All Forum Posts by: Jennifer Ruelens

@Isaac Gulley I’ve been in Lycoming and Clinton County for 8 years with a 600+unit portfolio abs vendor sourcing and management is in my top three pain points. We are always looking for and talking to new vendors establishing relationships. Like everything the relationships are what get results. Lots of trial and error.

@Bryan Whelan I’ve owned my PMC for over 8 years and I tell people we do everything a landlord needs to do for the property except: write a check for the taxes and mortgage and approve repairs and maintenance. Clients need to respond to our requests for approval and review their reports. Some clients want to be more involved, others want less. In our case we don’t customize much but are very successful with our large portfolio. There are all kinds of PMCs and some boutique ones that will do a la cart pricing.

@Marcy Parkan Polley Associates is great and is doing live online instruction. Best options for convenience and passing. Have put several new licensees through their courses and taken them myself. Just don’t dilly dally between course and exam. If you wait you forget and will struggle with exam.

@Michael Chang I have converted probably 25 properties from oil to natural gas in PA. Sometimes you can modify the equipment and sometimes you have to replace. Depends on whether it's a furnace or boiler. In north central pa I can install a gas hot air furnace with about 90% efficiency for under $3k, boilers are more and always different in my experience but I would estimate 4000-7000 for a SFH. Boilers for 6-15 units have run us $25000. I would call 2-3 Hvac installers and have them consult. Different guys will have different approaches and you want options. Tenants prefer gas big time though!

@Lawrence Harris I own a PMC and have an MBA from Penn State with a concentration in Finance and real estate. IMO tradesmen, realtors and property managers make abnormal returns on Real estate investment because of their special skills and market knowledge. If you pursue a degree in finance, you will make plenty of money to invest and will understand financing and investment in a different way that will help you. I often shake my head at stuff people are chasing or trying to make happen because they don’t get it.

@Ken Minard The indicator of future behavior is past behavior. Things like criminal reports, verifying former landlords, and verifying income are crucial and fair housing compliant. I promise, creativity not required.

I hear you on this and since this began I have been watching it all very closely and attempting to come up with a way to address this new risk.  So far I have found that well qualified tenants and disciplined and professional processes are leading to the most success.  I manage 625 units (mostly B, some A some C, Mix of SF and MF in Northcentral PA) saw only slightly higher delinquency through this.  Larger MF companies and REITS aren't suffering, they are collecting 92+% of rents.  

I personally believe that eviction moratoriums will be something we see moving forward.  Now that Governors now they can do it, whenever we have natural disasters I think this will come along with it.  We won't be able to put that toothpaste back in the tube.

I have seen it done and even lived in a conversion! I second all the responses you already have and add one thing...depending on your market that may be a lot of inventory to absorb.  Keep in mind diversity of unit types, you don't want 100 new studio units or 50 new 1 BR coming online at the same time.  Absorption is hard to predict but you have to consider it. If there are other new construction or renovations of MF going on in your market, watch their absorption closely. 

RUBS is Ratio Utility Billback System, and it can be done if disclosed in the lease. So if you have a 1 BR- #A and 2 BR- #B, you could use the bedroom ratio and #A pays 1/3 and #b pays 2/3, you can do it on square footage, or evenly, etc.  I hate RUBS because tenants do not like them.  They complain that the other tenant uses too much and it leads to dissatisfaction and higher turnover.  In 2020 with technology where it is RUBS does feel archaic.  Water- it depends on how the units are plumbed if this is expensive or not.  If you have 1-2 lines only going to a unit you can modify the plumbing and install a submeter that either you read or you can get them to work on WIFI and report to you the reading.  That way the water company meter gives you a reading and you have an accurate submeter reading to break out the invoice and use that.  Gas is usually easy since it is likely only 1-2 appliances using it and you can re-run that to a new meter.  Electric is really building dependent.  

I second the advice to revisit your model, make sure you numbers and calculations are correct and then start doing a sensitivity analysis on turnover costs and vacancy during those turnovers.  You can do it quickly or slowly, and you need to see how much your financials can handle before they break.