All Forum Posts by: Bill B.

Drew has a good idea. I would MUCH rather pay hourly for my pm instead of a % of rent. I’m obviously getting hosed paying 8% of $3,000 / mo for the same service the land lord paying 8% of $500/mo is getting. In fact they are probably using more labor hours. So I’m stuck subsidizing them. With today’s automation I would love to get a bill for $40, or zero some months. A percent of rent for pm’s makes even less sense than for realtors. Since the high rent properties usually involve less work. Then we could get rid of that $150 renewal fee that involves sending a 1 page form email saying pick an option. That fee bothers me more than the 8%. $600/hr seems a little stiff and is certainly a task I would take on myself. Especially since I’m already the one choosing rates/terms. 

It’s pretty easy to figure out when I’m basically paying for a full time employee. I’m not saying they aren’t doing a hard job. I’m just saying I’m paying a VERY high hourly rate for it. Especially compared to what they are paid. 

A very detailed and well thought out description of the landscape. I feel like I’ve walked the street without ever having been in the state. I guess they can feel blessed they weren’t crushed and sent out of business by the rampant theft that forced closures of even larger and well funded grocery stores in Detroit, Chicago, LA and NYC. 

There’s a “Cub foods” grocery chain in MN that’s closing stores left and right after 40-50 years in locations. They survived Walmart groceries and aldis moving in because they chose locations near bus routes and had large stores. But for the last 3-4 years local residents have decided it was cheaper to just take the groceries. 

There was literally a tv news story featuring a young lady that said she understood why they were closing because she saw theft every time she was there. I said to myself, wow, she gets it, there’s hope for our future generations. As soon as I finished that thought she said said “But they’re a big company, they can afford it,ey shouldn’t take away our grocery store…”. SMH. 

Did you not get a copy with your 2023 tax return? I get a digital copy with every return along with the offer of a printed version. I assume they use a computer with tax software to prepare your taxes. That means they didn’t/can’t lose just one part of your return. If they have any of it, they have all of it. 

Heck, ask for the 2022 depreciation forms or look at your copy of them. 

Double heck:  Ask them if you are the only client that they lost any paperwork for. Or if you need to hire a kid to stand out in front of their office warning their clients that they’re losing tax forms and not telling people. 

Quick question. Did you talk to your CPA? Can you count that $4,600 as “rental income” or does it have to go under some kind of self employment? I assume many people here do their own cleaning when they got started so maybe it’s well known by people who aren’t me?

You’re all set just the way it is. Whatever you do don’t put subject B on the title before A dies. You will lose ALL tax benefits and owe all the capital gains that would have gone away. 

If Florida recognizes Transfer On Death dees (TODs) subject A could fill one out naming subject B to avoid having to go through probate. Subject A can changed the form up until their death so you can explain its reversible in case they change their mind. 

As mentioned above get a copy of all invoices to show how much was actually paid and to whom. I too am going to guess you’re using a realtor or guy off the street that manages 20 or less properties. Mostly in the side. 

Every interaction they have with the tenant and you should be available online. There will be before pictures, after pictures, and a copy of the invoice from the vendor. Plus there should be amount over which they don’t do the easier without first showing you the quote from the vendor, describing what’s wrong and what needs to be done to fix it. (For me it’s $250, which unfortunately or fortunately means many repairs are $250. Hopefully that means the $251-$300 repairs are being knocked down to $250.)

How do you know how much the repair actually is. Are they tacking fees on to the repair? Was the repairman insured/bonded/licensed? It sucks, it’s extra work for you, but you have to move on. You might as well start now in case they suddenly bring up the 3-6-12 months notice required to leave them. 

In Vegas, sewer must be in the owner’s name. So I give the bill to my PM and they bill the tenant and they reimburses me. There’s no reason for an owner to pay for utilities they aren’t using. You don’t want to add it to the rent and pay it yourself because you’ll lose the “Tenant compares the rents game.”

The $500 plus install is probably fine, the $3,000 one is probably stupid. I went low end of middle. Something like $1,200 for the local “fancy upgrade”. If you have an RC Wiley or similar mid/high end furniture/appliance/home furnishings/flooring shop. They should have what you’re looking for. 

Is your concern reliability or effectiveness? I assume the effectiveness is written on each one and I also assume they must perform that well or face class action lawsuits. If it’s longevity I got he 5 year extension for 10% of price many places offer. So for $120 I went from 2 years to 7.  Realisticly. The cheap one will probably last 6-12 years. The expensive one MAYBE 7-12, 14 if you take extra good care of of it. 

Ps. For those that have 5+ year old water softeners. When I tried to have my malfunctioning one fixed. The first thing the technician did was take a toilet tank cover off and run his hand across the bottom. He came up with a handful of beads and said Don’t bother your medium tank has failed. The beads only show up there because there’s no faucet filter to catch them before you can see them. 

NP. I only wanted to clarify that almost everyone who mentions their equity means “cash after paying off their loan”, not their gain. (If you put 20% down on a $1M property. You have $200k in equity but you’ll have a taxable LOSS after selling for $1M or even $1.05M. 

As I mentioned my only question would be something hopefully Dave or someone else can answer. Does it need to be converted back in to a rental after your 2 years to qualify for a 1031?

No help with a STR realtor though maybe you could find an STR manager and assume they have realtors they recommend. I THINK @Eric Fernwood looked in to STR managers but it might have been MTR managers. 

Ps. You'll have to avoid Vegas proper unless you plan to live in the property. As STR is only allowed while it's your primary residence in Vegas and you are in residence. You'll have to look at Henderson, North Las Vegas or Paradise, NV. So you might want to do the math on MTR and see if it works as it would be allowed anywhere the HOA doesn't prevent it.