Finding a Property Manager
August
2007
Managing a
second home from afar is almost impossible without local helpers to handle
rentals or check up on the house in the event of bad weather.
Owners who
decide they need more than a housekeeper or neighbor to keep an eye on the
place can turn to professional property managers, part of an industry that
has boomed right along with the second home market.
These companies
promise to do things like rent out the property on a short-term basis,
provide cleaning services, schedule maintenance and even shutter the house
when a hurricane is forecast.
John Malam
lives in Cheshire, England, so two and a half years ago, when he bought a
five-bedroom house in Davenport, Fla., near Disney World, he decided he
needed a local property manager. He wanted someone to seal the house in
the event of a hurricane, and to handle rentals, but most of all he wanted
a company he could trust. He said he had heard horror stories from fellow
property owners, including tales of management companies renting out homes
and not telling the owners.
“Those are
called ghost bookings,” he said. “And owners never see the income.”
He looked at
three local management companies, visiting them in person when he was in
town, and decided on Florida Spirit Vacation Homes in Champions Gate Fla.,
because the firm had a robust advertising budget and maintained a Web site
that allows an owner to log on and see when the house is booked for
renters and when it has vacancies.
Still, he knew
there could still be problems like storms or thefts, even with a good
property manager. “If you buy a home and think there are never going to be
any issues, you are living in a dream land,” said Mr. Malam, who visits
his house four to five times a year. “But the key is how does the
management company handle issues when they arise?”
He said he has
had few problems, and the company addresses them quickly. For instance,
twice when he arrived for visits he found that the house was not cleaned
to his standard. He called the company and it “jumped up and sorted it
out,” he said.
One way to find
a company is to ask neighbors and real estate agents for feedback on local
firms. Searching for a management agency’s name on a Web site like
TripAdvisor (www.tripadvisor.com), where guests review both hotels and
vacation homes, may also yield feedback on the quality of the company’s
service from the perspective of a vacationer. It is also prudent to verify
that the management company is in good standing with the local Better
Business Bureau.
Expect to pay
anywhere from 25 percent to more than 40 percent of the rental revenue to
the company for its services. While that will cover the cost of booking
rentals, screening renters, advertising and perhaps cleaning, owners also
need to ask about extra fees, said Marie Ferguson, an owner of a vacation
home in West Palm Beach and the author of “Breaking all the Rules: How to
Rent Your Vacation Home,” published this year by BookSurge.
“Will they
answer questions from the renter or will renters call you? And if they do
call the management company with an emergency, are you going to get
charged for that?” Ms. Ferguson said. Pest control or basic maintenance
such as replacing an air conditioning filter may also result in a charge.
Also ask how
long the company has been in business, how many homes it manages and how
many staff members are devoted to watching over the properties to
determine if staff membes are stretched too thin to handle the houses
under their care. Also ask how the company markets its rentals and if it
has some of its budget dedicated to advertising.
Tahoe Luxury
Properties manages 130 homes in towns north and west of Lake Tahoe, Calif.
The homes are handled by a staff of 30 caretakers so that each is
responsible for no more than five homes, said Kelly Dietz, the owner of
the company, which charges a fee of 35 percent of the rental income.
That level of
staffing, she said, insures that a caretaker can go to each house
immediately after the renters depart and a second time after the cleaning
staff is finished, a strategy that can prove critical for homes in the
woods. “We had house once where the tenants literally left every door wide
open,” said Ms. Dietz . “We have bears here. A bear would have gotten in
the house.”
In many parts
of the country, storms are a more pressing concern than errant wildlife.
“For owners in Florida especially, they should ask if the company has
procedures in place for dealing with hurricanes,” said Brian Brannigan,
the president of Florida Spirit Vacation Homes.
In addition to
insuring that homes are boarded up, he said the company has all of its
data backed up at a remote site so that business can continue and
homeowners can be reached. “We can move Florida Spirit out of town and
still run the company,” he said.
Of course,
property managers may have their own demands. Ms. Dietz’s company will
take only certain kinds of houses. “We want professionally decorated,
high-end houses,” she said. “They work better for our clientele.”
“In fact, we
eliminated 20 houses in the last year that weren’t to our standard.
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