✅ How To Find a Property Manager

In this blog, we're going to cover.... how to find a property manager. This is a really common question for people starting out especially those who are buying property out of state. And this can apply to traditional rentals and short-term rentals or vacation rentals.

This is a serious concern but it can be overcome with some systems/processes.

I don’t want you to be one of the people who don’t get started because they arent sure how they will manage the property after they buy it.

I used to do this and a lot of other people do it find things to use as an excuse not to take action or get started

So in this blog, we are going to walk through a step-by-step process of how you can find a property manager and what questions I would ask them.

And make sure to stay until the end where I go over the exact tool I use to organize these resources.

If you're investing out of state or around the corner, it doesn’t matter. You just know that you don’t want to be managing your property. This is completely fine. I am not here to say whether you should or shouldn't, in this video we are just going over the process of how to find a property manager in any market.

The cool part about finding property managers which might make you feel a little better is that these people - "property managers" have been here for a long time before you came along and they will be around for a long time after.

You are not solving for something new or overly complex. The system runs because property managers are in place and better at what they do than most people give them credit for.

Also, they have seen most things including beginner investors, and can manage most situations because they have seen most situations.

And like a lot of things, if you find one good person, they likely hang out with other good people and make other recommendations for contractors, repair people, security, and others.

Also, I don’t want to leave you out, property managers can help you inspect and even find deals in some cases. So if you are not finding a lot of deals in different markets or you are having trouble analyzing them - a lot of property managers can help with this. So keep them close ;)

Okay so let’s get into the process for how you can start to find, track and interview them today.

Step 1: Referrals

You may be saying, yes but I don’t know anyone in that market.

Thats Ok. We're going to review how to know people in that market quickly.

Starting today, you can join as many local Facebook groups as you can in those markets.

Search for words like Texas real estate investors, Texas real estate, and Texas properties for sale, you will find plenty of local communities focused on real estate.

Once you are in those groups, make a post (preferably in bright colors or with a meme lol) that introduces yourself and what you are looking for. You will receive comments.

Next, see if there are local or virtual meet-ups for this community. You can find these within Facebook groups, meetup.com, and local REIA's - real estate investing groups.

Going one step further, you can DM people from these communities. Use a template like this:

“Hey! I saw we were both in the real estate investor group, I was putting together a resource list for the group, and I was wondering if you had any recommended property managers. I’ll send you the doc after. This is a great way because you're adding value by doing something you already planned on doing”

Step 2: Organize the Contact Information and Speak to the People Who Referred You

It’s awesome to get referrals but we want to understand more about these people.

What type of properties do they specialize in? How long did the person use them for? Is there a contact that you need to speak with that works there?

Step 3: Public Reviews and Social Media

This one is important but requires a little combing of the information. I learned quickly in reviewing property managers that the "reviews" on Google/yelp are skewed a lot of times.

Not always, but in a lot of cases, the bad reviews come from.

Step 4: Interview

Technically this starts with the first message you send to these companies or the first call they make. This is all sort of a test. How quickly they respond now is an important indicator of how they may respond later on when you work with them.

It’s time to reach out and set up phone calls with these companies. OR you can send them a deal you're looking at for their opinion. this is always fun to see what they say

You are looking to understand if they work with the type of property you are looking at.

If it’s a value add, turnkey, hardcore flip, or vacation rental.

And then beyond that, you want to ask things like

Who is your contact, what systems are in place, how often we speak, what type of technology you use.

Step 5: Pick One

After comparing what you learn by speaking to local investors, reviewing public reviews and social media, and conducting interviews, it’s time. You have done all you can do and now you are ready.

Depending on where you're at in the process, you are either handing the property over to them or letting them know when you have one under contract and start your business plan. From there the work starts.

Conclusion

There is a chance you may have problems after you do all of these steps even likely but you gave yourself the best chance to prevent that.

Property managers are the lifeblood of real estate investing. I do not want to manage properties myself. Not just because I don’t like doing it or because I think I can use my time doing other things, it’s because property managers do this every day and have seen everything.

They have the systems, processes, and experience to deal with situations that you likely don’t. If you want to consider this as a career or learn the business, that is one thing. But I can assure you, good property managers are worth everything they do.

Explore the video on my YouTube channel! 👇