All Forum Posts by: Laticia Braxton

Hi Sharnece!

I know of two that are still active and offering virtual meetups and courses.  Feel free to email me (don't want to get in trouble here LOL).

Laticia

Hi Sharnece,

There are multiple real estate investor groups in Baltimore.  I would suggest that you look into those as they all have members in each category that you are looking for.  The live meetups which were great for networking have been replaced by virtual meetings, but I believe you will still be able to learn a lot and meet a lot of people willing to help you.

Best of luck to you!

Laticia

@Matt Stricklen, great point on leveraging skills!

I totally agree with @Michael Noto.  Please do yourself a favor and become familiar with Fair Housing laws as soon as possible to avoid potential lawsuits.  You do also need to have a standard written policy for all applications. 

That said, I've had a LOT of experience in dealing with Section 8 tenants and as suggested, they can be a great source of rental income IF you get the right tenant.  Be sure to process their credit, background and employment verifications and PLEASE be sure to get a previous rental history & landlord verification. The landlord verification is key because you want to make sure the previous landlord had no major issues and verify that they took care of the previous property.  If they trashed it and/or had cleanliness or other issues, you are most likely looking at the same outcome with your investment. 

Be sure you understand if housing is paying all of their rent, or just a portion of it (verify with the housing office). Although monthly checks will come automatically from housing for their portion, if the tenant has a portion, you will need to decide if you want to be bothered with collections every month.  If you're lucky, you will get a voucher holder who has all of their rent being paid by the housing office. 

Lastly, you will need to make sure your property meets all of the Section 8 guidelines.  You can request a copy of their inspection checklist so you have no surprises on the day of inspection. The voucher holders typically have a short window of time to get a place once they get their voucher, so if you have everything on the checklist done beforehand, you can move through the process quickly and be on your way to receiving your deposit and first mont's rent payment. 

I hope this helps!

Laticia

Coming from someone in the commercial sector, I can tell you that you are correct, specifically regarding the office sector in the Baltimore area.  Throughout our commercial portfolio, all tenants were affected to some degree, but the retailers and office tenants took the worst hit and are having the hardest time recovering to date.  There are quite a few well-established restaurants in the Baltimore region (some 5-star), that have folded and it's quite sad.  

Overall, our industrial tenants have remained pretty solid which is true of the Baltimore and immediate surrounding markets as well.  In speaking with multiple office tenants over the last few months, I've learned that most are very anxious to get back to the office due to constant family interruptions at home and for that reason, don't see working from home as a viable long term solution.  It will be interesting to see how things evolve over the next six to twelve months... 

I'm starting to research the mid-west markets. I'm also thinking of Philly, since it's only 1.5 hours away from me.  I've been in property management for 23 years and I have major control issues, so even though I plan to get a PM if I go mid-west, I will likely self-manage if I end up investing in Philly.  Where do you currently invest Zeke?

Is this management property company worth the headache? He is great at the revenue collection and empire building, arguably the most important aspect of why I am doing this. - Keywords "arguably the most important aspect of why I am doing this".  It sounds like he's meeting your most important expectation, so I say, yes.  You simply need to make your other requirements known.

Should I expect a property management to focus on the overall condition of my units, or just the livable condition? He should absolutely be focusing on the overall condition of your units.  Remind him of why you hired a PM company to begin with.  I would also tell him that you would like to have an annual property inspection report, which should include a plumbing, electrical and HVAC inspection.  Please understand that this will be at an additional cost, but it will be worth it.

Outside of his operation, I always find it unnerving to audit your own statements. - you should be auditing your statements to keep your eyes on his spending.  Perhaps you should have an agreed upon max threshold for spending. I had a clause in my PM agreements which stated that anything over a $300 spend, had to be approved by the owner unless it was an emergency.  In emergency situations, like a flood, I was able to bring in a restoration company, but I would also immediately shoot an email to the owner, informing them of the situation.  Most times, I was asked to use the property reserve funds to cover larger costs. It provided comfort on both sides.

How do I deal with the roadrage like anger that comes over me when I don't agree with a charge? I get really wound up over an extra $200 bill.  A $200 bill will not cause road rage like anger when you set your max spend number.  

It's always best to hash these things out before you sign the PM agreement, but its not too late to review the agreement and adjust as needed.  If your PM has an issue with doing so, it could be time to find another PM as you may no longer be a good fit.

Hi @Sean Rice.  Your post saved me having to create my own.  I, too, am thinking of getting a property elsewhere.  I'm also curious to hear how often the OOS investors actually visit their properties, if at all and how long did it take to vet your boots on the ground dream team?

I would really press upon your PM to explore more leasing platforms, as it is ultimately her job to lease your units and not yours. With the very limited platforms she is using, it makes me wonder how motivated she truly is to get your occupancy numbers up. One would think that she would be highly motivated since I assume she's paid a leasing commission for each unit. 

Have her offer a move-in special, check the rents to make sure your rates are in line with the market and have her do a market survey for you.  If similar properties around yours have high occupancy rates, you need to visit your property and make sure the property and units are actually in great shape (check on cleanliness, repair needs and curb appeal). Best of luck to you!

It definitely sounds like a poor PM to me.  I totally agree with the other comments, but I would add that you should also record a video and comment on everything as you go.  You should have the PM's email address, so send it to him/her and in that same email, imply that the same video will be sent to the owner's email address today, if the cleaning is not done immediately.  Perhaps that will get the PM to move more quickly.