All Forum Posts by: Robert Gilstrap

@Thomas S. the same requirement exists in almost every jurisdiction in the US as well. That being said a landlord who is an individual loses a great deal of personal privacy (something most Americans value highly) and more importantly loses a great deal of legal protection. Nothing uniquely American about that; it's existed since the dawn of private property rights in both our mother lands of Great Britain. Perhaps at some point in the future common sense tort reform will come back to America and things will get better.

@Lawanda Curtiss  

Questions for PM's:

How many properties do you personally own and how long have you had them?

Are you a NARPM member?

How long have you been doing PM?

Get references (lots of them)

Tell me how you handle evictions, pets, maintenance requests, etc... 

How often do you perform in person onsite inspections of the property, at what cost and show me an example of one you did within the last 30 days.

Are pictures/video utilized in marketing, maintenance, inspections?

What software do you use and show me what my online portal looks like and what information I'll be able to access.

Let me see a copy of your Professional liability, E & O and GL Declarations page.

Let me see a copy of your real estate license.

and the list goes on......

@Karyn C.   Wow...you made the trustee of your trust the property manager?!   So assuming the trust is a revocable then it sounds like you need to change trustees immediately.  As far as depositing the checks if you can't figure that out give me call and I can tell you how to make that happen. 

So are you trying to avoid the $800 franchise tax each year and thats the reason you don't want to file for an LLC?

It sucks that you reside in a tax hungry state but owning property in your personal name is crazy. If you have no assets then maybe you have nothing to lose but in time that will change.

@Steve Vaughan  I forgot to mention that we guarantee every tenant we place for a full year. I like the idea of spreading out the leasing fee but it seems contrary to how the business operates. Leasing agents (just like sales agents) get paid a commission to find good tenants and I'm not sure they would go for spreading out their commission that long.

Regarding overrides on repairs: If the market price for an HVAC capacitor is $77.00 and I can get the vendor to install it for $57.00 and I mark that up to $67.00. I made $10 and saved you $10. Is that acceptable to you as an owner? Wanting an owners opinion.

I think the disconnect is with owners who assume just because they hired a pro that alleviates anything negative that can happen with their property.  Who do they complain to when they pick a bad tenant themselves? Or their choice in tenant does $7,000 in damages to the unit? Were their own interests as an owner not aligned properly?  Of course not; it's just part of the game. You do the best job you can to screen and place, you monitor, inspect and hold tenants accountable but at the end of the day you have zero control over the outcome. I've never had an owner call me up and thank me for that perfect tenant who stayed for multiple years, left on good terms and did zero damage but one who leaves owing $100 is now a turd that I put in and I should be held responsible?

I seriously would like to hear some ideas about how you might restructure anything you see as negative in PM. This is great to hear and will help me better serve my clients.

So @Steve Vaughan you want to hire a manager if they triage service calls (all good PM's do this) and then not benefit from your pain (you mention vacancy, repairs, lease ups).  

I would love to hear how you would compensate a manager and what you feel is fair compensation for what they do.  It astonishes me how owners only see the PM as making money off the misfortune of the owner. What about the manager? You think they are sitting around praying for people to move out so they can get paid to lease the unit again? When people move out is when PM's have to spend huge amounts of $$ in advertising, screening, commissions, labor, etc.  

@Account Closed the point is everyone can pretty much do anything themselves but they can't do it as fast, as cheap or as well as a pro. Do you change your own oil?  I used to until I realized, I could drive in and out in 10 minutes, I could let them get dirty, and the oil change place buys oil in 55 gallon drums not quarts.  Cheaper, faster, better.  Now insert virtually any professional trade. I used to do my own taxes until I figured out the pro knows more than I do so I end up saving more than he charges in taxes.

I could cut my own grass, fix my own transmission, lay my own carpet, paint my own walls, etc. Yes you can do all these things but you will never do them as well as a seasoned pro. Smart people realize that just because you can doesn't mean you should. Money is made by performing the highest level activity that you can perform well at and delegate everything else.

PM's get paid to place tenants (leasing fee); PM's get paid to manage the day to day operations (monthly mgmt fee) and PM's get paid to renew leases (renewal fee).

They advertise, screen tenants, show properties, coordinate maintenance, handle all the accounting, draft leases, handle tenant complaints, enforce the terms of the lease, handle evictions, coordinate turnover between tenants, manage utilities, pay bills associated with the property, keep you legal and compliant, handle move in/out and periodic inspections, offer professional advice and the list keeps going...

Nothing wrong with managing your own property but just like any professional they will do it better, faster and likely cheaper than you can do it yourself (assuming you get a good one).

Decide up front what the most productive use of your time is and focus on those activities. If managing property is the most productive then do that but in time you'll come to the realization that finding and negotiating deals is by far the highest paid thing you can do. Everything else is cheaper to hire out. I own a management company but I don't manage my own properties.  

Clearly my opinions are going to be slanted towards professional management but here are a few things to consider:

Is the person licensed?

How much residential management experience do they have?

I assume this person will be your employee so that being said whats the costs savings between just negotiating a rate with a local management company? Bringing 100 doors you can get a great deal with any PM company.

You mentioned "hiring an assistant that works remotely". Is that to say this person will not be local to the properties? If not, I can see that being a potential disaster. Management is a hands on, boots on the ground endeavor so whoever manages must be local.

Make sure you setup systems to closely audit the money. 

Who will manage this manager? Audit the leases, monitor and audit the trust account, etc? 

I think the number one thing is major experience in residential management and licensed. Obviously if they are an employee then there is no license requirement but this many doors you have got to have someone who knows the laws inside out. 

Ian, 

We handle property acquisition and management for properties all over metro Atlanta so PM me if you need assistance.

Sean,

We manage about 500 doors in Atlanta and would definitely be interested. How would they communicate?