I get asked this a lot, by investors weighing whether to switch management companies, by owners trying to figure out if their current PM is actually doing a good job, by people just starting to look for one. So here's the honest framework, the same one I'd use if I were hiring a PM myself.

1. Ask how they price rent, and ask for the comps

Any PM can give you a rent number. A good one can show you the actual comps behind it, address, bed/bath, square footage, days on market, and walk you through why they landed where they did. If they can't produce that on the spot, that's a red flag. Pricing shouldn't be a guess or a "gut feel," it should be a repeatable process.

I'd also caution against a PM who relies solely on AI for this. I was using an AI app to track my calories, protein, and carbs, and after a week I noticed it had miscalculated several items pretty significantly. AI tools can be useful, but they still need a human expert double-checking the output. The same goes for rent pricing: a tool can get you in the ballpark, but it takes local, on-the-ground knowledge to actually verify the number holds up.

2. Find out what "maintenance markup" actually looks like

This is where a lot of owners get quietly squeezed. Ask directly: do you use in-house maintenance or outside vendors, and what's the markup on invoices? Some companies mark up repairs without ever disclosing it clearly. That's not automatically a dealbreaker, but you should know it going in, and you should be able to see itemized invoices, not just a lump total.

3. Ask what their average vacancy and turn time actually is, not what they claim it is

Anyone can say "we turn units fast." Ask for their actual average days-vacant over the last 12 months, and ask how that's calculated. Move-out to move-in? Move-out to lease signed? The definition matters, and a company that hedges on this question is a company that isn't tracking it well internally, which means they're not managing to it either.

4. Ask who actually answers when a tenant has a 2am emergency

Not "we have 24/7 support." Ask specifically what the process is. Is it a call center reading a script, a rotating on-call property manager, a subcontracted answering service that just logs the call and does nothing until Monday? This is the difference between a burst pipe getting handled in an hour vs. a tenant calling you directly at 2am because nobody picked up.

5. Ask how often you'll actually hear from them, and in what format

A monthly statement in an inbox with no context isn't communication. Ask if they proactively flag issues, market shifts, and lease renewal strategy, or if you only hear from them when something's already broken. Ideally they will have a system where you are notified at the different milestones of the property life-cycle, as well as quarterly overviews of performance.

6. Trust ratio over promises

Any PM can make a good pitch. What matters is the ratio between what they promised in the sales call and what you actually experience in month three, month six, month twelve. If you're already with a PM, it's worth revisiting these questions with them directly. Sometimes a five minute conversation resets expectations on both sides. Would you hire them today knowing what you know now?

It's not about switching, it's about clarity

None of this is about steering you toward switching companies. Half the time, walking through this checklist with your current PM fixes the actual problem; it just gives you the language to ask the right questions.

If you're evaluating your options in the Memphis market, or want a second opinion on how your current management stacks up, I'm happy to talk it through. No pressure, just a conversation. You can reach me at David@5stonepm.com. 

David is the Co-Founder and President of FiveStone Property Management, a boutique property management firm in Memphis, TN. He's spent 15+ years in property management, working with everyone from first-time landlords to institutional owners managing thousands of homes.