All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Here's what I plan to read this year. Half of them are my shelf or Kindle and the others on a wish list. Would love to hear what others are planning to read. My list is not in any particular order.

Business and RE:

The Millionaire Real Estate Investor (reread)

What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow

Crush It

Good to Great (reread) (Awesome book)

The Millionaire RE Agent (reread)

The YES Factor (body language)

The Complete Guide to Real Estate Finance for Investment Properties

Real Estate Investments and How to Make Them

Modern Real Estate Practice

How I turned $1,000 into Five Million in Real Estate in My Spare Time

Inspecting a House (For Pros by Pros)

E-myth (reread)

The Secret Power Within Your Mortgage

The Entrepreneurial Imperative: How America's Economic Miracle Will Reshape the World (and Change Your Life)

Other:

The Primal Blueprint

Wheat Belly

Wade Fish Texas

The Last Line

My Goals:

1. Transition my full-time job into a part-time job, this will happen in April.

2. Bite the bullet and work as real estate agent for six months to a year for experience. Who knows, I may like it.

3. Open a property management company in the fall, possibly in the spring if I can find the right partner. I'm in full blown biz planning mode.

4. Get my broker license in July. This is the driver for the fall PM company launch.

5. Add two income properties to personal portfolio.

On the personal side:

1. Volunteer more of my time to good causes

2. Take one MBA class. I took last year off and regret it. I'm six classes out when I should be at four or five. Small bites

3. Run a marathon. At 15 miles now and hope scheduling works out to run in the Mardi Gras marathon in Feb.

4. Continue to live primal. Google primal blueprint. @Ann Watkins I read "Grain Brain" a couple of months ago, great health book, changed my life.

5. Get my six-pack captain's license. I'm scheduled for an April course.

6. Read often and start writing

7. My wife and I are going to start making homemade wine.

8. And above all else: Live, Love, and be Happy!

Ditto what @Bryan L. said. I've had no regrets getting licensed. I sit for my broker exam in July. Appreciate the post @James Park

@Pat S. another thing to consider, you will be a licensed professional in the eyes of the law. You will be held to a much higher standard and can be severely penalized for doing something wrong whether intentional or not.

@James Park I have not but it was mentioned earlier in the thread and sounds like a great opportunity. Essential to this would be having a good relationship with the tenant throughout the term. The downside would be protecting your owner from vacancy loss and getting hit with lease up charges. If I knew in advance the tenant was only going to be there a year I would get the owner to approve the one year tenancy.

Markup is not a far out concept. It is actually a feature in top property management software. It's called "Work Order Markup" and can be setup to be applied automagically.

Marking up a product or service is part of doing business. The basic act of marking a product or service up is not gouging. Excessively marking up the service or product is gouging. Hiding or being allusive about how your business operates is unethical, maybe illegal depending on the laws in your area.

There is nothing wrong with a business capitalizing on relationships the business has built. For instance, if I manage 200 doors my go to plumber better give me a professional discount. This discount can be partially passed on to the owner but not the entire discount. This is where my upcharge would come from. This creates a win-win for everyone.

A fee on additional services should be clearly spelled out in the owner/PM contract. The owner would have the option to use his/her own people. I would never charge an owner more than the market rate. I would not markup a service or product that's already at market rate.

I do not believe all services should be included in the management fee simply because some properties require more time and resources to manage than others. You know, 20% take up 80% of your time. Why should someone with a maintenance free property pay higher management fees to cover the guy requiring three or four maintenance calls a month.

Now clearly there are PMs out there screwing people everyday, just like in every other business and profession on the planet. If you're not upfront and transparent with an owner, then he will leave and tell a friend who will tell a friend and your reputation and business will suffer.

This thread was not intended to be a "how to screw over an owner" thread. I am interested in hearing how professional property managers create revenue beyond their standard fee.

Great feedback from all and very much appreciated.

@Kyle C. PM sent

Also check with a knowledgeable local investor or realtor for area specific issues. For example TX homes commonly have foundation issues. A local issue we lookout for here on the MS coast is Chinese drywall.

@DL Martin glad to hear that. It was a key assumption when I decided to go from landlord to PM. The networking and market insight have to be incredible.

@Phillip Dwyer is pest control provided by the PM and billed to the tenant? Or does the tenant hire one their own? Thanks

@Bryan H. could you elaborate on "Transactions; both single and bulk" Thanks