Tips on Setting up New Property Management Company

Tips on Setting up New Property Management Company

Rental Property Investor · Cincinnati, OH · Member since 2014 · 150 posts · 59 votes

My business partners and I just created a new property management company here in Cincinnati, Ohio to manage the properties in our portfolio.  I am hoping that current PMs and owners who use PMs can offer some tips on the best way to manage the cash handling between the management company and the owner. We are currently only planning to manage our own properties, but we want to set up the company as though we are managing 3rd party properties so we will be able to transition to that quickly if we determine it's the right opportunity.

Our plan is to have the management company collect all rents, pay all expenses, and send a check to the owner for the net cash flow at the end of the month, less management fees.

Is it common practice for PMs to pay the mortgage, insurance, property taxes, etc., or should the owner be paying those expenses?

Is it difficult getting vendors, such as lenders and utility companies to work with the management company since they are not the property owners?

For large expenses, such as property taxes, do you have the owner transfer money over to the PM in advance so they have enough cash to make the payment?

Do you have a separate bank account for each owner that you manage for where a reserve is kept?  Does the PM and owner both have access to this account to add and withdraw funds?

I have more questions, but this is probably enough for now!  Thanks in advance for all of your help.

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Investor/Syndicator · Cincinnati, OH · Member since 2014 · 470 posts · 599 votes
10y

Great questions Coleman. Keep at them and The right solution will come to you. A previous poster said "You could ask a hundred questions, get all kinds of answers, and still not know enough to run a PM company." I agree with this but smartest people can get 100 answers and then make one educated decision based off of those answers. Then adjust as they feel needed through real world experience. Some feel they need to pay for education, get certificates to feel qualified. Some are able to do it with out that. By way of example it would be like someone becoming a millionaire flipping houses with out ever going to any trade school or getting a contractors license ;) . Keep at it! 

@Nathan Gesner It is sad to see someone as successful in the industry as yourself answer this question the way you did. With a few assumptions and choice words you managed to come off disparaging, and frankly a jerk. BP is the platform set up to do exactly what your criticizing Coleman for doing. 

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  • Investor · Cincinnati, OH · Member since 2014 · 97 posts · 27 votes
    10y

    @Coleman Nelson, @DL Martin did a good job of highlighting the process and issues. A few additions: invest in a good cloud based property management software system. There are many. We use Appfolio which has a very robust platform. Many investors find that they start with Excel spreadsheets and QuickBooks, all of which requires multiple entries. By going to a property management software, think about your time. Same "time" comment can be made regarding managing for others. We only manage for our own portfolio because getting a 6-10% management fee is just not enough income for the headaches; we do JV's with others where we get equity. That is how we have grown our portfolio. In our opinion, managing for others to get access to deal flow is not a solid reason. Maybe I misunderstand but you will not be in business long if you funnel deals to yourself. The better way to get deal flow is by the hard work of marketing; find bird dogs or wholesalers who specialize in the types of deals you want. We just bought a probate deal yesterday from a wholesaler who only follows that path. Best of luck. Feel free to creep on my profile and ask any questions.

  • Real Estate Broker · Windsor, CT · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 268 votes
    10y

    At  Coleman great question!

  • Investor · Scottsdale, AZ · Member since 2016 · 32 posts · 19 votes
    10y

    I agree with some earlier replies stating that starting a PM company is a low return and a lot of headache.  Not to mention a lot of liability when working with trust accounts, OPM etc.

    I haven't tried this idea but my mentor shared it with me and if I find the right person I will strongly consider it for my small (14 properties) portfolio.  The idea is to find a small PM company in your town ran by a single person.  Figure out if you can trust them by giving them 2-4 properties, letting them know you need a discount as you have several more properties if they can do a good job.  If they do a good job, ask them if they are interested in growing their personal portfolio, and if they are offer to help them by providing them with some opportunities that you are passing up.  As the relationship develops you send all of your properties to them (for management) and help them grow their net worth keeping them happy.  They begin to realize you are the mainstay of their business and eventually you can make them an offer to own the PM company, since it is well over half of your properties, if that is what you want.  

    You get a great experienced person that you can help become more successful, and you didn't have to learn PM so you were able to stay focused on your front end / marketing side of your business.   I realize this takes an ideal situation but there are small companies out there that would appreciate your business and experience, and it might just be a win win for everyone.  

    As far as starting your own PM company, I personally wouldn't do it. 

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