Stop Asking "What’s Your Eviction Rate?"—Ask This Instead

When searching for the right property management company, most rental investors start by Googling, “What questions should I ask a property manager?”—and one of the most common that comes up is: “What’s your eviction rate?”

On the surface, this seems like a smart question. But according to the team at Red Door Property Management, it’s actually not the best way to gauge a company’s effectiveness. In fact, it could even be misleading.

The Problem with Asking About Eviction Rates

Here's the truth: any property manager could say "our eviction rate is 0%"—and you'd have no way of verifying it. That stat is easy to manipulate, and even if it's honest, it may not tell you what you really need to know.

Why? Because eviction rates vary wildly depending on the types of properties managed. A company handling mostly C-class properties will naturally face more delinquencies than one managing A-class rentals. The number doesn't reflect the strength of their operations—it reflects their tenant base.

Ask This Instead: “What Preventative Steps Do You Take to Avoid Evictions?”

Great investors ask about systems and processes, not vanity metrics. Here's what matters:

• Delinquency Process: Red Door starts enforcement as early as day two. No vague grace periods—just structured follow-up via text, email, and calls.
• Tenant Communication: Timely, professional, and consistent updates keep renters accountable and owners informed without unnecessary panic.
• Routine Inspections: Visual checks every time maintenance is on-site and full inspections 3 months into the lease help catch problems early.

This layered approach dramatically reduces the likelihood of eviction and protects your property value over time. Learn more about our Indianapolis property management services built specifically for serious rental investors.

The Importance of Market Readiness

Evictions don’t just happen because of bad tenants—they often start with poorly prepared homes. A beat-up property attracts risky applicants. A clean, professionally presented one brings in responsible renters who pay on time and treat the home with respect.

It starts with investing in quality turns, strategic improvements, and showing pride in ownership. Our Indianapolis rental listings reflect that standard across the board.

Key Takeaway for Investors

Don’t settle for shallow answers. Look deeper. Ask the questions that reveal how a property manager truly operates—because the success of your rental portfolio depends on it.

Follow our full podcast series for more insights that help you grow smarter and invest better in Indianapolis and beyond.

• Transcript Here

  00:00 Question of the Week – Asking the Right Questions About Evictions
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  All right, let's let's dive into this month's question of the week here with Red Door Property Management. And uh this is where we really dive into and dissect questions that I come across every single week, every single day uh when when owners are calling in investigating our property management services. And uh a lot of the times you'll get owners and I'm sure if you're watching this right now and you've you've looked for property management companies, this is a strategy that you've used personally and that's just jumping on Google and asking Google for what questions should I ask my property management company and then and then they run through that list, right? And that's and that's fine. That's a fine place to start.

  But um if you found this podcast, then you found an avenue to develop better questions that are going to result in an answer that's going to help you really align with the right property management company. Uh and if if you're only asking the most basic questions, like here it is. This is one that I got literally this week. And uh and of course, you know, Mike and I, we do this podcast and we dive into all the nitty-gritty details all the time. And it's very difficult for me sometimes when someone asks these questions. I immediately jump into teacher mode, professor mode. I I want to educate them right there on the spot and I have to refrain and just, you know, play the customer customer service representative and and just answer their questions to the best of my ability and provide uh some surface level information.

  Um, but the question I got was, "What's your eviction rate?" Okay, it was it was a very basic question and they just wanted a hard number and and the truth behind so many of these questions is when you ask that I could tell you zero, right? I could tell you our eviction rate is zero. We don't ever process evictions. I mean, that's just the reality of it. you you the likeliness that you're going to get an honest answer from the person on the other side of that phone who's looking to close the deal here is so unlikely and that's the first thing I think of is like ma'am sir I can I can tell you anything I want right now and you're you're'll just going to gobble it up what you need to do is rephrase your question so that you can get an articulate answer from the person that's on the other line and if they can successfully articulate which I'm not always able to do if you've watched these podcast, you know that I will glip, slip, blip all over the place. Uh but but with when it comes to property management, I don't I don't typically mess up and in and response to these these type of questions.

  Anyway, here's the question that I would suggest you ask instead, and that's what preventative steps do you take to avoid evictions in the first place? And this can be a a very wide open uh answer, but uh like I do when I ask these questions, Mike, I'm going to let you take over. So that's that's my my my gripe uh with the question and the way to rephrase it. Mike, if that question came to you, what's what's going to be your answer? What preventative steps do you take to avoid evictions uh in in the first place?

  Yeah. And uh I think I would maybe like internally like I would say like what is your delinquency process? I mean we have a very uh wellthoughtout uh delinquency process that automatically kicks in on the second of the month. We actually our tenants are late on the second of the month. So we don't have any uh any uh uh grace period is one day. So we start on day two uh and we start contacting them on day two. We have a very structured process uh from day two to day 15 and then you know we start talking about the eviction if we need to. Um so I guess that's what it would be is yes. So what is your delinquency process look like? And if it's not well defined, then uh you've probably got a problem.

  Um because you're right, Chris, that that is such a relative question. The other the other thing is that, you know, you ask that to three different companies, it's so going to depend on their portfolio of homes that they manage. I mean, if you manage a bunch of C-class homes, guess what? Your inviction rate is going to be a lot higher than if you manage A and B uh properties. So, uh you know, you got to take that into consideration as well. Also, it's not about what your eviction rate is. It's it is what's your process? What's your delinquency process? Uh and how do you hold tenants accountable? And how do you communicate with me as an owner? Uh if and when we do have delinquency because guess what? It's going to happen.

  Um and so, you know, we try to ride personally here, we try to ride the line of we want to keep our owners involved, but we also don't want to freak them out every 10 seconds. I mean, that's why we're here to kind of be the buffer. Um, so if somebody's one day late, you know, we're not going to like sound sound the alarm bells and say, "Oh, we didn't get, you know, paid on the first." Uh, but if it's the 5th, uh, and, uh, you know, your distribution is going to be affected this month, well, then we need to open the conversation with the owner and let them know what's going on. Um, so that's kind of how we handle it here is we just have a really well- definfined delinquency process. Communication with the owner, communication with the tenant, uh, constant updates, and, uh, that's how we do it here.

  Yeah, that's exactly right. I knew I should have answered this question first because now it looks like I'm just dubtailing on what you said. Dang it. No, seriously. I broke it down really into three categories that should be discussed during because these are all things that are going to affect in some way your eviction process or uh your eviction rate.
  
  

  06:13 Question of the Week – Processes That Prevent Evictions
  …Delinquency, you nailed it. So, uh it's about having a super well-defined process. And this is really what separates Red Door from other property management companies right now is because we have spent the last god year and a half, maybe two years now really nailing down and I mean every process that comes along with property management. We'll get into those other processes, but I really want to focus on the eviction process here and with delinquency.

  So that's right, as of day two, there are no grace days whatsoever. That is when the uh late discussion happens and that's with text, that's with email, that is with phone calls. These are all happening as of day two. As of a week late, we are starting to engage in the communication with the owner, right? Because you want to know if your dispersion is going to be disrupted by has the tenant paid or not. And then uh as of two weeks, right around the 15-day mark, we are discussing the possibility of an eviction depending on what type of communication.

  And that gets my me to my next point here, the communication aspect. Uh we are discussing the possibility of eviction and this delinquency follow-up process uh will absolutely result in less habitual offenders because they know that there are consequences uh when there's there's uh no action from the tenant, no communication from the tenant or lack of payment from the tenant. So uh it's having a nailed down process that is going to affect that eviction rate.

  Number two, communication. Yes, you absolutely nailed it. And this is on all aspects which I just kind of uh dabbled on both, but that's communication with the tenant. Your your late your your rent is late. These are the steps that could uh be enacted if your payment is not received. It's also a communication with the the owner. So again, this is going to affect habitual offenders and preventing habitual offenders and uh by that effect uh affecting your eviction rate over time.

  And the last part uh is inspection. So there are a lot of management companies who are going to say that they perform an inspection. Uh so it's number one actually performing the inspection is massive but number two not just performing the inspection but actually holding tenants responsible uh when that inspection happens. So uh and that could sometimes result in that eviction discussion.

  But if you are doing routine inspections, so which we do three months into a new lease, but not only that, our maintenance team is also trained to do a visual inspection each and every time that they're in the property. So if the if the walls are heavily worn above normal wear and tear, what action needs to be taken. Uh we do take action. We do inform that tenant. Uh so and we inform them of what actions can be taken. They're given 30 days to resolve the issue and prove that it's been resolved or that action would be taken.

  So, uh, and that and that again can can dubtail back into communication, but it's I think all three of those factors are going to heavily weigh on your eviction rate. If you can draw attention to each of these areas in an effective manner early enough in the process, you can avoid an eviction. That and that's what I mean by performing that inspection, drawing the tenants attention to a violation, having them address it before it explodes into a missing wall in the living room. you know when when uh because that can be avoided which is going to inevitably result in eviction but uh you want to draw their attention to it earlier so that you can avoid the eviction.

  So it's it's all those aspects are going to evict a affect your eviction rate and the person you're talking to on the other line better be able to articulate that in the way that we just did or you should be working with somebody else in my opinion.

  Yep.

  If they're just throwing you our eviction rate is 2%.

  That's no. That is no. That is not what you want. That is not what you want to hear on the other side of that that phone call. I assure you. So, um, anything else you want to add to that?

  No, I think you mentioned it's really just about holding the tenants accountable for on-time payments, for uh keeping the home in uh good condition, but it's they know that, hey, if you don't pay by the second of the month, like we're going to start to hound you. It's going to be text, it's going to be emails, it's going to be phone calls, uh might be a visit to the property, all all of the above. But they know that there are consequences if and when they don't pay uh on time. So that's really what what our owners are paying us to do. And so that's what we do.

  Yeah. And and I was going to wrap it right there, but but I would be remissed if I didn't also mention the importance because really it starts with the market readiness, right? If if you if you're preparing the property properly, you're going to attract higher quality tenants. But when you're defensive on the front end and you refuse to paint that one wall that's all marked up because you think it's a rental property and that rental properties are just that rental properties. That is a terrible mindset to have from day one. And that is what's going to result in a higher eviction rate. I guarantee it.

  But if you prepare a property that's going to draw in a quality of tenant who is very likely and and and life events happen for everybody, but that is very likely going to result in a well-qualified individual who pays their bills on time. You need to have a product that appeals to just that that type of individual. So really, it starts right there with the market readiness.

  Um so you can I I think we talked about this. I know we've talked about this in previous podcasts. Go check out the channel. check out one of those previous videos because uh in fact, we have some new content that we're going to drop coming out. It's going to be hitting our website here over the next couple weeks. Uh and I'm going to push our team to also throw them up on our YouTube channel in a very unique way. Uh so check those out. We really dive into the importance of a market readiness assessment and why that's important.

  But anyway, all right, I'm going down a I'm going down a hole here, which which I can sometimes do.
  
  That's going to wrap up this month's question of the week. So, uh, stay tuned for for next month's question of the week where I'm probably going to dive into a couple more of these that are just they're biting at the bit. They're biting at the bit. So, stay tuned. Check them out. We're going to dive into the market reports here next. Uh, so you can check those out in another video.

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