When an owner contacts us for management of their property, they usually do not realize that we are interviewing them as they are interviewing us.
For us to accept management of a property, first and foremost, the owner must not be attached to the property or be overly emotional. They must understand that they are a business owner, an investor that knows the pitfalls of being a Landlord.
Although it is located about a hour from our office, a property owner asked us to take over management of their newly acquired condominium in Honolulu. We have already been managing another property for her, so it only made sense for her to use the same management company.
I hesitated at first because it was so far away but considered the request a compliment and did not want to disappoint the owner with whom I have always had a very good relationship. It was a nice building in a great location and I thought it should rent fairly quickly. That was what I thought, until I saw it.
The unit was dirty, the air conditioners didn’t work, and the cabinetry was old and water damaged. On top of everything else, the parking situation was a nightmare, with an extremely steep slope to a low ceiling that could not accommodate my vehicle, or that of several prospective tenants.
The homeowner’s mother lived right down the street and she coordinated the replacement of the flooring and appliances before handing me the keys so I could take over and complete the restoration.
I soon began to detect Mom’s emotional attachment to this property that had been previously occupied by her daughter. She was rapidly becoming overly involved with the management. She was like a runaway train; there was just no way of stopping her. Because she had “friends in the business”, she needed to tell me how to select a tenant, how much the rent should be, what to write in the lease, etc. This was not sitting well with me but I listened to her suggestions thinking maybe I’d learn something new. I did not.
Once the rest of the restoration of the unit was complete, I brought in the cleaning crew and we were ready to start showing the unit.
At our first showing, I was surprised to find that the cleaning people failed to trash a peach pie that was in the freezer. They had trashed everything else. Maybe they just forgot it. I took it home to my husband, a sweets fanatic, who enjoyed it immediately and immensely. Although these pies are available at the neighborhood grocery store for about $12, sweets are not kept in our house because aside from my husband’s sugar addiction, the ugly truth is that I have been known to eat an entire pie in one sitting.
A few days later, I got the call. Mom down the street was flipping out and wants to know what happened to the pie she had left in the freezer. She was absolutely furious. I was completely flabbergasted.
My questions came pouring out. “Why would you leave a pie in a vacant unit that I am trying to rent? Why didn’t you just put it in your own freezer? Were you going to bake it there? How did you even get in if you had given me all of the keys? (She obviously had kept a key.) Why are you getting so upset about a pie?”
I explained that we had the unit cleaned and everything removed. We changed the locks once the cleaning was done so she wouldn’t have been able to get back in anyway. This only made her increasingly angry. She wanted to know “how the cleaning people could be so stupid”. I confessed. I told her that I took the pie. Yes, I did it. But, of course I’d be happy to reimburse her for it. This wasn’t good enough either. She said that I needed to bring her a new pie. What? I will not. I did not.
The homeowner was very apologetic regarding her mother’s attack on me. I explained that in order to continue management of the unit, I would only communicate with her and not with her mother.
The unit is rented now to an amazing couple. They love living there, pay their rent on time and take good care of the unit.
I’ve done my job and I’ve done it well. Pie or no pie.
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