All Forum Posts by: Jill F.

I self manage our 78 doors.
We use Buildium for property managment software. Using full featured property management software provides online marketing, applications, tenant screening, eleasing, rent collection, accounting, maintenance queue monitoring, turnover inspections. It is expensive software, but it is a fraction of the cost of hiring a property management company. I actually enjoy managing our properties due at least in part to the fact that the software allows me to focus on managing people and processes rather than getting buried by details.

When I first started, I thought I would want tenants who would stay as long as possible. Now I really like to turn over every 3-7 years. This lets us keep rates at top market prices keep our places updated and in better repair. It avoids problems with those long term tenants that start acting proprietary about the property and 'bitter renters' that are mad because they really wanted to own but couldn't get financed and they feel like they have an ownership interest in our property because they paid off the mortgage. (nope and nope). Once we have updated a property, we can often complete turnovers in just a couple of days with the required notice and good planning.

I usually tell them, contact me in 4 weeks and if I still haven't rented the place I may consider it... but my rent is usually a good deal for the property and I've never had a place sit vacant that long. Also, I would never do a lease longer than 12 months.

In Ohio, there is no limit on the size of the security deposit you can require. However, you have to pay 5% on any amount held after 6 months, paid annually. I sometimes require last month's rent instead of extra security on lower credit score or very young or otherwise riskier tenants. The other thing you can do here without having to pay interest is charging additional non-refundable fees. Make sure you are very clear on the security deposit requirements for your state.

Don't pay if she requested not to be paid. Take her out for a lovely dinner and treat for a girls night out at something she loves to do in appreciation.

I have found events most useful for gathering potential vendor/supplier contacts and references

That sounds like a scammer.

We use and like Buildium. I believe that deciding to invest in full featured property management in the beginning helped us grow self manage more effectively than we otherwise could have. We self manage our 78 units; we started out 9 years ago with the purchase of two 4 unit buildings.

The only dishwashers I've had trouble with were really, really old.

If you have decent personal credit, Home depot has a 'project loan' that lets you borrow up to 55k with a 6 month interest only purchases period followed by a 5-7 year fixed rate loan pay off period. We've renovated over 30 units with home depot project loans. You can apply from the pro xtra website. We've found these loans to be very convenient for our renovation projects.