All Forum Posts by: Dan S

Jim Hamrick since the land ajoins yours, I'd invite the owners out to get a feel on their mindset on selling. This may be a situation that you can get it by making them even.

If you don't know the owners, I'd offer 1/3rd of the assessed value and see their counter/response before I proceeded.

If the property is in the condition you described, you may be helping them by letting them unload it on you

Jason Shen , nothing super crazy like a slaughter house or anything, but I did have a property in Pittsburgh that had a bomb room from the cold war. In fact, the lay out of the house was 2 small bedrooms on the top and the general living room/kitchen/bathroom/storage was underground.

We marketed it as a 1 bedroom to allow the tenant to use the "1st" bedroom as a living room and the extra room downstairs as a storage room since it was next to the washer and dryer/storage, etc...

Other than that, most of our properties have a "pittsburgh toilet" which consist of a single toilet in the basement with no type of coverage (unless a single stall was built). That is the most unique thing I have played with

Generally, I know the underlying connotation for property managers is bad, but I happen to be one of the few that care about my investor.

I am not in it for the quick buck, the sly charge, or the misinformation that seems to be bound by my industry. I am actually a logical, forward, straight forward thinker that has the philosophy that if me and the investor makes our fair share, it can be a long term, (fruitful) relationship.

There are many "nickel and dime" charges I see my competition charging that I forgo. I split late rents 50/50, I work with my tenants, and I run most expenses by the owner (~200 and above) for approval before acting.

I respond within 24 hours and I believe I am one of the many few that will admit they don't have an answer to a question and will get back when I do.

That being said, our property management group has rose from 16 units (oct 2011) to 107 units (current) and we're looking to expand. I been through the general learning phase of residential and I feel like I am on steady ground.

However, this is not good enough for me, I want to be the best... I want to be on top of my game and I want to be known as the go to guy in my area.

A little background of me, I ran commercial property management for a large dollar store. At any given time, I was managing 3500-9000 properties. Most of our rentals were landlord owned, so it was mostly coordinating vendors and landlords to fix our issues.

Since I switched to residential, it has became more hands on individual focused. I feel like I am doing more work for 100 properties residential than I ever did commercial...

As an investor, what type of report are you looking for? What type of information do you want to know?

Right now my current report includes the following:

1) number of calls
2) number of pre-quals ( per our standard checklist)
3) number of showings
4) number of applications taken/given (app feel collected, status of current applicants)
5) feedback from the unit (why people chose not to rent)

I want to create a more thorough report to provide our owners and I can't think of anymore info other than "days on the market"

I want to be able to adjust to the market and provide my owners with a reasonable market rate/ adjustment versus their cap expectations..

What type of information/feedback will make you more comfortable with your PM. Please keep in mind, most of my investors are out of town (out of country[australia]) and I feel like a lot of them are trusting, but not trusting at the same time

My brother came to me to say he wants to start investing in real estate. He is recently divorced, taking care of his kid and filed for BK earlier this year and has been discharged.

Not sure if it is a smart move for him to get into, but I am trying to avoid him attaching himself to me, so I am being supportive of his venture so far (emotionally)

Any advice?

I think a 50/50 split would be the best course of action. I would never even think about keeping 100% of the late fees because the investor is out money too by non payment of rent

I personally wouldn't evict anyone in December. I understand both sides, but I can't do it.

you will never stop this. I found contacting previous landlords will give you an idea of their rental history, but doesn't really fit the "time being" aspect of our economy/circumstances. What I started doing is requiring a 2nd security deposit no matter what..

I also gave all my tenants an "out clause" which requires them to forfeit their deposit, give me 30 days notices, and require an additional months rent to leave. Since then, I have saw a bigger success with complying with my terms.

If I re-rent the place rather quickly, I will refund the previous tenants deposit (minus cleaning/repairs), but if I don't, I know I have a 3 month cushion.

If a tenant is going to leave, you can't stop it, but having these lenient terms has provided me with some type of respect that gives me a heads up. I think so far it has been more positive than negative and really gives you the upperhand in the situation.

As of currently, I have only had 3 tenants utilize this "out" and they have actually helped me find a new tenant. I have only kept the deposit/30 days rent from 1 tenant and it turned out to be way cheaper than an eviction.

James Park thanks doe reminding me of my spelling mistake with loose vs. lose :) jk.. but seriously, I may contradict myself on the subject multiple times, but overall I think it is better to find a good tenant than fill the place.

In my neck of the woods, it is 60+ days and 470 dollars to evict a tenant.. so that is what I base my leniency on. I am willing to work with a tenant to stay under their "deposit", especially since all my leases are automatically terminated at the end of term , unless we both agree to renew.

This gives me an out to get rid of problem tenants/owners and renew the ones I want. Too much hassle for an auto renew. I found you make more money on your return that way

are you limitings yourself you SFH? i have a lot of contacts in the commercial area for your location. I know it may a longer to close, but that area is overall booming for business

from the property manager perspective, the biggest expense has been arrogance (vacancy). I have a lot of outside investors that require me to attain a certain rent that may be overpriced from anywhere from 50-200 a month.

After a while on the market, you're in the negative compared to renting it at the lower price. Most of my investors are out of town/country investors and it is hard to do my job if they won't listen to me.

The other biggest expense I see for owners is appliances. Most of my rental units come with appliances, but when they buy the property, they forget to check them and usually are scummy and not working. That expense can run 600$ for a stove/refrigeration combo, but since they don't plan on it, they freak out.

I know some LL's around here require the tenant provide their own appliances, but I could never find myself doing the same.

Whenever I price a unit/take picture(and check list of the property) I am upfront with my owners on the condition of the appliances. This makes for an easier transaction and less complaining when I use their reserve to get a tenant in.

Overall I have ran into few LL's that wanted to abandoned getting used appliances or new appliances, but I will cut them off on not representing them.

I run a tight, but fair ship and I am not afraid to lose an owner of shady tactics. Our reputations puts people in our units and I won't throw it away over cutting major corners.

The other expense I have seen creep up on owners (besides HVAC as was mentions) has been delinquent utility bills based off a previous tenant.

When our tenants rent a unit that requires then to pay utilities, we make sure the account is in their name before we transfer the key.

If they cant comply with that request, I wont rent to them