All Forum Posts by: Ariana Soto

Hi guys! I need your help, please. I have a call in 30 minutes with a flooring vendor that installed some LVT (luxury vinyl tile that looks like hardwood but is cheaper) at my rental property.

It’s a completely different color than the sample that was shown to me (basically the sample showed only one shade of many, and so I was expecting just a dark brown, yet the end result is many different shades that create a very chaotic, wild and jarring look).

He checked in with me to mail the rest of the balance, but I am horrified by how it looks, and this will be affecting me financially for many years to come because I’m sure there will be others that equally dislike it.

I’m really afraid that he’s going to be angry because he finished the work, and it may not be bad work, but nevertheless, it is an outcome that was based on kind of a lie at the get-go, by not giving me a representative sample.

Any suggestions? I am feeling dread and worry that this will affect me for years to come, but also about his reaction, I’m sure he’s going to be very angry that he is finding out now after the work is done (this is an out of state property so I was not there to see it in person and only got the full photos after the job was finished, I did get a couple of photos after he was halfway through but at that point, I also didn’t want him to abandon the project because I need to get it rented right away).

I’m feeling turmoil, uncomfortable, upset about the whole situation, tense, and my needs are for security (financial in this case, because this is my long-term financial investment), a need to be known by him for what I’m experiencing (which he may not be able to see if he sees red about not getting paid in full—I’m thinking since the work is done the only thing left to ask for is a discount, I don’t know how much to ask for, maybe I should let him suggest an amount first? 

Job is $8000 so this is no  small change, I already fronted him the costs for the materials, which I think was about 44% of that.

I just wanted ease and order in dealing with a place that can be easily rented for years to come and now I feel like this is really going to hinder that whole process.

Surprisingly, my property management company, which is being onboarded right now, seems to like it but I’m really shocked as to how.

Thanks so much for any help you can offer, Im sorry for the short notice, this really sucks so much 😞😞😞

True true. I vetted the PMs well and asked them a ton of questions so as long as I trust them and their philosophies, I'm willing to give up all the reigns. By the way, I posted in like 8 Chattanooga FB groups and not one person responded. I have always found FB real estate groups to be mostly spammy :-( 

Thank you, Brian! So nice to see a fellow Chattanooga investor!! :-) I have been paying one month's rent for leasing (when there is no PM contract), so I think that half month's rent is only if you are already using them for PM, right? And by FB do you mean Facebook? Thanks.

Aloha and thank you! RE: "do not use a "PM" that only handles a few properties and is actually focused on Sales"...do you mean they should be managing many because that means they're more reputable or in-demand? I actually was prepared to ask this question but for the other reason--that if they have too many clients, they may be slow in response time and not have enough bandwidth to give my properties enough attention. On the latter, did you mean they should be focused on sales or not? 

Lastly, on the PM's systems vs my systems...where does the division of labor actually lay? I have all the systems in place since I have been managing these homes on my own the past few years, but I am guessing they will want to own the majority of these processes or do they give some ownership to the home owners? For example, I have my own lease, I collect all my rents in Innago, and I do all my tenant applications, and credit/background/eviction checks in Innago. Are those things they would continue to allow me to use or do? I had someone manage my leasing once that refused to share the credit reports of tenant prospects so I started handling it on my own because I felt it was important to have that visibility. I hope PMs are flexible in this sense. I do not need to own much of it, but things like tenant selection are paramount and I don't know that I can trust their judgment since they may have different motivations than I do. I appreciate your help!

Hi all, I need your help, plz. I own a couple SFHs in another state and I need a leasing agent quick but doing a Google search for “leasing agent” OR “listing agent” I’m only finding stuff about real estate agents and maybe property managers.

I don't want a real estate agent per se (unless required to be licensed for leasing) b/c from my first hand experience they have always found me short term tenants who moved out immediately after finding a home (I think because they do MLS ads which hits mostly the prospective home buyer market and I think they also prospect for themselves). I don't want frequent turnover. I'd rather take a lower credit score and have them stay for many years.

Does anyone do leasing full-time or is my only other option a PM? Do all PMs do leasing and is it a big enough part of their job that they’re naturally good at it/sales? Would they take on clients for just the leasing portion and nothing else (I have the rest handled but need someone mostly for showings and photo/documentation since my maintenance guy is not good at that). Should I be searching for other keywords?

I’m looking in Chattanooga TN, by the way, if you have any recommendations! 

Thanks very much.