Real Estate Agent · Owasso, OK · Member since 2014 · 517 posts · 400 votes
For those of you that self manage, do you let the tenants and applicants know that you are the property owner, or do you have more success passing yourself off as the property manager that represents investors....in this case yourself?
We own and manage our own properties. We let the tenants know. It has never been a problem. An enterprising soul could find out easily enough anyway. Open and honest communication is important to us. We would not intentionally mislead a tenant to believe something that was not true. We expect tenants to be open and honest with us as well. It is something we value.
We operate under two LLCs. Since we don't maintain a business office outside of our home. Our home address is the official address for business and tax purposes. The LLC is the contracting party in the rental agreements and the LLC can be easily found on the Washington State government licensing websites, which will reveal our names as the owners and our address. No use in hiding it.
We use a P.O. Box for interfacing with the public. We direct the tenants to use our P.O. Box for correspondence and to send rent payments to it as well. Washington State law requires us to give tenants an address where we could be personally served legal documents, in the event they want to file suit against us for any reason. So at the end of our rental agreements, in the legal remedies section, our home address appears for this purpose.
We have been renting residential properties for almost 20 years. I notice there are many quality tenants who are tired of doing business with large corporate owners and their management teams. Also many are wary of doing business with owners who turn the customer interface over to a property management company. So we fill a niche, in that we own and manage our own properties. We even state this in our marketing materials and in our BP profile. We like to provide personalized service in this manner and tenants like to know this.
Lots of differing thoughts on this topic, all of which have merit. Past posts have addressed this topic.
I present myself as the property manager. If pressed, I may say I have a financial interest in the property, but that it is owned by the corporation. (Which is my LLC, with only one member!)
All of these statements are true - I just don't feel that my financial business is any of theirs.
They all know I'm the owner. I'm a terrible liar or even half truth teller. It's not an issue, but I also invest in A properties, so I'm very comfortable with my tenants.
I started off with not allowing the tenant know that I was the owner. I lived in the property and didn't want my door being knocked on every five minutes.
I also didn't want anyone thinking that they could give me excuses on why their late with the rent.
If they think your the property manager then they have a tendency to keep it professional.
Just my thoughts.
That is why I am working to distance myself. I just finished my third rental renovation and am marketing the property now. In my first two rentals, the tenants know me as the owner. They have my cell phone number, have driven to my house to pay rent etc.
As I am trying to grow, I am now working to distance myself. Want to mail me a payment? Send it to my rented mailbox address. Need to call me? Here is my virtual phone number that forwards discreetly to my cell. Otherwise, pay me and communicate with me online through your tenant portal on RentPost. I am the property manager representing investors.
It seemed like a good idea but until I actually start representing investors other than myself, I have to admit it feels a little silly. Also, I keep catching myself making mistakes....calling it "my" house, saying I bought it and rehabbed it etc.
Just curious what other did and if it made a difference one way or the other. Or if other self managing people would consider this an excessive waste of time.
I used to live in one unit of 8 that my parents owned, and I managed it. I made the mistake of letting the tenants know. There was no end to the sob stories about why rent was late but they shouldn't have to pay the late fee, frivolous maintenance requests, and just drama. Once a freak storm knocked out electricity to the entire city for 2 days. I had more than one tenant banging on my door demanding that I replace all their freezer/fridge goods. Parking was another issue - if two tenants both thought they should get a certain parking spot, they'd knock on my door to settle it. I didn't want that drama. In hindsight I would just put a rent dropbox, hire out maintenance, and never let soul know.
We own and manage our own properties. We let the tenants know. It has never been a problem. An enterprising soul could find out easily enough anyway. Open and honest communication is important to us. We would not intentionally mislead a tenant to believe something that was not true. We expect tenants to be open and honest with us as well. It is something we value.
We operate under two LLCs. Since we don't maintain a business office outside of our home. Our home address is the official address for business and tax purposes. The LLC is the contracting party in the rental agreements and the LLC can be easily found on the Washington State government licensing websites, which will reveal our names as the owners and our address. No use in hiding it.
We use a P.O. Box for interfacing with the public. We direct the tenants to use our P.O. Box for correspondence and to send rent payments to it as well. Washington State law requires us to give tenants an address where we could be personally served legal documents, in the event they want to file suit against us for any reason. So at the end of our rental agreements, in the legal remedies section, our home address appears for this purpose.
We have been renting residential properties for almost 20 years. I notice there are many quality tenants who are tired of doing business with large corporate owners and their management teams. Also many are wary of doing business with owners who turn the customer interface over to a property management company. So we fill a niche, in that we own and manage our own properties. We even state this in our marketing materials and in our BP profile. We like to provide personalized service in this manner and tenants like to know this.
On my recent APT complex acquisition, I was introduced by my property manager as a representative of the owner. Meaning my word ISN't the last word, it's my boss.
I do this because if the tenants know you are the owner, they will harass you literally. Demand things. Constantly complain when they see you. If they put me on the spot, I simply reply back "I have to check with the owner, I can't give you an exact answer".
I can negotiate freely with the tenants about issues. It gives me freedom to answer how I chose on the spot and potentially changing my mind on certain situations as I have to report back to my imaginary boss. If I have to be firm, I can be as they won't spread the word that the OWNER is this and that.
Rant, but hard to explain. In my opinion, once you let people know you are they will act differently, maybe in a good way for you but maybe bad for other investors.
Larger scale properties, being known as a part of the Property Management team is MUCH better idea for your OWN protection.
Mr. landlord you want the tenants to be honest with you so Mr. landlord be honest with the tenants you sure don't want to lose trust in your tenants, or they lose trust in you Mr. landlord. If I was a tenant, and I ask the landlord are you, the owner, and he said no I would say who does and his remark would be my LLC, and the next question is your name on the LLC and Mr. landlord the reason for the questions is a lot of fraud out there, and I want to only rent from a legit landlord. The landlords I have come in contact with here in Dallas 70% will lie about ownership but when I confront them; they start to sweat like a prostitute in church, and then they come clean.
I self manage and tenants know I'm the owner; they have my cell number, which is a business number. I tell them at lease signing that I don't take calls after 5PM or on weekends. They can email me anytime. They have my contractor's phone number and email for repairs and they copy me. When they become long term tenants, they tend to forget the business hours thing, but I've only had 2 tenants, at the beginning of my landlording experience, that took advantage and called incessantly and at any time.
Explaining how and when to contact me at the beginning of the tenancy has helped a great deal in controlling contact. Occasionally there is an emergency, such as when a neighbor's water heater in the upstairs unit broke and it rained in my tenant's unit, or when the police mistakenly broke down a tenant's door while they were on vacation. When I get a message like that, I respond promptly.
I have a post office box for regular correspondence, and use my contractor's address for any legal issues for our out of state properties.
We do say we own the place but I am not sure if we were onsite we would do that. Some people have no boundaries... I always say "we" own it and sometimes defer discussions on repairs to others even if I know the answer.
I also deflect questions on the extent of the business etc. Like I said some people have no boundaries and it is good to learn a few techniques along these lines to keep tenants out of the details of your business. There is lying and there is keeping adequate distance. My goal is the later. Some of us have to work on distance more then others and some tenants need distance more then others.