All Forum Posts by: Calvin Ozanick

Good morning, 

First of all, congrats on getting started here. We have handled a very similar thing with a client of ours located in California. We helped this client locate, finance and now actively manage 8 rental units on their behalf in the last 24 months. This is opposed to allowing them to buy these units in a market where they may have only been able to afford 1-2 properties. I would love to take some time to provide more insight and details about Rock County, Wisconsin. It has grown consistently, while also being extremely affordable for out of state investors to make their mark here. 

In these cases, it tends to go badly as tenants may or may not know their rights, but they will push pretty hard. I would highly recommend getting an attorney involved to get this handled properly. 

Marissa, 

I would love to connect. I work out of Janesville as a realtor and property manager. This is awesome and I would love to see how we might be able to work together or help each other!

 This is 100% a reality. Managers who execute on these deals often sell the painted pig version of a home. I would speak to the general rule of this, buy properties you would live in. If you can see the value and quality in a unit, so will tenants. Just because tenants may want to pay less in rent does not mean they will be seeking out a slum.

One thing I will say is the specifics of what you listed above are the worst case scenario with a terrible property manager. I am sorry you got into this spot, and I wish you or whoever went down this road the best of luck going forward. 

It sounds like your property manager may be trying to shift responsibility onto you for not receiving the letter. It is possible that the court only sent the letter to the landlord's name on file, which could explain why you didn't receive it. However, it is also possible that the property manager should have been more vigilant in checking the status of the case and notifying you. It is ultimately their responsibility to ensure that you are aware of any legal proceedings for your rental property. I suggest that you talk to the property manager about the situation further to understand why the letter was not received, and determine if there is any other way to rectify the situation. One thing I would look into is the negligence clause in your property management agreement. If they received this notice, it could be argued that they neglected to look out for your best interest. I would highly recommend speaking with an attorney on that side of things. 

Yes, it is normal to require renters insurance for a mid-term rental. Many landlords and property managers require renters insurance for all types of rental agreements, including mid-term rentals. Renters insurance helps protect both the tenant and the landlord from potential financial losses due to accidents, theft, or other unexpected events. It's important to make sure that your renters insurance policy is up-to-date and provides the coverage you need for your specific rental situation. We require this of all tenants no matter the length of tenancy. it has saved us, our tenants and rental owners an incredible amount of time and money by having renters insurance in place. 

I would first recommend NARPM for training options. Next, I would then recommend working with local property managers just for reference on their best practices. Most property managers would be more than willing to make a meeting and chat through their processes or experiences. Local networking with all investors can be a great option in order to make sure you are up to date on what they are seeing in their portfolios as well. 

A few small things I would as to this, as a Wisconsin Property Manager. Better quality tenants can be a risky thing to sit with. Some managers place terrible tenants as we all know. However, the right manager also has access to the right tools for screening, which can provide a ton of advantages. Grilling your property manager on their screening process should be a high priority for anyone kicking tires on property management. 

On the other side, you cannot guarantee compliance on the property management side either sadly. 

The biggest takeaway I have is that your property manager needs to understand that they are truly asset managers. You need to find a sense of trust in them, if you cannot find someone trustworthy, you are best off managing units on your own. However, the time you can save along with the benefits of a great property manager can be truly critical in growing your real estate portfolio!

This is super interesting. I work in the Rock and Dane County markets and would love to learn some more. Our clients are extremely interested in working on a deal like this, let me know if you are willing to share details!