All Forum Posts by: Joyce Lai

Anyone else having as much trouble as I am with Great Jones in the Palm Bay, FL area?  I have never gotten an accurate monthly disbursement from them since I started a few months ago.  I always get paid less than I should.  There are are always errors.  I get charged for extra lawn mowings etc.  They sell themselves as a tech company where everything is automated, but nothing works.  They promise all invoices will be uploaded to show that they don't upcharge, but invoices are rarely uploaded.  Support is awful.  No one answers their phone number.  Property manager takes weeks to respond.  I spend more time checking for errors every month and trying to get help than I do just managing the property myself.  

@eddit T.  We have just a couple down there to test things out to see how we like doing the out of state investing thing.  And where do you invest?

I invest out of state in Florida near the Space Coast.  So far it has worked out well.  Like many others, it just doesn't make sense to buy in a metro area like Manhattan.  Ownership in places like that is more of a luxury (you can do all the interior decorating you wish) and less of a good financial decision.  I'm open to looking into other parts of the country with good numbers and where I can find a good team.  @Michael Henry, I would be interested in learning more about the properties and areas you work with. 

Thank you for everyone's response!  From my experience (and I am new at this), people mostly just forget and some are not smart phone savvy, especially vendors outside of large metropolitan areas. 

@Penny Clark good tip about the tenant file.  I should start a Google folder to keep all these pictures.  I have a paper file right now, but not one to keep things like this.

@Manolo D. I will definitely consider doing that in the future.  So far, the work I need are relatively short and isolated.  But in the future I should definitely do something like that for larger projects.

@Bill Devola I hear you that asking for pics is a tough way to manage repairs while out of state.  I am not at the point where I need a full time property manager.  So far every contractor I have used is based off of at least 1 recommendation from someone who has used them before.  If you have any other advice or wisdom about what more I can do while self-managing from out of state, please do share!  I'm always trying to improve.

The consensus here seems to be to write it into the contract and don't pay until you get everything you contracted for, which would include getting photos.  I will definitely do this from now on!

Hi @Zack Hawkins - trying to get a sense of what is market.  I find that most service providers use stock form contracts and so they're usually reluctant to add or remove language from them.  Do you usually amend the terms of or attach addendums to contracts provided by the contractor?  

I invest out of state in single family rentals.  Since I am not there, I ask the contractors/handyman to help me take before and after photos of the job.  I want to be able to have a record of the work product so that I can ensure that it is fixed properly and so that I have a record to the tenant that something has been fixed.  

However, more often than not the contractor forgets to do so.  Does anyone else have a similar problem?  Any advice?

Are there any apps or programs that links final payment to the contractor submitting photos? 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

I have a similar problem too.  Keeping track of these things can be such a pain!  One thing I am testing out is using something like IFTTT to automatically transfer the pictures of my receipts into a folder in Google drive.  If you have any tips, I would love to hear them!