Guidance on my biggest deal yet

[Austin F.]

Hey BP, looking for a little guidance on the new deal I just signed, mostly in order of operations, and how to handle tenants.

Just signed on a 14 unit place, think cabins and a house. One 4 bed house, two 2 bed cabins, eight 1 bedroom units (5 in a single building) and 3 studios, two of which need major reno. The numbers are very healthy, so not worried about that.

The tenants are currently at about half market rent or lower, of low quality, and on m2m, or verbal leases.

My original plan was to vacate the entire property and do all the reno and landscaping in one big push with the goal to get the units back on market by August (college town, school starts Aug 31 so much easier to fill units before then), but my contractor is concerned with that timeline citing labor and materials factors.

Which leaves me with trying to do it unit by unit, probably starting with the 4 bedroom (the hardest unit to fill) and then working into the 2 bedrooms. My concern here is that tenants won't want to leave and will cause delays, or that I run through my timeline and end up with vacant units in the fall and winter.
Another concern is that I manage remotely, and getting existing tenants on my property management system will be difficult. I do not have a system in place for cash collection, or section 8 (which some tenants are).


What would BP do? Try and find a different contractor who can hit my timeline? Relax and extend the stabilization window?