All Forum Posts by: Greg Weik

 I don't know enough about your situation to give you guidance... may be too late in your case.  Just double-check that in the future! 

Hey @Dan Krupa, it may make sense for you to explore opening a PM franchise, given your experience.  Even if you carved out a niche in Kansas City, MO, a good franchise is going to point you in the right direction for scaling your operation and winning the battle for new doors, as well as maximizing profitability per door. 

Echoing what others have said, screen them as you would screen anyone.  Generally speaking, they are going to be less risk.  

The military escape clause is important to understand.  Sometimes we see military members (who don't know I'm a veteran) pull the TDY (Temporary Duty Assignment) paperwork and claim it's the same as a PCS (Permanent Change of Station), because they want to break their lease.  Ha, nope!

I also agree that the biggest risk will be E1-E4.  Any Officers (O1 on up) are going to be less risky, but I would still let credit scoring guide the process.  For enlisted guys, make sure you get the contact information of their "first shirt."  They will know what that means and it will keep them on their toes. 

18-year-old guys and gals are still going to be 18-year-old guys and gals (the E1s).  I should know, I enlisted in the USAF at 18 years old and served 4 years.  I stayed in base housing, but I know plenty of friends who were definitely not ideal tenants...

Colorado State Representative Ruby Dickson did email me back...  my response to her (which I'm sure will not be answered) is in her text below:

On Thu, Mar 16, 2023 at 11:21 AM Rep. Ruby Dickson wrote:

 I find @April Mattin's experience eye-opening.  Our clients aren't involved with any part of property management.  Things like whether a tenant has a key on move day (we use digital door locks anyway) and having to buy lockboxes... these are things clients should not be burdened with. 

@Torrey De Armas, you have some premises in your post that don't add up.  $1250 "listing fee" to take photos and list a property is certainly not much of a value proposition if that's what's being charged.  Contrast that with our $500 leasing fee which is only paid to us after we've done the marketing, video tour, showings, found tenants and actually rented the property.  We also show properties in person, whereas I believe Nomad uses the "unattended showing" approach.

I can't speak for everyone, but my clients seem to really value the fact that RES handles everything for them.  There is no a-la-carte management with us.  We don't "help with repairs and vendor sourcing", and frankly I don't know what that means.  Part of the job of a PMC is to own every aspect of property management and to see things through. This includes finding and vetting vendors, following up on estimates and completed work, and making sure turnover is as quick and painless as possible.  

Also, our fee is 7% but capped at $149.  Most of our clients pay us $149 and they get full service management. 

Interestingly, in the past few years that I've been watching Nomad, their reviews have gone from a solid 5.0 on Google (mostly fake I assume) way down to a 4.2 now.  Recent reviews are packed with 1 star experiences with the company.  I take reviews with a grain of salt, but it looks to me like as I posted here a year ago, gimmicks are not a recipe for longevity in property management. 

 Hey @Drew we use Propertyware as well and find it to be pretty customizable.  Do you make use of custom fields?  They are the backbone of our operation and one of the main reasons we won't switch to Appfolio (no matter how much they hound us lol)

Hi @Ray Os, my understanding of case law (not statutory, nothing is currently codified as far as I'm aware) is that the maximum "enforceable" penalty for a residential lease break in Colorado is the equivalent of two months' rent. 

You need an ITF in your lease.  An Improper Termination Fee.  Do not call it rent, it's a lease break fee.  

In our case, the ITF is the equivalent of a security deposit plus one month's rent.  In the lease, it's just a number, but this is how it's calculated. 

In the event of a lease break, you claim the security deposit towards the ITF and send the tenant a security deposit claim form informing them they owe the balance of that ITF.  If you place good tenants they will generally pay the balance of the ITF.  

In our experience, the ITF is almost always more than enough to make the client whole.  Hope that helps!

Hey @Jose Raya what's your goal, exactly?

I'd be happy to chat with you - I own (and I'm the employing broker for) a rapidly growing PMC in Centennial (we add about 200 doors per year), managing doors from Colorado Springs up to Fort Collins and all places in between. 

We are also about to start selling franchise units.  Feel free to message me and we can see if it might be a good fit, depending on what your long-term goals are. 

We already see tenants skirting pet fees, deposits, and pet rent by having Emotional Support Animals (ESAs). 

All property managers know that the ESA industry has exploded in the past 10 years and shows no signs of slowing down.  More and more tenants are realizing they can simply go online, pay $70 on a website, and get a letter from a medical professional prescribing their pet as an ESA. 

Having an ESA already opens up every property to a tenant, whether it's listed as pet friendly or not, and with no fees or deposits. 

Like most legislation that has been passed in recent memory, this will only serve to negatively impact the very same tenants the legislators are claiming to be trying to protect.  

Legislatively eliminating pet fees/deposits/rent will ultimately lead to higher overall costs to all tenants for all properties, either with higher rents or higher security deposits.  Should this pass, it will have the opposite of the intended effect, though the effects may be somewhat blurred from the tenant's perspective, as those effects are spread out across entire rental markets and inventories. 

Sales listings are sitting on the market and your clients probably don't want to make another price drop. 

We have a Real Estate Solution: Let's convert those properties over to rentals, as a win-win for everyone.  We manage properties from Colorado Springs, to Denver, up to Fort Collins, and all locations in between. 

We will place excellent tenants (a 700 credit score is our standard minimum), and manage the property effectively.  Your client will have income quickly, their mortgage will be paid, the property well-cared for, and you can have the listing back when it comes time again to sell. 

Best of all, we will pay you $500 when we rent the property as a thank you for the business.  

Discuss this with your sales clients, send them to our website for our pricing and service details, and have them check out our Google Reviews.  When they hire us, they will name you as the referral source and we will send out your check as soon as the property is rented!  303-586-5560  [email protected].