There are associations for just about everything these days, and putting a bunch of letters after your name doesn’t always mean much, but in the case of the National Association of Residential Property Managers (NARPM), you want to pay attention.
These are true stories that have happened when investment property owners put their trust in a manager who either doesn’t know the business or is trying to make a quick buck. If you own a rental property and hire the services of a property manager who is not a member of NARPM, these are some of the things you can expect:
- A property manager collected the rent for an apartment, and agreed to hold on to it until the owner picked it up. Instead, he spent the cash when faced with a personal “emergency.”
- Instead of hiring a plumber as agreed upon, the property manager tried to replace a section of pipe that wasn’t draining properly himself. In his new design, the water has to go uphill to drain, which means he must not have learned about gravity in school.
- Another property manager pressed for cash decided to upgrade the property owner’s plumbing system. He removed all the copper pipes and sold them.
- An owner was forced to evict a tenant for non-payment, and the manager said he could handle it. Unfortunately, he didn’t know the proper procedures and the case was thrown out when it got to court. After paying court fees, the tenant got to stay while the owner re-started the process.
These cases may be the extreme, but the fact is, anybody can claim to be a property manager. Even without any business expertise, knowledge of local regulations, skills to take care of maintenance issues, or just general ethics, a person can call themselves a manager and take your money without doing much to help you.
When you hire a property manager who is a member of NARPM, you can rest assured you won’t have to deal with any of these issues. Members are experts on local and national codes and regulations, do their work with great professionalism, and are held to a high level of integrity and honesty.
In you own an investment property in the Denver area, and are looking for a property manager who is a member of NARPM, please call 720.989.1996 or contact us. Legacy Properties-PM’s experience combined with our commitment to serving property owners makes us the best choice when you’re looking for someone to manage your real estate investment.