Certified Public Accountant · Chattanooga, TN · Member since 2008 · 279 posts · 151 votes
What has surprised you the most that you have ended up not liking to do as as a property manager?
When I first started out in real estate I didn't anticipate painting being that big of a deal. After all, it's pretty easy and just takes time for me to do on my own. It seems like every time a tenant moves out I have to do at least some touch up painting. I think the amount of time I spend painting my apartments has been the biggest property management surprise to me.
Just curious what other property managers/landlords think.
And they range from but are not limited to: tenants, their relatives who don't live there, code enforcement personnel, city bureaucrats, neighborhood nazi groups, people I hire to do work, people I offer to buy property from, attorneys, accountants, real estate agents, slum lords, starry-eyed socialist city commissioners..... Sheesh! This list just keeps getting longer!....
I've definitely experienced the "no show" several times. That is extremely frustrating! I've gotten to where I call and confirm about an hour before all my appointments. It's amazing how many prospective tenants will not call to cancel an appointment.
I have painted part of one unit in my life. It sucks!!! i hire this Mexican guy (I speak Spanish so it works out) for $10 an hour. He is in charge of this crew who each work for $8/hr. I am not sure he pays them $8/hr, but the work gets done fast. Most painters I've met suck. These guys work hard and are always on time. The bad part is they are not insured so I am taking a risk. I only let them work inside. Hire painting out and your life will be so much better. Also hire out the cleaning of your units to the same crew. My guys are fast and do a better job then most tenants do. Work smart.
Showing the unit is a huge pain. I've taken to telling them to call me an hour before the appointment or I won't be there. Calling them an hour before doesn't work. They will say "yes, I'll be there" then not show. I always try to schedule multiple showings at once. I figure if I can get three at once, its pretty likely at least one will show.
But worse than that is having to chase rent or deal with problems. I had a letter yesterday from the city about an unpaid water bill. I hate dealing with that BS.
Jeffrey - It's funny you mention hiring out the painting. I did that this past weekend with a "day laborer" and he did a great job. Very hard working and did all the painting, pressure washing, etc I didn't want to do. I turned 30 last year, and doing all-day manual labor isn't as easy as it used to be.
Jon - I keep hearing landlords saying they are getting stuck paying unpaid utility bills on this website. Is this something that is regional? I'm from Tennessee and have never heard of having to pay the tenant's utility bill if it's in their name.
Electric and gas, no. Water, yes. Water is a lienable item, meaning the water company can attach a lien onto your property if its not paid. They can shut off the water and refuse to turn it on until the back bills have been made up. So, if a tenant sticks you with a bill, you have little choice but to pay it so your next tenant can have water.
If you're only 30 you're just a little child :-). Try crawling around in a crawl space when you're 50 like me.
On the DIY list, just about anything that has to be done right now gets on my "I don't like it" list. Sanding sheetrock has to be one of the worst. Anything that involves digging is unpleasant, too.
In a lot of cities / counties across the US you can file some sort of water affidavit or water responsibility form to get the water to be treated like gas/electric and follow the person not the house. Call your city / county and see if they have it. Not all do though.
I do just what Jon said - I tell them to call me 1 hour before the appointment and if they don't call I don't show. It is very shocking the number of people who don't call.
I hate seeing the abandoned pets that the scumbags leave. It makes me sick the way these worthless scumbags treat their pets. I think they should be flogged and then thrown in prison!
Mike it might be time for you to upgrade to some nicer units. Outside the hood we dont make the kind of money you do, but we dont see this kind of stuff.
I have been doing the same thing as Jon for a really long time - I make multiple appointments for the same time. Never more than three at any given time. If I'm lucky, one will show up and my time isn't 100% wasted.
I also file a water affadavit for the water to be in the tenant's name. I've never been stuck with a water bill. 99% of the time the tenants move out and don't even have the water shut off. By having it left on it makes the clean up process that much easier.
Never had to deal with pets left behind.
My biggest pet pieve of management is the showings and waiting for the rent to come in. I think that's why I'm getting more and more into flipping...less headaches, in my opinion.
There are two items that are tied and they are sanding and deaing with cloged plumbing fixtures, ie years of hair in the shower trap only discovered after tenant moves out. I never have encountered someone leaving behind a pet, mostly becuase I do not allow pets, but I agree that they should be flogged and put in prison.
After cooling down from seeing that poor kitten yesterday, I've changed my mind about flogging these people and putting them in jail. After thinking more clearly about the issue, I think these scumbags should be euthanized. They could be the first to face Obama's healthcare death panel! LOL!
For me, it's sanding drywall. THAT'S real labor, and not to mention the dust! Plumbing and electric I sub-out to friends. Everything else I can pretty much handle, having worked for a contractor for 10 years. My basement is "tool central". You name it, I probably have it (somewhere down there).
Problem now is, I've become the one everyone calls when something needs to be done...I.E. Kitchen and bath for "better halfs" mother last year, and deck around a pool for "better halfs" brother recently. They're calling me "Norman the Foreman"....NOT GOOD!!
The no show has been the most frustrating. Like Jon said, calling them doesn't work either. A tip I got from a fellow BiggerPocket, is have them call you half hour before. It's a good thing I don't live far from my rentals.
"After cooling down from seeing that poor kitten yesterday..."
It's nice to see you have a soft side Mike (: So what happened to the kitten? (hopefully, I didn't just set myself up with that question LOL!). In all seriousness though I too would be absolutely outraged and people like that don't deserve to have pets. It's makes me just sick.
So far what I don't like the most is also painting. The last time I did almost the entire house (except ceilings) by myself and let me tell you my fingers/wrists were cramped up for weeks. It was weird. I think from holding the roller and all that repetitious motion. I won't paint again...next time I'll hire someone else to do it.
I am against a blanket 12 to 4 type open house becuase the last time I did that I had the first potential client show up at 10:30 becuase she really wanted the place, but besides her, everyone (All the other 8 perspective renters) showed up between 12 and 12:45 . I had everyone fill out an application and was left waiting for the balance of the time just in case someone was going to show up. I now schedule 2 or 3 people for the same time slot and ask them to wait if multiples actually show up. It's quicker and you get about the same turn out.
My units aren't luxury units, but they are on the nicer end of the rental spectrum. That's probably why I have pretty good success with the 1 hour call ahead. I'm guessing some of the landlords are probably dealing with lower income prospective tenants. This probably has something to do with the high rate of "no shows" after the 1 hour reminder phone call.
And they range from but are not limited to: tenants, their relatives who don't live there, code enforcement personnel, city bureaucrats, neighborhood nazi groups, people I hire to do work, people I offer to buy property from, attorneys, accountants, real estate agents, slum lords, starry-eyed socialist city commissioners..... Sheesh! This list just keeps getting longer!....
I have painted part of one unit in my life. It sucks!!! i hire this Mexican guy (I speak Spanish so it works out) for $10 an hour. He is in charge of this crew who each work for $8/hr. I am not sure he pays them $8/hr, but the work gets done fast. Most painters I've met suck. These guys work hard and are always on time. The bad part is they are not insured so I am taking a risk. I only let them work inside. Hire painting out and your life will be so much better. Also hire out the cleaning of your units to the same crew. My guys are fast and do a better job then most tenants do. Work smart.
"After cooling down from seeing that poor kitten yesterday..."
It's nice to see you have a soft side Mike (: So what happened to the kitten? .
Mike ended up adapting the poor cat. He also have five dogs, seven other cats and two jerboas which were left behind by the scubags. Don't ask me how the last two got there and who were the tenants who owned them... and if you know, don't tell Mike. He will freak out... :D
I think one third of our population is mexican in the city. Ziv, I expected you to go off on some liberal human rights rant because I hire mexicans for a reasonable wage. Glad to see you layed off the koolaid for the night.
I've never had any conflicts with having more than one prospect there at a time. They will typically look at different parts of the house to avoid bumping into one another.