All Forum Posts by: Ricardo R.

@Account Closed ok great... and thank you for the kind words. Yeah, I think you're okay as long as you focus on 'Are they doing a good job when they carry out maintenance?' i.e. are they doing what they say they're going to do, are they actually doing somewhat reasonable quality work, etc. etc.... then it's really a non-issue.... are you going to overpay? ... Yes!... but then again you will ALWAYS overpay when you compare it to doing it yourself. I run a management company and I also own bigger properties further away in which I hire PMC's to run them (too far away) ... There are times, when my I feel like my PMC overcharges me for maintenance too... BUT... they do an okay job, and I'd rather over pay (within reason) just for the 'ease' of not having to do it myself (even if all i had to do was oversee an independent contractor) and have them do all the coordinations and post the costs to my ledger, etc. etc. etc. .... I know if I hired it myself I may (or may not) save a few bucks ($50 or $75 or so) but I would have to get 'involved' and would have to do 'things' --- so no.... I don't mind 'over paying' (within reason) for this convenience - when you pay your PMC to carry out these issues what you really have are -- a property manager, a personal assistant and a maintenance contractor all wrapped into one nice and neat little service.... so yeah.. I don't mind overpaying... especially when I know a contractor would probably charge me a smiliar price and probably double if they had to do the exact same things my PMC will do. --- You're right it is a unique perspective.... I have the unique perspective of owning and runnning a PMC myself, hiring and being a customer of other PMC's for properties I own and having the experience of starting as a small one unit landlord to now multiple properties of various sizes and classes. 

@Account Closed ok thank you for sharing... I will say this... they definetely did not overcharge you for the sprayer; they may have even undercharged you for that one, depending on what they had to do. If it's $390 for a doorbell change, wired, all in... ummm... might be on the high-end but it's def. not 'gouging' and def. not unreasonable.... sorry I know it's not what you wanted to hear, again I encourage you to hire those services yourself and you will quickly realize that the trades will charge you the same or likely more, without providing you all the 'extras' like contacting your tenant, or accessing  your property on their own without you present and then locking up, posting it to your property account ledger, etc. etc. --- if they even take the small job at all. I hope this helps, thank you so much for sharing. 

@Scott Johnson great topic! I will try to give you my best, with the hopes that it will help you out and you can leave me an honest review. Okay...

Yes, infact this is specifically what we look for when buying investment properties... undermarket rent. Because they are undermarket, most mom and pop or uneducated 'investors' will just see it for what it is, maybe they'll run some simple numbers, and ofcourse the numbers with the below market rents and the now new purchase price don't likely pencil out and so... they will walk away and keep looking and are usually the ones complaining that 'it's hard to find any good properties in today's market'... where in fact that is exactly where you as a savvy investor make your money. 

Being a savvy investor you realize - as you have mentioned - that the rents are below market a.k.a. value add opportunity... and so becuase of this and because there is less competition due to the reason most other 'investors' are ignoring it right now as I have mentioned. You are able to have access to it and buy it with relative ease and in fact, you can use this as a point of leverage and negotiation with your Seller in echoing to them that the bldg. currently does not cash-flow that well for you and you have to renovate - although your Seller may already be aware that rents are below market and has already priced it accordingly... if this is the case, then just buy it without without using 'below market' rents as a negotiation point. 

When you listen to podcasts or read books or anything else regarding advice on 'buying below market' this is partly what they are referring to... THE MISTAKE however is that most people think that it just means finding something that is easily seen at face value.. for example most think that it's as easy as seeing a 3BD/2BA listed at $200K where every other 3BD/2BA is $300K, so that's what they keep looking for... it's rarely ever that easy and if it was.. you whould have tons of competition if it even stayed on the market at all! ... In most cases it is kind of like this property... You find a property that 'SEEMS' to be a bad deal and 'seems' to produce no cashflow BUT upon a little digging you find that indeed it is a great investment because the rents are below market -- hence, buying below market value. Now ofcourse this is also assuming that the property is priced accordingly as well. 

Personally, assuming you like the numbers... I would just focus on $800/mo. rent and tight cashflow in negotiation with the Seller and especially considering that to get that higher rent you will need to undergo and pay for some upgrades and then.... just buy it. I would just factor in the difference between $800 and $1500 until leases run out as part of my 'closing costs'. 

Now, as far as undergoing the actual updates themselves... I'm sure there a tons of opinions but personally I like to use one of two methods - METHOD 1: Clear out the bldg., carry out your renovations, this makes it easy, no Tenants to answer to or to bother you, clean slate... but no cashflow while underway. - METHOD 2: Leap frog... Carry out renovations one unit at a time, fill it with a new Tenant before proceeding with the next one. -- Again, I have used both, it's a matter of personal preference and the depth at which you are renovating. 

Tenants: Well for sure get estoppel certificates before closing. Then you can either leave them be until they expire, or let them know that you will be undergoing renovations, let them know the new rent and possibly have one tenant living in a existing unit, while you renovate the other side, to which they will move in to the new unit once complete at the new rent rate. However, in my experience inherited Tenants hardly ever workout and even less so when rent is going up by that much. 

I sent you DM on BP, hope you can assist and I hope I have helped you some. 

@Account Closed I see your point... well just reach out to them and let them know that. They will likely clarify as to how or why it's that much, and then it may make sense or make no sense at all, but at the very least just by you doint that, it puts them on notice. So... I cerntainly wouldn't want you to expect time and labor and covenience for free or at a discount but on the same note I wouldn't want you to get price gouged, lied to and taken advantage of either. Can you share what the total cost of the doorbell was? 

@Account Closed it just depends, like I said all vendors and PMC are different, the good ones, which are buisness savvy and coincidentally the ones you ultimately want to manage your unit, usually do (who would want someone that is not buisness savvy managing their unit) -- now some will be fully trasparent and itemize it and others will just roll it into your install. If you're saying they charged $360 to change a doorbell, which includes 1) sourcing it; 2) trip to source to aquire it; 3) aquisition of it and any other materials needed for install, screws, elect. caps, etc.; 4) trip to your rental for install; 5) un-installing the current doorbell; 6) installing the new door bell and wiring it; 7) securing your rental upon exit, clean up and disposal of the old doorbell; 8) trip back to their office --- Umm... Idk... I haven't even factored Tenant coordination if the unit was occupied or things like gas or the time they spend interacting with you about the doorbell, etc...... I get you're point... YOU would certainly do it for much cheaper, likely less that $60 (cost of doorbell) if YOU did it... you would also do it cheeper if you did your own dental work.... BUT you want someone else to do it, now $360 might be a bit steep but it's definetely not far from the mark... heck... an electrician would likely charge similar or more...  why wouldn't you just hire an electrician to do it for you instead?... oh yeah... because they would be similar or more in price, wouldn't  prioritze such a small job and wouldn't include 1) coordinating with your tenant or 2) going to grab the key and locking up or 3) wouldn't install it without you there.... etc. etc. etc. 

The mere fact that someone is EVEN willing to take on such a small task in the first place -- there is value in that and of course they are only going to do it, if you make it worth it to them. Aside from all of this, then why not just buy a plug in wireless doorbell????? 

@Account Closed it's really completely up to them. But ask yourself.... if you called someone... anyone... to get up and go change your doorbell... wouldn't you expect them to bill you for their time starting from when they had to get up from doing what they were doing to going back to doing what they were doing before you asked for that help? --- What if it was the other way around and someone one called you to change their doorbell?.... what is your time worth? 

I can tell you this... we run a PM company, not a general contacting company, nor a maintenance company --- if the owner requests that we (not vendor) do things like change a door bell... you better believe that EVERYTHING including the sourcing and aquisition of the door to the clean up and time to do all of this... will be factored into the price... period; we value our time. But you always have the option of chaning it or doing it yourself. 

@Michael R. how do you file or how do you collect? what's the fine print and exclusions? how long does it take? do you still have to pay and is mostly a reimbursement? etc., etc. etc. ---- For $5,000??? ... Just save your $45/mo. and save for this yourself... trust me... you'll be better off. 

@Richard Ma contact the board

Let them go but account for that on your lease. 

@Connor McGinnis You can put it in your name, do inspection, then take it out of your name