All Forum Posts by: Brandon Snyder

I coordinate maintenance for a property management company in Los Angeles.  We have a total of 1,576 units and I am pretty much forced to use our in-house maintenance staff for about 75% of our requests.    

The problem is that we only have three men in our in-house maintenance staff to service all 1,576 units, and many tenants frequently wait days, weeks, or even longer to get service.  I strongly believe that this is not working.

For an operation this size, how many in-house staff should we have if I am forced to give most of our requests to them?

Thank you very much for your input!  I really appreciate it!

 I live in Torrance, California, and I have a room for rent in a house.  There are a total of four people living on the property; myself, my landlord, and two other tenants.  

In passing, I had mentioned to my landlord that I'm going to start looking for a place for me and my girlfriend, but I did NOT give him written 30-days notice (it's a month-to-month lease).  But he started looking for a new tenant already and found one.  This tenant is going to move in on June 1st, I will take my landlord's room, and he will live in his trailer in the driveway.

But I don't want to move into his room!  He has no intention of moving any of his stuff out and I have to move my stuff in!  It's going to be completely cluttered!  I've been beating my head against a wall to find a place, but I don't know if I can do it before June 1st.

What can I do in this situation?  What he did was illegal, right?

I'm afraid you misunderstand.  This property manager is my boss. 

The owners of the buildings decided to manage the buildings on their own, but they hired unlicensed individuals (except for me) to manage their residential apartment buildings.  It's only a 5-person team, not including the owners.

My supervisor is unlicensed and is overstepping her bounds, and she should not be doing that.

Okay, I've copied text from a landlord law book, and I have annotated each of my property manager's infractions against the rules set out below.  Would CalBre have a case to investigate?

***

Licensing requirements:

Owners of real property can perform all leasing activities for their property without needing real estate broker’s license. Similarly, if you hire a manager who lives on the property, that person need not be licensed (1). (B&P SS 10131, 10131.01.) However, your tenant manager can manage only the property the manager lives on (2). If you want this person’s services at your complex across town, the manager will need to take and pass the licensing exam administered by the California Department of Real Estate (or be supervised by a broker explained below).

The rules are somewhat tricky for managers who do not live on the property.  For example, suppose you want to pay a resident manager to also manage your second property, or you want to hire your retired brother-in-law, who lives in his own home, to manage your apartment complex.  Unless each obtains a real estate license, they cannot take the job unless they will be supervised by a licensed broker or real estate sales person.  Even then, they will be able to assume only the following duties, and only at a single location (3):

*Accept signed leases and rental agreements.

*Provide information about rental rates and other terms and conditions of the rental, as set out in a schedule provided by the owner, and

*Accept deposits, fees for credit checks, and other administrative duties, security deposits, and rent

*Provide preprinted rental applications and respond to applicants’ inquiries about the application

*Show rental units to prospective tenants

As you can see, a non-licensed, non-resident manager is limited to performing rather routine tasks that don’t call for initiative or decision making.For instance, this manager would not be qualified to negotiate a lease (4), deal with late rents or other violations of the rental agreement or lease (5), or appear in court on your behalf (6).

(1) My property manager does NOT live on any of the owners properties.

(2) My property manager is unlicensed.

(3) My property manager supervises 10 different properties.

(4) My property manager has negotiated leases for 12 years without a license.

(5) My property manager has dealt with late rents and violations.

(6) Unknown

My property manager is practicing real estate without a license in California.  I checked her name against the CalBre database.  If I file a complaint with the BRE, and they issue a desist and refrain letter, what happens if the "property manager" ignores it and continues to practice property management anyway?

I had read an article from C.A.R. about mortgages, and I wanted to ask a few questions about what I read.  You can read the whole article here:

https://www.mba.org/2017-press-releases/january/mortgage-applications-decreased-over-two-week-period-in-latest-mba-weekly-survey

What does seasonally adjusted basis mean?

In the article, it reads:

"The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 12 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from two weeks earlier"

Also in the article, it reads:

"The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 2 percent from two weeks earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 41 percent compared with two weeks ago and was 1 percent lower than the same week one year ago."

What is the purchase index? Is it simply a measure of how many properties people are buying? Why is there such a large discrepancy in the two indexes, and why are they both relevant/significant?

Thank you in advance for your attention.

Yeah, my MLS system has Realist too, but no phone numbers are posted. How am I supposed to call them? The reason why I'd prefer calling them first is because if I call, and they bite, I can prepare a presentation for them later. If I door knock, and they ask me, "How much can we get for the house?" Won't I be pressured to give an answer right there on the spot? On the other hand, I suppose I could access the MLS through my smart phone.

I've tried networking a little with other agents outside my office, but they can be pretty catty so far.  It's like they don't want anyone moving in on their "territory."  I'll try reaching out to agents inside my office.  They seem more amicable.  :)

Searching for expired listings is a good idea. I'm working with a call script to prepare for when I start calling. The problem is that when I look up the expired listings on the MLS, the only phone numbers I get is the real estate agent's number. Do I call that agent up and ask for their former client's number?

I like the idea of flyers.  Should I make flyers that simply announce that there's a new agent in town and that I'd like to help?

For the past few days, I've been watching webinars to familiarize myself with using the MLS (South Bay Association of Realtors). It's pretty complicated, but I'm learning, and the agents in my office have been very helpful with that.

And I won't get discouraged.  I know that this is the terrain and for three or four months, it's going to suck.  I am prepared for this, and I've been down roads like this before with my love life.  I persevered, and it paid off big!  So yeah, giving up is not an option! 

Thanks a lot everyone!  You're all awesome!

Hey all. I'm a new licensee in the California South Bay area. It's my fourth day on the job, and I am completely clueless on how to get started. I'm dithering around the MLS, watching webinars that can double as lullabies, and going nowhere. What I need to do is figure out the best way to get started, and get my hands on lists of people to cold call. My business cards are on the way, but until then, I won't be door knocking.

I did have one idea.  I contacted an old school friend who lives in L.A. today, and he told me that most of his friends already own or rent.  They're in the television industry, and in the television industry it helps to be portable, he said.  So I got an idea.  What if I showed him/them a few listings for leases?  It might give an idea as to what I can provide for him and his friends.  The only flaw that I can see to this problem (and I'm sure there are more that I'm not seeing) is what if his friends take those listings, go to the places themselves, make a deal to rent an apartment, and cut me out completely?  Is that something I should be concerned about? 

What's another (and perhaps better) way to get started?

David, thank you very much for that insight.  I'll take that knowledge to heart!  I'd love to reiterate your last paragraph into a cover letter.  Do you think I could do that?