All Forum Posts by: Jake Knight

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. 

I'm not familiar with the laws in Cali but they would need to be in violation of the lease for you to evict them.  You may also wait until the lease expires and just give them notice.  I assume that's law in every state.  Good luck!

Also, if you have a way to advertise the rent as coming soon in the meantime, you can get the word out early.  Our tools enable a waitlist option to see the property once it becomes available.  Also, we don't do this but you could arrange showings that last month they're in there if it's in their lease.  Good luck!

I have quite a few that I'll list below however it will depend on what you mean by relatively low acquistion cost.

For short term, you'll want to be in trendy areas like Broadripple, Holy Cross, Fountain Square, Bates Hendricks, Old Southside, Garfield Park. All of these neighborhoods are also good for LTR as well.  Our city is really inconsistent so appreciation values tend to be more street to street.  Obviously, the burbs out past 465 can be good appreciation markets. Let me know if you have any questions about specific areas or neighborhoods.