If I had to pick one area in all of property management that matters more than anything else, one thing I treasure and take with me, it's my vendor list.

You might think that the vendors are under the jurisdiction of the maintenance supervisor. You are only partly correct.

If you are a property manager, every affordable, quality-driven, reliable vendor you establish is gold embedded into your contact list.

Establish the relationship, pay them fairly and on-time and they will follow you to your next property or expand into your portfolio as you move up.

I have gone into several jobs with vendors whose pricing didn't make sense or the quality of work wasn't up to par or they refused to communicate with me.

They were not my vendors for long.

I don't care how chummy they are with maintenance. I don't care how long they have been a vendor there. I don't care how cheap they are.

If you can't maintain my asset for a reasonable price in a reasonable time frame with reasonable communication with reasonable quality, then I will Google or Facebook post my way to new vendors.

I am going to give you the best tip I can give and I promise it will find you amazing local vendors and save you money.

Every county usually has a moms group on Facebook. You will never find a better network of helpful contacts in getting a new vendor than a group of moms who are used to pinching pennies while still caring for their homes.

Join the moms groups and post what vendor you need. You will get at least 7 recommendations within a few hours!

Once you have established a new vendor, reach out regularly to them. Build the relationship of trust and frequent communication. Set the expectation of quality work for fair pay.

Turn the bidding process over to your maintenance supervisor....but remember that you, in the end, are the ultimate protection of that asset.

You are on the financial calls explaining to ownership why you had to pay $2400 for an HVAC repair.

Do you know for sure it should have cost that much? Do you know for sure they did the repair right?

Are you sure nobody is getting a kickback or side job employment from your vendor? This is an ugly reality in property management we can't just sweep under the rug.

If you have inherited a vendor list, here is your siren call to review them.

Are they....

Communicative.
Reliable.
Affordable.
Quality-Driven.

If they are, they better be in your contact list as VENDOR GOLD Jimmy the Plumber.