All Forum Posts by: Amie D.

Hi all, I've been more of a rehab then hold investor and own rental properties. I've hired property managers but not all have been good. I'm starting to think I'd prefer to flip properties, that way you don't have to deal with property managers or tenants. Not that flipping is easier, just might be a preference of mine. I'm considering trying a flip instead for my next deal.

Does anyone flip properties vs rent because of personal preference to not deal with the longer term issues of tenants and/or management? I realize market conditions play a hand to some extent over personal preference.

Thanks!

I'm calling another realtor friend of mine in the area tomorrow to get some recent comps and see what's going on with the market now. The manager is a realtor but obviously I'm not going to go through him.

I am under contract with the current manager, but let him try to take me to court about it. He is in breach of contract from so many angles he'd be laughed out.

I'm making a list of companies to call now. The town isn't that big so there's basically no information from the better business bureau on any of them. And any comments online tend to be negative from previous tenants, so that's not too helpful,

I just noticed my property manager has no ad for my property on Craigslist. And this is in a college town. For a property that goes vacant next month (he already missed the high rental season). *sigh*

I'm calling the realtor that sold the house to me to see what her take is on the current value.

Marco Santarelli, I think you are right, one of the excuses my manager had for not getting back with me in a timely manner is that he had so many closings he was trying to take care of. No thanks!

Ali Boone, well, the last two I hired for management there were individuals, and were bad. LOL. I'm going to start making calls in a couple hours.

Marco Santarelli, thanks for the article, I'm still making a list... checking it twice !

Ali Boone, yeah I have a list of questions I ask, depending on the situation/size of company, etc., and am refining it with info from this site as well. I want to be able to reach my manager within at least 24-48 hours (obviously weekends excluded unless emergency), be able to rent out my place in a decent timeframe, knows the market, experienced, sends me monthly statements in a timely manner, has a good business history/references and does not try to overcharge for repairs or nickle and dime me (administrative fees, filing fee, rent deposit fee) and so on.

I'm going to start interviewing on Monday. The current manager is bad news, and even if I did decide to sell I would need someone responsible to look after the place in the meantime. I mean come on, the property is not hard to rent and in a decent area, most tenants are community members or graduate students. Sometimes I seriously wonder if he's got a drug problem or something, to make him so irresponsible/unresponsive. it's not like I am rude to him anyway, though I certainly could be at this point. He wasn't this bad in the beginning, but probably nobody is. The woman before him couldn't even rent the place, had it for six months, at least I had people in it but still, so she was fired. I figured at least this one keeps the vacancy rate low but still he is bad in so many other ways, I'm moving on.

Ali Boone, that is a great point about using the equity too. I don't know what it is about this house. I've had two bad managers in a row.

Sometimes I think I'd rather flip houses or do something else that doesn't deal with tenants. If I feel like I have to babysit the manager, what's the point in having one?

Ok, this is what I heard from the guy I used to rent to:

"And, Yeah, they where pretty bad. Lied to us about a few things, very slow to fix problems, kept our security deposit even though we left the house better than we found it. Thankfully only dealt with them for a year. I'd recommend using some one else. But again, this was a bunch of years ago so they may have gotten better since then? But personally I would try to avoid them if I could. "

This concerns me because it's from someone I know who was also a good renter from me and an honest person. The reviews I've seen, in various different places on the internet, for this property management company all seem to say the same thing he does. So, I don't know if they have odd policies or what the deal could be? Perhaps they make some of their profits from unfairly keeping the deposits from tenants as "damages"?

What also concerns me is "slow to fix problems" and the comments I've seen from some other reviewers that the places are dirty.

I've seen some positive comments too, but a majority have been negative in nature.

Steve Babiak, thanks but I'd have to take time out and fly in and stay there in a hotel or something until the property got rented each time it went vacant. I'd also not be able to check on the property as I live out of state. I have not lived there in a long time so don't have any reliable contractors I could call if something did come up, and really don't want tenant calls or complaints. I really am not desiring to manage my properties myself, it's not in my long term game plan.

The town is small and with city codes I don't know that they would accept a box as an address as well, and I tend to try to play by the rules and codes rather than break or bend them, but that is just me. 

David Beard, great suggestion. I've not researched all the numbers yet, but this idea just crossed my mind today. I wish I had more of an investment dollars background! But am trying to learn. Thank you!

Elizabeth Colegrove, I do not live in the same state as the property and so wouldn't be available to show the property, make repairs, check on the property, and do not desire to manage my own properties anyway. Additionally, the city codes require a local property manager, so I could not do that even if I wanted to.