I recently closed on my first house-hacking property. It is a quadplex in Anchorage. Two units were already rented when I purchased with one unit vacant and the previous owner occupying the 4th unit. Just some information even though I do not think it is relevant to my questions.
Can anyone recommend a PM? I have messaged a few and some are no responsive or there are bad reviews. Does anyone here have a company they know and have history with? For now I have taken on the previous PM as the tenants are decent tenants and the property was taken care of. I may stick with them, I am just curious as of now.
I will be meeting the PM face to face for the first time next week as I work out of the country is there anything i should ask?
Do you think it would be beneficial to have a separate bank account for the property dealings? Such as maintenance, mortgage, utilities. etc.. I can not put it in an LLC as I am using a VA loan and will be living there for a year.
Since this is my first property, do you have any insight you would like to share, I do peruse the forums for information which is pretty helpful. Sometimes I do not even know what I am looking for, if anything.
@Jamie Lamont No need to put it into a separate bank account, unless you just want to keep those funds separate for your own sanity. From a legal or accounting perspective, it doesn't matter since you own it in your personal name.
Are there any meetups in Anchorage? Seek out other owners who use PM's and get their recommendations. You can seek them out either virtually or in person (think local meetups hosted by RE agents, Alaska RE FB groups, etc) and ask who they use. I guarantee there are other landlords who have already gone through a few PM's and found a good one!
@Jamie Lamont No need to put it into a separate bank account, unless you just want to keep those funds separate for your own sanity. From a legal or accounting perspective, it doesn't matter since you own it in your personal name.
Are there any meetups in Anchorage? Seek out other owners who use PM's and get their recommendations. You can seek them out either virtually or in person (think local meetups hosted by RE agents, Alaska RE FB groups, etc) and ask who they use. I guarantee there are other landlords who have already gone through a few PM's and found a good one!
We, OverWatch Real Estate Management, manage properties in Anchorage. I will send you a PM with my info. Even if you stick with the current PM feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
@Jamie Lamont No need to put it into a separate bank account, unless you just want to keep those funds separate for your own sanity. From a legal or accounting perspective, it doesn't matter since you own it in your personal name.
Are there any meetups in Anchorage? Seek out other owners who use PM's and get their recommendations. You can seek them out either virtually or in person (think local meetups hosted by RE agents, Alaska RE FB groups, etc) and ask who they use. I guarantee there are other landlords who have already gone through a few PM's and found a good one!
Good luck and keep us updated!
Thank you for your reply @Doug Spence I think mainly for my sanity it would work better, I am mostly trying to avid "lesson learned" issues. Plus Inshallah hopefully in a little over a year I will be getting ready to buy another. So starting now might be the best time.
The issue I have with the meet-ups in person is I have not lived in the country for quite some time When I get boots on the ground so to speak I will definitely work on that. As for virtual I will be keeping an eye out as well. I already didn't expect responses so quickly especially from an Alaska based stand-point. So I am pleasantly surprised.
We, OverWatch Real Estate Management, manage properties in Anchorage. I will send you a PM with my info. Even if you stick with the current PM feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
Good Morning @Chris S. I sent you a reply privately. Thank you for the reply, in all my searches I didn't even see Overwatch REM. Maybe I didn't search long enough. But if I come across anyone looking for a PM I will throw your company name out there.
We are relatively new, and not really hurting to pick up more properties. But, I am always open to talking with people and helping out where I can. We are kind of selective on who we pick up to manage and we dont really advertise so probably why you didn't see us! We are pretty much all referall based.
As far as meetups go, Vested AK does on at 49th state brewing the 3rd Thursday of every month usually.
RPM, Real Property Management, used to host landlords almanac, but I don't think they have done that one in awhile.
REX, Real Estate Exchange meet up occasionally but I am not sure of their schedule. All can be good resources. Vested and REX are definitely the most active ones.
If you plan to fill out a Schedule E on your tax return, HIGHLY recommend running income & expenses for the rental units through a business bank account.
Mixing personal & business funds is a "great" way to get flagged for an IRS audit.
Encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others - by reading posts here on BiggerPockets about owners not having their expectations met by their current Property Management Company.
To avoid going through the same poor experience, keep reading.
Even if someone give you a referral, don’t make the mistake of assuming that PMC will meet your expectations, just because they met the expectations of the referral source.
We also can’t believe how many owners hire the first PMC they speak with!
Then they complain their expectations aren’t being met!
In our experience, the #1 mistake owners make when selecting a Property Management Company (PMC) is ASSUMING instead of CONFIRMING.
It's often a case of not doing enough research, as they don't know what they don't know!
Owners mistakenly ASSUME all PMCs offer the exact SAME SERVICES and PERFORM those services EXACTLY THE SAME WAY, so price is the only differentiator – and they often select the first PMC they call!
So, the first question they usually ask a PMC is about fees - instead of asking about services and HOW those services are executed.
EXAMPLE: PMC states they will handle tenant screening – what does that specifically mean? What documents do they require, what credit scores do they allow, how do they verify previous rental history, etc.? You’d be shocked by how little actual screening many PMC’s do!
This also leads owners to ASSUME simpler is better when it comes to management contracts.
The reality is the opposite - if it's not in writing then the PMC doesn't have to provide the service or can charge extra for it!
We have a 14-page management contract that we've added our real experiences to over the years, with the intent of protecting both us AND the landlord. Beyond the Monthly Management, Placement & Maintenance fees, all other fees in our contract are IF EVENT -> THEN fees.
We don’t know any PMCs to recommend in the area mentioned, but since selecting the wrong PMC is usually more harmful than selecting a bad tenant, you might want to read our series about “How to Screen a PMC Better than a Tenant”:
We recommend you get management contracts from several PMCs and compare the services they cover and, more importantly, what they each DO NOT cover.
EDUCATE YOURSELF - yes, it will take time, but will lead to a selection that better meets your expectations & avoids potentially costly surprises!
P.S. If you just hire the cheapest or first PMC you speak with and it turns into a bad experience, please don’t assume ALL PMC’s are bad and start trashing PMC’s in general. Take ownership of your mistake and learn to do the proper due diligence recommended above😊
We, OverWatch Real Estate Management, manage properties in Anchorage. I will send you a PM with my info. Even if you stick with the current PM feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
I can vouch for Chris @ Overwatch REM, he manages a couple properties of mine and does an excellent job, he’s a good honest guy & haven’t had any problems.
