Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My house isn't selling in Chicago and I need to move because of work. I was thinking about renting my house until the real estate market starts to go up. Has anyone ever done this before? What are some good property management companies in Chicago? What are some things I should know or research before following through with something like this? Any information will help, thanks.
I can't help much - but I can suggest that you really check out your property management company if you go that route.
Our current PM is rather negligent, and as a result, is exposing the owner to liability. They're also not taking care of problems that could ultimately cost the owner many thousands in repairs. You definitely do NOT want a company like that.
Best suggestion I could make - get a list of their properties and take a visit. Look at what they manage. Our PM manages mostly low-income apartments, and has maybe 3 or 4 upper-end houses. We should have expected what we got...
I researched my PM in Utah. They were members of the National Association Of Residential Property Managers and a member of the Institute Of Real Estate Management. They were a lare company, had been in the community for years, and came with good references. They put a "family" in my house that completely destroyed it (nothing could be saved) in less than three months.
It never occurred to me that I should micromanage the company, since that was supposed to be there job (screening tenants, inspecting property, notifying me of problems etc.)
Once I became aware of what happened I demanded the tenants information and ran my own background check. These tenants had over fourteen judgments against them, four for evictions, and even some from the local video store. None of the addresses matched what was on their application either. I found this out in about two minutes using an online search for twenty dollars.
As you could guess I sued the company and have been in litigation for well over a year now.
If you hand your house over to a PM, to you homework. If they don't like you asking questions, fire them. PERIOD.
I usually maintain a sales license at a PM company so I have easy access to rental information.
A few suggestions:
Find a company that rents houses similar to yours. They know that market.
Do not hire a company that is run by a "friend." You want to be able to fire them without any hesitation.
Remain involved in the rental process. That means before your house is rented to someone you have hard copies of reports in hand describing their credit history, their employment history, past landlord references, etc, and YOU are the one selecting the tenant. This has an additional advantage for taxes.
Ask for regular (at least semi annual) inspections by the property manager with a report and photos emailed to you.
Find out who they use for repairs (plumbers, electricians, handymen, etc) and get THEIR references. Make sure their sub-trades are competent, not the PM's out of work brother in law.
Ask for property owner references as well as tenant references. You want to know if the PM charge lots of repair bills against owner accounts, if owners get timely reports (communication), if payments are sent through promptly. With tenants, you want to know how intrusive the PM is, how quickly the PM responds to repair problems, etc.
Remember, you are turning over hundreds of thousands of your dollars to someone you never met. Make sure they are the kind of people that will do what they say and are professional in their actions.
I have had good and bad experiences. My first one was trouble free for five years. Then he sold out to one of hios employees. From that point on it was a disaster. They let a renter in at a reduced rate, without telling me, and did no background checks, got no deposits. He was a local cop, so they thought he must be a wonderful guy.
He was there for nine months before I found out he had destroyed the house. I spent a small fortune putting the place back in shape. I sued and got some money back from PM company.
It is a good idea to look over their should to make sure they are doing their job.
My rental is 1000 miles away, so I was stuck. Now is is again rented with a good company and have had no problems for last two years.. A good company makes life pretty easy
From the perspective of a renter who has dealt with a bad PM:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Goodpasture
Find a company that rents houses similar to yours. They know that market.
Yes - don't get a company that specializes in ghetto properties to manage your upscale house. You're going to have more educated renters than they're used to dealing with, and they may make stupid moves that could expose you to liability.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Goodpasture
Ask for regular (at least semi annual) inspections by the property manager with a report and photos emailed to you.
do most property managers include inspection services, or would I need to find one on my own?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
