All Forum Posts by: Adam Bartomeo

Why would you ever consider taking a listing down when it’s not renting? You are losing thousands of dollars a month in potential rents and actual expenses. Vacancy is the biggest killer of profitable rentals.You’ll never be able to get it rented if it’s not listed. It is better to lower the price and shift the lease ending date late spring.

Two of your questions will be more situational and location based.
We don’t ever haggle on pricing, although I would suggest being flexible

We check credit, criminal history and everything that goes along with that, evictions, and income. We prefer 600 or better but are willing to work with people under. No evictions, no felonies, 2 1/2 times income.

I’m a real estate broker, Investor, and property manager in Lee County. I would be very weary about buying another property in today’s market unless you are extremely experienced or have done an extreme amount of research. The sales and rental market in SWFL is absolutely terrible. It is a fantastic time to buy for equity, but it will be extremely tough to cash flow as rental prices are continuing to decline. Feel free to give me a call if you have questions.

Sounds like you may want to partner with somebody that’s more experienced or find a mentor. Most property managers do not run the way you’re explaining. There isn’t a per hour or per job cost to bill out. You charge the owners a percentage and mostly everything is included.

Most owners can handle a couple of properties on their own until the tenant stops paying, there is an eviction, or the tenant becomes difficult. If you feel that you are knowledgeable and resourceful enough than you do not need a PM.

It is not unreasonable for them to contact the neighbor but it would probably be a difficult task to get the neighbor to respond. It may be unreasonable to think that they have to pay for it. I have dealt with many fallen trees in several states and the law always had said that the owner of the tree is not liable for where it fell. You are more than likely responsible but will need to check the laws.

We have onboarded 10+ units lots of time and even 100 in a day. We never have a nightmare. Sounds like your PM may have been inexperienced and you should seek someone who might understand the process a little better.

If the house was built in the 50's or earlier than you probably have cast iron pipes. These start failing after 50+ years, causing lots of backups and problems. You will continue to have problems until you repipe the entire drain system. As far as selling... you will have to disclose the problem whether you fixed it or not. If you do not than you can face a lawsuit later. I would recommend fixing it and then determining whether or not to sell based on cash flow and profit after the sale.

Drew and Simon are correct. The 1099 will reflect the amount of money that you sent to the owner. So, rent minus ALL expenses that the PM paid - commission, lawn, water, maintenance, etc.

We have taken over LOTS of occupied units with under paying tenants. You must follow the lease that is in place until it expires. We notify 2 units at a time, 60 days before expiration, that their rent will be raising. We do not raise it to market rents, we keep it at lease 10% below to try and reduce turnover. After that it is the normal tasks of either turning over a tenant or renewing a tenant.