All Forum Posts by: Shari Posey

We will be paying our friend so that might be a problem because he is not licensed. I'll have to do some research on this becaues if this is the case, I'll have to find a Realtor friend instead.
Gosh, over the years I have helps so many clients rent and maintain their properties for small flat fees and about 2% tenant finder fees, it shocks me when you throw around 10% of gross rents. In my experience with our own rentals and other people's, it is not that complicated or time consuming unless you get a problem tenant. I guess I should consider the fees as an "insurance policy" in case of future problems, otherwise, there's just not that much to do most months to justify 10% in my opinion.

Jon,
Humm...so exactly what do they do for 10%? I've set the rents, I already know my operating costs, I would want them to use my own maintenance people. Is it unheard of to pay PM companies an hourly fee ($25/hr) for work they actually do?

I am facing the task of hiring a property management company because we are moving overseas. I'm dreading the task because I really doubt I can find someone who cares as much as my husband and I do about our properties, which we have self managed for about 8 years now.
We have a very trusted, responsible friend who seems eager to take on the task for 6% but he has no experience--we would be walking him through anything beyond collecting rents and move-in/move out of tenants. Or do we pay 6-8% to a property management company that we may have to hound from half way across the world to rent our properties out in a timely manner? We really can't have someone who drops the ball after a few months while we are away. What would you do in our shoes?

We have 4 small rental properties (3 condo units and 1 single family home with minimal landscaping) and we have always managed them ourselves pretty easily. However, we are going overseas for a year and now have to hire a property management company. I have not had much experience with local companies but what I have seen doesn't impress me...lots of For Rent signs for months on end (our properties rent in 2 weeks or less), lots of complaints about service, etc. Here's the thing...we have a friend with zero property management experience BUT we trust him, and he is extremely responsible and intelligent. Honestly, 70% of what we do is collect & deposit rents, and fill one or two vacancies per year--not a big deal. But we have been taken to court once, and we had one tenant die, so we know there is potential for complicated issues.
Question-- We want to leave the country without worrying about our properties, so which is better...leave the job to someone who is smart and we trust OR to some staff person at a property management company? Also, what is the standard fee for what type of responsibilities? Should the person/company we leave this to have some special insurance/liability coverage?

Jim--My past experience at these auctions is that there are about 50 investors whispering into cell phones and some onlookers. Since most properties revert back to the bank, they can work through 100 properties in 10 minutes. Everyone is there for the same handful of properties to bid on and it happens fast. My question is, WHO should I talk to at that point when they quickly skim over the property I want and it goes back to the beneficiary? Do I shove a written offer to someone and hope they relay it to the beneficiary?

Paul,
These are not LLCs associated with the banks. I actually know one of the investors and got him a buyer on one property within hours of his buying it at an auction. I knew the first trust deed on t he property was double the amount he paid so that was what has been throwing me off as to how this works.

Hi Paul,

A property I'm interested is going to auction tomorrow. The opening bid is higher than an investor will want. Can I give an offer at the auction to some representative? What do you mean "right after the auction?"

Also, not clear what you mean in your last paragraph about deeding back.

Thanks!

Your situation is not how it is supposed to work and it's not normal. However, these days there are a lot of bad agents/overloaded agents/dishonest agents so it's hard to know why they have not gotten back to you. If you have called more than 3 times and no one has called you back just give up on it and move on to another property.

Hi Jim,
Thank you for your responses. It really is hard to believe that nobody else on this board has any experience with this...man, there are some investors in southern California raking in the bucks! I sure would like to figure it out rather than wait for properties to become REOs. Oh well...

Hi Jim,
I've attended courthouse auctions in the past but not within the last year. I thought opening bids typically were the amount of the first loan and 95 out of 100 houses went back to the bank because nobody bid. All the investors I saw were there to bid on the handful of houses that had equity.

BUT, I noticed that some upcoming sales in the next week have an opening bid of "0." Does this mean they have not set the bid yet? If so, when does that ususally happen and how do you find out? (I've been looking at http://www.fidelityasap.com for information.)

Here's are a few examples...

123 X Street
1st lien $674,500
(No 2nd lien)
It went direct from Recontrust to an Llc for $323,600 and is now listed for $500,000.

123 Y Street
1st lien $840,000
2nd lien $48,000
Went from Recontrust to an individual for $409,615.

123 Z Street
1st lien $361,000
2nd lien $45,000
Went from Western Reconveyance to an Llc for $155,796

I called Recontrust and they said it is impossible to sell for less than the opening bid amount.

I have found this occur with Recontrust, Western Reconveyance, Cr Title Services and Quality Loan Services.