All Forum Posts by: Greg Weik

That's a long way of saying you should always enforce the contract to the letter. 

In Colorado, as a licensed broker and an owner of a PMC as well as rental properties, I am required to disclose to tenants that I am the owner of the property.  With my rental houses, if I am showing them to a prospective tenant or stopping by to check on a repair issue, I have no trouble with the tenants knowing I also own the property as well as owning the property management company. 

I would never advocate for lying and saying I'm "just the property manager" to avoid a difficult conversation.  When tenants want to break their lease, they are held to the agreement they signed at the outset - the lease.  The improper termination fee is clearly spelled out. 

I think a better approach for not giving tenants special treatment is this (which is what we do):

"We cannot change the terms of your contract and give you special treatment simply because of your individual circumstances.  If we were to give you special treatment but not someone else with similar but less compelling circumstances, we could easily be sued for discrimination."  This explanation has never been challenged, because it's authentic and tenants understand at that point, that exceptions - while they may initially seem like a "reasonable request"- are anything but reasonable when put into the full context of scalable operations.

Quote from @Joe Chirdon:

Situation: I'm a Realtor. My client owns a property in Steelton Pennsylvania that he needs to sell. Two of the tenants have changed the locks and will not let potential buyers in (they pay their rents). The owner says they are hoarders. The owner's leases are DIY one-page agreements that don't have the 24 hour notice for access clause. I suggested that if he can't get keys and they refuse to let anyone in, his only option would be to evict them. The owner claims he spoke with a district justice who said there is no cause of action for an eviction. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the best way to get these two tenants to cooperate and/or get out. 

Non-renew the leases and sell when the units are vacant.  Selling with hoarders in place probably isn't going to fetch top-of-market pricing. In the future, maybe your client will consider hiring a professional manager with a real lease.  The cost of education is never free. 

Quote from @Kelley Webber:

Hi There! I am completely new to real estate investing and just became a pro member on the bigger pockets website. I have read many books, listed to many blogs, and am ready to purchase my first investment. I have Virginia roots but am based in Colorado. I am a mountain girl and have seen the small mountain towns in Colorado blow up the past several years. I have been to Roanoke several times and see it as an up and coming Mountain town in Appalachia. And real estate is so much more affordable there compared to Colorado. I think it could be a promising area but still uncertain as this is all new to me.

Anyone out there experienced in Roanoke real estate investing?  Any thoughts for a first time investor in the area?

Thanks so much!

 @Kelley Webber I'm in CO and also have VA roots (NoVA/Falls Church) but I'm curious as to why you would not try to invest in CO? Yes, it is more expensive. If budget precludes investing in CO, then I understand, but many parts of CO have (and likely will continue to have) very strong appreciation. Plus, it's a local investment and easier for you to manage.

Appreciation of an expensive property builds wealth faster than appreciation of less-expensive properties.  10% on a $500k house is $50k.  That same market, 10% on a $200k house is only $20k.  

Quote from @Rudy Ratner:

So FB is still a popular platform huh? 
I am a first time owner occupied landlord and have an entire unit to rent (preferably to professional or small families

@Greg Weik If I were to advertise on the platforms you mentioned (apartments.com, homes.com etc..) does each one take fees or is it free?

@Rudy Ratner Zillow is free, FB is free, but the other platforms we list on are part of our MLS subscription so I'm not sure what the cost would be for a private landlord.

Depends.  Zillow tends to be better for higher-end properties based on the demographic that uses it.  FB marketplace is more popular for the rent-by-the-room crowd and private landlords.  Zumper tends to get a lot of traction in the Denver market.  We also push to a lot of other sites though, apartments.com, homes.com, Realtor.com, etc.  Nextdoor is another good place to advertise.  We still use Craigslist too and we still find tenants from that platform. 

Marketing quality and responsiveness need to be on point.  Any media is reliable, you just have to have careful pre-screening questions and criteria. 

Interesting. Is STR the area you are interested in? Do you have a real estate license?

Depending on your exposure to property management, you may (or may not) find that learning PM has far more value than just learning to manage your own properties.  If you really learn PM the right way, it's a game changer in terms of creating wealth without risk.  This is assuming you learn and then start your own PMC. 

I think the question is what kind of PMC has offered you the position?  If they are average, you may not learn as much as you hope.  Ultimately, you need to learn process, procedure, scalability, technology application, and logistics, along with the law. 

Quote from @Nathan Gesner:

I own a property management company, but I use my company/employees to manage my properties and I charge myself a property management fee. I also have a vacation rental and have hired a property manager for that, even though it's located 30 minutes away.

My personal freedom is more important than a few more dollars. Doing everything myself may build wealth 5 - 10% faster, but at what cost?

 ^^ This.  Same path I'm on.  I own a PMC but my rental properties are managed by the PMC the same as all the other clients.  I pay the fee, I let the company run its processes. My rental homes are all in LLCs, so my Team usually doesn't even realize if they are working on one of my properties.  No special treatment.  This allows me to evaluate our company systems more from the client's perspective. 

Even if I didn't own a PMC, I would hire one for my rentals.  Time is the asset you never get more of. 

Quote from @Joshua Stein:

I'm one year into having a property manager take over one of our properties, it's mainly great because that income is now (almost) truly passive - probably requires less than 1 hr of time each month.

However, my PM seems to have had a bit of trouble scaling. I'll ask for them to do something (HVAC tune-up, turn off exterior water before winter, etc) and, while they'll initially acknowledge the email, I usually have to follow up multiple times to confirm the task is completed.

Is this a pattern with most PMs? What are your general expectations of a PM and when/how do you generally know it's time to look for a new one?

I'm trying to gauge if I'm being too type A and need to let go a bit, or if I'm underestimating what a PM should do.

 What you've described sounds like probably most client/PMC relationships.  What you're describing sounds to me like a problem with systems and probably not people.  Usually, the people at the PMC want to do a decent enough job, but if the right systems are not in place, they cannot consistently deliver. 

Also, it's important - as others have said - for you to understand the dynamics at play.  Let me use one of your examples to explain what I mean:

HVAC Tune Up:  Now this is something the tenant did not request, so the tenant probably doesn't care that it gets done.  This means that the PM can create a WO and send it to the HVAC company, but then the PMC has two options: 1) Trust the HVAC vendor will schedule with the tenant and get this done and send the invoice or 2) Set a reminder to follow up on this every day until it's done.

Now, if you're in PM, you can see that #2 above probably costs money and has a low ROI. The only party pushing to get this item done is you, and there is just not pressure from any other side for the PMC to continue to follow up with this. The way I see it, the PM in this situation is really relying on what is probably a 3rd party vendor, to be organized and get it done. I know we have a really good HVAC vendor who is extremely organized (part of why we like them) but in reality, this is more the exception than the rule. So if the PMC is expected to do #2 in my example above, how many other situations like your HVAC tune up are they setting reminders to follow up on? This could be an entire 40 hour/week payroll position if this is what they are doing.

Turning off the exterior water before winter (maybe this means disconnecting hoses?):  This is one where the PMC absolutely should have a reminder set and ensure it happens.  

At my company, we do have a task called "following up with open work orders to ensure completion" - but the truth of the matter is, that this is lower on the daily priority list than many many other tasks.  It has to be.  We strive to be the best company in the world, but the nature of PM is that we deal with thousands of micro-transactions every single day, and we have to determine triage on those items, even with great systems and checklists. 

TL;DR: I think you should set communication expectations with your PMC and make sure you guys are on the same page! 

@Anthony Hidalgo, I'd be happy to chat with you and at least help to point you in the right direction.

You can do PM yourself - many landlords do.  But like a lot of DIY projects, it may seem "fine" until it's completely off the rails.  There is so much legal knowledge you need to acquire -the laws are changing faster now (at least in Colorado) than I've seen in the 15+ years I've been in PM. 

I'm also a USAF Veteran and I love our military clients.  My company currently manages about 550 doors between Colorado Springs and Fort Collins and we are poised for considerable expansion into the CS area (I think we are up to about 30-40 doors down there now.) 

Anyway, let me know if you are interested in some help.  I'm not a sales guy, but I can tell you what my company can/cannot do to help you.  If you're considering getting into PM when you retire, the stars might just align, because I plan to have a healthy number of doors and a need for a satellite office in the Springs.  Maybe you could work for us or buy our doors and take them over.  :) 

Quote from @David Williams:

Hi All, I'm in search for a 5 star long term property management company! TIA!

 Hi, @David Williams are you looking for yourself personally or someone else? 

I'd be happy to chat with you about what we can offer at RES.  I believe we are the best in the business, and we do serve the Denver area.