All Forum Posts by: Timmi Ryerson

Don't know much about solar but if you are in southern Cal the major cost is for air conditioning in the spring, summer and fall.  We used to rent a home in Vista and paid almost $900 per month for our electricity to cool.  I am sure that the air conditioning unit which was a heat pump was malfunctioning but they never fixed it properly.  If your property is in northern Cal, heat would be needed.  In my units which are farther north I use Carbonic Heat which is far infrared floor heating.  It costs about 60% of what other heating option cost and is so comfortable that my tenants not only save money but also love the comfort.  Maybe consider looking into putting carbonic heat in to save energy.

If you are looking for single family properties you may want to contact Secure Capital Networks.  The have a clearinghouse with properties listed.  The principle is Dave Whetten.  If you message me I will send you the phone number.  But you can find the contact number on the website.

Our company, Smart Property Systems used to use Forte for payment processing of rents.  Most banks pull payments at midnight and also credit payments into the account just after payments are pulled.  So if the payment did not process until midnight but Forte pulled the payment at 6PM (they used to pull ours at 4:30 PM until we changed to to midnight for the reasons listed above) there were occasionally failed payments that the bank would have not known the reason why.  That may be what happened to your tenant's payment.  In this case, I would recommend that you inform your tenants of the fact that payments made are pulled at 6 PM instead of the usual midnight closing so they should have funds available the day ahead going forward.  Forte pulls the payment on the last grace day that is allotted to Buildium.  (Ours was 3 days for ACH.)  You probably know that because you can see the day that the payment comes into your account.  If not I suggest that you call customer service to find out. Grace days are the number of days the processor holds the payment to hear back from the bank or not as to whether there are sufficient funds to cover the transaction.  This information is also important to give to your tenant(s) so that they can plan and manage their payments accordingly.   

I would agree that the best way to manage this situation is to forgive any late fee incurred and eat the NSF fee as well this one time.  

P.J.,

I have had the same kind of experience with a property management company.  I have never used on again.  But I now use software to manage my own properties.  I get the rented before the previous tenant moves out and use the built in tenant screening to do background checks on all tenants.  Smart Property Systems has built in accounting system that automates rent collection and the accounting for those rents.  I love it.  

That being said, when I  have had issues with tenants who pay their own utilities, I always call the utility to see if they are signed up.  Apparently you pay your water bill and charge the tenants.  If that is the case, you can always call to check on your account, if you feel that something is wrong.  Just know that if the utility is in their name and they do something like that the utility cannot come after you for the payment.

So in this case, when there is so much damage, you may be able to go back to the judge with an update about your losses at her hands.  He may add them to the judgement.  You can fill with an attorney to get her wages garnished if she had a job.  

So sorry this happened to you.  My experience also cost a lot of money but was more of an embezzlement issue than what you experienced.

I use Transunion which is built into my property management software.  That software is Smart Property Systems and there is a direct link with Credit and criminal background checks.  Once the tenant fills out the identity verification sent by my software, it goes to Transunion and I have a report back in about 1 hour.  I get credit score, history and criminal
background checks for felony on state and federal levels, homeland security list check, sexual predator lists and eviction history.  After that, I check with the employer listed on the application to verify income.  I also check with the previous landlord and any references that are given.  I have had great results from using these sources and get tenants who pay on time, keep the property clean and report needed repairs responsibly.   

I recommend that you do not buy investment properties in a hurricane, tornado or flood prone area unless you can get amazing insurance that protects not only your property but protects you from lawsuits from your tenants in such a situation.  Then I agree with Jim.  Look around bigger pockets and get acquainted with some people who provide funding for situations like you are in.  Be sure to do your due diligence and if you find a property, it must cash flow positive after mortgage, taxes, insurance and repairs are figured into the equation.

Finally before you buy something get familiar with a property management software which you can learn and use when you do find that first property.  I use Smart Property Systems and like the accounting system and automated rent system because it does the accounting for me and sends the statements for me.  There is much more but that is what you need to know for now.  Good luck.  I have loved having rental properties.  It is a great way to get ready for retirement and have guaranteed income for your later years.

Carly, I hired a pm company one time to manage all of my properties when I got them paid off.  I could not figure out why my income was going down every month so I took my accountant to their office to do a surprise audit.  We found that they had let apartments go vacant for up to 6 months between tenants, they ordered 32 sets of window blinds for a unit that had only 8 windows, they put vinyl flooring into a unit that needed repair under the kitchen table and it was a different color from the rest of the vinyl in the kitchen.  Basically they were using my income to fund their properties and making very bad decisions on my behalf.  I had a year contract and so I took them to court to cancel the contract.  The judge would not hear my side and said that the contract is valid.  I had to buy out my contract to stop the damage.  

So I can feel your pain.  I would suggest that you hire a lawyer in Kansas City area to write a letter of demand to get the information you need about this bill for work done.  If they do not respond, he can do what the law in Kansas allows to go back against the property management company for the damage caused to you, and maybe your property.  I would use cause to fire the company especially if you have no contract signed.  

I managed my properties myself and they were in a different state.  Now there is wonderful pm software for owners that allows you to manage yourself and automate most functions.  I recommend that you look into that.  I use Smart Property Systems and like it very much.

Matt we used it as a single solution..not registers or furnaces.  It is quiet and does not push dust around for those who are allergic.  I would suggest that you call the company.  Here is a link for another user review https://www.green-talk.com/radiant-electric-heat-by-carbonic-heat-thin-efficient-and-infrared/  I am not sure where they have installers.  I live near their offices. So that was not a problem.  I think you would get better answers from them directly and if you have plans, as I did, they can give you estimates in a day.  Hope that helps.  I chose this option because I would never have to worry about a furnace or maintenance on ducts etc.  It was a better choice for me.  And I found it to be comparable with the cost of duct work, new furnaces and hook ups to gas lines, which we have here.

I use the accounting software in my property management software, Smart Property Systems.  It works great, is easy to use and I get reports as well, like my Schedule E and Profit Loss etc.

Well I will offer a suggestion for a different solution.  I have properties in a cold and snowy area, a ski resort town.  I recently installed Carbonic Heat in one of my buildings.  We love it and so do the tenants.  It is a carbon film that is applied under rugs or tile or wood flooring.  It can also be used in a wall near pipes to keep them from freezing if freezing is a problem, but it will provide heat that keeps the building warm and will prevent freezing.  It is run with wall thermostats.  This is electric heat and it is very economical..about  60% of the cost for forced electric or gas heat etc.  ( You can call the company to find out how this happens. It has something to do with nano particles or something like that.)  It uses far infrared waves to heat objects and people.  The floor heat keeps feet and people warm which my tenants love.  There is no wasted heat on the ceilings any longer. I plan to refit all of my units with this solution in the future.  The system can be programmed to turn on when the user is home and off when gone.  My tenants are on separate electric meters and so billing is not an issue.  They sign up to pay their electric bill when they move in and are billed monthly for their usage.  I would suggest that you contact this Company for a bid to see if it is competitive with your other options.  It really  is a revolutionary heating product and i got a lifetime guarantee.  If you have electric failures, it will not provide heat.  But then none of the other heating options provide heat without use of electricity as the starters and fans do not work during and electrical outage.  So both options have the same drawbacks.