All Forum Posts by: Craig Power

Hi everybody!

I have a small brokerage in Boston, and I'm hoping to put together a list of tips for our closest landlord clients. Here in Boston the rental market has changed quite a bit. Demand just isn't the same, although I'm optimistic about the spring which is our busiest time for rentals.

As for tips so far, I've been telling people to 1) be flexible about deposits 2) be flexible about paying broker fees 3) consider incentives to keep good tenants 4) pay close attention to your competition's pricing and 5) team with agents to collect good marketing material for your apartments whenever you can. 

What I saw in our rental market last year was pretty simple: If you weren't proactive about paying fees, changing deposit structure, etc you were more likely to have vacancy. I think that was the biggest lesson: be proactive. 

I bet you fine folks on BP could offer some useful tips. Please let me know! Thanks!

@Katie Beth welcome to Biggerpockets! There is literally endless content on here and it's almost always worth reading.

My tip would be for the short-term rather than your long-term goal of $20K a month. I would say to focus on optimization. Do a comparative analysis and see if you can raise rents anywhere. Take a hard look at your expenses and see where you can shave a few dollars off. How organized is your accounting? I'm probably not telling you anything you don't already know, but if you use any accounting programs like Quickbooks it could help you identify areas for improvement. That's how any professional property manager attacks this stuff, like balancing their own checkbook.

A lot of investors on here think big, to their credit. I'm still small potatoes so I can't help but focus on saving a dollar here, dollar there. Utility costs, energy saving programs, regular maintenance costs, every little bit helps especially in the early stages!

@John Gerwatosky

Side note to my last comment, don't you love when people cite contracts, then get upset when you do the same?

"According to the contract you owe us a thousand dollars even though we clearly haven't performed"

"I didn't sign the contract"

"Whatever dude you're shady, who even mentioned a contract? Doesn't a handshake mean anything to you??"

Sorry I'm getting carried away. I just enjoy justice. Good luck with everything!

@John Gerwatosky

I agree that the letter from your attorney should work although I know many property managers who will step over dollars to pick up dimes. If you really want to win an argument with a property manager, you need to make it a bandwidth issue for them. They only have so many hours in a day/week/month to tend to x amount of properties. Honestly the key is making this guy feel like he will have to fight for every last penny. Hope my fellow property managers aren't mad at me for saying this.

For my own management contracts I'm not chasing $430 from a dissatisfied client with two properties (at least not for more than a few days). That time could be spent developing new business.

I would definitely recommend Sears and Home Depot as stated above, especially because it doesn’t sound like those online companies will take away your old appliances. Maybe I’m wrong? I admittedly don’t have any experience with them. I just know for me it would be a pretty huge headache trying to dispose of an old useless stove or refrigerator.

Sounds awesome. Congrats! Do you already have a property manager in place that you use? Is it an area with a lot of renters? Either way sounds like you ran the numbers and this will be a great situation for you. 

Not sure this helps but as a last resort, it doesn't hurt to ask the current tenants about simply shortening their lease. Maybe to a 6 month term, or maybe to a June 30th or May 31st expiration. Everyone's situation is different, who knows. Some tenants are more receptive than others to this type of thing of course.

It makes sense for them to not have to seek your approval for any costs below $500. They are your manager after all, and rather than having them sending you emails waiting on approvals all day it makes sense they want the authority to act promptly on smaller issues. 

With that being said, this is still a little excessive to me. The one-time transfer fee per property is kind of funny - do they even want new contracts? Other PMs on here, do you see this a lot? I can tell you most offices in my market are not charging the owner just for inheriting tenants on a new management agreement... Would be interested to hear people's thoughts...

@Anne Leger Considering the same approach here, looking for ways to convert a property to include a 1 bedroom in-law unit to rent out. Seems like the best way to get some skin in the game! Good luck!

I stopped funding my 401k as well due to no match. I still contribute regularly to a pair of mutual fund accounts, I refer to one of them as my "retirement fund" but ultimately the goal is for my retirement to be funded by future real estate investments.