Why Owners Fire Property Managers: Top 4 Reasons

When growing your single family business, winning new property owners is only half the battle. Many ambitious property management professionals are so focused on marketing to new owners that they forget the importance of building strong relationships with the owners they already have.

In this article, you will learn the main reasons property managers lose clients. You can also use this checklist to review whether you are fully utilizing Propertyware to help hold on to your hard-won clients.

Here are four top reasons owners fire property managers:

1. Maintenance issues

It’s not just tenants who get upset when there are problems with maintenance and maintenance vendors. You can lose owners over it as well. The most threatening issue is vendors who are uninsured, uncertified, or just plain shady. RealPage Vendor Credentialing is free of charge for property managers – essentially, your own no-cost risk management department, verifying that the vendors you use have the proper insurance, endorsements and certification. The platform also maintains a list of Credential Key vendors, pre-certified to perform emergency repairs.

As you are only too aware, property maintenance can be a huge headache – but also a huge opportunity – when it comes to customer service. Propertyware Contact Center and other conveniences help ensure tenants always get the attention they need and a speedy response, so you don’t disappoint property owners with tenant turnover due to maintenance frustrations.

2. Property damage

Property damage is another really big source of problems between the management company and owner. The key is to have insurance in place that protects everyone: tenants, owners and property managers. Propertyware AssetProtect reduces owner risk from tenant-caused damage, lessening the odds that you will be blamed for an owner’s costs due to a destructive tenant or other issues.

3. Poor communication

Property managers who keep owners informed keep more owners. That’s why smart Propertyware users take full advantage of the mobile-friendly Owner Portal to provide owners access to statements, documents, data and a complete history of communications. It can be used to keep owners aware of strenuous day-to-day efforts you’re making to find new tenants for unoccupied properties. And there is of course another great benefit to streamlined interaction between property manager and owner in addition to keeping owners happy: it greatly reduces phone calls and emails, freeing busy staff to concentrate on other duties.

The Owner Portal also streamlines the moving of funds between owner and property manager, another pleasing bonus. And because it’s integrated with the Propertyware owner ledger, the portal will notify your owners via email when funds have been added to their account, when tenants have given notice, and much more. Propertyware Text Messaging allows you to communicate quickly with owners, as well as tenants and vendors. This is a cost-effective way to increase efficiencies without straining resources.

4. Vacant properties

What property owners want most from you, beyond protecting their properties, is to keep them rented and generating income. An owner will leave you in a minute if they think you’re not working diligently to fill unoccupied properties. That’s why it’s critical to have a cost-effective, successful marketing program, and these days most of it happens on the Internet.

Propertyware centrally stores everything needed to successfully market properties. The enhanced Listing Widget allows property management companies to design, customize and publish property listings to attract and convert prospects into tenants. Propertyware Contact Center backs up leasing staff to make sure phone calls and emails from prospective tenants are answered quickly and professionally. Finally, Propertyware Tenant Screening helps ensure the best candidates move through the rental process, which helps cut down on frequent turnover and vacant properties. Together, these marketing tools keep owners convinced they couldn’t do better with anyone else.

Keep property owners happy

There are more ways to lose owners than the ones listed above, of course. And some of them you can’t do anything about. But if you pay attention to these four and address your weak spots, you can be confident that those new property owners you’re winning aren’t merely replacing those you’re losing on the back end.

Learn more about how Propertyware can help you build great relationships with owners and manage properties seamlessly. Get a free demo today.