Investor · Nashville, TN · Member since 2014 · 57 posts · 13 votes
Hey BP community,
Do you own anywhere from 1-10 SFH, duplex, triplex, quads or other properties that you manage yourself? If you were gifted an elf that could tackle only one job, what would you have the elf do to reduce your work load the most?
taking maintenance requests
filling maintenance requests
finding new tenants
screening new tenants
showing properties
collecting rent
Just to mention a few but not limited to those of course.
If I had an elf, I'd have him/her do my personal stuff so that I could focus on the rentals. Folding laundry, scrubbing toilets, vacuuming, cooking, lawn mowing at my house (which I hate) so I can show property, do repairs and paint at my rentals (which I really like).
If I had an elf, I'd have him/her do my personal stuff so that I could focus on the rentals. Folding laundry, scrubbing toilets, vacuuming, cooking, lawn mowing at my house (which I hate) so I can show property, do repairs and paint at my rentals (which I really like).
Well, I have 5 properties so I don't screen tenants every month. When I do, I probably spend 8 hours total, between advertising, showing the place, reviewing applications, follow ups, and lease signings. For ongoing activities, I'd say on the average month I probably spend:
1.5 Hours Collecting and Processing Rent
1.5 Hours General Accounting
4.0 Hours Maintenance
1.0 Hours Socializing w/Tenants
So, Given I actually work about 8 hours a month for reoccurring activities and 8 hours a month when I need to find a new tenant, If I need to do that once per year per apartment, I would be allocating about 42% of my time. I should note that this is only a ballpark, two of my places signed two year leases, so even if they don't renew, I won't need to replace them next year.
We own and manage all of our residential rental homes (four SFRs, two duplexes and one 8-plex.) Most of our 16 rental units are occupied by long-term tenants and turn-over is low. So our greatest time consuming activity is arranging for and conducting periodic maintenance inspections.
If I had a magic elf to help us out, I would put them on the task of driving by each property once a month for exterior observation and would have them do on-site visits each season, with a checklist of maintenance items. They would change furnace filters as needed and keep an eye out for rental agreement violations. So they would be knowledgeable of the terms of our rental agreement and would report to us if they observed anything that was a problem. They would not address non-compliance issues with the tenants, as I would handle that myself as the property manager.
Prior to Winter the elf would check weatherstrips on doors and windows, install weatherizing faucet covers and storm windows, disconnect garden hoses, disconnect air conditioners, and put them away. Then would do the reverse post Winter and check the condition of the window and door screens as well.
The elf would call each tenant to negotiate a good time for the on-site maintenance inspections, set the appointments, and post a legal "Notice to Enter" if necessary.
At our 8-plex, once a week, the elf would clean the coin-op laundry room and wipe down the w/d machines, walk the premises to check on the tidiness of the grounds, check on the proper use of our garbage dumpster/recycle bins, and water the flower beds, shrubs and landscaping as needed.
I would reserve my time and expertise for business financials, for nurturing the tenant-landlord relationship, and also for tenant move-ins and move-outs: advertising, screening, interviewing, showing, contracting, new tenant orientation, etc. My husband would reserve his time for coordinating the services of trades people as necessary for turnovers and upkeep, and demonstrating the use of facilities and appliances as necessary upon tenant move-in. He would also continue to keep an eye on property values and associated taxes, appealing them when necessary.
Christopher Brainard
Thank you for such a detailed response. Could you please clarify what do you mean under "socializing with tenants". Or this is just Vegas style of land-lording :)))
Joseph Sherer
Almost everything could be outsourced maintenance handling you could outsource to carefully selected maintenance team
Tenants placing could be outsourced to a Realestate agent
Rent collection goes almost automatically
The main part which I would keep for myself with my load (17 units) - creating good experience for tenants - communication, solving issues, updating units and buildings, legal structure and taxes planning, strategic portfolio development, financing optimization.
Really I am choosing an online system now which will make everything more manageable for me and will make all processes easier.
Christopher Brainard
Thank you for such a detailed response. Could you please clarify what do you mean under "socializing with tenants". Or this is just Vegas style of land-lording :)))
For whatever reason, about once a month I get a call from one of my tenants and there is no real (real estate) point to the call, its just them wanting to talk. I've got to hear about all sorts of stuff, lines on basketball games, family issues, boyfriend issues, children's achievements, etc.
Needless to say, none of this interests me at all, however, I used to manage a large number of folks at a corporation and I learned at a young age that how much your employees like you can drastically affect how hard the work for you. Transferring this knowledge over to my real estate empire, how much your tenants like you can drastically affect how easy (or hard) they make your life. So far, I'm six months into my landlording experiment here in Las Vegas and haven't had any issues with my tenants. They all pay on time, I've had very few maintenance calls, and overall its been a very positive experience.
Mine would be showing the rentals to prospective tenants since it is the most time consuming. A close second would be taking maintenance calls since I'm still trying to figure out where to draw the line on what maintenance repairs I should make as the landlord or if the tenant is responsible.
My elf would take care of all maintenance issues. I actually really enjoyed showing my rental property and finding a new tenant. My previous tenant lived in the property for 15 years, so I was most apprehensive about this process. Luckily, it was a breeze. But taking care of repairs that come up is a major pain for me.
we have a few properties outside of driving distance and the only reason we have them managed currently is for the process of showing the units to prospective tenants. We believe that we can do everything else remotely (including screening based on credit checks and references), and any kind of maintenance with a good handyman, but we haven't found a scalable solution to show the property to prospective tenants when it comes time to find a new tenant.
So if I had an elf, I would make him show the property, and could manage everything else remotely and save money.
This raises another question: if any of you found a scalable idea to solve the above problem, please let me know. My favorite way would be to pay per showing (for example $50 for each showing), the problem being that it might be so infrequently (specially with SFR) that it will be difficult to find someone for this that will stay motivated over multiple years... I've thought of finding a realtor to do the showings, but it hasn't worked out yet.
I'd have the elf do my day job so I could still have the income and found us on my properties.... maintenance is the most time consuming for me because of my capital improvement schedule.
This is a new venture for me. Additionally, I'm a first time home buyer. The elf would reseach and get the best deals on kitchen sink cabinets, landscapers, best insurance coverage, find reasonable fees to pay lawyer for rock solid leases, manage contractors, find the insiders for appliance purchases and how to lower costs.