As I get older, I think more and more about hiring a property management firm. I am not going to be able to do this myself forever. However, I am constantly seeing what happens when an incompetent property management firm takes over managing a property, and there a lot of incompetent property management firms out there. Some professions require licenses and tests, like plumbers, electricians, general contractors, etc.; but anyone can say ‘I am a property manager.’ You don’t have to have a license or pass a test to manage small rental properties. The problem for me is that top-quality property management firms don’t want to take on a client who owns as little property as I do. Take a look at the photos below of work done by incompetent property managers. Note the:
1. Badly designed wheelchair ramps at various apartment houses.
2. Smoke alarms. All the smoke alarms in the building were installed this way. They are supposed to be dated.
3. Seismic repair of a support column holding up the building.
4. Sandbox built over a manhole cover at a low-income housing project.
5. A Craigslist listing of an apartment for rent included this photo of the swimming pool with abandoned mattresses in it.
6. The building’s handyman didn’t know that you don’t attach a ground wire to a plastic pipe.

7. Carpet. The managers of these apartment houses used poor judgment in choosing the hall and stair carpets.