Hi All, 

Derek Nolte here from Grand Forks, ND. I specialize in residential and commercial property management. After 10+ years in the industry in my market I ventured out and opened my own management company (TruHome Property Solutions). 

I started in November 2016 with 120 units and as of today manage 437 doors with myself and 1 full time leasing agent. We are a full service management company and currently vendor out all day-to-day maintenance to a small contractor who handles the majority of our maintenance full time (3 maintenance techs).

Business growth has been successful way beyond what I imagined but word spreads quick in a small market like ours. I try to be as selective as possible and ensure both myself, my company policies and procedures and the investors all have similar mindsets when it comes to managing their portfolios. I have had an inner battle since day one when planning/projecting future business growth. I held out as long as possible before I hired on help but I was well past trying to do everything myself. I handle all accounts payable, rent collecting, maintenance coordination, leasing, etc. and was doing it all myself up until about 300-350 units. 

I should probably have at least 1 more full time employee (receptionist/bookkeeper) but my management software makes it extremely efficient when it comes to daily activities. It handles marketing, tenant and owner portals, bill pay for accounts payable, and now they also have maintenance and leasing call centers to pre-screen nearly every single call that comes into our office. It is pretty amazing stuff. 80+% of our leads/rentals come from online lead generation so it is very efficient and we text message the vast majority of leads which saves tons of time. 

I obtained my real estate license almost a year ago (ND does not require this for property management). The main reason to get my license is to be able to offer another service to my investor clients when they wish to buy/sell a property, if they need it.

I am in the process of acquiring my first investment property (4 plex) via a current investor/client who is seller-financing to me. I have been managing his portfolio since mid-2017 and it was an ideal situation for me to be in. Hopefully it will be the first of many to come. 

I have partnered up with friend/realtor in the hopes of creatively acquiring many more flips/rentals, both single and multi-family. As long as the numbers look good and the property is B-C class property, we're interested. Bigger Pockets Podcasts have gotten me very anxious to try all sorts of creative ways to acquire investment property. 

Anyways, short-story-long, I am pretty obsessed with real estate in general and look forward to absorbing as much as possible. After over 12 years in the property management industry it is refreshing to break through the long-term plateau I was at and become an entrepreneur/business owner/investor. 

Derek Nolte

Welcome to the group, Derek.

Derek - good to have another Grand Forks native here. Sounds like you have a lot going on and continuing to perfect your craft. Personally i am strictly on the investment side (while managing our own), we have 4 SFHs and closing on first 4 plex. It is good to know there are property managers out there besides Elite, seems like we did not get even a call back from others, our end goal is to own 80-100 units, then turn things over to property manager. Again welcome and it would be good to connect with you. thanks for sharing!

Hey Adam! Good to hear from another local. Not many around here that I have found. Sounds like you have a great plan in place to get a really good sized portfolio. Great point on the property management need around here. One of the reasons I ventured out on my own. Do you typically find most of your investment properties on the MLS or word of mouth pocket listings? Being in the property management industry and managing for many local investors I have the luxury of having a wealth of properties that hopefully I am the first or second to find out of the owner wants to sell. That way I can have the option to purchase or find another one of my clients to purchase in the hopes of continued management. If all else fails, I obtained my real estate license so that a property can always be listed on the MLS if the owner chooses and other options fall through. Good to hear from you!

Derek - we started with the house hack, then MLS. Now as we continue to grow it seems like word of mouth is brinign in about as much potential deals, obviously best if we can find earlier but since we have full time jobs the drive for dollars or Direct Mail Marketing not in our wheelhouse yet. We have a criteria we funnel properties through but if you feel like there are properties about to hit we would certainly love to connect with you and get in on it (for whatever piece you would like). Im glad you posted, good way to get things moving!