All Forum Posts by: Art Mimnaugh

@Christian Leon not sure I follow your comment on being a commercial property, it is a four unit with additional commercial space that you also need a PM for?   If just a standard residential four unit in North Linden you would be looking at C class workforce housing which we know well and can provide you a few contact numbers for managers we use for that asset class.  

Cheers,
ART

@Christian Leon what asset class and where in town is this located. This will have a significant impact on what type of PM would be a good fit? I have a few connections I can make but will be dependent on the answers to the questions above.

Cheers,

Art

@Miguel Teran I think @Brandon Sturgill has this for Columbus but not sure if he has updated from his older version.   With that said grading is very relative and really is an input into your goals, risk profiles, and investment strategy.

@Bryant T. drop me a message and let’s connect.   I am in San Ramon and there are a number of us East Bay investors in Columbus so happy to exchange notes and make some connections.

Cheers,

Art

@Nathan Gesner you are spot on and I completely agree that at the end of the day this is a business and it needs to run that way.  Our policies are clear cut with rents that we have our Property manager enforce, due on the 1st, late on the 3rd, posted on the 5th, eviction filed on the 9th!   We don't take partial rents, nor do we forgive any past balances. It should also be noted that we don't know a single one of our tenants, and we really try to keep it that way.    With all that said what I was alluding to above is a small gesture that has no bearing on their contractural financial commitments to us but may actual help to ensure those are actual honored moving forward.   As you reference the process is multi-tiered and we ensure we hold up our end of the lease throughout it with timely repairs, a ham once in a while and clear expectations on rent being required.   The hope is the ham isn't viewed as sign of weakness but rather an opportunity for our tenants keep us at the front of tier mind when bills are due!    Time will tell if it works or backfires, but as always great insight and we all live to fight another day.

Cheers,

ART

So as landlord’s we know we are vilified in most of the media with rent strikes and evictions moratorium’s covering the headlines! The reality is our costs keep coming and there is no one covering the debit and expenses we have due.

A bit of background I am based in San Francisco and have been investing in multifamily C class assets in Columbus, OH for the last three years. We focus primarily on buy and hold but do have several flips as well as private lending contracts. We have grown our portfolio to 30 units we own entirely and an additional 14 units we have with additional partners.

About a year ago we began to grow concerned that the rent appreciation that we were seeing was growing much faster than the income growth for most of our tenets in this asset class. As an example in 12 months we saw rents grow from $550 to $750. To help mitigate the risk we made the decision to start supporting Section 8 based tenants and currently have about 40% of our portfolio through these programs. There are many considerations with this but in general has been a very positive experience with those rent's posting on the 3rd every month.

This brings me to the current situation. Class C tenants tend to be very working class, living pay check to pay check and have been disproportionately affected by the current job losses. At the beginning of the month I did send out the letters to let everyone know rent is still due, and links to the various resources they could be eligible for in the event of a job loss. But let’s be honest that comes across as very self-serving, and not very genuine. In these times people are really looking for a little empathy and compassion. So, what I did was to have a ham delivered to each of our tenets with a little note to let them know we care and hope they can have an enjoyable meal. In the note, we also let the tenets know that if they were having some hard times to please reach out and let us know so we can work out a solution.

Will this have an impact on rent payments, who knows! For April across our portfolio as of this weekend we are seeing about 80% of our tenants paid. I can say that we have had VERY positive feedback from tenants calling to just tell us how much it meant and how appreciative they were for the small gesture. What I do know is don’t underestimate the value of caring and don’t view it as a weakness. We all run businesses but those businesses are only as good as our customers. Be human, and know that when everything passes people have a soul and will remember those that were there for them.

Cheers,

ART

@Abdoulaye Diallo shoot me a PM and can give you the forms and contact to get these transferred over.   In the event you sent in system there is a little work just ensure you have seller commitment that any CMHA payments received post closing will be sent over to you.   To be honest in current clients 100% voucher is gold as they are still paying each month where tenets may not.

Cheers,

Art

@Kevin Chan message me and can give you a few options depending on your asset type.   

Cheers,

Art

@Account Closed fully agree with your summary and the opportunities ahead.   As a Bay Area investor in Columbus I am seeing the technology start-up scene getting a lot more interest!   You have Columbus based VC Drive Capital that just completed raising two funds totaling $650M putting it with over $1B focused on technology start-up and growth companies in the area!   You have Dice that just came out with article that had Columbus as the number market for tech salary growth last year averaging $92K/yr at north of 14% YoY growth.    With this said I would caution on the references to the tech companies building data centers in and around Columbus.   Those assets and decisions tend too focused on two key metrics (build cost and access to cheap power.)  Although it is always great to see new builds and the related construction jobs the longer term direct impact I think is less exciting.   For example the 1.5M square feet from Facebook I would only expect ~100 jobs with similar numbers for Google and others.   Not to minimize those jobs but personally I am much more excited about all the accelerators operating in Columbus and the future growth and impact of those in Columbus.   At the end of the day it is Good Stuff all around!

Cheers,

ART

@Jon Schwartz feel free to message me.   We have a number of our units through section 8 and other subsidized housing programs in Columbus and happy to share some of our experience.

Cheers!