I had a potential client ask me that the other day and that is hard to understand and explain. So let me shed some light into the answer for not only me, but my industry in general.
We are property managers and our phones only ring for two reasons: either someone saw one of our For Rent signs and wants to know the price and bedrooms, or something is wrong. Either something broke, their payment is going to be late or they got a late notice, their neighbor is too loud or parked in their spot, or the trash company is late. And when we won't waive their late fee, or their cabinet door being loose is not an emergency after hours repair call, or we don't let them move out 3 months into a 12 month lease, they go online and give us a poor review. How do we defend that?
To complicate matters the phone never rings when tenants are happy with service. 10 year tenants who live in good units with good maintenance never call and say " I love this, you were great" as satisfied tenants simply are quiet. So we only get negative remarks...and not sure how we can get good remarks without gift cards or fake tenants. And the larger you are the more tenants the more chances for unhappiness.
So its not just us, its the industry. Don't judge us on unhappy tenants who didn't get their late fees removed or their application approved with their 5 dogs and 3 evictions, but by the silence. If we manage 200 units and have 3 complaints thats pretty good!
Its in the quiet lies the truth.
Comments(11)