All Forum Posts by: Lance H.

Hey @Andrew Schultz,

Thanks very much for the reply. I agree what I had mentioned is not a unique selling point, it was just an idea of the type of things people might be looking for.

I really like your ideas for regular property updates,the monthly newsletter, and especially being the central point of the clients team. That seems like it would insure long term clients instead of constant turnover.

Any other ideas? I'm constantly reading complaints on BP of people not liking PM companies, what would you have be done differently?

Thanks

Hi Everyone,

I recently obtained my Broker's license and I'm in process of writing a business plan to start a property management business.

What I'm trying to determine is the best way to set myself apart from the competition. A unique selling proposition. Outside of exemplary customer service (as that should be a given), what would you really love to see out of your PM?

The one example I thought of was the issue many people have with lease up fees as they feel it misaligns the goal of the owner with the goal of the PM. My plan to offset this is to offer a guarantee. You pay a lease up fee, but if tenant does not stay at least 1 year, the lease up fee is waived to refill the unit. Thoughts?

Any other ideas would be really appreciated.

Update to my situation. I decided before making any major moves it was worth talking to my current broker about my thoughts. I hadn't talked to anyone there in a good month or two. As it turns out, the broker had also realized the issues going on and a couple weeks ago replaced the person who was supposed to be in charge of the PM side of the business. I figure that has to be a good sign for this broker so I'll stick with them awhile and see wht happens.

Steven Walter - Thanks for the words of encouragement, it's nice to hear from someone who was able to make it work going independant.

Chad Truran - No you can not start a PM company without being a broker. I will actually be getting my brokers license in Wisconsin as I live right on the border and MN requires you be under a broker for 3 years prior to getting your own broker license. WI has no such requirement.

Hello,

I'll start by saying I'm starting a property management company. I do not plan to do standard sales transactions. My debate is whether I should get my RE brokers license and go it on my own or just have a RE sales license and work under another broker.

I have my sales license and have signed with two different brokers now and I have been thouroughly disapointed. I won't go into detail but even with my limited experience I could tell how poorly they ran there property management business. Not to mention they wouldn't answer their phone if I had a question and the rare case they did answer the phone they couldn't give me even the basic information I was usually looking for.

In my mind reputation is everything, and I'm afraid working with companies like these will tarnish mine. Not to mention, they want non compete agreements, so any business I sign stays with them if I leave in the future.

There are a couple PM companies that seem to be much better, but they actually hire people on as employees instead of independent contractors. They tell you what to manage and you manage it. I would consider working at a company like this for the education, but frankly I make decent money at my full time job and they wouldn't pay enough for me to cover my families expenses. I want to start the PM company as a side business until it builds large enough to warrent going full time.

So, by starting a brokerage myself, I can build it to the level of service and reputation that I expect. My question is, what are the risks and problems that I face going this route?

thought?

Thanks

K. Marie Poe

Sorry, I'm not sure what could have caused it, I wasn't with the bank at that point. I do know it was either Fannie or Freddie backed loan, but I'm not sure if it was done directly buy the bank or through a broker or even possibly just purchased the servicing after the fact.

I was involved with a similar situation at the large bank I work for.

I'll put the full story below, but the result was the borrower played it very well. I originated the loan he negotiated with our executives. Keep in mind this is one of the largest banks in the country and he walked away having us write an in house refinance for ~450k (jumbo loan) on an investment property to combine a 1st and 2nd mortgage at almost 150% LTV on a 40 year fixed rate of 2%; and for the cherry on top, we payed all closing costs!

How that happend in our case the borrower took a loan with us at 300k in 2003. Property value went up to ~600k so he actually went out and took out a HELOC wih a different lender for 150k. The borrower disclosed our loan to the 2nd lender, they of course still wrote the HELOC as the borrower had equity and they just scored and got a 1st position lein.

None of it mattered until 2012 when the borrower went to refi. I was the loan originator for the refi and we of course figured out the title issues. By now the property value was back down to about 275k. We were going to refi our loan under HARP but found out we couldn't because we were now in 2nd position. On top of that, the borrower had now moved out so this was now an investment property.

We of course had bank executives involved at this point. At first they tried to just deny the refy and move on. Borrower was an inteligent guy and quickly figured out the spot he had us in. He threatened to just stop paying as he was making payments on a severly upside down, cash flow negative property that he wasn't living in.

In the end the borrower beat the bank!

Arthur Garcia

Thank you so much for the response, that is exactly the type of information I was looking for!

Hello,

So I have my RE license and I've signed on with a broker in my area. My primary intent is to manage 10-15 units for 3 years while continuing to work my regular job. After 3 years I will likely set up my own brokerage. Now I just need to find those 10-15 units!

My thought is that yellow letter marketing works well for many people wholesaling, why not try it for property management? I can easily pull lists from the tax records in my area, so my thought was pull a list of 2-4 unit properties with out of state owners and send them yellow letters.

My question to the BP community is, what would make you respond to a letter from a PM marketing to you? Any suggestions for verbaige to use would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Lance

Bill Gulley, I 100% agree, the example I was using is most likely not actually possible. I got the impression the OP was really looking for the absolute basics of what a refinance is. I didn't want to clutter the explanation with the details of what banks are actually willing to do.