All Forum Posts by: Al K.

1-Michael, I’m pretty sure I did if you read the second post. But either way I have no interest or obligation in winning an argument with you by posting and debating a legal document. I’m simply sharing my experience which some may find it valuable. You certainly have taken issue with it and that’s fine. You only speak for yourself.

3- Code of ethics.

In Florida renting and leasing are considered real estate activities and PMs must have real estate license. One of the provisions is that a realtor is expected to act in the best interest of the client.

While I agree with you that there are plenty of terrible PMs and as you say “naive, penny-pinching owners” I find this venue valuable in posting various issues that interest all sides. Forget the contractual or ethical issues. Let’s hypothetically say that they don’t exist. There maybe many owners out there that never thought about this issue, that would like to check their contract, that could contact their PM and clarify things. I see value in bringing these issues to light. I’ll take your “naive, penny-pinching owners” label.

Michael I don’t know where to start, but let’s go point by point:

1- Which part of my posts suggests to you that I signed the contract that allows PM to renew without my approval? Have you read my contract?

2- Why is that anyone's problem, but yours?

It certainly isn’t yours and I don’t expect it to be anyone else’s. No need to underline the obvious. As I mentioned, my intention was to share an experience with other owners who may find it valuable. I certainly have found valuable information in other owner’s experiences.

3- You got what you paid for

Again, no need to underline the obvious. However there’s certain standards that are common in the field of property management which are expected. PM is hired by the owner to act on behalf of his interest, as permitted by the law. Disregarding the interest of the owner about lease amount and term without even communicating this to him, on just a single family rental home, is something I was not expecting from any PM regardless of their “cheap contract”. It certainly has not been my multiyear experience with many PMs. I have spoken to many realtors and PMs and they all have been surprised by this action.

4- If you're so unhappy, why aren't you terminating their services?

Of course I have.

My intention of the post was to simply let other owners know of an experience of mine which they might find it valuable. The experience I had was that my Property Manager of a single family property renewed the lease without my knowledge and approval of the rent amount and term. The key issue is not the PM’s authority to renew the lease (which shouldn’t blow anyone’s mind) but to do it without the knowledge and approval of the owner. If that is a common experience that other owners have with their PM then that’s OK. I can only speak from my experiences that I’ve had and continue to have with other PM’s and that kind of experience has never occurred to me before. I’ll leave the language of the contract alone for now, but suffice to say that it indicates that the amount and term of lease should be agreed by the owner.

Glenn Gurvitch is a Property Manager in southeast Florida, West Palm Beach area. His company is My Area Realty Inc and does business as Florida's Property Management (https://www.floridaspropertymanagement.com/)

Falling for his simple, relatively cheap  Property Management service  package can be very costly! I initially came to that rude awakening about a couple of years ago. In my previous experience with other PMs it had been customary to be notified at the time of lease renewal. That didn’t happen with Glenn and the lease was renewed at the same below market rent rate and term. Never was I even notified of that renewal until I inquired.

That experience pails to the one that followed. In July 2023 Glenn sent tenants the lease renewal without getting my approval for the term and rate, and again without even notifying me of what he did. The current lease would expire almost 3 months later. This experience blew my mind. I can’t comprehend how there could be any Property Managers out there at all, that can do this to their client owners. When confronted, his email response was: “Sorry, unfortunately we do have the authority to do lease related items on the owner's behalf per the management agreement”.

At the time this happened, PBC had issued the ordinance of 60 day notice to tenants if lease was not renewed or renewal was in the amount of over 5%. But Glenn issued the renewal without my knowledge and authorization close to 1 month before the ordinance would take effect. When confronted to explain the reason why he didn’t notify and get my approval when he had a chance to do so, his email reponse was: “The reason is I have 100-150 renewals a month (2000 units under management) to do so it takes 30 days to get them done so it starts at 90 days prior to have them all done by 60 days.” WOW! was my reaction and that of many professionals in the field that I spoke to.

It gets worst. After the tenant had signed the renewal and with less then 60 days from lease expiration Glenn offers to void lease and send non renewal to the tenants (if I authorized it), knowing full well the legal and financial implications of running against the Palm Beach County ordinance.

Damages that are not limited to only rent loss, loss of opportunity to sell or buy, are predetermined by Glenn’s actions.

I think owners should know!

TTK (texasturnkeyproperties.com) and it’s affiliated property management RPM Preferred are very active among investors especially those out of state. I hope that my experience would open the eyes to the future investors. 
As far as contract is involved in hindsight I would have refused the service of RPM preferred but they (TTK) provided me with an entry to Houston market and I gave them the benefit of the doubt. In every business there is contract and a certain degree of trust. If you don’t have a certain level of trust you wouldn’t jump into business regardless of how good the contract is. 

I do not recommend TTK company (texasturnkeyproperties.com) and the affiliated RPM preferred. There’s many brutal experiences from true disgruntled owners and tenants described in other sites as well. 

-2 COMPANIES, SAME OWNERS

Texas Turnkey Properties (texasturnkeyproperties.com) and Real Property Management Preferred (htownrpm.com) are 2 companies owned and operated by the couple Shawn and Joni Wolfswinkel. Their business model is selling flipped houses to investors and then managing them.

I initially believed that this model would incentivize them to manage investors’ properties in the most efficient and cost effective way. It would make sense this way because investors would come back to buy again. After thousands and thousands of dollars lost on make-ready and other types of repairs as well as time (money) lost on excessive turnaround time frames, I don’t believe that any longer. It takes time to realize this though. The relationship is a long road filled with opportunities for them to milk owners on every repair call and every make-ready, all the way to the end of the road when you decide to fire them. Their interest to flip houses quickly (time and resources diverted to their interests) and manage properties that they themselves own, comes into conflict with the interests of investors.

-EARLY TERMINATION FEES This is their last opportunity for them to make money out the owners. Once the sign up for property management is completed, the owner is trapped by contract for a year. The contract will renew automatically every year. The window to fire them without penalty is 30 days prior to anniversary. If the owner cuts them at any other time, for any reason, no matter how long he’s been with them he’ll pay the fees. Rest assured. The amount can be substantial and upwards of hundreds of dollars.

-MARK UP FEES ON REPAIRS

Every repair call is an opportunity for them to make money out of the owner. They charge 15% mark up fees on every repair. At least that’s what they say when you ask them, but who knows? They do not disclose this figure in the contract agreement and they don’t tell you which vendor they use on each case. Many vendors I have called quote less and they take credit cards directly from the owner but to use the credit card through RPM preferred you would have to pay a hefty fee.

-MAKE READY, my experience.

The tenant that they vetted abandoned the property they managed 1 1/2 months before the end of contract. I was notified of this on Nov. 22. I received the make ready estimation more then 3 weeks later (Dec. 17). It took 3 weeks for them to complete an estimation report and that was only after I begged Shawn to speed things up. Price tag? $6200. Shawn agreed to renegotiate the price but it took another 2 weeks for them to come to the estimate of around $5000. It took them almost 4 weeks (close to end of January) to finish the make ready. It took another 10 days to go live (early February). They found a tenant by the end of March to occupy by the end of April. 5 months loss of rent and more then $5000 in the hole.

What was one of the first complaints the new tenant filed once she got in? The carpet they supposedly cleaned stunk like dog and urine. The expense for this cleaning and others right after were not part of the negotiated price tag.

They also said they will send the previous tenant to collection for damages and report to me but they never mentioned it again.

-MAJOR REPAIR, my experience during Texas freeze.

Tenant reported damages from pipe break Feb. 19. The emergency cleanup/mitigation/pipe repair was completed by March 3d and they quickly asked for authorization to represent me in insurance payments which I declined. In authorization form there was a disclosure of $200 penalty if I were to cancel them as my authorized entity in repairs and payments. They sent estimations for some repairs related to the same event which I approved and paid. For the rest of repairs despite my inquiries week after week they never sent the estimations until April 14 (44 days later). The tenant didn’t return to the property and missed April payment. I fired them from the last property on April 9. They sent the $6300 cleanup invoice on May 12 (3 days after the end of their service). The invoice was written in the most general terms. No explanation or documentation of expenses by categories was given. Explanation from Kevin Sodke, the director of maintenance to my inquiry was: “I reviewed the invoices and can assure you they are correct”. That’s it. No need for me to review them too. Just trust Kevin and shut up.

-Documentation for repairs (invoices and pictures)

For the most part I have had to request repeatedly several times to get them

-Inspections

It’s inconsistent across properties. Sometimes and in some properties they do it and sometimes and in some other properties they don’t do it even though I signed up for them.

-Customer service

The agents are always nice and courteous. But they have constantly offered help at the times when I needed nothing. When I have contacted them, in general they have responded within 24 hours. Not always. Many times inquiries about invoices, documentation of repairs, delays on repairs, discrepancies on charges, have gone unanswered, delayed or answered in irrelevant ways, but always nice. This will not however make up for the substantial monetary loss bound to happen down the line.

Due to bad and costly experiences  I do not recommend this company and the affiliated Real Property Management Preferred. This review is for both. There’s many brutal experiences from true disgruntled owners and tenants described here and in other sites such as google and yelp that I read and that are in line with my experiences  

-2 COMPANIES, SAME OWNERS

Texas Turnkey Properties (texasturnkeyproperties.com) and Real Property Management Preferred (htownrpm.com) are 2 companies owned and operated by the couple Shawn and Joni Wolfswinkel. Their business model is selling flipped houses to investors and then managing them.

I initially believed that this model would incentivize them to manage investors’ properties in the most efficient and cost effective way. It would make sense this way because investors would come back to buy again. After thousands and thousands of dollars lost on make-ready and other types of repairs as well as time (money) lost on excessive turnaround time frames, I don’t believe that any longer. It takes time to realize this though. The relationship is a long road filled with opportunities for them to milk owners on every repair call and every make-ready, all the way to the end of the road when you decide to fire them. Their interest to flip houses quickly (time and resources diverted to their interests) and manage properties that they themselves own, comes into conflict with the interests of investors.

-EARLY TERMINATION FEES This is their last opportunity for them to make money out the owners. Once the sign up for property management is completed, the owner is trapped by contract for a year. The contract will renew automatically every year. The window to fire them without penalty is 30 days prior to anniversary. If the owner cuts them at any other time, for any reason, no matter how long he’s been with them he’ll pay the fees. Rest assured. The amount can be substantial and upwards of hundreds of dollars.

-MARK UP FEES ON REPAIRS

Every repair call is an opportunity for them to make money out of the owner. They charge 15% mark up fees on every repair. At least that’s what they say when you ask them, but who knows? They do not disclose this figure in the contract agreement and they don’t tell you which vendor they use on each case. Many vendors I have called quote less and they take credit cards directly from the owner but to use the credit card through RPM preferred you would have to pay a hefty fee.

-MAKE READY, my experience.

The tenant that they vetted abandoned the property they managed 1 1/2 months before the end of contract. I was notified of this on Nov. 22. I received the make ready estimation more then 3 weeks later (Dec. 17). It took 3 weeks for them to complete an estimation report and that was only after I begged Shawn to speed things up. Price tag? $6200. Shawn agreed to renegotiate the price but it took another 2 weeks for them to come to the estimate of around $5000. It took them almost 4 weeks (close to end of January) to finish the make ready. It took another 10 days to go live (early February). They found a tenant by the end of March to occupy by the end of April. 5 months loss of rent and more then $5000 in the hole.

What was one of the first complaints the new tenant filed once she got in? The carpet they supposedly cleaned stunk like dog and urine. The expense for this cleaning and others right after were not part of the negotiated price tag.

They also said they will send the previous tenant to collection for damages and report to me but they never mentioned it again.

-MAJOR REPAIR, my experience during Texas freeze.

Tenant reported damages from pipe break Feb. 19. The emergency cleanup/mitigation/pipe repair was completed by March 3d and they quickly asked for authorization to represent me in insurance payments which I declined. In authorization form there was a disclosure of $200 penalty if I were to cancel them as my authorized entity in repairs and payments. They sent estimations for some repairs related to the same event which I approved and paid. For the rest of repairs despite my inquiries week after week they never sent the estimations until April 14 (44 days later). The tenant didn’t return to the property and missed April payment. I fired them from the last property on April 9. They sent the $6300 cleanup invoice on May 12 (3 days after the end of their service). The invoice was written in the most general terms. No explanation or documentation of expenses by categories was given. Explanation from Kevin Sodke, the director of maintenance to my inquiry was: “I reviewed the invoices and can assure you they are correct”. That’s it. No need for me to review them too. Just trust Kevin and shut up.

-Documentation for repairs (invoices and pictures)

For the most part I have had to request repeatedly several times to get them

-Inspections

It’s inconsistent across properties. Sometimes and in some properties they do it and sometimes and in some other properties they don’t do it even though I signed up for them.

-Customer service

The agents are always nice and courteous. But they have constantly offered help at the times when I needed nothing. When I have contacted them, in general they have responded within 24 hours. Not always. Many times inquiries about invoices, documentation of repairs, delays on repairs, discrepancies on charges, have gone unanswered, delayed or answered in irrelevant ways, but always nice. This will not however make up for the substantial monetary loss bound to happen down the line.

 Wow. That is really strange. I checked that area too. Homes look like they are not sitting for too long. Similar neighborhood, similar homes which actually rent fast for a higher price..... hemmm.

Thanks a lot Chris. 

Thanks a lot for your imput. The house was purchased as a turnkey investment at $112,000 and it is managed by the same company. I am paying attention to that area and the houses are just sitting vacant and there is more coming in for rent which will put more pressure on the price. I am in a dilemma to just sell it and leave the Houston market or drop the price by anither $100 and wait for what's coming.

Decisions decisions