All Forum Posts by: Waldo Kohl

Hi,

I own a building in Philadelphia. 

Do I legally need to give tenants 24 hr notice to any tenants existing tenants that I will be on the premises (i.e., NOT IN ANY OCCUPIED APARTMENTS).  One of my existing tenants is raising a fuss that I have to.

Regards,

Waldo

Hi Zack, 

The building is near Temple University.  I am fully occupied with leases expiring at the end of the school year.  Three of the six tenants are staying.  I have apartments listed on Temple's off-campus housing website.  At some point I will want to rehab apartments.  I come to the building once a week and try building rapport with the students.  I fix some of their problems and I have been fixing issues in the common areas.  I believe this has helped me retain half of the rentals for the succeeding year because the students have had very bad experiences with property managers in the area.  

It appears the goal of property managers is to shuffle renters between units every year because they charge me a full month's rent for every new tenant.  Additionally, they charge me a half months rent for any tenant who wants to renew their lease for the following year.  This is in addition to the 10% commission they are charging.  Perhaps, property managers are good for longer term rentals but they are just horrible in my situation.

Like I have mentioned in my earlier comments, I prefer to be hands on and so do the tenants.  When I lived in the same building as the tenants it was a bit much as far privacy is concerned, for all parties.  This situation is a bit better.  It is easier to rent to students than working adults since expectations tend to be lowered and they tend to be more polite.  That's from my years of experience.

It appears you are developer.  Please PM, f you would like.

Thank you for all of your responses.  I have been investigating further.  I am not looking to buy anything now.  I just want to make sure I am following a sound strategy that puts ahead of the game now instead of behind.  Like many building in Philly my building needs TLC while I am trying to find new students for the Fall of 2020. 

@Jane S.  I don't think your advice is very good.

@Dennis M.  ... but that is why I am asking in the first place.

I am a new landlord of a 6 unit building in Philadelphia. What are some ways to grow in real estate aside from reducing expenses and increasing rents (e.g., buy other properties)?  I prefer the monthly income over the longer term appreciation approach.  It would be great if both approaches worked in the long haul.  My idea is to save enough to buy a second income property.  Currently, I am self managing the property as I see little to no value in having a property manager "run" the building.