All Forum Posts by: Jonathan Bigelow

@David Hooper, @Nathan G., thank you for your replies. David, I'll check into Mountain n Plains. Nathan, you make a lot of really good points. 

Hi BP folks!

My wife recently inherited 11 units (4 buildings) in Fort Collins and we are seeking a property manager as we're out of state.  She's interviewed several but is not comfortable with the terms of their contracts and they seem resistant to modifying/red-lining their terms (note: my wife is a contract attorney, so part of the question here is "are we being too stringent?").  

All County was her first choice, but their contract requires that she grant them blanket indemnity, even for their own negligence.  In other words, should they hire an unlicensed electrician who faultily wires a socket and burns the building down, they have zero liability (extreme case, sure, but it would apply).  They also charge a lease renewal fee of $250 (the existing tenant stays, but she pays regardless - is this normal?  I'm thinking not....).

Stegner seems open to negotiating indemnity, but there are so many fees in the contract, she feels like she'd be getting nickel and dimed.  For example, they have a clause that says if she terminates the contract with them at any time while a tenant is under a current lease, they're owed 6-months management fees.  How does that even work with 11 tenants who are on different lease schedules!?!  She'd never be able to cancel without paying YEARS worth of rent.

Can anybody recommend another manager that we should consider?  Alternatively, does anybody have experience with either of these companies that might sway us to put aside some concerns?  

She's willing to pay 10% of rents collected (although, she'd appreciate a volume discount, but I'm not sure if 11 units is enough to warrant that (?)), and is fine with leasing fees, eviction fees, early termination fees, etc., but we are having trouble finding somebody with the right fee schedule on the right terms.

Thanks for your help!

Since there's some new interest in Roofstock, I thought I'd post my experience which, unfortunately, hasn't been as stellar as others.  I am not intending to knock Roofstock at all and hope to be a customer of theirs in the future, but my first shot with them has been disappointing to say the least.

I found a house that I liked in a decent area in Georgia (most of the GA properties are either in the boonies, in "war zones," or areas with high vacancy).  I live in Atlanta so I was able to drive by and take a look; the house was really cute.  I was excited to say the least.  The asking price was over the market price by a good $10k, so I "negotiated" with the seller back and forth 5 or 6 times before we landed on a number we could both live with, though I was still paying more than I wanted to for the house.  The numbers worked, however, so I was ok with moving forward.  I put "negotiated" in quotes because there's no way for you to justify a lower price to the seller (and I had plenty of reasons: comps, repairs, etc.) why they were asking too much.  You simply submit a dollar amount and the seller accepts or rejects it.

After the offer was accepted by the seller, Roofstock was quick to act, putting me in touch with a mortgage broker and an insurance agent.  I signed the contract, applied for a loan, and talked to Roofstock's insurance agent and a few others.  About 3 weeks later I got a call from Roofstock indicating that the buyer had stopped paying rent the month before I moved ahead with the purchase and the current owner was going to evict them.  Roofstock asked me what I wanted to do.  I said that if the seller could turn the place over and get a new tenant within a reasonable amount of time, I'd stick with the contract.  It was a good house, after all.

Another few weeks go by and Roofstock calls to advise me that I cancel the contract.  Things were taking longer with the eviction than expected.  The seller was still interested in selling me the house, but they didn't know when that was going to be.  Deciding I didn't want this dragging on forever while being legally bound to the offer, I decided to cancel the contract.  Roofstock said they'd keep me updated on progress as the house was turned and new tenants were found.  That was 3 1/2 months ago.

I've emailed and called Roofstock 5 or 6 times since then.  They tell me that things are just taking time.  There were problems getting the gas and electric out of the evicted tenant's names.  The turnover took longer than expected.  Nobody's renting during the holidays.  They usually get back to me 3 or 4 days after I contact them asking for a status update.

So now I'm here with a hard pull on my credit for a mortgage I don't need and dozens of hours sunk into preparing to buy the house.  Updates from Roofstock have been terrible, but I've given up at this point.  I don't think any of this is necessarily Roofstock's fault (aside from the lack of communication when things didn't go perfectly).  Yes, the house was still listed on their site showing that it was occupied and the tenants were current with their rent, but that's really more on the current owner of the house than Roofstock - how would Roofstock know?  So I'm only frustrated with the communication, but it's definitely not been smooth sailing for me.