What to Look for When Hiring a Property Manager: A Definitive Guide

As a property owner, nothing is worse than your rental property being vacant for weeks because rental applications piled up in someone’s spam folder. Or maybe requests for maintenance have fallen through the cracks, and what started as a dripping faucet has now turned into an expensive water damage repair. As a landlord, you quickly discover that managing properties (even if it’s just one) can be a full-time job on its own. Not only is it stressful and frustrating, but you start to wonder if your investment is really protected.

You may have even attempted to DIY-maintain your rental. Constantly chasing down rent payments, scheduling maintenance, and answering tenant inquiries at all hours of the night might be enough to make you want to pull your hair out. Sure, renting your properties yourself seems to work fine until something doesn’t. Missed rent payments, miscommunication, and forgetting important legal responsibilities can easily eat into what should be your cash-flow-positive asset. That’s why working with a quality property manager is so important.

But how do you find the perfect property manager for your properties? Whether it’s experience and know-how or communication and technology, there are a few things you should consider.

We’ll dive into what you need to know below.

1. Tools and Technology a Good Property Manager Should Use

Property management software does wonders for keeping track of your properties. Organising everything in one place means property managers can easily stay on top of maintenance requests, receive payments and present you with crystal clear reporting. But how can you know if a property manager actually utilises this software? Ask them if they provide tenants with online portals, produce regular financial or maintenance reports, and respond promptly through text messaging or email.

When you interview prospective agencies, ask them to show you their software in action. Have them walk you through how they record tenant requests, monitor maintenance jobs or accept rent payments. Some things to look out for include automatic reminders for tenants, online applications, and transparent reporting. These are just some tools that can instantly alert you if an agency is showing you their software off as a “nice-to-have”, rather than using it day-to-day to make your life easier.

Observe whether the manager uses other technology such as texting apps or virtual tours too. Software and technology can do incredible things to help make your life run smoother, so a good agency will use it to improve all aspects of the business from tenant happiness to keeping you in the loop.

2. Experience and Track Record

Past experience certainly counts when selecting who should manage your investment. However, don’t get drawn into thinking that years in business equals quality service. Instead, look for experience that’s relevant to your property type and your goals as a landlord. A property manager with a history of managing hundreds of properties just like yours will have thought of everything. They’ll be able to spot potential problems, price your rental appropriately and know how to avoid rookie mistakes.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions to gauge an agency’s track record. How many years have they managed properties similar to yours? How many properties are managed by each individual manager? Can they provide you with examples of how they’ve dealt with difficult situations in the past, like problematic tenants or emergency maintenance issues? A good agency should also be able to provide testimonials or references that prove they can perform consistently well year after year.

3. Services Offered and Specialisations

Every property management business is different. It’s important to know what services are included in their management fees and what they may specialise in. Certain managers may have more experience with residential rentals. Others might be better suited to managing apartments, townhouses or premium listings. Selecting a manager with the right specialisation for your property can have a significant impact on your experience.

In addition to inquiring about the services mentioned above, ask about how they’ll complete those services. How do they source quality tenants? Who completes repairs and how are they coordinated? How do they keep up with rental legislation? A quality property manager should be able to provide you with an end-to-end service that looks after your best interests, with minimal effort from you.

4. Communication and Responsiveness

Being responsive is one of the best ways you can tell if your property manager is dependable. Timely responses to owners and tenants mean problems are handled quickly, relationships remain positive, and small problems don’t balloon into expensive repairs. Responsiveness also means keeping all parties informed and on the same page throughout the process.

Strong communication also reflects broader marketing strategies that help your business grow, particularly when it comes to tenant retention and property reputation. Happy tenants who rent longer and recommend your properties to others is a large part of marketing through word of mouth.

Property managers that are good communicators usually fill vacancies quicker, rent to better tenants and provide smoother transactions. From regular updates to proactive notifications and easy-to-understand explanations, communication is key in providing your clients with a professional property management service.

How they communicate is important too. The best property managers utilise all forms of communication. Email, phone calls, online portals, and text messaging are all great ways to keep information organised and accessible. When you’re able to track who said what and when you can rest easy knowing your property is being managed instead of reacted to.

5. Fee Structure and Transparency

Knowing your property manager’s fees is one thing. Knowing you won’t be blindsided with extra fees later is another. Owners often see management fees first and foremost, but it’s the open-book policies on things like leasing fees, maintenance coordination fees, and advertising fees that distinguish true professional property managers from the pack. When pricing is transparent, property owners can anticipate expenditures and aren’t hit with unforeseen charges.

Transparency also plays a critical role in managing your business finances, particularly for property owners who treat their investment like a long-term asset. If you’re one of these savvy investors, you’ll want to keep clear records of fees, expenses and earnings. When these things are easily accessible, you can more readily measure performance and project expenses.

Many property managers utilise software that allows for itemised statements, detailed reporting, and anytime anywhere access to your financial data. Frankly, if they’re not being up front about fees or don’t want to provide you with reports or easy-to-understand financial breakdowns, run the other way. A good property manager has nothing to hide!

6. Tenant Screening and Legal Compliance

Property managers that excel at tenant screening and legal compliance are working behind the scenes to protect your investment. Whether it’s background checks, rental history, income verification, applications or lease-up management and follow-ups. These parts of a property manager’s job create smoother transitions between tenants and help you avoid late payments, disputes, and expensive turnovers.

Owners enjoy the benefits of a thorough tenant screening process even if tenants don’t always know the full extent of the service they provide. A good grasp on legal compliance is just as important as screening.

Rental regulations, safety standards, and compliance requirements change often. You want a property manager that knows the ins and outs of rental laws to ensure your property is compliant. We’re not just talking about the obvious things here. You should know what the structural red flags and other maintenance issues are can create safety issues for tenants and liability concerns for you.

Both of these things are about doing your due diligence. You don’t want to get stuck with a bad tenant, or worse, find out you’re non-compliant with a local statute. Catching these things before they become a big problem is what sets a good property manager apart.

Combining Expertise and Technology for Effective Property Management

Credentials and costs are important factors when choosing who to entrust with your property. But experience, communication, transparency, and a demonstrated knowledge of their obligations to you and your tenants do just as much to safeguard your investment and optimise its performance. Add the right systems and technology to the mix and your property will be managed more efficiently, with minimal stress for you.

That’s why the best property managers are those who not only have the experience, but use smart tech to increase transparency, responsiveness and trust. Whether it’s open communication, detailed reporting, proactive maintenance or staying on top of compliance — these managers have the people and technology covered.

Searching for a new property manager? Look for one that gives you peace of mind, not more questions. Armed with the information in this guide, you’ll know exactly what to look for.