Property management skills

[Jason Parrish]

Greetings bigger pockets forum users.

I am a new real estate investor looking to start our partner with a property management company.

Is anyone out there willing to show me the ropes or have any tips for getting started?

[Tim Jacob]

The biggest thing is screening.  You get the right people, they pay rent and everyone is happy.  Dont sublet it out to someone who doesnt care or holds up the process.  Do it yourself and investigate old addresses.  

Beyond screening make sure you understand the utility transfer laws.  That can get ugly.  

Have well written leases.   Many can be found at your local realtor websites.  You can tweak them as needed.

Know the codes and inspections needed.  One that is national is pre 1978 needs a lead one.  Your state or county dictate the rest.  More likely if there iscone it will follow the building codes though sometimes existing construction is grandfathered or given more time to comply.

Have a good maintenance team available for on site maintenance.  Have a good lead inspector.

Understand eviction laws to a t.  From what I hear FL is pretty landlord friendly.  That should be a big relief but still screen hard.

Get a property management software going.  I recommend buildium unless your client has hundreds of properties than propertyware or appfolio might make more sense.  Buildium is 45 a month.  You can then give tenants an online portal for payment. Your screening is cheaper then too.

Get to know taxes as you legally should report annually.  Beyond that you should be able to help the owners fill out their schedule e if needed and should be well versed in all the deductions though technically that is accounting it is xertainly helpful.

I cant explain everything in detail.  If i was closer maybe i could help you.  Good luck qith everything down there.