All Forum Posts by: David Woz

Agreed.  Embrace it and try to get some money back from the seller. I have  done that several times.  

Start by finding a good property manager... Pick their brain a bit... 

Being an OOS owner, property management has been the most difficult part.

Finding good rental locations and properties is the easy part :)

Check out your agreement with your property manager.  It will have the details on how to end the relationship.   (Or it should).  

If it is silent, 30 days notice should be fine. 

Any lease in place is still good.  You will just need to update it with the proper info on where they make payments and who to call in an emergency and for routine maintenance . 

If it is vacant, it shouldn't be too hard to get someone in there and get your reports back.   

If there are people in place, they need to make sure they are there on day one to allow your inspector in... Without that agreement, 5 days isn't enough for an option period.

Just my .02 cents.

I’m thinking a “base rent” plus a percentage of revenue?   

Not sure how you would keep them honest..

Insurance tends to be state specific.   Where are your properties?

@Irina Belkofer Yes, purchased in late 2017 for 393,500 with an appraisal for that amount.   The appraised tax was in the 525K range for 2018.. I protested last year by simply sending in the appraisal I had done when I purchased that showed 393K and they lowered it to 393K.

I'm hearing that it should be capped at 10%, putting me at the 433K range.. and I do believe that may be an accurate amount of what it is worth... 

Any Fort Worth/ Tarrant County people out there with knowledge of the caps?   

One would think that if you are capped at 10%, it would be automated and not kick out these crazy numbers.

I have a Duplex in Fort Worth near the TCU area.  It is on the edge of the residential area that is "good" and the more sketchy part of Fort Worth.   The particular area has tons of Single Family, apartments and commercial, but very few duplex's and none that are remotely similar to mine.  (Mine is a 3/2 1800 Sq Ft. each side).

Just got my property tax and it went from 393K to 700K.   Yes, you read that right...   This would change it from positively flowing to me having to make a payment every month...

First, any advice on how to dispute, would be appreciated.  Has anyone actually paid for a professional appraisal?  

Second, Is there a "rule of thumb" on appraising a duplex in an area full of single family?   For example, worth 75% of two single family of same size/beds/baths?   

Just trying to wrap my head around this.

Finally, anyone want to buy a 700K Duplex!   LOL

As someone who is in the market for a property manager myself... Here is what I look at:

1. Website:
   1. How many listings?   Does the amount of listing match how many doors they claim to have?   If they claim 1000 doors and have 3 properties listed, something is wrong.   
   2. Can you tell how long they have been listed?   
   3. Professional photos or someone go in with an iPhone?  Some of these guys are posting these horrific blurry photos that look like there should be a yeti in the background.  
   4. Is Enough info listed that if I was looking, would I want to see this or not? Does it list the basics, square feet, bedrooms/bathrooms/ highlighting the quality schools in the area?  You would be surprised how many miss the basics.
   5. Is it clear on what to do if you are interested?  Call- Email.   I can't tell you how many have NOTHING.
   6. I check the major sites like Zillow and Trulia to make sure they are properly populated there.  Do they have contact info listed in Zillow and Trulia.. many have listings, and just someone's name and no way to contact them.   
2. Front office
   1. I call in as though I was inquiring about a place to rent.   Is it a phone tree?  Do I get a real person?   One PM I was researching yesterday had a broken phone tree when people call in about leasing... when you pressed a button to hear about available rentals, it just started you back at the beginning.  .. I later told him and he told me "most people email" and didn't seem too concerned over it.   SMH. I moved on to another company when that happened.
   2. Does someone actually answer the phone?   This is a major concern and one reason why I'm actually looking for a new PM.  Even when trying to send them new business, nobody is available.   I have a very busy job (that actually pays the bills) that doesn't allow me to take calls... SO when I have time to talk, I need to speak to someone then, not 4 hours later when they get around to calling me back.  
   3. How do they answer the phone.   Some just answer the phone "hello" as it appears things are forwarded to their cell or something.    Can that person who answered arrange a showing and intelligently talk about the property I'm asking about?
3. Fees:
   1. A lot of people focus on the fees that a PM charges them.. That is obviously important... You also need to find out what an applicant gets charged in fees to apply.   Some of these people stack the charges for potential renters and their "fees" just to apply can get into the 300-400 range... and you as an owner will never see that... and then sit around scratching your head why your property is sitting empty and nobody is applying.  
4. Do they own properties
   1. A lot of PM's will try to relate to you and talk about their rentals.  You say you own 9..That would probably scare me away..   I get it, you want to relate and understand what an owner deals with, but In the smaller firms, Im trying to stay away from PM's that also manage their personal properties.   If my property and theirs are both vacant at the same time, I have a hard time believing renters aren't "nugged" towards the owner's property first.   I KNOW of one PM that was waving all the application fees for certain properties.. turns out those properties were his personal properties.  The people paying for his service didn't get the same fees waived.  

Not really a list of what I "Love" to see, but more of a list of deal killers for me that so many seem to miss.

Researched it last year when I did the same.   Ended up just keeping the stairs in carpet.   I don’t find a good product that was durable and cost efficient for the stairs.  

This was almost two years ago.   Not sure if anything new has come out.