The Property Manager's Communication Wish List

By Emily Clark

 

Good Property Managers want their tenants to be happy. Really, they do. Aside from taking pride in ones work, and wanting to feel like they are helping people to be comfortable in their homes, happy tenants can potentially be great tenants that will be good for the business through referrals, longevity as a client, and more.

           

Property managers will often go out of their way to make sure that their tenants are happy for these reasons. Yet, so often people find themselves in conflict with their property managers. Often over small things that could’ve been easily dealt with if it’d been handled properly from the start.

So this week on Confessions Of A Property Manager we bring you The Property Manager’s Communication Wish List. A list of things we wish you knew.

Expectations and Requests

While property managers do want to make you happy, they don’t want to hold your hand. Because of this, they expect that there will be things you can handle on your own. For example: changing a light bulb, plunging a toilet, putting a closet back on its track, replacing a battery in a fire detector, tightening a loose doorknob, and getting rid of spiders without catching the house on fire...

Some examples of bigger issues that the property manager should be responsible for include frozen pipes and/or broken pipes, broken appliances, making sure common areas are well lit and safe, etc. If you are not sure which category something falls in feel free to ask your property manager.

If you have an issue arise that is not an emergency remember that there are lots of factors that can contribute to how long it takes for that item to be addressed. For example: priority level with other tenants, vendor and repairmen schedules, distance, weather, time of day and week, etc.

It’s also important that you remember that whatever apartment, condo, or home you rent this will be the home you live in. This may sound redundant, but sometimes people have expectations of a property that are unrealistic. For example if you move into a house with a tiled counter-top, but can’t stand tile counter-tops, you cannot expect the property manager or homeowner to make that upgrade for you. If it’s really a big deal to you then keep looking for a property until you find one of the 40 million in the US alone that meets all your expectations.

Requests and Complaints

Property managers are incredibly busy working to make sure that they are keeping all their tenants happy and comfortable. Some of the things keeping them busy are office work, customer service, cleaning, construction, painting, showing rentals, sand bagging basement apartment windows during heavy rainstorms, supplying salt and shovels during snow storms, yard maintenance, working with tenants, working with homeowners, etc. They wear many hats and often make much less than what their work is worth. 

Answering phones is definitely part of their job description, but with all the other things they have on their list of things to do, a simple phone call may not always cut it if you need something done.

The best thing you can do for yourself and your property manager is to know what their preferred method of contact is. If you bother to find out how your property manager wishes to be contacted and then follow those instructions it will make your property manager very happy. You will become that tenant that is “easy to work with”.

At Ekot Properties, we don’t mind taking calls from you, but would appreciate, and prefer it if you could put your requests and complaints in writing and send them to us via email. It helps us keep your needs organized and get them addressed in a more timely fashion.

It’s also important to remember that your property manager is a person and not a soulless landlord who only comes around once a month to take your rent, your food, your goats, your Vestal Virgins and anything else they want. With that in mind it helps to be respectful when making requests or complaints. Remember the old adage, “You catch more flies with honey?” It’s inclusive of property managers as well. 

Having a Healthy Relationship with Your Property Manager

  

Since we just mentioned tenants that are “easy to work with,” here are a few things you can do to help propagate an easy relationship with your property manager:

1.      Pay your rent in full and on time.

2.      Don’t become known as “The Complainer”.

3.      Keep your place clean.

4.      Be a good neighbor.

5.      Respect common areas.

If you do these things your property manager will be extra-especially sure that your needs are being met. It’s these tenants that we want to stay in our rentals forever and we’ll do what we can to make them happy.