Rental management companies

[bobobb.livejournal.com]

I am going to be moving away for two years and would like to rent out my condo while I am gone. I'd rather go through a local management company, as I think it would be easier than trying to finagle repairs from far away. But, as a former renter I am aware that there are some *horrible* management companies out there, and I *do not* want to become an absentee slum lord. So I am wondering if anyone has any recommendations or warnings about management companies they have worked with before (either as a landlord or as a renter).

Thanks!

Comments

[ratatosk.livejournal.com]

Boston Realty Associates:

Pros:

- polite, friendly, honest, genuinely nice people
- very fast to deal with actual, time-sensitive emergencies, even at weird hours
- flexible and not morons. They won't stick to a policy anally if the policy is stupid in a given situation.


Cons:

- not responsive to anything else at all, even when maintenance now would save the owner a lot of money later
- sometimes seem kind of internally disorganized
- have had bad luck with contractors, which might not be attributable purely to luck


Bottom line:

Neutral. Depends on how willing you are to monitor the place yourself. If your condo is in an old, complicated building, I'd avoid them. If it's new or newly renovated and you don't expect anything to go wrong, they might be worth considering.