All Forum Posts by: Phil Earley

Working on behalf of yourself you can pretty much run your business anyway you want including the roles of your employees.  You can't manage the properties of others w/o being licensed in Georgia.   Once you get to 10 properties, you'll be held to the same standards as a licensed broker.  

Requiring or agreeing to allow your tenant to do repairs just made you their employer.  Hope you have good insurance when they get hurt on the job.   

No

It's the tenants money and hopefully will be returned in its entirety at the end of the lease.  

If it all gets returned, you had a great tenant.  

Sounds like the owner and management company have mismanaged everything for whatever reason which has set the wrong expectations for the tenant.   

Double check your management agreement.  

There is typically verbiage that states the owner must notify the management company a specific number of days out from the end of the current lease term to discuss any desired changes whether its for price increases, non-renewals, renewals, etc......The number of days out correspond with the notification dates to tenants based on state law.  

The verbiage probably also adds that if the owner does not notify the management company prior to the certain number of days out, it is agreed by all parties that the management company will renew the lease or release if tenant is vacating.  

As far as a rent increase, landlords/owners should verify prior to hiring a management company of what the escalation clause is for each renewal.  

I bet the management company followed the agreement but an extra email to our clients always avoids an aggravating situation like this. 

Good news is that you do not have a vacancy and all the added costs because of it.     

Define management:  If you are only there to help coordinate maintenance and handle property visits whenever your friend needs help, you don't need to be licensed.  If your friend is completely hands off meaning you are handling all trust funds, record keeping, enforcing the lease,  hiring contractors, responsible for landlord tenant law,  showing the property to perspective tenants,  you are the tenants main contact, etc....they can hire you as an employee or you need to be licensed.  

Start with reading the guide published by Fannie Mae.  

Google "learning to be a landlord by by Fannie Mae"  and a pdf will version will pop up.  Easy read with lots of great information. 

I send it to new landlords before taking them on as clients to help set the right expectations.  

Appfolio is worth the money. 

Hiring a property manager means that you agree with their policies and procedures.  If you don't agree with them, don't hire them.    

If a property manager says yes to everything you require, it should be a red flag.  They either don't have any real systems,  they have no experience, or will say anything to add a property to their inventory because it's a numbers game and income.   

The most complaints, dissatisfaction and drama we have from our tenants stem from home warranty repairs or insurance claims. The extra steps, time, and coordination required by the tenant for your home warranty company to play games will create more vacancies and cost at the end of the day.

Home warranties work better for your personal home, not your rental property imo.  Too many links in the chain.