how responsive should a pm be?

When contacting them by email how quickly do you guys expect a response?

Also just wondering our pm is getting keys tomorrow, should i get a spare set cut or?

 

2-3 hours you are on a winner, same day is fine, next day is still OK/acceptable (but barely), anything after that, doesn't sound they have capacity to look after your needs.

re keys... you're the boss... if you feel the need to hold your own set, you can have one (just have them locked away and never use them). Best to just hand all sets over to the property manager and get on with your life.

 

I respond within minutes if not hours, generally always same day (email, cloud access, etc., from smartphone)

Re: Keys, I recommend 1 full set for our office, 1 minimal set for contractors, 1 full set for each listed tenant on a lease; Lessor should keep their own set too as good practice.

 

Pretty much the same - I usually recommend that the external doors are keyed alike, as with screen/security doors, garage door has another. That way, you only have two or three keys to a set.

Recommend one set for the agent's office, two sets for the tenants and a spare for home.

 

I say within about 3 hours if not sooner, except when outside business hours or when an out of office is set (ie. I’m at a conference the next couple of days, so won’t be available within 3 hours). Calls to mobile or texts should be quicker as normally if a PM isn’t replying quickly they are probably out on the road.

For keys I ask for a minimum of 3 sets, one for me (shared with trades etc) and two sets for the tenant. Bigger homes or places that tend to have more than 2 listed adults then at least one front door key per listed tenant.

 

Wow, maybe I need to look at new PM's again.
Mine are 2-3 days to respond to an email.

 

Responses should be same day unless the PM is out - we put our auto responses on so people know when we're at VCAT, routines, entries - if you're property manager is in the office 9-5 all day every day, they're not looking after your property (Someone else is - like an assistant, junior pm...)

Up to you about your own set - not a bad idea to have in case there's some sort of PM change over disaster (with it being a high staff turn over industry, not all that uncommon). Label them, put them away somewhere for safe keeping.

Mikey7 - 2-3 days to respond to emails... that's pretty poor. You should at least get a 'I've got your email, I don't have the answer write now but I'll get back to you' scenario...

 

I have a service guarantee of a response within 24hrs, but usually its within a couple hours. However a lot of PMs I've used over the years for my portfolio have not been quick to respond - hearing from them same day was a surprise!

Definitely keep a backup set somewhere safe. I recently picked up a management from another agency, they had completely mixed up their keys and I had to rely on the owner's set.

 

I do no really judge PMs by how fast they are too reply.

I am also a very large critic of the PM industry.

For me, I am busy too, I sort of expect fast response to urgent matters, all else can take time, as long as they have correct and reasonable detail, not the kind of message that says you need to spend 2 or 3k just because....because of what ????

so do not get hung up if a PM is actually busy and not firing emails right back an hr later, watch how they treat you as a LL and the user as a tenant, this is the more important side or aspect.

 

Yes to the keys, I always have a set, but I never, not ever, even think of them as a right to enter etc

I say yes.

Would you be happy having loan cars where you have no spare ?

Just make sure you respect the tenant and the rules.

 

General response email from ours is: thanks. Maybe in a couple of days. No indication of action taken, time etc. And if you put more than one thing in an email at least of them will get overlooked.

We asked a bit more last time and the response was that he really does chase the tenants to pay water usage, and weekly, but they know it's not worth pursuing them for it. If he'd told us that earlier we might have been less ... forceful ... in how we asked.

 

Agree. On urgent matters I usually give them a phone call and they are pretty responsive. Email is for 2nd tier issues, I don`t expect my PM to be 24/7 waiting for landlords emails.

 

Yeah, it is a sorta hard thing to h\get your head around.

I hate slack or corrupt PMs, but it unrealistic ti think, cheap rates, best service and someone ready to reply at all times too some minor or really, irrelevant gripe.

Response times, are, not really, a total measure of a PMs worth.

I have PMs that hardly need to message me at all, they do what they have too, it is the slackos, of which are many, who you need to watch like a hawk, or move if that is an option.

At the end of the day, are they looking after the asset, your pocket and the tenants needs, in a balanced and fair way.

 

You can prob tell, that I also dislike calls from PMs, I am more into doing and resolving, I do watch closely, but I do not want a lot of "fluff"

This may be hard for newer LLs, but as much as they can be a pain, make sure your not the pain, your paying them to do stuff for you, if they are not doing "stuff" your way, talk, or move, work out what is reasonable, it comes from movement, movement creates or, results in experience.

 

Hi Qak, I do not know you, but...

Now your talking about a different thing.

Do not allow, tenant, nor, PM, to get on top of you with water usage.

If tenant has some issue with usage, well, I tell them to turn water off and do not let others waste water....

As far as PMs go, yeah, I have had them try and cop out too, or supply a sob story, what I do, is apply the same rules the authorities etc place on LLs, you talk the council or water authority into letting us off, and we will let you off.

Prob is, too many people do not think of all your costs and how authorities do not wait....

If PM is not on top of your costs and outgoings & does not care, dump them, your paying the bills !