All Forum Posts by: Kim Younkin

Hi, @Nathan Fesnak, and congrats on all the work you've done to kick off your PM business. I thought I would chime in because I've managed the marketing for our investment realty and property management business for the last year and have studied, applied, and learned a lot.

Like Jason said above, definitely get a software platform specific to PMs. We use Rent Manager. Our owner / broker, David Panzera, would be a good person to reach out to here on BP if you'd like to ask specific questions about its features, customer service, etc. I think he bought it at least 3-4 years ago now.

However, I have to disagree with Jason above when he says that tenants are not your customers. They absolutely are your customers since they're going to be the ones calling your office daily for every issue under the sun, and if you don't have a good office manager with a great customer service disposition who knows PM issues (maybe that person will be you in the beginning), you'll be sunk. Tenants will jump online in 3 seconds flat and give you a bad review. Believe me, it happens all the time, even when you DO have a good office manager who knows PM and a good office team. If you have vacant units with no tenants in them, it doesn't matter how many owner-clients you have because soon, there won't be any more. They'll fire you and hire someone else.

That said, you DO have to attract owners and keep them for your business to be successful, and the best way to do that is the same tried and true method -- provide excellent service, be accessible, return phone calls from owners and tenants, and do business with integrity. The primary reasons people switch PMs is lack of communication that results in frustration and higher cost to owners. Be there for your owners and your tenants, add value to their lives, and they'll stay.

From a marketing standpoint, I have been doing a mix of things this past year to generate leads for PM. Creating a robust website (with blog posts that add value and increase Google search rankings), doing lead gen with direct mail postcards, meeting people around town to develop relationships of all kinds, etc. I have used fourandhalf.com's ideas a LOT -- they do marketing strictly for PM companies and have a free eBook you can download. I just got a quote from Google on pay-per-click, which we might switch to if the direct mail flops, but that's TBD. Small budget for marketing right now. We rely a lot on word of mouth, too, since we've been around for awhile. :)

Good luck! PM me or David any time if you need to ask a question.

Best, Kim

I agree with the posters above, Simen...student renters here in Columbus, OH at The Ohio State University would not need staging photos to be interested in a renovated unit near campus. They would jump on it in a heartbeat after seeing regular, well-presented photos. But that's this market, so do what others in your market are doing. Sounds like you're on the right track! 

@Krystal Baker, that's not acceptable. We start marketing the vacancy on our website after we get a tenant's 30-day notice, even if we have to use old pictures. And we don't bid out jobs for turnover work because we have relationships in place with vendors who we know do a good job every time, even if they're not the rock-bottom rate for the service. They're ready to go fast, within a month at the very latest right now since it's moving season. I'd advise a new PM too. Good luck!

Hi, @Robert James and yes, wow, congrats! Love to hear how you did that. Were they on- or off-market?

A guy named @Sarnen Steinbarth reached out to me here on BP yesterday about his Fort Collins, CO-based company called TurboTenant. Maybe look him up and reach out? The way he explained it, they'll do what you say you need. 

Hi, @Jeremy Hunsberger. Great goal. A few things I'll mention since one of our investors just bought a 22-unit this year. 1) Don't buy a complex where you think it's apartments but find out it's actually individually-parceled condos and an HOA. 2) Get pre-approved for commercial financing so you can pull the trigger when you find a complex you want to make an offer on. 3) Do full-scale research on the city and area you want to buy in first; i.e. develop a business plan for your MFH investment strategy just like you would any business you start. MFH investments are a different animal than SFH investing. Good luck!

Hi, @Simen Gundersen. I think it depends upon what class of unit you're renting out. I have to say that I wouldn't spend the money to stage a unit that doesn't rent for BIG bucks, like a vacation rental property where you can pull down $12K for a week, because that's just too much expense. Take good photos with a high-res device that will translate well digitally, write a great ad, and advertise it well online, and you should be good to go. We wrote a BP blog post on marketing rental properties. Check it out here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/7712/49481-how...

Good luck!

Hi, @Chris Wood. How exactly would that differ from a company like FabCo? We use them. We pay $100/yr for our membership and $10 per screen, which can be a manageable cost for even a small investor. I haven't researched it but I imagine there are other businesses that can screen economically for smaller investors. Is this the kind of company you mean?

Hi, @Jessica Hood! Love this thread and hearing about all of the great research you've put into this. I met a man at a local investors' meeting last year who loans private money out of his self-directed IRA. I will PM you with his name and maybe you can reach out to him. He's very approachable, and has been a real estate agent for a few years and is also an investor, so he could be a great resource either way. Good luck!

Kim Younkin

You're welcome, @Account Closed. I will send you a message.

Hi, @Angie Meeker, yes I think people would really appreciate that. And if you have the time and knowledge to do that you could get a lot of traffic to it that might help you with your personal investing growth goals i.e. new connections. Here's what @James Wise did https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/4704/42419-cleveland-neighborhood-grades.