How do you recognise a good property manager?
Availability. What counts is not the opening hours on the website, but who actually answers the phone. Ask for a dedicated contact. If the answer is a ticket number, you have your answer.
Quality of the accounts. A legally sound service charge statement that your tax adviser and your bank understand without follow-up questions is the foundation. Everything else is management in name only.
Tenant selection. Who moves in determines how the building will stand in ten years. A good manager checks creditworthiness and takes time for the conversation beforehand.
Renovation expertise. A building's fabric does not look after itself. Your manager should coordinate tradespeople, meet deadlines and know about subsidies before you have to ask.
How long owners stay. The most honest criterion of all. Satisfied owners do not switch.
Why length of stay says more than any brochure
Everyone writes brochures. Staying is something else. Among the buildings we manage are owners who have entrusted their properties to us for around 20 years, and in more than 25 years we have had hardly any legal disputes. Both come from the same way of working: talking to every side before a question turns into a conflict.
“You don't recognise good property management straight away. You feel it.” Bettina van de Loo
Five questions to ask any property manager
- Who is my dedicated contact, and how do I reach them?
- On average, how long do your owners stay with you?
- Will you show me an anonymised service charge statement?
- How do you select tenants?
- How do you see a renovation through, from the first quote to the subsidy?
A good manager answers all five without dodging. Feel free to ask us too.
van de Loo at a glance
Apartment building management in Hamburg, Berlin and Dresden · more than 500 units under management · for more than 25 years · 4.9 out of 5 stars on Google · some owners with us for 20 years · no owners' association (WEG) management, we manage entire buildings
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between rental management and owners' association management (WEG)?
Rental management looks after an owner's entire building, including the tenancies; owners' association management looks after the common property of many flat owners. We do the former, out of conviction.
When is property management worthwhile?
As soon as managing it yourself costs you more than money: time, nerves or mistakes in the accounts. Many of our owners came to us when the folder had grown thicker than their appetite for it.
Switching is easier than you think
We take care of it. Book an initial consultation by phone on 040 50 09 06 04.
