All Forum Posts by: Lois S.

Interesting story.

Is your rental in California, by any chance?

I'm currently using Zillow Rental Mgr for 1 vacancy.  I got 3 replies, and none of them responded back to me when I answered them.  The first inquiry is always: "When can I view it?"   During this pandemic, I'm not anxious to let people in the unit without a little pre-screening.

@Lawrence Leung.  I've used traditional PMs.

I normally self-manage a unit that's coming up for rent soon, & was just researching options. Particularly I wish I could just hire someone to find the new tenant - do showings, etc.  The day-to-day management is not a problem for me.

That particular company looks like a good deal for the company, not the owner.  It appears they set a low rent so they can get it rented sooner.

Maya, Now that some months have passed since your post, I'm curious how the use of YouTube video worked out for you.  Thanks.

@William C, what did you end up doing to show your home to prospective tenants?

I have 1 unit coming up for rent soon, and have been researching video services for this purpose. 

As a small LL, I don't have a big budget to set up a website.  Would it be advisable to put a walk-thru video on YouTube for prospective applicants to view?  Any other suggestions?

Has anyone looked into using Doorstead.com for property management in the San Francisco Bay area?

What was your experience with them like?

Your Intro to Section 8 is great.  Thank you!

I've had a good tenant in a SFH for about 10 years.

I've asked for & received rent increases annually for the past several years, but rent is under market rate.  Tenant is self-employed, and has continued paying timely even thru the current pandemic.

The optics of asking for a rent increase now are not great, so, wondering if I should hold off on asking for annual increase or not.

Any advice will be appreciated.    Thanks.

Hi Theresa - we pay for the  hot water, electric, etc.

All the service does is collect the coins. ;-) 

Thank you for all the thoughtful replies!  This really gives me a better start for having a convo with the PM.

Just to clarify points that were brought up. The PM set up a contract with a service that collects the laundry money, their fee is a portion of the collection.  Each unit has an account with the local utility company, so the utility co. gets paid by PM & tenant portion is added to their outstanding debt.

We bought a small multi-family bldg out of town, & have a property manager that we've used for other properties.  Some tenants are holdovers from the previous owner. There are some small utility charges we pay in each unit that the tenants are billed for. The amounts are not included in the rent amount stated on their leases.  Also, there's a coin-op laundry room that generates a small amount of income. 

I just realized that the PM is including these utility charges & laundry income in the "rents" that are used to calculate their management fee. The management agreement states that the fee is XX % of RENTS collected.  Clearly, reimbursement for utilities isn't really income. it's a wash.

Before I call the propty mgr, I wanted to check on this:

Is there a standard practice among property managers regarding taking a % of non-rent money collected?

Thanks