All Forum Posts by: Lars Hasseler

Yeah, that seems to be the standard for Birmingham, pretty typical.

Amy, I'm using America's Rental Managers now, and they are fantastic. I'm quite surprised, because they are the fourth property manager I have used in Birmingham and the first I have been thrilled with. Proactive, I do not have to ask them for information, they run annual rent analyses to increase rent appropriately, and they get after repairs.

Hey everyone, I think I have found a great Birmingham property manager. ARM (America's Rental Manager) has had all three of my Birmingham properties for about a year. Collection is on time, they address repairs promptly, leases get renewed and increased based on market research. It's finally a passive operation for me. Fourth company is the charm.

Hey everybody on this thread, Zeker just transferred the one property they manage for me back to AHI, without telling me. I don't know what's happening. What a company.

Jonathan, I have been using Reedy and I am very happy with them. They are excellent at screening tenants and handling repairs. I think they contacted me three times last year for two properties. So if you're looking for a manager you can trust to take the reins and leave you to other things, they are great.

I thought I would add in my Birmingham property manager experiences here. I started with GK Houses, which apparently was bought/ transitioned to Evernest. Truly terrible experience. I let one tenant break his lease when GK Houses didn't initiate repairs to a kitchen in drastic need of sudden repair while the tenant lived there. It certainly wasn't his fault and he had been an on timer payer till then. Extracting information from GK Houses made me think of how Jack Ryan interrogated people in 24. It should not take this much effort. In fact, it should take none. 

Next I went with AHI, also a Roofstock recommended company. Same deal on communication: extraction driven, exhausting. Where is the rent? Have you spoke to the tenant? What plan did the tenant offer for paying? Why am I having to ask you all these questions when you should be initiating the communication with this information? I still use them for two of my three, but my patience is waning.

Now I've moved on to Zeker for one of those properties as a trial run. They did successfully place and a tenant who even pays early, which is a very nice change. Conversely, where is my money? How long does it take to process a payout? They say the 20th is their payout date. Well, it's the 28th. Perhaps some employee change, this is my first month with them, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. But I may be heading toward three "not recommended".

I'll peruse back through this thread and take notes on positively recommended managers. As an out of state investor, Birmingham has proven far and away my most difficult city to rent remotely (it's one of five cities in which I have rental properties), mostly because of terrible property managers.

@Brandon Kiser I'm searching, too. I'm 0 for 2 in Birmingham and 0 for 1 in Montgomery.

It goes without saying that every city has A, B, C, and D areas. That being said, it seems like Gary and Birmingham have more C and D areas than most. I would examine a particular neighborhood thoroughly, in research and on BP with other investors before you enter either of these markets. They have awesome returns on paper, IF you can fill the unit and IF the tenant pays, either on time or eventually. Combine the general C atmosphere with minimum wage jobs being lost in times of covid, and you may experience tenants simply believing they do not have to pay rent anymore. It is very hard to screen against this belief. I have a unit or two in each city with a great tenant who pays on time. I also have or have had a tenant in each who believes they are no longer obligated to their lease because of covid. Fortunately, both Indiana and Alabama seem to be siding with investors and at most granting temporary reprieves from rent with the knowledge that money will need to be repaid at some point.

@Aj Parikh I got smoked on a few Roofstock "deals". In Memphis, I've done great. In other cities, Roofstock's estimates were wildly off on repairs. That's a small data set (11 SFRs), but I would be wary of trusting Roofstock inspections and estimates. Have a big cash reserve ready.

Thanks for the pointers on B neighborhoods in Memphis. I'd like to slide from C neighborhoods to B, and this information will help. @Timothy Lewis @Sean Tagge