All Forum Posts by: Kevin Harrison

I have no idea how to do that, Feel free to run with this though @Tom Cooper, I am not looking for any kind of recognition. I just thought it would be a tremendous help to people trying to get started, as well as save people from tedious forum posts.

I have a property in GA and I use a property management company. They do similar inspection where they go in and take pictures. I typically have this done 3 months after move in and then every 6 months after that. I don't feel its intrusive. I feel that it is protecting my property. If at the 3 month inspection they find the house dirty or already showing signs of excessive wear I will have the inspection done every 3 months to ensure that my asset is being maintained. If the home is clean and neat then only every 6 months is needed. How else will you know if someone is destroying your property? Do you want to wait until the tenant has moved out and moved on to god knows where to find out they have trashed your place? Or would you rather know sooner while the tenant is still there so you can repair it and ensure they are billed for it? It is much harder to get payment out of someone who is already gone.

As far as being "intrusive" to the tenant, These inspections typically take about 15 minuets and are panned ahead of time with the tenant. 15 minuets every 6 months should not be too much hassle for them.

My wife worried that they would live slovenly and only clean up for inspections but I figure that if they care enough to clean for inspection then they probably are not trashing the place that badly. Things like holes in the drywall and large stains on the carpet or pretty hard to hide. What it really comes down to though is what makes you comfortable, it is your money after all.

I am not saying your contractors are all bad guys who are out to cheat you. What I am saying is that have several keeps them honest. Kind of like lock on your front door. If someone really wants to get in they can, either through a window or enough force, but it keeps the honest people honest. When they know they are going to get all your business with no competition there is no incentive to be competitive, it doesn't make them bad people, it's just human nature.

Although you missed the fact that we generally have a pool of 3-8 contractors for any given task that we use. We have done business with all of them before and will in the future, we just don't use the same one all the time.

Thats just horrible though. I don't understand the peoples logic, what do they gain from trashing a place other than giving you a hard time. I would still press charges if you can because there is no way there is no reocourse to someone causing ten's of thousands in damages.

I have it pretty well figured out now. But I know at least once a day people ask things like "what does Reia, BP, note, 1 and second lean holder, Etc. mean?" It would be much easier for these people to just be able to type them into a search bar and have the definition pop up with some related links. Much like WIKI we the users could go in and add words and edit definitions to keep it up to date and for the most part accurate. This way BP wouldn't have to spend an exorbitant amout of man hours for this, all we would need would be a platform.   

Even better only pay to have the lock smith let you in after you have tried everything else. See if the neighbors have a key or if this is a condo see if the office has a key. I also would not pay to have the locksmith replace the lock. You can do it yourself in about 15 minuets if you are even the slightest bit handy.

You don't just assemble a team overnight, you build a team. Typically you work with people who do the various tasks you need and you just keep using different people until you find one that you are satisfied with. Except for contractors. You always need a back up or comparison contractor otherwise they will get complacent and prices will slowly rise on you over time because they are comfortable and know you will pay it if you are not getting competing bids. I am a building engineer and see this all the time. When we call them on it its usually amazing how fast their price comes down and responsiveness goes up. But we tent to keep 3-4 companies in rotation so they don't get too comfortable and rotate which one we use every 2-3 months or if something happens. It keeps them on their toes.

not to be rude @Cody Breunig, But this site is full of information. if you aren't willing to at least look around the site and try learning some things on your own then why should we do all the work for you?

It would be like me showing up at a construction site and going "ok guys show me how you start building a new construction neighborhood? Tell me everything because I know nothing and haven't doen any of my own research."

if the tub was in good working order then the fault lies squarly with the tenant.

There are several technical schools and a few colleges that offer degrees or certifications in construction management. This is where I would start since you are deployed and cannot be local to learn in person. When you get back state side I would find a local construction company and see if they will let you shadow their GC when you have free time. This will allow you the best chance of getting into your career field having both the school knowledge and some real world experience. Plus who knows, when you ETS the company you shadowed for may just offer you a position.