Real estate is a tricky thing. Even if you’re not looking to buy a house, just the act of choosing a rental can be a daunting task. It feels like everyone is stacked against you, with everyone focusing entirely on the bottom dollar rather than solid business and an ongoing, far more profitable long-term relationship.
Well, that’s just the professional world at large, isn’t it? It seems like in Oklahoma City, especially, the competition is rather fierce, and there are a lot of questionable companies out there. Why Oklahoma of all places? Who knows but it stands, but it’s probably more that Oklahomans, being a down to earth group of people, are quicker to point out these unscrupulous behaviors. It’s probably just as bad everywhere else.
So, when looking for Oklahoma property management, what are some things to take into consideration? Well, there are a lot of things to think about when choosing a rental, and most of these are actually applicable to anywhere you want to rent and the continental United States. So, if you happen across this while looking for rental advice, and you’re not looking to rent in Oklahoma City, that’s okay. Stick around and give this a read anyhow, because most of this applies anywhere.
Customer Feedback
Customer feedback is invaluable. In the Digital millennium, there is no outrunning bad reviews. They follow a company everywhere, and while this is definitely raising awareness of ethics and good customer relations, it’s also still invaluable in weeding out bad companies from the start. However, you need to go into reading user feedback with a certain mindset.
Negative feedback is important, but only pay attention to major issues that are raised. These can include things like a company being reluctant or slow to repair issues, a company requiring unfair sizes of deposit, etc. However, you have to bear in mind that on the Internet, people are quick to complain about things that don’t even warranty complaint. This can also be weapon eyes by a resentful people whom may have been evicted due to nonpayment of rent, it will at least get some sort of vindictive satisfaction out of leaving poor reviews. Thus, again, pay attention to big complaints like poor maintenance, etc.
More useful is positive feedback. People are also lazy, and unless they are extremely impressed with something, will seldom take the time to extol the virtues of the service. Thus, when you see average commenters leaving splendid reviews for a rental company, it merits investigation. If they go out of their way to cite excellent maintenance, absolute transparency and fair rates, you might have found something worth following up on!
Transparency and Inspections
Transparency is also extremely important with a property management company. You will want to work with a company that is very quick to provide you with records of inspections, and by this I mean very thorough inspections, as well as any other pertinent information about a rental.
You will also want a company that’s willing to discuss the neighborhood in detail, as you don’t want to wind up in a neighborhood known for problems, and is also willing to discuss the general demographic in the case of an apartment building.
Insurance and so forth.
Finally, when choosing a property management company in Oklahoma or anywhere else, you want to make sure that renters insurance and standard insurance are all lined up properly. They will likely not provide renters insurance themselves, but you will want them to be willing to work with your insurance provider, and you will want to be certain that they have all of the other forms of insurance in place. Beware of property management companies that will try to pass off the blame to you for damage to property that is beyond your control. I’ve seen this happen often enough, so be sure to discuss this at length with your potential management company before signing anything with them. You may be afraid that bringing this up will make them wary of you, but in truth, any rental company worth their salt will respect you for being thorough.
