Property Management Decisions

So I have a regional property settling later next week. This property has a tenant in there that has been out of lease for about 3 years with the same real estate agency looking after the property. Would you just continue with the same real estate agency as they have an existing relationship with them or would you find someone new?

If someone new what factors do you use to decide? Particularly as the property is a few hours away. I'm not sure I am overly impressed with the current manager as they seem to take awhile to respond to my emails, and have not returned the one call I made to them so far (granted it was 4pm yesterday though). Thanks!

 

First, many landlord insurance policies will not pay out if the agency you use does not undergo certain processes - like maintaining a lease in place, doing regular inspections, chasing up arrears and breaches effectively etc.. so ensure any agency you use will do this. Also if a claim is ever to be made you need "BEFORE" photographic evidence to be able to claim the "AFTER" ... Before you change property managers, get this photographic evidence of how the house was when the tenant first moved in (if possible).