All Forum Posts by: Amie D.

@Mike Wood, their bid was $7250 and it did not include the painting, and there are not two floors that need to be refinished but two rooms of the house, and it did not include the deep cleaning. The $2200 was the difference in price when they came back and said upon closer inspection they had made an error and lowered their bid to around $5K. It also seems that is a big error to be made before the project is even started. 

@Marlon Johnson haha you aren't helping!

@Sai T. thank you! At this point, I'm mostly getting bids from handymen type contractors. This is how small the jobs are. Changing out a few deck boards, fixing cabinet fronts, hanging a new door... a bunch of random stuff. 

@Cameron Tope yes those property managers have been fired some months ago. I interviewed several others, but with the market what it is, I calculated the returns I am getting on that property versus equity and the risk and decided to liquidate that one. I am pretty unhappy as I told the new property managers I hired a year ago to screen hard because I was considering selling... it was still nice before these tenants moved in. In twenty years this is the worst experience I have ever had. It wasn't even such a surprise at the end when they had to be evicted as the outside of the property was a mess, that the "managers" didn't manage well either. 

I'm actually 46 and have rehabbed, flipped and rented many properties but most people say I look like I am in my 20's and are surprised to hear that. I do think that comes into play. I can even see it when I just go to a contractor supply place and they act like, "Honey, you are going to stick your finger in an electrical socket if you 'attempt' that project." 

I have about 3-4 bids still coming in. I am going down there this weekend anyway, because I want to see it for myself and meet with the contractors. The realtor did a video from his phone, but (for example) I want to make sure the hardwood floors need a full refinish and not just a buff or light sand and re-coat. There were also things I saw on the bid we had never discussed  - for example changing out *all* the light fixtures because apparently they aren't to the realtor's taste. He also wants to put some indoor/outdoor carpet in an unfinished basement area that has the laundry and a shower/toilet. I doubt that too; maybe it's just me but it puts me off to see carpet in a bathroom situation and in a place that may or may not have moisture issues - I'd just as soon see the floor painted and put down an area rug. 

@Bryan Blankenship, yes, I think part of it is I feel like if I am going to have to be down there for the weekend seeing the place and sitting around getting bids, I might as well be doing something, it would bug me to just be there with simple things to fix and not doing anything about it LOL. I guess I am weird and I kind of like doing that stuff too, I don't know why. My Mom said she had 8 uncles and they all worked in construction (and she helped them) so maybe it runs in the family lol. 

If I get an acceptable bid from someone who seems decent with good references, I'll go with it though. If this property had established management with contractors I trusted I wouldn't have an issue to leave it to them. This one has been troublesome the past year though. 

...Oh and the $7250 bid did not include the interior painting.

I have said to myself that I would not rehab another house, just hire it out. I said I would just work ON the business and no longer in it...

Recently had to evict tenants on a house I was going to put on the market. I had fully rehabbed this one about ten years ago. Now it almost looks like a “before” photo from flip I picked up, in fact a contractor asked me if it was. 

First bid is from a contractor my realtor hired for $7450. I said that’s quite a bill, I’d like to get at least two other bids and see an itemized list of what your guy is charging. 

Realtor said... he doesn’t know of anyone else available that can bid the job. His contractor then comes back and said he “made a mistake” in billing and drops the price $2200, still not itemizing. I didn’t even look at the new bid. Btw I’m a woman and out of state so, I think some assumptions are being made here ...

I’ve now arranged other bids myself but this is a lot of piddly stuff, 3ish days of work. Honestly the house is mostly disgustingly dirty. Biggest job is interior painting the whole house (but this is only a 700 sq ft house), which I DID hire out because I don’t like doing it, and refinishing two rooms of hardwood floors, which I also don’t enjoy doing but have done many times before... including this house. I hired a professional pest control company to go through it as well. 

Awaiting the other bids but... the house is four hours away - someone stop me from just spending a long weekend there. 😂 

@Nathan Gesner, well I have let my previous property manager go, and am interviewing new ones, all unfortunately while the property now sits vacant and in need of repairs. 

I've been having to contact primarily via email as my mother is in the hospital simultaneously. One property manager just said my questions are not worth his time, the brand of his real estate agency is one of the largest in the world and thus his resume' and consulting fee should speak for itself. Even though it says nothing about managing single family rentals. 

So, I think you are right.  There is a screening process here, that goes beyond just simple questions, ha.

Hi all,

Recently I posted about a property manager I hired, who came to me through a recommendation, whose first tenants placed were the worst I’ve ever had in 20+ years of renting properties. 

Aside from multiple ongoing code violations, neighbor complaints and damages, they moved in extra people/pets, tried to scam the utilities, stopped paying rent and ultimately had to be evicted. 

I am interviewing new property managers but also had a discussion with the current managers to see what went wrong and how the issues might be fixed.

The current property managers tried to reason that in my area/county I would need to expect a higher eviction rate due to the tenants that rent there. He said they posted 60 notices last month with 85-90% being in that county. He said he even had two evictions on his own properties last year. 

Previous to this I had tenants who lived in that house for five years with no issues. This is the first eviction I’ve needed at any property as well.

Is it true that certain areas/counties you need to “expect” more evictions? Or could this more be an issue with their screening processes? 

Thanks!

Yeah that’s a good point. I did have one and I’ll look it up to see if I still do, plus what you listed. Thanks!

Thanks @Nathan Gesner! I actually did these things before hiring but not the website you had suggested. I am checking it out now. I see one of the women listed there whom I interviewed a long time ago (maybe 6-7 years) when I started renting that house. I will touch base with her again but her fee is kind of high. Perhaps it is negotiable like you mentioned. 

One thing was I didn't go into enough detail on their vetting process. I guess when they said they check previous landlords, credit etc I didn't ask how many landlords they go back (thought it was standard to go back at least two, but I guess not...), or when they check credit, what the minimum score/history needs to be. So I need to find out these things more in detail this time around. 

I feel like even being thorough you can miss something!! I had a list that I used to go by from an article on the topic I printed out and kept in a file. I hadn't used it in a while as prior to this as I hadn't needed to find a new PM in many years. I will also refer to your list while doing so. Thanks!

@Nathan Gesner, thank you for your helpful post. I too, thought the tenants should have been evicted sooner but I was not sure what the tenant law said about what "had" to happen in order to be evicted. I honestly have not had tenants this bad in all my years of renting. So I was not familiar with the processes of getting rid of bad ones. I guess you live and learn.

I like that technique with the neighbors. It would get them over their hesitation and let me see what's going on. It is sad if it gets to that point that I need to collect my own "evidence" of what is going on, or drive the four hours down there to see for myself. Kinda not what I hire property managers for lol. 

I am calling around today. I actually just asked another investor in that area who they would recommend - and they recommended the company I was currently using!! But then later admitted they had used him as a real estate agent and not a property manager. Come to think of it the others who recommended him (outside of the references the PM provided) were also agents and may have just known him in the same capacity.

I did just get off the phone with another property manager who is going to send more information to me. I will also check out the website you mentioned. It's actually one of the properties I own that is in the Cincinnati/NKY area; I sold a property up here in SB as a flip instead of holding it and now no longer own in this area. 

@Rodney Robinson, yeah I get what you are saying, thanks. I wouldn't go super low/below market but at the middle to lower end of the reasonable range due to the fact I know the property has "quirks" with the layout. And, would rather have the selection of renters that will stay longer than people who end up being dissatisfied and leaving sooner. If the property had the ideal layout and the new neighbor didn't look like a hoarder (I am kind of annoyed at this, if I had known that house was for sale, I would have bought it as well, the previous resident was neat and it looked good) I would agree with charging more. Also because it had been vacant for several weeks in the spring time, it really needed a price adjustment. 

Right now I am hoping it is still in good condition and rentable. Last year I told these pm's that I was considering selling it so wanted good tenants in there who would take care of it another year. Then... this... ha

@Michael Ealy, @Theresa Harris, thanks, I have started checking around for a new one today. It seems ridiculous that I just got a new one last year, lol

@Theresa Harris the way that town does it is that they send out the citation and then they give a certain number of days to fix the problem. If it is not fixed in that number of days then they start to assess a fine per day. When I would tell the property managers apparently the tenants would then remedy the issue before fines were assessed. 

The more annoying thing is that the code violations go under my name/record. And, I am the one that gets a letter, not the property managers. So then I have to contact the property manager and tell them to fix the problem and they have to contact the tenants and make sure it is fixed. Then I have to follow up to make sure it is fixed. So each one becomes a big hassle never mind the dread when I would see yet another letter coming in from the city. It got to be if a month went by without me getting a violation from the city I would think it was odd lol. I semi joked to myself when I would get another letter, that I wondered what the violation-of-the-month was this time. Usually it had to do with their mess, nonworking vehicles kept on the property, trash, etc. I somewhat think they should have been evicted even before this point but I am not sure what the grounds would be, if messy/eyesore as documented by all the code violations is valid. I had questioned if the outside looked this way, what did the inside look like, and lo and behold there may now also be bedbugs.