All Forum Posts by: Justin Joseph

I have a rental guarantee in place with the Seller of a property I bought (guarantees my first 12 months rent, regardless of the property's tenant status) in Indianapolis.  The company has undergone sweeping changes in the past 4 months and are almost completely unresponsive to me at the moment.  They are one month behind making reimbursement payments for the vacant property (tenant had to be evicted) and I am doubting their willingness to honor their agreement.

I am out of the area and am looking for a lawyer who might be able to assist me if I need to take this to small claims.  I am going to re-read the agreement and make sure I give them appropriate notice if it comes down to that, but assuming they stop paying, it will be a claim for 3-6 months of rent.

In case anyone is wondering who the company in question is, it's Vision Equity (VE).  I did several deals with them and they were once a very good company, but like I mentioned they underwent wholesale changes and are now a complete disaster that I wouldn't advise anybody to get anywhere near.

Thanks for any recommendations or referrals!

@Marc Cunningham thanks for the feedback from the PM perspective.  This is not something I would normally be considering.  I have never to this point, and did not have any intention for the future of personally contacting tenants, but things change I guess.  I will probably try to do it as anonymously as possible if I call for the reasons you mentioned.

Appreciate your thoughts!

And I don't know if it's acceptable to contact tenants directly as an owner or if it poses some sort of threat to me I should be aware of.

@Joseph Catalano I am.  I have another company lined up.  However, I have rent and maintenance guarantees in place on two of the properties that are extremely valuable to me financially.  So I am trying to stick it out with the company until those agreements expire.  The other two I am planning to switch shortly.

However, I don't want to lose the tenants I have in place if they are solid tenants, so I would like to try and find out if this whole mess is really the tenants or if it is the cause of the PM Company.

Hi Everyone,

I have what may or may not be an odd issue and idea.  My former property management company recently sold their portfolio to another company and went out of business.  Before the sale my portfolio was well managed, I had (what I thought were) good tenants in place, and life was easy.  The company they sold their portfolio to is headquartered in Michigan and had no current operation in the City (Indianapolis) of the portfolio they bought.

Since the switch, my portfolio has gone from easy and successful to a disaster.  One tenant was evicted less than two months after the new company took over, and another was almost evicted, but paid to get current.  Now another tenant is late on their rent and has put in a couple of maintenance requests.  

What I am wanting to do is contact the tenants and get feedback on their experience with the new property manager.  My experience has been downright AWFUL.  I cannot get a hold of anyone to answer any questions, and there is supposed to be some coordination with the remnants of the old company (to honor previous agreements through their completion) that has been a disaster as well.  I am beginning to wonder and suspect if all of the problems with my once docile portfolio is related to this change that was forced upon me and I'd like to find out how it has been for the tenants.

Does this sound like a bad idea to anyone?  I have copies of leases on all my properties so I have contact information for the tenants.  Would calling them directly be inappropriate or potentially harmful to me?  Any suggestions on a better way to get feedback?

With my old PM I had considered sending out an invitation to do a feedback/satisfaction survey with a small prize, but this seems more urgent and pressing than that.

Any thoughts and ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Justin

Thanks a bunch @Joe Fairless, I'll PM her and see if she has any recommendations.  I am still looking, so I'll take all the names I can get!

For anyone visiting this topic recently, please disregard my earlier comments.

VE and their PM service, VPS, have gone through substantial changes as the Indianapolis market has continued to rebound and I can no longer recommend them.  Before their PM wing (VPS) sold its portfolio (which happened two months ago) they became extremely unresponsive.  I have experience the same thing with VE and am unsure if they are even still "in business" in Indianapolis.  

They seemed like good folks, and I am still happy I did business with them at the time, but I would sincerely avoid working with them at this point in time as they appear to be very unsteady and not the least bit dependable.

@Brian Rhodes who did you end up selecting to manage your property if you dont mind my asking. I have had recent experience with Barron that left much to be desired and am looking for a backup manager.

Thanks!

Justin

Looking for recommendations for Property Managers in Indianapolis. Have properties throughout the City, so would be hoping for someone willing to serve Section 8 as well as better areas in Lawrence and Warren townships.

Thanks!

They are another Guru course company. They are and are not a scam in my opinion. I signed up with them (I do for the most part consider it a mistake at this point) a couple of years ago. They have some good information available, and like any other club you have a lot of like minded individuals who want to be successful. As far as I know they are still pushing Short Sales and "Door-Knocking" which I think most of us know is a dying (or dead) strategy.

I say I consider it for the most part a mistake because the information they provide is available anywhere and a lot cheaper. I find some redeeming value in my decision to sign up with them because I met some great people who I consider friends now and who were very influential in my early development.

So take it for what it is....