All Forum Posts by: Christian Gibbs

thank  you Laura -

I do feel good about the compensation as they have been our only boots on the ground as we just can’t use “ friends” anymore ..

I also found out that the $500 monthly fee is lifted once the place is rented and she goes to a much lower rate / hourly when things arise .

I just thought it was a unique price structure and have never heard of things executed as such before .
Thanks again for your reply-

Christian

Hello BP family!-

We have had our condo in Oceanside for almost 2 years now and the value according to Redfin and some comps in the neighborhood have increased the value of the condo by at least $80,000 ( rough assessment ). 

We put 12% down on the property at a 5.99% rate and contribute another $120 or so every month towards the principle. 

We have a PMI of $250 a month and I'd love to get rid of it.

I contacted the bank for a request for PMI to be lifted and they denied it.

They said I could order an assessment of the house through them and then if house / condo come up with enough gained equity then it might be possible .

Does anyone know the best first initial steps to order a home assessment ?

Should I order it independently or go through the bank as they instructed?

I do have stocks that I could liquidate to throw at the principle but they have been performing great lately and I’d rather use those funds down the road as another down payment on a future property.

Any advice appreciated 

Christian

thanks Colleen -

So after I posted this I expressed to my PM that most people are doing 10-12% for property management . She heard me out and then explained the fee of $500 a month stops once place is rented . 

that was a big relief  . I don’t know why we didn’t get that vital piece of info in our initial meeting.

So my wife and I are extremely relieved .

She says she will stay on as a courtesy and if things come up it will just be an “ hourly “ rate for emergency type situations or basic boots on the ground necessities.

We really like her enthusiasm and positivity and she is great at communicating and seems  sincerely empathetic to our situation. We reigned in the budget for some painting and minor handyman work .. and she obliged to our budgetary restraints .
House is being shown as we speak. Fingers crossed . October not the easiest month to rent in a rural upstate NY area .

best

Christian  

I hear ya!

One of the reasons I asked the question is that it seems strange to me that a property management wouldn’t take anything upfront if they inherited a house that wasn’t ready for rent .

Our property management also does the cleaning ( deep clean over 4 days was $1000 but they had to deal with some nasty pet hair , fleas etc)

and that included some cover up paint etc .

One lesson learned here is every contract with owner : property management varied greatly it seems from what is needed .

But moving forward - I feel that $500 a month on a $2100 a month property is too high once it’s rented - unless endless problems persist of course ..

thanks for your insight!

Christian

 thanks Greg for your reply. I love these forums to get a barometer of what the parameters of property management is . You are correct in that we are using them as our “boots on the ground” , GM of sorts.  

We were desperate at the time to get the house ready for rent so agreed to the flat fee as she went into it the agreement knowing the house had a flea infestation.

thanks again

christian

thx Adam - 

We agreed from the start that we would pay the $500 a month as they sounded great in an interview , go to town council meetings on our behalf , and do some in house work like put up blinds and minor repairs that is included in that fee. Also she is working with us with city ordinances to see if down the road we can change it from a LTR to a STR.

last two- three years my wife and I have been property managing it from across the country using handymen as our boots on the ground and I remodeled the house with contractors inbetween tenants . Getting the phone call that a pipe has broke or well pump is broken is definitely not the parts of landing that we love !

We really like our new property management but we didn’t anticipate the house being empty for so long because the fleas were having a hard time being exterminated .

However we will be bringing in $2100 rent  on this house and I feel that once a tenant in place I would like to negotiate to a lower fee as it seems the “ GM” part of the job will be over for the most part. 

It’s a month to month contract so I am trying to find a solution to see if they take a lower monthly fee .

Thank you for your response!

Christian

Hello BP forum!

 We are paying $500 a month  for a property manager but it's been two months or more and the house is still not ready for rental.

When a house/ property is vacant what is the normal negotiation for most property managers? 

 If they are on a percentage based agreement do they still collect a percentage of $0?
Or is a flat fee charged to help get the house ready  for tenants?

We were desperate to get the house cleaned and ready for tenants and hired our PM with hopes that this would be resolved much quicker.

To their credit they have had good communication with us and have hired the last exterminator that got the job done. So far we've spent $1850 on two different exterminators combined but at least the house can begin to get worked on.

I am used to working at a faster pace and hiring contractors to get things done.

Every time we have a phone meeting , something that was supposed to be done last week is still not done. Like replacing the doors/ locks, etc. and  its getting frustrating.

Whenever I articulate my frustrations to my wife it causes friction within our relationship 

I want to get this house rented asap but I wanted to get a barometer to see if perhaps my expectations are a bit unrealistic , especially with consideration that no one could get in the house due to the fleas until recently.

This is our first time working with a property manager so any tips would be greatly appreciated on how to proceed moving forward.. 

thank you!

Chris 

thanks everyone for the tips and advice .

So far we only received half of the rent . Not sure what next steps to take .

I’ll offer them $100 off the rent till the driveway is fully functional and have them sign or agree in an email that with the discount they agree to not pursue damages or reimbursement for their car or tow company.But they need to pay the balance of rent ( minus the $100)

Does this sound reasonable?

I really appreciate the help!

Christian

Hello everyone-

We have a Single Family we are renting out in a very rural part of upstate NY.

We had a septic main line go out and had to have a contractor repair it in between snow storms in 8 degree weather.

This repair necessitated part of the driveway being dug up . The contractor filled it back up with dirt but notified me we cannot re - asphalt that part of the driveway till the weather gets better and the soil settles.

Tenant told me that the dirt was settling down a bit creating a slight ditch .

I asked for pictures and but they never sent .

Then two days later at midnight their car got stuck in the ditch and now they are saying they are going to be  late on rent since car cost $750 to get towed out . 

They asked that contractor pay for the tow and the damage to their car ( which we are unaware of at this point to what extent that is)

Our contractor feels they had no liability .

To add he is a great contractor and has saved us many times from big costs dealing  with code inspectors etc

Mg question to the forum is should we compensate the tenants for anything ?

My worry is that if we offer something it might create a snowball effect ( car damage reimbursement , etc )

We offered to take some $ off the rent until driveway is fully functional but that doesn’t seem to be satisfactory to them .

Thank

you for any advice   !

We have an upstate house in Sullivan County that we are trying to get a Heloc on.

One challenge is my credit  score is high while my wife’s credit score is a little lower.

However ,she holds title on the house .

The local bank we are working with said they go off the lower of the two scores .We are also interested in doing DSCR scores

Any advice appreciated !

Chris