All Forum Posts by: Harvey Levin

The current PM situation in Indy is the worst I have ever seen in my 40 years in Real Estate. Including Oceanpoint and the latest problem, I am involved with Investors having similar problems with 3 other Property Managers. It is great that people ask for referrals on here but remember many of the Investors who post regularly have less than 2 years experience with Real Estate. Just because the past few months they have had good experience with a Contractor or a Manager or a Broker doesn't mean it is a good choice long term. Trust account abuse is very rampant. One glaring warning sign is if the PM doesn't require payment in advance for major repairs. That normally means they are floating YOUR funds held in trust (rents and security deposits must be held in a trust account if in a PM's possession )  to pay for someone other clients' repairs. Not many PM's can "loan" tens of thousands of dollars out to clients while they pay contractors. 

Do your due diligence by looking at at least 3 to 5 years past. I have offered my personal credit report to clients who want the reassurance. Check to see if the PM, the  Contractor, and Brokerage licensed and have ALL proper insurance evidenced by an Insurance Certificate listing you as an additional insured.  I have a video blog on my website from several years ago entitled "Is Your PM Ripping You Off "  Send me a message if you would like the link.

Your PM is the most important long term asset you can have to help make your investment a success. (of course, overpaying for the investment  takes years to overcome)  Make well-informed decisions so your PM does not turn out to be your biggest liability! 

you should check with Indiana laws regarding the notice. Required it could vary based on your lease but in general there is a 10-day notice to cure also you should be aware that the courts have stopped doing any of the actions or eviction hearings until after the first of the year

Update The symposium went well. Unfortunately, there were only a few Landlords present. I met with several of the HUD staff out of Washington on breaks and they have some great ideas for changes staring with the new Inspection Guidelines to be released next year. I am still waiting for a link to the video and will update when (IF) it becomes available

I will be on the panel as a Landlord / Property Manager. I will do my best to provide the link to the Live Stream if they send it prior. If not I am sure there will be a video. 

@Noel R. I have been leasing to Section 8 tenants since 1985 as a landlord investor. HUD has asked me to speak at the 1st symposium in Indy on Dec 5 as our 3rd party management company has been the number 1 manager in Indiana of Section 8 houses since 2012 (according to HUD) with usually over 300 voucher holders in our portfolio at any time. There is a lot of paperwork and yes, there are annual inspections and lots of delays but a qualified PM can make it all worthwhile. We lease mostly C and B- areas to the voucher holders due to the amount rents approved and have found (if the property is maintained by the owner) that the tenants will stay longer than most in the C areas.

One thing to remember is that each Housing Authority operates differently and that does cause different experiences between different cities. As a representative of NARPM, I attended a meeting in Washington DC with HUD to discuss landlord issues and many cities have a lot of major issues that we do not have here in Indy. HUD is trying to make the Housing Authorities more landlord-friendly but local politics always come into play.

@Adam Sankowski Thanks for mentioning me. I have had great success with parts of 46218 and personally own 21 doors in singles and doubles and manage another 60 in 46218. This doesn't count the 48 units apartments we took over effective today. Like lots of Indy, you have to know what and where to buy and what and where to stay away from. That is where long term experience plays a big factor. I bought my 1st 46218 in 2003 so I am not new to the area. That zip does range from C- (maybe even D to C+ so be very careful looking at ARV's .

@Aviv Berkovich  @Jeb Brilliant 

I use the company below.  They offer a 10% discount if your properties are under our management. The normal is %0% of savings. For years I didn't want to give up 50% but realized I rarely filed properly so now I am happy to give it up. They review all of my personal portfolio every year. I will tell you that every company I have used is horrible about returning phone calls and emails but so far this company has never missed a deadline. I would recommend to contact them as soon as possible. It is important to remember that Indian pays in arrears so you really should file each year.  I can't post direct contact info so DM me if you want that 

Denise Praul Level III Assessor/Appraiser Accurate Tax Management Corp. 

Here is another company in Indy but I was not as happy with them as the one above but they did save me money 

http://www.appealtaxes-now.com/

Always file3 appeals each year. You may be very happily surprised . Remember the % is not on purchase price but on Assessed value. Those can be 2 completely separate amounts. There are services who will file for you at a fee of a percent of savings. 

I use investors title services whenever possible 

I do want to add in regards to NARPM that I started a local chapter here in May of 2018. NARPM changed the rules 2 weeks later so now we are more of a NARPM Meet Up group. If any PM wants info message me  It is only for licensed Property Managers