All Forum Posts by: Kevin Auyong

Joel $50 a month is not a lot like you say. But let's add the surcharge of sending out repair people to those homes and suddenly it's not $50 anymore. Don't forget there might well be a kick back to the manager for the service call from the vendor. Then let's add the one month's rent to find a new tenanant and if the area is problematic this can happen once a year or maybe more. This can easily add up to an average $150 a month for each unit. I know this because I had a few managers that did this kind of stuff.

Sending out a repair guy to fix a leaky toilet 4 times in 6 months? Come on, it's replace the valve once and call it done.

For just mananging a few units yes it is probably a money loser. But I beleive when you get a lot of units it becomes quite profitable.

I don't think we set it up, it's what the property managers all demand. I'd rather pay a slightly higher % and nothing for when it's empty. Then it is in the manger's best interest to keep them rented.

So Darrell, who did you settle on in Atlanta or are you just managing them myself?

My own rentals here I think I manage way better than any property manager and for a lot less. I rented out 3 homes and a duplex. In the last 2 years I spent maybe 9 days for all of them for service calls and rental viewings and the like. Maybe I just got lucky or like you say maybe quality of renter base? My renters are all lower middle class or a bit lower at best. Vacancy was about 2% average on all of them.

Somehow I just can't see paying someone 10% of rents, a full month rent for finding a tenant, and adding a surcharge for repairs when so little time is involved. Obviously other properties might need a lot more attention and work. When people say to allow 50% off of the rent rolls, I wonder if I am just lucky as my percentage is much lower.

Curt has hit the nail on the head. It seems like property managers look at owners, especially those out of the area as money trees. Charging for a new tenant encourages bad tenant placement and churning. They make more money by getting bad tenants.

Times must be good to be a property manager. You would think they would have the best interests of the owner in mind and that their success means success for all. But the manager gets paid whether the owner makes $ or not in most situations.

I am in!

Is there safe parking nearby?

Oh since it's dinner time do they serve food or should we eat before we get there?

what kind of return would she get with the turnkey properties? How good are they at keeping the properties occupied?

Obviously you are dealing with Mom's comfort zone because the house is in her neighborhood. You know the older we get, the more we like things to stay the same.

Yes, sometimes tenants in C properties complain less because they expect less. But in the end for this property get something you feel safe in above all else. The last thing you want is a scary tenant pounding on your door while your wife is home alone and you are at work.

Years ago I had a property that had four units on it. I lived in one of them and had some pretty sketchy tenants in the others. What happened was the tenants wound up inviting ex-cons as they got out of prison (San Quintin) into the units to live with them.

I wound up evicting everyone and starting from scratch. But it was pretty scary knowing that some of these people did not have a lot to lose and they could easily come down to my door and cause a great deal of harm to me persoanlly or property wise. It took a few months to get them all out, but I was pretty much on edge those couple months and kept a baseball bat next to my door. In hindsight I wish I had a gun.

I'm not saying that you will be in that situation but imagine if it does turn out to be that way how you and your wife might feel. I did not rent to the ex-cons. But the sketchy tenants brought them in without even asking me.

This is really too broad of a question. The problem is we don't know how much better of an area you're talking about and what the numbers are. Overall if it's not much more money, I would opt for the better area. Typically if you take a lesser area you run the risk of it continuing to be a bad area or declining even more. However maybe you pick an area and is not so good but it may be on the upswing.

I think the key for me is that you are going to be living in the units. How bad of an area can you tolerate? I also would worry about my wife being home alone if the area is not as good. If you're going to be living in the units then keep in mind the tenants will probably be knocking on your door. If you've never been a landlord before this might be difficult for you, especially if it's an area with lower quality tenants.

Unless the numbers are substantially better for you in the lower income area I would opt to go with the more expensive property. In the long run it will be less frustration and you may actually make more money because you will have better quality tenants and less turnover. Especially since you will probably make some management mistakes since is your first property.

Hopefully someone else can jump in here as I don't consider myself a super experienced person however I have been the landlord for over 30 years and have dealt with good tenants in bad tenants.

If we upgrade to pro-how far can we search. I am currently in Ca. and want to network with atlanta ga.