All Forum Posts by: Courtney Amaya

Texas Property Manager heavily disclaiming I'm no attorney or CPA (best pro's IMO to advise you) - I would ask them about sheltering your Texas investment asset from your personal assets. 

That being said, Texas has some great Real Estate opportunities for y'all! 

What I see most often: 

Seller- can we get $x? (over true market value)  

Agent: "we can try' * adjusts comps to show more data closely matching sellers preferred listing price. Puts listing in MLS, sign in yard and crosses fingers.

Agent: Open House! Video on Socials!

Market: crickets

Sellers: Why aren't we selling

Agent: Deep breath. Has the conversation that they should've had from the very start. 

Not an attorney here, but I'd think to claim the agent alone chose the price, you'll want records of all comps they pulled for you, any written recommendations they made, etc. But look at your listing agreement contract closely. Did both parties agree to a price, or did one party grant authority over pricing to another? 

This would be hard to prove. 

Interview Realtors & Choose wisely friends! 

Hi @Ronnie Wilhite! If you're looking to connect with local property management for your LTR or just to have someone local in that space in your phone, I'd love to connect with you. I've been barking at all my investors to go buy these new builds up, it's a smart strategy for our market right now! 

You shouldn't have too much trouble at $1500/month in San Antonio as long it comps & presents well for the neighborhood. You're still well under our Market area average for rentals (currently about $1850) This time of year I do like to open up slightly longer than 12 month leases so they end in a heavier leasing late spring/ early summer season. 

Happy Leasing!

@Peter Mckernan nice to hear that other companies make adjustments for owner preference! As all fees and services are of late a bit more scrutinized in the Real Estate Industry, I feel it's more important than ever for the Property Management Industry to finds way to shift mentality. 

I’m seeing more investor clients—especially those building larger rental portfolios—want much more say in repair authority limits and how we communicate maintenance issues. Most management companies in my market set a blanket authority limit, $500 is common. 

I've seen chatter in a lot of Property Manger forums talk about this as “micro-managing” and try to discourage it- -  but honestly, I see it differently. Our Property Management Agreements actually let owners set their own comfort level for repair limits and communication, because building trust matters most to us.

So my Question to all you Investing Guru's: 

If you’re setting up long-term rental property management, what repair approval dollar limit would feel right for you? 

And what kind of updates do you want on repairs—do you want a heads-up for everything, just big-ticket items, or something else? 

@Clare Pitcher glad to hear Accidential Landlords are popping up in other markets - they are fun to work with! 

Totally agree on what people want: 

I am also experiencing a fair amount of Owner/Landlords- especially investor clients building good sized portfolios - wanting more customization on repair authority limits and communications. 

I hear a lot of chatter in professional PMgr communities about this feeling "micro managerial" and being discouraged - but I couldn't disagree with that attitude more. We've built our management agreements to let Owners choose what they feel comfortable with, because we feel like that's the right way to build trust. 

Curious if you see this corporate blanket approach in your market regarding repair authority too

@Jose Galvez- SA Local Property Manager here... The State promulgated contracts don't cover the insurance requirements enough, but it's a critical piece to protecting the property owner. So, we asked our atty provide an addendum to our leases to cover more about renters insurance requirements and ramifications if not maintained. 

When you're added as an interested party you receive notice of that - but not if a tenant defaults on paying their policy payments. You could possibly require they purchase the full lease period insurance upfront (usually less than $200), if your not already too move-in cost heavy in comparison to other area listings.

@Jackie Carmichael Buyer inventory in both SFD & Multiunit is highest it's been in our market for a long time. This is leading a lot of people to opt into renting their properties out, letting lease income hit their DTI so they can move on. Been setting up lots of Accidential Landlords like this, I'd love to keep them holding even after the market swings back! My more serious investors are finding - or converting- properties to add doors.

Check with the companies Rhino Insurance and Obligo - these are big players in this field professional management companies work with, I'm not sure if they're open to self managing landlords-also not sure why they wouldn't be. I've had good experience with sign up and payouts on both. 

Something noteworthy: a low credit applicant who doesn't cash flow much money in a bank account won't qualify, with good reason.