All Forum Posts by: Josh Uadiski

So I have a Duplex in Columbus, OH (Weinland Park) that was recently renovated and I found a property manager that was highly recommend by my Realtor Brokerage. Once the first side of the duplex was complete they found a tenant fairly quickly at $2450/Month and things were going great. They handled everything as they said in the beginning and there was no complaints. The other side was finished in the middle of March of 2022 and they had it listed for a tenant in the beginning of April 2022. My family had moved to Florida and February and with no reason to believe they couldn’t handle the unit, I moved with them once the unit was listed.

It is now about to be the beginning of July and they have still yet to find a tenant for this side(after dropping price to $2100 after they stated comps in the area were going for $2500).

To make matters worse the original tenant they signed for the other side broke their lease early and left before June 1st. This is when we started running into more issues. They advised they would be able handle any unit turnovers and once the tenant left they advised the unit mainly needed paint and it would cost $6500. I asked for a new quote and they said they couldn’t secure quality for a lower price. I reached out to a contractor I used in the past and he walked the unit and did everything they asked and more for $3500. They were happy with the quality after another cleaning are ready to list it.

My question is should I start shopping for a new property manager? They are the only property manager I have ever used as I am fairly new into rentals, they charge the full first month rent of any tenant plus 10% revenue of the remainder of the lease. My concern isn’t the price they are charging but more so the red flags that have occurred in the last 3-4 months that make me believe they are either dropping the ball of this or that since I only have 2 units through them I am not a priority for them. Is it usually for a property to be ready to rent and sit vacant for 3 months ?

Other red flags were once my contractor was ready to walk the unit with them they showed up 20 mins early and said the contractor was still working and they didn’t want to disturb him, when the contractor said he was just doing minor touch up waiting on them. They then said they were behind schedule and couldn’t schedule another walk through for 5 days. Another red flag was that they advised me to remove my existing washer and dryer from the units as they weren’t in the best condition and they said it would be better to have the tenant to bring their own so that we didn’t have to worry about fixing them and that it would also cause them to want to stay in the unit longer. Now that we are having trouble finding tenants they said they found a tenant who would move in if they were provided a washer and dryer and asked if I minded providing one.

I guess I’m asking is this just something that most have to deal with using property managers and I just need to work through it with them ? Or should I look into finding a new property manager?

@Zeke Liston I see you have a 614 number so you may know the areas. Single family is in grove city and duplex is in weinland park. My only thought was that the SF I bought at 90k with 3% down a while ago so I've more than made my money back and the ROI is through the roof. The duplex I've just sank too much into and without appreciation I'm getting like a 5-6% return. And the duplex is over 100 years old and the sf is less than 40. Idk maybe I'm focusing on the wrong things

Hello, I am a real estate agent and investor in Columbus, Ohio. I currently only have 2 investment properties in my portfolio. 1 is a single family home that is currently rented to a long term tenant. The other is a duplex that is finishing up remodeling. I will give some information on those 2 properties and then explain the predicament that I am in. 

The SF is very low maintenance, great tenant, and cash flows $400 a month. I currently owe 77k on the property (4.25% rate fixed) but comps in the area are going for 140k-150k. 

The duplex I purchased at a high price of 485k in February 2020, at the time it was doing crazy numbers on Airbnb and its in an great neighborhood in downtown Columbus that is growing everyday. I learned my lesson the hard way when covid hit and that took a dive and so I was planning on renting out both sides to long term tenants. I was going to house hack until I learned that rents for each side in that area were going for over 2k/month a side and I figured I could get an apartment for 1k/monthly and rent out both sides. After choosing my property manager they did a walkthrough with me and said I could get a better tenant paying more if I updated some things. Long story short I am 6 months into this remodel with unreliable contractors but we are finally finishing up. When I purchased the property my out of pocket was 115k and when the remodel is done I will have around 110k into it but its completely done from top to bottom. Leaving me all in at 225k out of pocket. I currently owe 380k (4% rate fixed) on the mortgage ($2500/monthly payment w/ tax and insurance). I could rent each side for around 2200-2400. I have also factored into my remodeling budget to pay an attorney to help me convert it to two separate condos. A flipper 3 houses down on a replicate property used this strategy and it worked great. So the decision is to continue to rent it out with my property manager at roughly 1k monthly cashflow after expenses, or sell it as two separate condos at 345k a piece which would leave me netting somewhere around 55k before taxes. 

My initial reaction was to just hold it for as long as possible but we have recently decided to move our family to Florida in January of 2022. So my thought was that even though it would probably be better to hold, it may be worth it to sell so that I have plenty of capital to start investing in Florida. I want to start house hacking and BRRRRing as soon as we get down there and this recent remodel has left me very light on cash (roughly 20k). So my question is would you sell this property to be able to do more work in the new market that I am moving to ? Or should I hold here in Columbus, possibly refinance, and start my investing journey a little slower in Florida ? 

Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated. Also if you are in the Florida area (Orlando, Tampa, Merritt Island) and have any advice on investing in these markets, I am always looking to grow my network and bring value any way that I can so please do not hesitate to reach out. Thank you !


 

Hey, my name is Josh and I am relatively new to the Real Estate world. I am joining Bigger Pockets to expand my knowledge in the field and hopefully be able to start investing in the near future. I am currently an IBO with a multi level marketing company which I love and hope so be able to tie the skills I've developed with that into Real Estate.