Industry experience | 51% |
Communication skills | 23% |
Problem-solving capabilities | 21% |
Tenant relations | 0% |
Organizational skills | 2% |
Other | 3% |
It's not too surprising that industry experience topped the list, with a little more than half of the respondents indicating it was the most important quality.
Is Experience Enough?
A multifamily property manager's amount — and depth — of experience is important, but someone's experience can be relatively simple to assess, as well.
At its core, a property manager's experience is something of a proxy, standing in for a mix of all the other qualities listed above. Each of those traits are important, and I'd say that experience is usually a pretty good indicator that a person or company possesses some, if not all, of those characteristics.
Still, as anyone with a bad property management experience can attest to, experience doesn't automatically equal quality. And lack of experience doesn't always mean a lack of quality, either.
However, as a multifamily investor, you've got some constraints — especially if you own more than one apartment building. Using a quantifiable measure like experience as a stand-in for a thorough assessment of each valuable skill you require from your property management team may be good enough. It's certainly better than just going with your gut feeling, most of the time. Just understand the limitations of basing decisions on experience alone, and you'll generally be fine.
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Our Previous Survey
Last week, we talked about resident communication. Effective communication is key to building relationships with your residents. This, in turn, plays a pivotal role in keeping your tenants happy and your property's occupancy up.