All Forum Posts by: Kim Meredith Hampton

I have been in PM for just over 20+ years, and even did multi family for a few years prior. Dont want to scare you, but wanted to be honest. PM is a very stressful job, work 24 hours a day, deal with unhappy tenants and owners who dont want to hear from you about ANOTHER expense for their property. You are responsible for renting the property, marketing, running comps, processing the rental application, knowing all of the statutes, local municipalities and what each HOA or COA want and need from your applicant and want you can and cant do in the neighborhood, preparing lease agreements, collecting rent, posting 3 day notices, dealing with the ever ending excuses of why they cant pay, conflict resolution, evictions, maintenance calls 24/7, finding decent licensed and insured vendors, property inspections, move outs, processing security deposit claims, accounting, the list goes on and on....The funny part is that ALL of this can happen in one day and more.... So many think just collecting rent and unclogging the toilet are all the property manager does and that its easy!! SOOOOO far from the truth. I havent even mentioned the tenant who dies in the property, leave behind all of their crap (abandonnment) or the tenant the refuses to leave and on eviction day, you are there with your eviction team the entire day while your phone and email is going nonstop.

Now that I have scared everyone, I would never do anything else!!! May sound crazy, but I love this crazy business. I love that its never the same day twice, and I have met some of the best owners, who are extremely grateful for what you do, the tenants that are beyond happy because you found them a place to call home, and learning and serving organizations that specialize in property management. 

Get your RE License, you will be happy that you did, network with the people you meet taking your course and find where you fit in the umbrella of Real Estate.

I wish you all the best

You could also add a maintenance addendum outlining each of the items in the home, in addition to a clause in the lease agreement regarding and damage to the property inside, outside, appliances etc....you could put together a small video clip about the home and maintenance to further clarify who, what, why and where.

You are well within your rights to charge them for this damage. Remember that you only have s short amount of time to make the claim on their deposit. 

Hi @stuartfox, would be happy to meet to discuss areas, rents, and fix up costs on any properties that you are interested. We manage homes in the Orlando, Tampa and Melbourne markets. We have a strong network of properties that can be purchased that are off market, with tenants and cash flow. In addition, we have licensed and insured Gc's. fix up crwes for anything and everything

Thats a difficult one here in the Orlando marketplace. The price points have went up significantly over the last couple of years. Pine Hills area may have a few, but not the nicest area, but the rental market here is very strong, so your return would be good too. We also have the other Southern end of Orlando in the Kissimmee/St Cloud area where the prices are lower, rent prices good, but the tenants can be rent challenged at time!! The northern end of Orlando is Sanford, where their seems to be a gentrifaction of the area near downtown Sanford

agree with @tayenguyen

Because I give the vendors volume work, I get them for $99, and that is passed on to the tenant as an "admin fee". We really don't make any money on this, but I find that the third party is extremely helpful when it comes to disputes, and we all know how the tenants like to say that it looks better than when they received the property. Helps alleviate a lot of those issues 

I have my properties professionally inspected several times a year, and the majority of the cost is bore by the resident, but more beneficial for the owner. Everyone (tenant and owner) are given a copy of the inspection( very transparent),

Your maintenance personnel or team should give you a heads up whenever they visit the property to perform any work. 

We have just started charging "pet rent " on a monthly basis. I have seen anywhere between $10-$25

Give notice to vacate, this is not how you want to start out on your first property. Check your law with regard to proper notice. If you want her to leave right away, then possibly offer to give her cash for keys if she doesn't seem to enthused to leave.

A lot of month to month leases   Go in accordance with how she was paying her rent (month to month) , then thirty days notice

Please make an effort in the paper and thru social media. Did you have an application with whom to contact in the event of an emergency? 

Every state is different with regard to abandoned property and death.

Would be helpful if they had a will and who gets what, etc... never let anyone take any items unless you have documentation 

I'm not sure what's the law is in California, but in Florida we can not terminate utilities at all for any reason. Please be careful with that situation.

Best thing to do is pay the bill, then after them after they are evicted, make sure to get a judgement. I have had people come back years later and pay when they wanted or get approved for a loan