All Forum Posts by: James Feely

@Ben Spader

Given the pandemic, I’d wait for the leases to expire. That’s a pretty serious step up and there’s a federal moratorium on rent based evictions. You could turn your $700/mo rent into $0/mo.

To the long distance landlords, Who is your "boots on the ground" person?  What is your employment relationship with them?  Are they a formal employee?  Contractors?  Vendors?  Is there a way to structure the work to emanate the need to do all the employment taxes/benefits?

I've found myself in the position of needing half a property manager...  I guess I could call it a "maintenance person".  I bought a quadplex, put it under the only legitimate property manager in town, then ended up moving out of state.  The property manager recently resigned.

In AZ, one has to be a licensed real estate agent to be a property manager and execute leases and stuff on my behalf.  At least that's what the old PM told me.  But I don't really need that.  Technology lets me do all the leasing and collect payments electronically.  So I really just need someone to hold the keys, put a lockbox out with a key when needed, walk the property once a month, and to help with tenant move in -  move outs.  All the vendors and stuff I have a handle on and can do it remotely.  

It's probably going to be like $1800 worth of work or less a year.

What are your thoughts on the best way to handle this situation.  Any advice is appreciated!

@Mike McCarthy thanks for the tips. I like your screening method. Will adopt it!

Jason, Carl,

Thanks for your responses. I tried just turning off the screening requirements in the vacancy, and it worked out fine. People are allowed to apply and you can invite them to do the screening manually after they apply. 

Hi everyone,

Is there a way to invite applicants to do the background and credit checks after they have been prescreened?

I have the "require credit check and background check" setting turned on and it's causing a little bit of a problem with applicants spending money when they clearly don't qualify.  For instance, I had someone who didn't qualify based on income try to pay for a background and credit check.  I would like to prevent people from wasting money by turning the background and credit check function off and send an invitation to do so after they pass prescreening.

Anyone know if this is possible?  Is there a better way?

Thanks in advance

@Ryan Valdez

I live in Galesburg now. I decided to self manage. This is my first property without a professional PM. I have learned that I’m not a very good PM. So that’s a valuable lesson for the future.

As a side note, if you haven’t purchased yet, I recommend avoiding the old Victorian houses. It’s difficult to find licensed/insured people to work above 12’ off the ground here. Getting new gutters is no problem. Getting someone to repair two pieces of soffit is difficult.

Also, if you are buying from a local landlord, be prepared to deal with a high level of deferred maintenance. So price that in.

Good luck!

@Ryan Valdez

I talked to Mr. Wilcox a couple times. He was helpful and willing to answer questions I had about the market. He said he would be willing to manage properties for me. He is the only person I know of that openly manages third party properties.

https://m.facebook.com/wilcoxpropertymgmt/

Rumor has it that some of the real estate agents will manage for people, but I haven’t really asked around. It might be worth a little time to call around to the various broker offices in town and ask.

I called several PMs in Peoria and Moline. Most didn’t want to service Galesburg. One told me they would consider it if I brought a large enough portfolio.

@Prasanna Panchamukhi, Did you go with CSE? I have a PM distributing their marketing materials, but can’t find enough feedback online to feel comfortable using them.

If not, who did you end up using?

Thanks,

Jim

@Kim Herrick I realize this was a while ago, but could you tell me who the property managers in Galesburg are?  I've had a hard time finding one to talk to.

Thanks

Thank you @Gita Faust, @Cathie Kovacs 

@Aleks Dahlberg, I'll look into those.  This is the first time I've heard of them.  Thank you.

@Kurt K.  What was the hardest to find mistake you caught from your PM reocrds?