Important questions to ask your rental property manager

1. 1. Who answers when I call, and who answers when my tenants call?

   You want a name, not a department. Ask who takes new-owner calls, who you deal with after you sign, and who takes a 10 PM no-heat call.

   Nick Cowden, our founder and a licensed broker, takes every new inquiry call and works with you until you are fully onboarded and assigned a dedicated property manager. Nick does not go away, but from then on your property manager is your main point of contact. If something needs escalating, or you cannot reach your property manager, call Nick. When a tenant calls with a maintenance issue, they reach a team member at any hour. After-hours emergencies get a real person and, when needed, immediate action.

2. 2. What is your repair approval process?

   If there is no written limit, you will either be called about every $80 repair or never called at all.

   We tell you whenever we are doing work at your building, big or small. Our threshold is $500: if a tenant asks for a repair we consider reasonable, or it is an obvious safety issue or health code violation, we schedule it right away and let you know we are handling it, so reasonable requests are not slowed down. For anything likely to cost more than $500, we ask for your approval first, and we can talk through options or get several quotes on your behalf depending on the size of the job.

3. 3. Show me every fee I could ever be charged.

   Management percentage, leasing, repairs by their team, markups on vendors, inspections, certificates. If it is not clearly defined, ask why.

   Pricing transparency matters to us, which is why our pricing is published on our pricing page: from our management fee of 6% of gross rents to the $75 an hour we charge for our in-house technicians. If something is not there, ask and we will explain it, and we share a sample management agreement with even more detail before you sign.

4. 4. Can I see a sample monthly statement, and when will mine arrive?

   A statement you cannot read is the same as no statement.

   Statements go out monthly and account for all the income taken in that month and the money paid out or withheld from rent for maintenance invoices, vendor payments made on your behalf, and more. We are happy to share a sample owner statement on request so you know what to expect. You also receive a maintenance invoice any time we pay an outside contractor on your behalf or do in-house work.

5. 5. Where will my tenants' security deposits be held?

   In Massachusetts, security deposits must be in a separate interest-bearing account at a Massachusetts bank, with the tenant notified of the account details.

   Deposits are held the way M.G.L. c. 186, s. 15B requires. Holding the funds in the right kind of account and sharing the account details is only part of it: move-in inspections, maintenance records and move-out inspections matter just as much, so there is a baseline from the day a tenant moves in and repairs are documented throughout the tenancy.

6. 6. Who does the maintenance, and what do they cost?

   An in-house team at an hourly rate is different from a dispatcher scrambling to find handymen or subcontractors.

   When we can, we do the work in house at $75 an hour plus materials. When a job is beyond our expertise or its scope is beyond our capability, we bring in outside contractors and charge 10% on top of their bill. That 10% covers getting quotes, scheduling the work, supervising it and checking the invoice before it is paid.

7. 7. How big are the buildings you actually manage?

   A firm looking for 200-unit portfolios will treat your six-unit investment as a rounding error.

   Rental buildings and investor portfolios of 3 to 50 units are our sweet spot. As a boutique management company on the North Shore, we take a hands-on, proactive approach to small and mid-sized portfolios and individual investment properties.

8. 8. Is the person running the company licensed?

   Leasing and the brokerage side of management require a Massachusetts real estate license, and a licensee answers to the state board.

   Yes. Nick Cowden, our founder, is a licensed Massachusetts real estate broker and oversees every rental in the company. Tom, our rental property manager, is a licensed Massachusetts real estate salesperson and handles leasing and the day-to-day for our rental owners. You can check both licenses on the state's license lookup.

9. 9. What does the termination clause say?

   A manager who needs a two-year lock-in is telling you something.

   Our management agreements renew yearly, and either side can end one with 30 days' written notice, with or without cause. The notice terms are on the first pages of every agreement we send. If it is not working out, you can end it at any time; the 30 days simply give us time to help with the handoff to a new manager, or back to you.

10. 10. Can I talk to a current client?

    Not a testimonial on a website; a phone number.

    Yes. Just ask, and we will give you several references to owners whose buildings are like yours or near yours.

General information, not legal advice. Ask an attorney about any agreement before you sign it.

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