All Forum Posts by: Jake Knight

You may look at the tenant's ledger to see how good they've been.  I would also make sure there is a deposit and lease in place unless you buy vacant.

You may decide to deny them based on this but I'd also take into consideration their rental history and credit rating as well. An alternative could also be to have them pay a higher deposit.

They're a company so they need to make a profit and it's good to give your PM some autonomy to do the smaller jobs as to not bother you everytime work needs to be done.  If you want full control over this, you may consider self managing.  The contract really should set the table on what working with that PM will look like. 

This is one of the least glamorous aspects of managing properties.  Eviction would be the route I would take.  

Some companies have these fees, as a PM, it's a bad look to charge vacancy fees. You really want your PM to be incentivized to find renters as opposed to getting paid either way.

 Forgot to mention there is no additional charge for that, it's included in our PM fees.  I believe that to be the most common practice at least in my market.

We've always provided accounting statements and most property managers (IMO) should be able to keep a basic accounting.  The software system we use is Propertyware but I know other systems like Appfolio have account keeping.  

We suggest having about 3-6 months of your monthly rent in a savings account in case you face uncertain times such as a long vacancy or expensive repair. Another great strategy is to open up a line of credit to help pay for any large repairs or capital improvements for no less than $25,000

We get about half of our properties from other companies that are tenant occupied so this is very common in my market.  We ask for four main things:

1.) lease and other pertinent docs

2.) Tenant contact information

3.) Deposit(s)

4.) keys

Typically, there is an agreed upon date that they official transition will take place. Ideally, this would be the 1st of the month so you can collect the rent. The most common duration in my market is 30.  Work with the former PM to get the necessary information before that date and reach out to the tenants.  Beyond that, if it's a multi family, make sure you understand if there is a common utility service you need to put your name on so there is no service disruption.  Let me know if you have any questions!

 This is a great list and it goes along with communication but transparency is paramount. I would also add fiduciary to the list.