All Forum Posts by: Greg Weik

I would echo the comments of others on here, but also add that there is no real money in property management unless you're in with both feet and you can scale the operation.  

It's a completely different world than anything else in real estate.  You have to have a mind for processes, efficiency, systems, and logistics.  If you don't, you will hate property management.  If you do, you will love it.  

Good luck! 

Correct.  Really, there are just not that many things you need to worry about in a given house.  

-Furnace/AC

-Hot water heater

-Appliances (stove, refrigerator, dishwasher, and washer/dryer if supplying those.) 

-Plumbing generally, but specifically the mainline that ties into the public sewer.

-Roof

-Windows

-Siding/exterior

-Electrical (not really a wear-and-tear item, but a good inspection will tell you what you're working with on the home and whether it needs to be upgraded.) 

Other things I would generally lump into the "minor repairs" category: things like garage doors, garbage disposals, sprinkler systems, etc. 

I don't find the percentage approach to be particularly helpful when anticipating a property's maintenance needs.  What you really want is a probability and price analysis.  I.e., how OLD is this system (furnace/AC/hot water heater, etc.), what's the expected lifespan, and what's the cost to replace it if it fails?  

If you use this approach to repairs, and if you're conservative (and somewhat knowledgeable or able to research the average lifespan of various systems), you'll be a lot closer to reality than just tossing a percentage to the wall.  I manage hundreds of properties: some have no maintenance for years, and some have maintenance every month.  Gotta know the systems. 

Vacancy times are another one where clients often ask the wrong question, which is "what are your average days on market?" 

The right question is "what are the average days on market for my property, located here, in X condition, this time of year that will/will not allow pets."  That is the question you're really asking anyway, so just ask it.  :)  

Your management company cannot speed up the eviction process if that is what is going on.  

If smoking marijuana is illegal where you are, you should contact the police.  If it is legal, you should speak with your neighbors to try to work this out (this piece is absent from your post.)  

In property management, there are only two options to get rid of tenants:  1) Non-renew the lease, and 2) Eviction.  Both of those are slow-moving, but it is what it is. 

@John Woodington Your premise seems to be that all leases must start and end on the last day/first day of the month.  This is not the case, and I would strongly recommend always giving yourself a 3-5 day buffer between all tenants. Collect the first full month's rent at move-in (regardless of the day) and then the pro-rated days are due on the 1st of the following month.  This avoids having someone move in on the 29th and paying $30 to take possession of a property. 

You really never know exactly what you're walking into until you go in and do the move-out inspection.  We stagger lease end dates throughout the entire month, and at our scale, this is an absolute necessity. 

I do recommend that you give your outgoing tenants the contact information for vendors who you know will do the best work (cleaning, carpet cleaning) and give them every incentive to make sure at least those items are addressed. 

@Patrick Britton you may have spent $40,000 in property management fees, but that means you received $40,000 worth in property management services.  You didn't give that money away.  Your sleep, your sanity, your legal health and your pocketbook all probably benefitted if you had a good property management company.  

Property management only exists because it needs to.  Landlords need professionals to handle the myriad tasks associated with their rental, as well as professionals who acquire the knowledge and expertise to be truly effective.  The public needs to be able to trust that the home they are renting is safe and that any repairs, lease enforcement, and other issues such as their security deposit will all be handled ethically. 

I used to think it was a casual choice, whether a landlord elected to hire a property manager or self-manage. It's really not. While professional property management should provide solid ROI (including a return on stress and time), it also helps ensure public safety. That should play a significant role in the decision on whether or not to self-manage.

Hi @Monique Munoz, one of the best places to start your search is with a PM company's Google Reviews.  Read them, see if they respond to negative ones (all PM companies will have negative reviews) and get a sense of their company culture there.  I would recommend this over searching the NARPM site, as @Nathan Gesner suggested - the NARPM site is like the BBB, anyone can pay to be a "member", it doesn't tell you anything about how they do business.  I've worked with plenty of property managers over the years who were NARPM members but who I would never recommend. 

Your initial post and concerns tell me the PM company you hired doesn't have systems, where they should.  PM is a business based on thousands of mini-transactions, all of which need detailed systems, process and consistency.  Tracking lease end dates is low-hanging fruit in our world, so if they don't have a system for that, you definitely want to move on. 

Last, I don't believe pricing has anything to do with service in the PM world.  Most companies charge far more than they need to, for the services offered because they are terribly inefficient.  Reall, you're looking for value more than anything.  Do these guys answer their phones and emails?  Are they professional and articulate?  Do they have clear and direct answers to my questions or is it a lot of "let me check on that for you" and "let me see what I can do"?  

Good luck, sorry you're having a rough experience.  I'm sure you'll find a good PM in your area.  

Hi @Ashley Montgomery, you can offer the renewal just to the girl tenant.  The guy signed a lease and that lease is expiring. You are under no obligation to offer him a new lease term.  Give him a non-renewal notice so he knows he has to vacate.  If he does not vacate, your recourse then is to post a violation notice (unauthorized occupancy) and then file an eviction to remove the person.  

My best guess is that the non-renewal notice (to the guy) will do the job, and you can just sign a new lease (or lease extension with 1 tenant removed) with the girl.  Good luck!

I disagree with almost everything @JD said.  In fact, I would go as far as to suggest that property management probably shouldn't even be legal without specific training.  Kind of like driving a car.  Here's what I mean:

Private landlords can (and have) literally kill people.  We've taken on the management of so many properties over the years that were veritable death traps before we came in and brought them to code; non-working smoke detectors, missing CO detectors, mold issues, myriad safety issues and on and on.  Those landlords "took it upon themselves to learn" and were a danger to society.  Many had been at it for years and years.  

I'm not a "big government" fan, but being a landlord is a situation where the lives of other people hang in the balance.  It should be regulated.  Even now, I'm pushing for radon mitigation to be required (it's not in Colorado, and it absolutely should be), because it's the number 2 cause of lung cancer, behind smoking.  Tenants move into a property and often have no idea if it's safe, but they assume it is.  

Unless you're willing to truly take on the responsibility of knowing what you're doing (unlikely, in my experience) you should probably not learn on the job, potentially at the expense of the public. 

Depends on the PM more than it depends on your property or what you're willing to do. 

For example, a great PM is going to know the law, the market, how to screen and evaluate tenants, have the best lease possible, the best way to reach prospective tenants, they're going to have the best vendors possible (who usually are willing to do more for a PM than they would for a private O), they're going to have the best systems, and they're going to be a lot faster and more efficient than you could hope to be because they have processes, systems and checklists for everything.  They're also going to reduce or nearly eliminate the turnover time between tenants, which is the major killer of cashflow. 

Great PM makes clients more money than they save by DIY management.  On the other hand, most PMs aren't great - but many are decent.  

If I didn't own a PM company, I'd hire one for my rentals - that is, if I could find one anything like the one I run.  :)