Property management, pros & cons; (Naples: apartment complex, renters, insurance)

[AXEL276]

Shortly I will be renting a home in Brookshire Village, Ft Myers and am considering hiring a property management company to handle the transactions. I live out of state. I would prefer annual rental. Those of you that rent, what are your opinions/experiences with PM?

[don1945]

Well, I am not sure about the type of property manager you are referring to. Both of my Sons are in property management, one manages a 21 story condo and the other a 300 unit apartment complex. What is confusing me is that generally you pick out the place you want to live, you put in an application, and you do the final paperwork with the management of that facility.

Or, are you referring to some service where an independent PM somehow does all of that for you ?

Don

[AXEL276]

Don, I own a house in Brookshire Village, SW Ft Myers. It is a gated community. I plan to rent this house for several years until I retire and move in it myself. Since I am currently living out of state I am thinking of using a Property Management co to handle all the transactions related to this rental including; finding the tenant, collecting the rent, periodic property inspections, maintenance, etc. In other words they would look after all aspects of managing the home rental for me.
Or I could just try and do it myself from 1,500 miles away. I'm asking if anyone one here uses a PM in this capacity and what have been the pros & cons of the arrangement.

[don1945]

Ah, I thought you meant you were going to rent a place to live here. Sorry, now I understand what you are looking to do.

Don

[Sandsam]

I own a home in Naples and live in MN. I have a professional property management company managing the property. They found my tenant, collect the rent, and deal with minor repairs for 10% of the monthly rent. I will say I have not been 100% happy with all my interactions. They aren't always responsive, for example, and the tenant and I sometimes work out issues ourselves. But the management company has come to bat for me several times when there have been problems in the home. They know and can contact competent repair people. They seem to side with the owner most of the time. If I could do it over, I would hire them again.

There is no way I would try to rent a house living out of state.

[AXEL276]

Sandsam, thanks for that reply.
Have you had any problems with tenants being abusive or damaging your property?

[glockfanusa]

Have them check the inside of the house regularly. If they don't your house might be turned into a meth lab or something. Do not ever leave strangers alone in your house without checking the property for damage on the regular. If the PM Company would send you pics or vid from their visits that would be great.

BTW I'd get good insurance on that house if I were you.

Also Wal Mart sells drug tests that test for multiple drugs with 99.9% accuracy for $15 a pop. You might want to have the PM Company drug test prospective tenants in front of them to prevent addicts from having their friends take the test for them.

Do background checks and never rent to people who have a history of con-artistry or drug dealers/addicts.

[jeanh]

Ok, just curious. I would never, ever be drug tested by a product from Wal-Mart. Ever. Actually, I would refuse to be tested just to rent a house.

I am not, and, never have been, a drug user, but, that's simply a violation of my civil liberties.

I don't mind background checks, had to have one even to be a foster parent for cats at the shelter back in Iowa.

But, drug testing, especially when not done by a competent lab. Isn't going to happen.

How do others feel about this?

[AXEL276]

I agree with you jeanh. One sure way to **** people off (no pun) is to require them to take a drug test to rent. That said, I would love to have complete and total control over who I can choose or choose not to let live on my property. But there are laws in Fla, it's called discrimination. It's a hard fact and you just have to live with it. There are other legal ways to screen and limit.
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[sunshinewi]

Our property manager visits the house every quarter at our request. You can choose how often you want the house checked. They give us a full report with pictures. Most of the things they report are normal wear and tear and some things we need to correct. We have had the same renters for over a year, will have less inspections now. Our renters have respectable jobs, not worried about drugs, but how they treated the property is always a concern.