Fourandhalf and Reputation.com gathered hundreds of negative property management reviews from unhappy owners to help you avoid these types of situations.
How often do you ask landlords what they really want?
Reviews can help you improve service, increase retention, and attract better owners. Most of the complaints we see fall into four categories:
- Communication
- Technology
- Fees
- Professionalism
Avoiding Negative Reviews Based on Communication
Open communication is vital to your business. If owners can’t get in touch, they become nervous about their property. Four main complaints seem to generate poor reviews from owners:
- Long response times. When property managers are hard to reach and take ages to respond to a call or an email, owners get upset. They doubt your process and your ability to handle your work. This will damage relationships as well as reputation. Be accessible to your clients. You can avoid half of the negative reviews you may receive just by fixing this.
- Playing phone tag. Don’t let you and your client continue to miss each other. Everyone gets frustrated. If someone answers your phone and takes a message, schedule a specific time to call your owner back. Even if you cannot take the call right away, owners will be happy to know you’ve scheduled the return call, and they’ll be available.
- Provide updates so your owner feels kept in the loop. They have to understand how their property is performing, and they don’t want any surprises.
- Communicate what your fees are. They should be listed in your management contract and explained to your owners so there aren’t any surprises. Don’t make changes or increase costs without informing owners.
Avoiding Negative Reviews Based on Technology
Technology is always changing. The property management industry in Australia is making heaps of progress with technology. If your clients have experience with property management and they expect the latest tools or an updated website, make sure you can meet those needs. When it comes to technology, you can count on the complaints being focused on these two areas:
- Inspection pictures. You should be able to document all inspections with photos. Don’t send your owner a report without pictures that document the words. Include pictures of any damage you’re reporting. Photos will validate your requests for maintenance and replacements.
- Contact information is hard to find. A lot of negative reviews include complaints that owners cannot find contact information on a website. You should have a Contact Us page with all of your contact details, including social media contacts and physical addresses and phone numbers.
Avoiding Negative Reviews Based on Fees
Owners complain about fees and a lot of their negative reviews also note that rent payments are scheduled to be made on a certain day, but then they don’t get paid. Pay when you say you’re going to pay. If rent is supposed to be paid on the 10th of the month, don’t wait until the 15th to pay. That’s going to upset your owners, and may inspire bad reviews.
Educate your clients before you begin working with them. This will allow you to set reasonable expectations and avoid negative reviews based on fees and rent payments.
Avoiding Negative Reviews Based on Professionalism
Owners are paying you to manage their property, so they expect you to be professional. They are especially looking for accountability and responsibility.
- Use trustworthy vendors. Your clients need to trust the vendors who repair their investments. Make sure you’re screening workers well. You want them to be on time and respectful. They should tell you how much the job will cost and they should tell your tenants how long the work will take.
- Be respectful of your owners’ time. Don’t be late for meetings. That leads to doubt that you’re taking your client seriously. Everyone gets stuck and runs behind occasionally, and that’s okay. But don’t let it be a habit or you’ll get bad reviews.
Avoid these negative review triggers.
If you have any questions about how to avoid negative reviews and grow a positive property management business in Australia and New Zealand, contact us at Fourandhalf.
