Informed Decisions Start Here
The Questions Every Property Owner Should Ask — And the Honest Answers
Choosing a property manager is a multi-year financial decision. Most owners never learn how the industry really operates until something goes wrong. Here's what to ask any company you're considering — and exactly how Sea Dog answers.
Why These Questions Matter
A growing share of the industry has quietly shifted toward scale over service — offshore labor, self-service technology, franchise systems, and fee structures designed to generate revenue from your property's everyday problems. None of it is obvious from a polished website. The questions below pull back the curtain so you can choose with your eyes open.
Section A
Licensing, Supervision & Accountability
In Florida, leasing a home, advertising it, showing it, screening applicants, and negotiating a lease are licensed real estate activities — they legally require a broker's license, and practicing them without one is a third-degree felony. Yet a number of operators run statewide under a single broker who supervises dozens or even hundreds of loosely affiliated agents across different brand names. In that structure, supervision is thin, training is inconsistent, and in the worst cases regulated activity happens with little real broker oversight.
Sea Dog is owned and operated by Don Harkins, a licensed Florida real estate broker who is personally accountable for how your property is leased and managed. You're not a file passed down to an under-supervised agent — the broker is in the business every day.
Bottom line: You should know exactly who is licensed, who is accountable, and who is actually supervising the people handling your property.
Section B
Company Structure & Alignment of Interests
Section C
Fees & Cost Structure
Section D
Asset Protection & Oversight
Section E
Practical & Operational
Still Evaluating Your Options
Now You Know What to Ask. See What Your Property Can Actually Do.
A smart management decision starts with understanding your property's real rental performance. Get a free, data-driven, market-specific analysis — no obligation.
Locally owned · Broker-operated · No long-term contracts · Transparent pricing