looking for a Sacramento realestate agent and property manager

[Kevin Crawford]

Hello BPers,

    My wife any I are almost ready to find an agent and property manager.  We are in the process of getting a heloc for our down payment then we'll get out pre-approval from the loan.  

We live in Pinole and after months of calculating properties nearer to me, Sacramento seems to be the closest to me we can buy and have it cash flow.  

  I'm aware I could get better cashflow out of state but A, I'm pretty capable when it comes to rehabbing so I can save some money on that, and B, its our first rental property and would like to gain as much experience from the process as I can.

I'd like to start putting my ducks in a row.  Can anyone give me a suggestion of an agent and/or manager they would recommend.

Thanks

[Wes Blackwell]

@Kevin Crawford

While Property Management and Buying/Selling real estate are related, generally they are two separate specialties in the real estate industry.

Property Managers can help represent you in the sale or purchase of real estate, and vice versa. But usually if you're going to be a property manager you'd specialize in that and make that your main source of business. Same goes for a real estate agent who makes most of their money helping others to buy and sell real estate, they may only manage a handful of properties, if any at all.

Therefore, I would probably recommend separating the two. Find yourself an agent who specializes in working with investors to buy rental property, and then find a really good property manager.

For the property manager, I would recommend interviewing multiple candidates, as everyone's prices and services levels will be different. For example, I had one company want me to agree to let them make all repairs without my approval and just send me the bill, and another property manager wanted to rent my property for $450 less than market value because he didn't have any comps for rent...

Little did he realize I knew the rental market better than he did because I work with so many investors, so I told him to go fly a kite... and the other guy too! Just decided to manage it myself instead.

As for the Sacramento market, here are some posts I've written that should help you get a better sense of the trends here and where the market it headed:

• https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/621/topics/586279-investing-in-sacramento-or-stockton-which-one-is-better
• https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/621/topics/590913-rent-growth-in-sacramento-is-triple-the-national-average
• https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/621/topics/585796-sacramento-rent-control-101-everything-you-need-to-know
• https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/621/topics/396725-millennial-migration-to-sacramento-2017---here-comes-the-rush
• https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/621/topics/398662-heres-what-fixer-uppers-on-the-mls-are-selling-for

Hopefully that helps you make a more informed purchasing decision. Best of luck!