All Forum Posts by: Chris Grenzig

@Luke Birk welcome to the RE world and especially CRE. I got started in multifamily in 2016 2 years out of college and played soccer Div 1 myself. I worked for a company for 4.5 years directly under the 2 owners where we acquired 4,000 units across 23 properties and I oversaw the FL region for my last 3 years there and grew that portfolio from 0 to 1,000 units across 7 properties. I've had my own company now for just shy of 4 years (end of Nov will be 4) and we've bought 150+ units of multifamily that we manage, and we also manage 1-80 unit properties for other owners as well.

I never went the broker route myself, but my bosses at my prior company both were before moving to the ownership side. It's a great route to start in and you can learn & earn a lot. 

Let me know if you want to connect, happy to just connect and explore referral opportunities as well.

@Matthew Lamoreaux I think if you can find a rental, long-term or short-term, that cash flows well in today's market then this should be a factor that should be viewed as icing on the cake and should be used as a potential solidifier of a deal. However, it's definitely been tough to find solid deals that cash flow well as of late, at least on the long-term side I find it to be true, and counting on potential increased demand is a tough investing strategy. 

Another example of this is the reduction in new construction starts for residential over the past 1-2 years. We should have a lot less residential development being delivered in the next 1-4 years, which should shift the supply and demand for long-term residential and should have increased organic rent growth in the future as we saw from 2017-2020, but counting on that as an investment strategy probably isn't the best idea. 

@Glen Michael I've heard Peter Lohmann talk about using NPS scores for their residents and owners, I don't know too much about it, but I think it's a system designed to get a real idea on how they're doing. I've heard Wolfgang Croskey talk about it as well, as well as some other people in the Residential PM space.

Surveys might do the same thing, but I don't know enough about NPS to talk about it. 

I know Property Meld has something built into their Maintenance dashboard where it asks for reviews after maintenance issues are handled and I think if they rate 4 or 5 starts they then ask for a google review and if it's 3 or below it stays internal and gets circulated around so the team can figure out what went wrong and improve on it. I personally would want to create something similar, but I haven't gotten around to it yet to figure out the mechanics. My initial thoughts were to do a free survey site and send it to the resident and then if it generates a 4 or 5 star create a zap with zapier to automatically send an email or text to leave a google review as well? I'm not sure just some thoughts I've had. 

@Larry Nielsen I like Jonathan's suggestion, but I think an important decision for you is what is your goal. If this is a longer term hold and you don't need the extra $500 per month and you'd be fine with a $200 per month increase, go for that. You can always raise it again in 12 months on their next lease. 

Also, always be careful with very long-term residents that are far below market rent, it's very possible there are issues they live with and don't say anything about because they've been there so long and they know their rent is cheap. We've had it happen before, nothing major, but just some extra money we weren't originally planning on spending to turn a unit. 

 @Pete Schiebel check what a lot of your rent comparable properties are doing in the area, as that will dictate it a lot. If you have 2 identical properties and the move in costs are rent + deposit, or first month, last month and deposit, most people would take the lesser move in charges. 

I have found most areas in North and Central Florida do not collect last month's rent at move in, but you could always place a listing and try to do it and see what happens. 

Also, as mentioned by others a double security deposit could be better, but we do get residents who move out who think they can use their deposit to pay their last month's rent even though our lease doesn't allow for that. So it would be the same in some cases, but at least you would have extra funds available. However, I do see most rentals do 1x rent for a security deposit, so it would be another potential factor in a renter's mind when comparing your listing to another. 

@Nolan Peralta I don't know California law, but I highly recommend finding a landlord/eviction attorney immediately and engaging them, and asking them the next steps to take. We always use one in Florida, and taking the correct actions now is cheaper and faster than anything else. 

You don't want to serve a notice incorrectly and then go to court for eviction only to find out you did something wrong and now the whole process has to start over again. 

Landlording is a business, you have a contract and they are not upholding there end of the contract. Treat it as such. 

@Nhu Pham we've used alpha foundations for a project we have up in Jacksonville. It was an off-grade home and needed some additional supports underneath and I think it was like $20k+. So from my limited experience, foundation work is not cheap but can escalate quickly and become worse if not tackled promptly. 

We've never used a structural engineer, but I can't say whether it would be a good idea or if it would be an unnecessary cost. 

I would definitely get 3+ quotes and meet them on-site so you can ask them questions and pick their brains. I oftentimes will find I pick up a unique perspective or thought from one company and not another and it might change how we look at a problem. Also, different companies might have different solutions to the same problem which then vary in cost and reliability. Don't be afraid to ask "dumb" questions or ask them to repeat or rephrase things until you understand what they're talking about. I used to not do this very early on and I will now ask the same question 5 different ways until I feel like I understand enough what they are trying to explain.

Also, I would call out the expensive-looking company and the "one-off guy" who does it all themselves because they will probably interact with you differently and you might glean more insight through different view points and perspectives. Or they might tell you the exact same thing and you can have greater confidence in what they are both saying. You don't have to use the expensive company, but they might have equipment a small shop or guy doesn't have that can solve a problem differently. 

I did a quick google search and found several options on the google map pack, one of which is alpha, so I would start there if you don't get any other referrals, and maybe just try calling a structural engineer and just ask them if they think a job like this is something they should get involved with or is a foundation company enough. If they know they don't need to be involved, good chance they'll just tell you and move on. 

 Kevin, don't skimp on photos, we hire a professional company and do 3D Matterport tours. However, it all is market-dependent. Take a close look at what other similar units look like on Zillow or other online listing sites and try and mimic them or exceed them. I would also highly advise to spend 30 minutes and do a rent survey yourself and find comparable units and see what they rent for and charge. Find out how long they've been on the market and if they've been dropping the price or have a different strategy. 

Appraisers are great, but at the end of the day, they're not the ones buying a property or the ones who are renting it. The most knowledgable people on market rents are the prospective renters who are currently shopping around trying to find the best option for themselves to live. So your best bet is to put yourself in their shoes and shop around just like they would be.

Also, some markets are definitely seasonal, and your market rent could change drastically from winter to spring/summer. Talk to so some knowledgable rental agents who specialize in this, and ask them of this is the case. If so, I would definitely consider a shorter-term lease or MTM lease to get you into that period and re-negotiate with the current resident or re-lease it at a higher rate. 

Also, often times leasing is about who can respond to inquiries the quickest and offer the most convenience. If you are working and busy and can't respond quickly enough, you might be losing people who would have otherwise rented because someone else answered them first. 

Hey Jrod, nice to meet you. We buy and hold multifamily in Jax and Orlando and we also manage for other owners. I have been to a few local meetups, but not as many as I have planned, we've just been swamped. Definitely several good ones out there, there are 2 REIA's from what I've been able to find, and then some other local meetups and events that happen regularly. Feel free to reach out and connect.

@Daniel Sam I have avoided 32208 and 32209 entirely so I do not have any information on specific areas within those zip codes. We typically look for C+ areas at a minimum but moreso B- areas or better. Because those 4 zip codes are probably C areas at best I have just avoided them so I would not be a good source of information for you in this manner unfortunately. 

I would check out the yellowbird facebook group, it's extremely active and focused on just Jacksonville and there will be people in the group that know the areas much better than me.