(Standard) Turnover Timeline? Too long??

Question

No Bias. My Goal is to hear your unfiltered thoughts and immediate reactions. Any and all comments would be greatly appreciated.Please see Image below:

The above is the Turnover Management Process and is the Standard timeline for basic turnover services for a Property Management Company.

My main concern is the time it takes to turnover a property. Should this be a concern? Is this a standard timeline across PM's? Across locations? Across price points & property types?

What I've shared is purposely vague as I don't have specific questions and am more interested in your reactions, thoughts and personal anecdotes so I can better understand and appreciate the timeline.

Again, any and all comments would be greatly appreciated.

Nathan Gesner · Answer

I'm a property manager and investor. This timeline would not float in my office. It's more of a worst-case-scenario schedule.

We inspect in advance to get a feeling for how the tenant may leave the property. When the tenant turns in keys, we conduct a "safety" inspection within 24 hours to ensure the unit is secure, heat or A/C is adjusted, the unit is vacant, the level of cleanliness, etc. The final inspection must be done within 72 hours, but it usually coincides with the safety inspection and is complete within 24 hours.

Cleaning and repairs are submitted within 24 hours of the inspection with a deadline of seven days. There are exceptions, but this is our standard. Most units are inspected and turned in less than seven days from move-out.

Within 24 hours of work completion, PM inspects to verify and updates photos to document the condition of the rental before a new tenant occupies.

I aim to turn all units within seven days of the tenant vacating. That includes studio apartments and 5bed/3bath homes. The schedule you shared is 3x that. Maybe that is their worst-case scenario? I feel they've set low standards.

Nathan Gesner · Answer

My properties are mostly C- or B-class. I'm in a small market of 10,000 people.

This can definitely change from one market to the next. For example, I do not have "many" turns that are $5,000. In my market, people are more honest and respectful than what you may see in a large city. This is particularly true when dealing with Section 8 tenants. If anyone disbelieves this claim, go check out Holton-Wise in Cleveland to see what they deal with on a DAILY basis.

Colleen F. · Answer

@Nat Rojas  This all assumes you don't have eyes on the property pre-move out. If you have a place that you know is going to need a little or a lot of work lining people up in advance is the thing to do.  Yes you can have issues but normally you go to a few trusted people for repairs. I am with @Nathan Gesner suggestion of a pre-inspection. If you have a good painter but he books 4 weeks out, this isn't going to work.

Michael Smythe · Answer

@Nathan Gesner depends on the SOW required for RentReady.

Your timeline works for Class A properties and maybe 70% of Class B properties.

We do many $5k+ turns of Class C properties that aren't getting done in a week - usually takes longer than that for owner to approve the SOW and then send the funds!

Michael Smythe · Answer

@Nat Rojas pretty decent project timeline.

Every owner wants their PMC to turn a property around faster, so they get a new tenant ASAP.

The challenge is reality.

We've do our best to do pre-MoveOut Evaluations, so we know what needs to be done. ---REALITY: tenants don't want you in their home while their packing to move.

We try our best to schedule a MoveOut Evaluation the day after tenant moves out.---REALITY: tenant's new property isn't ready and they need an extra day or two, or... Or they leave stuff behind and we need to confirm with them we can trash it, so they don't sue later.

Those are the easy delays. We also have issues trying to get our ServiceTechs there for a bid as they may be caught up on other jobs that need to be completed first.

Owners are also their own worst enemies - they want multiple bids, don't have funds or only want to partially fund - which leads to work stoppages.

So, there's a lot of moving parts to try to keep a timeline on schedule, but every owner thinks it's so easy.

Tim Jacob · Answer

This is just another example of asset class and why going higher makes sense.  If it's A grade their is a good chance the tenant was so clean you can lease it with the exiting tenant still residing their.  Then you can simply have a 10 day window in between and because they left it in such good shape its a handyman for 1 day doing something like replacing blinds their cat destroyed or a few easy fixes.  If it needs lead cert you might think of getting it done before the vacancy to ensure its done in time.  Another reason to go lead free or limited as well to ensure that.  What I just described is typical for A or B grade for me in Baltimore.  Turnover between tenants is in general 2 weeks average or maybe less.

In general if  you get to C grade or section 8 bump the average time lines.  Even then I still have had good ones.  Even so a couple weeks sounds fair if it is a hefty turnover with a full week of work for full repaint and a trash haul.  As was stated contractors don't wait around for your work so it might take them 2 weeks to mobilize.  Thus it might be even more but in general a couple weeks sounds decent.  This can he voided with a large company with maintenance but maybe not if they are busy as well.

Equally as important is when they are going to lease it.  If they lease between November and mid March you are adding vacancy to find the right person at an optimum price so I would  make sure they end leases and set new expirations in the spring to early fall to ensure that.

Back to asset class though think of that because if the preexisting tenant is dirty and destructive not only do you need to pay to fix the stuff their deposit won't cover but you also might have 2 to 4 weeks of vacancy before you can even start to lease it.  Then another couple weeks to find someone that probably won't move for another 3 or 4 weeks for an average of an extra 2 months versus just 2 weeks.

James Wise · Answer

This timeline looks great for a place like Baltimore. It's pretty quick actually. Investors need to understand that contractors aren't just sitting around waiting for their one turnover. They have other jobs in the process at all times. If it worked where the rehab could begin day after you called that'd mean the contractors were unemployed before your property became vacant. You can find guys who are unemployed before you contact them sure, but that doesn't ever work out for you lol. If they were good, they wouldn't have been unemployed. Duhhh.

Peter Tverdov · Answer

That honestly looks great. You are dealing with professional property management companies.

(Standard) Turnover Timeline? Too long??

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