Property Management questions about Belong Home

Property Management questions about Belong Home

Real Estate Consultant · Port Orchard, WA · Member since 2017 · 33 posts · 13 votes

I have been in conversation with Belong Home about one of my properties. It seems like a good deal and a decent company but was wondering if anyone here had any experience with them?

One of the things they do, when managing a property, is rekey the home so they and the tenants are the only ones who have keys. As the owner, how concerned should I be about this?

They also take the payments from the tenants, then take their fee out of that and then pass the remainder on to the owner. This seems like a common practice, and am new to all this.

Any insights would be appreciated!

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Joshua MessingerBusiness Member
Property Manager · Poconos, PA · Member since 2020 · 443 posts · 264 votes
4y

Hey @Joshua Bennett! 

I would get rid of the entire key situation and just get a Schlage door code lock. This way you can just change the code vs. getting new keys. 

As for a property mgmt company taking the payments from tenants, this is normal. Usually, a PM company will take care of the bookkeeping and give you the NOI for your property so all you should need to worry about is getting paid.

If you have any other questions please don't hesitate to reach out! 

Best of wishes, 

Josh

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  • Drew SygitBusiness Member
    Property Manager · Royal Oak, MI · Member since 2012 · 12k+ posts · 9k+ votes
    4y

    @Joshua Bennett no offense, but your questions show you are EXTREMELEY green!

    There are several books on this website about property management you should read BEFOE you set yourself up to get screwed.

    Or, you can read our series about. “How to Screen a PMC Better than a Tenant”:
    https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/3094/91877-how-to-screen-a-pmc-better-than-a-tenant-part-1-services-and-processes

  • Joshua MessingerBusiness Member
    Property Manager · Poconos, PA · Member since 2020 · 443 posts · 264 votes
    4y

    Hey @Joshua Bennett! 

    I would get rid of the entire key situation and just get a Schlage door code lock. This way you can just change the code vs. getting new keys. 

    As for a property mgmt company taking the payments from tenants, this is normal. Usually, a PM company will take care of the bookkeeping and give you the NOI for your property so all you should need to worry about is getting paid.

    If you have any other questions please don't hesitate to reach out! 

    Best of wishes, 

    Josh

  • Real Estate Consultant · Port Orchard, WA · Member since 2017 · 33 posts · 13 votes
    4y
    I will check those out, thanks!
    I am green, this is my second property.
    I was really more interested if anyone has used that company, and what their experience was.
    It seems like not many people have used them, but they are a newer company so that makes sense.
  • Member since 2019 · 4 posts · 1 vote
    3y

    I am wondering how it is going with Belong Joshua? I am also in conversation with the Belong company. Looking for any feedback from my BP Peeps. I am looking to hire a PMC for my SFH in Los Angeles, Ca

    Thanks !

  • Ewa RezaPro Member
    Real Estate Agent · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2009 · 146 posts · 75 votes
    8mo

    I’m a property manager (based in CA, but I looked closely at Belong Home / belonghome.com as competition and out of curiosity).

    Biggest red flag for me was rent pricing. Their algorithm priced one of my rentals at about $2,600. I regularly rent that same type of property for around $4,200. That’s not a small miss, that’s a totally different return!

    They sometimes offer a free in person rent estimate, but honestly a solid property manager should be able to get very close using photos and market data. Requiring walkthroughs before getting hired felt more like a sales step than a real need.

    I also heard directly from a client who used Belong Home that they are very tenant friendly and tend to bend over backwards for tenants. Their vendor quality was hit or miss too, sometimes fine, sometimes overpriced or sloppy.

    The rent guarantee sounds nice, but that risk has to be baked in somewhere. It makes sense they push below market rents so listings get flooded with applications and it’s easy to find “safe” tenants.

    Not saying Belong Home property management is bad, just very conservative and system driven. If maximizing rent and tighter cost control matter, it’s worth digging into how Belong Home prices and operates.

  • Adam BartomeoBusiness Member
    Real Estate Broker · Cape Coral, FL · Member since 2015 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    8mo

    Rekeying is an absolute waste of money. They should be using Kwikset rekeyable locks. It is a one-time cost to buy the lock set and takes 30 - 60 sec to rekey. We save our owners thousands every year in "rekey" expenses.

    Paying owners the way that you described is the norm.

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