Are there no actual property owners on BP?

Question

Several weeks ago I posted on BP asking for advice from actual property owners in the Cleveland area (Euclid, specifically) about their experiences with local property managers. I never received a single response from an actual property owner — just self-promotions from PMCs or people affiliated with PMCs. Are there no actual owners on BP?

Joshua Janus · Answer

I am an actual owner with 100+ units in the city of Cleveland and the cities around it and put together a rolodex of references for services like property management, inspections, contractors etc. if you want it. There are plenty of other owners on this forum.

In my experience like other things you get what you pay for. if you go with the companies that are charging super cheap rates - 5%, $100/month or something like that they don't have enough income to sustain a supportive team to actually help you manage your home. 10% is the going rate it seems in the city and that is where the better companies tend to exist.

Jack Krusinski · Answer

I am a property owner, and I would second Josh's response. With property managers, you get what you pay for. You probably don't want the cheapest, but it is perhaps not worth paying for the most expensive, either. In Cleveland, it is industry standard to pay a 10% property management fee. If you are looking for recommendations, please let me know, and I am happy to send you a few references.

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

well I am one.. and pretty sure we have had props in Euclid.

first one we had gouged the heck out of us.. second one is small shop and she has done a decent job if you ask me. She does not have an on line mangement system though just sends a check each month with a little ledger of expenses.

I have a client that runs a larger company and they do a nice job at least on all the deals I have done for them as a capital partner when I do the draws and look at my before and afters they do some really nice work in a timely fashion

Rene Hosman · Answer

There are a ton of us property owners on the forums! However when you think about the number of active people on the forums vs the number who are in that specific area and have hired property managers (meaning they're not self-managing) the pool gets a bit small.

I would say the forums can sometimes have good conversations about localities but finding info for a very specific need in a very specific town is going to be harder and not garner quite as many responses. Here are the recs I can give you:

1. Set keyword alerts for your area, try Euclid, and maybe a couple other neighboring towns. How to set keyword alerts on BiggerPockets here:

https://app.tango.us/app/workflow/Setting-Up-Keyword-Alerts-on-BiggerPockets-bf910b235a4a4d2fbcbffafaa0fe3cf7

If you set keyword alerts you're more likely to find others talking about your area and I suggest reaching out to them individually if they seem knowledgable

2. Do your research on the forums for general tips on hiring a PM, what to look for, what to look out for, good stories, bad stories, learn from others about their experiences with all kinds of PMs all over the place and take what you learn when you're speaking to PMs in your area so you can more easily see red flags, or green flags!

3. Take a look at the Property Manager Finder to find PMs in your area to interview https://www.biggerpockets.com/business/finder/property-manag...

Charles Perkins · Answer

I'm sure there are many property owners on BP, not all are in Ohio though.  My properties are in Washington State.

James Wise · Answer

Not surprising that you are only getting comments from people who want to sell you something. There are two kinds of people here on the forums. If a person doesn't fit into one of the two categories below, what would the point of posting on this website be?

1. People who wanna sell something.

2. People who need something....Advice, Products, Services etc.....

Max Emory · Answer

Hey @Karl Kauper, lots of property owners here (including myself) but maybe not a lot who are active in the forums and own properties in the specific location you mentioned.

Also, something to keep in mind, BP is an education company. From my experience, 95%+ people in the BP community are new investors who own 0-3 properties.

Are there any REI FB groups in that area? That's would be the place to go if you're not local to that area.

Hope you find what you're looking for!

Becca F. · Answer

I'm a property owner on BP and a W2 employee (nothing involved with real estate). I've only been on BP a little over 2 years but my understanding is that when Josh Dorkin, the founder, sold BP, it started to change. I watch a lot of David Greene's YT videos and have messaged him directly and he gave me solid advice - if I'm going to buy outside of California, to go for appreciation states and look at the asset. That's come full circle because that's what I should have done  (no offense to anyone investing in the Midwest but I'm doing the slow exit out of Indiana, already sold one property).  I've watched very few of Brandon Turner's videos so I don't have an opinion of him.

James, I watched your YouTube video referencing this post. I've spent a lot of time posting on the forums as in hours. I don't receive a dollar for any advice or for any referrals I give to agents, contractors, etc. I started to scale back on my comments, partially because real estate for me has gotten very stressful and I'm taking a break from buying anything. I get a lot of messages from investors in the Bay Area and I'm happy to talk to someone for an hour but as far as ongoing advice, I don't think I'm the best person to advise them since my properties fell into my lap pre-2013 (California and one Indiana property). I don't have time to mentor someone unless they want to compensate me, which I don't feel right about.

James Wise · Answer

You don't think I'd take the time to post on here over 27,000 times if I wasn't generating revenue do you?

Are there no actual property owners on BP?

Most Popular Reply