There are good and TERRIBLE PM's in both sides of the industry, its mostly about talking to a range of them and finding a good "fit" for you and your expectations.
Unfortunately there are many REA's that see their rent roll as a cash cow for the sales department - let me say this, if that is the only way they get listings, then they must be lousy agents...its true from time to time you do get listings from the rent roll as investors decide to sell - but it should not be the reason for having a rent roll. The other benefit to a good REA with a rent roll is if they are doing the job correctly and managing a sufficient number of properites, they can also use the income from that side of the business to offset office costs and staff wages (non-comm staff obviously) so that the sales team are effectively the income earners and all income is just that - with no necessary outlays. non-franchise REA's are often better with this to as there is no support from a large organisation to help them out - they need to go it alone and make it work.
PM is definately a specialised business and to find a properly trained PM is very difficult. I do not agree with Xenia that specialised is DEFINATELY the way to go as there are some really good REA's around (and some real duds), however i do see her point in that a specialist PM agency has only their properties as the source of income and they need to do the job right to stay afloat - they can't rely on sales to prop them up (though there are now a couple of PM agencies in Brisbane starting to sell properties as well).
any agent (sales or PM) that refers to the properties under their control as "dogs" - are missing the point and shouldn't be operating!!!!
that "dog" is somebody's house - it may not be much, but it still belongs to someone and should be treated with the utmost respect regardless of the hassles it gives the PM - THAT"S WHAT THEY GET PAID FOR.
so good luck in finding a good PM - be it agency based or specialised there are good and bad in both.
here ends my soapbox!!
