All Forum Posts by: Gp G.

Hi,

How to analyze different deals. Any good excel spreadsheets you are using which say buy or not buy other than 1% rule. If oossible can you share it. Any free apps on iphone to put numbers quickly and analyze when I am near property?

What is best buying criteria for single family home around 100-200k for rental. 

I have some rough criteria like below

1. Not on septic tank

2. Not on crawlspace

3. No rain water drainage issues

4. No big tress nearby at least 20 feet away so that trees may not fall on roof

5.  Electric upto code

6. Good hvac to avoid costly 15k repair immediately after closing.

7. Preferably some houses on sides and back and front  not some neglected waste land and detention pond etc. next to property

8. Even land

9. No foundation issues

10. No retention wall nearby

11, No catch basins nearby

How to inspect personally properties for major items before calling Inspector by paying around 1k. 

Is using hard money ( i see lot of points and fees and closing costs and short term loan adding risks) good approach or normal bank loan or DSCR loan etc.?

Please advise

I was reading insurance policy should have roof replacement cost vs just remaining life cost to protect landlord. Also does giving LLC name or person name good idea to give. mortgage bank mandates to give person name as well as additional insured I believe. If any claim in one llc show in person name or other llc names in future. What other things we need to be vigilant while getting good insurance policies. Deductible other thing making refund of claim less as well.

Hi,

My Insurance cost raise up almost double recently. What are various considerations, tips to consider good insurance at decent price for rental. Which companies or agents are providing good insurance plans at decent price. Any websites to shop around?

Please advise

Thank you. I like 3 bids idea. Does that mean PM charge 3 visit charges and 3 inspection charges each may cost like 200$ and about 600 for all three just for the reports?

Hi,

Recently I got ticket from PM app that HVAC is not working. PM HVAC technician when visited my property to attend attend ticket mentioned  my HVAC system  service valve core is bad and needs replacement of service valve core and add few lbs of refrigerant for about 700$. I sent my other HVAC technician who installed this new HVAC system about year ago for about 15k mentioned service valve core is good and refrigerant also good. But for tenant peace of mind he just added 1 lbs of refrigerant. System is working fine now and tenant also good now so far. So I feel cheated and lied by PM company HVAC contractor. Next time when I get HVAC repairs how to protected from cheating. What photos and what reading and what details I should ask HVAC contractor so that I will not be cheated.  Any codes or indicators or pressure readings does it show saying this is bad like that on HVAC inspection tools, readings. How remote investors handling these types of situations. I know some basics of HVAC but not expert of it though. What kind of intelligent questions i can ask when HVAC technician says xyz is bad cost thousands of dollars and weather is bad needs to be replaced right away and cannot guarantee next appointment as busy with hundreds of other appointments due to incremental weather etc.

 Please advise

I agree. Thank you

>>FYI: we offer this service to our clients, for a fee. Few sign up for it as most owners expect us to do it for free:(

My PM does not unfortunately have this kind of service though making these coordinations difficult causing lot of waste of money, time, efforts

Contractor installed for 12k visited property. He said no issue with any valve

He just filled little refrigerant to make this troubling tenant to happy who open like 100 silly tickets a month. 

Now after this install contractor left she is complaining AC in downstairs works but not in upstairs. I called AC installed contractor he says she supposed to switch on thermostat upstairs.

Can tenants be this ignorant of thermostat starting.

How to teach PM to open tickets after doing basic trouble shooting on the phone  (if not in person in my case my PM employee is local who handles lot of units and always says in court for eviction related appointment cannot talk and person who coordinates repairs  who sits some where in other part of the country or offshore not sure) before opening tickets.

I have to train my PM and protect little cash flow from these dishonest estimates and repairs. Do PM get share of the repair expenses if they quote 700$ for say 200$ repair like 3 times more?

I am bit confused

>>

You would expect the PMC to have plans in place to auto-forward all emails & phone calls for a worker on vacation to someone else in the company.

I agree. They may have plans but failed plans eventually as in this case. How those plans supposed to be communicated to me as landlord to make them accountable. What is best practices around these.

Is it reasonable to expect to know my property manager vacation plan as a landlord ahead of time? I hear some property manager companies says they only work with hands free landlords (who simply does not involve in anything and let PM run all the show but then there are big gaps and tenants turn arounds and evictions and thousands of dollars expenses to landlord).

Beyond what size of property manager company I should move out ( like managing 50k units all over the country). How can I know how many thousands of units they manage which impact quality of my unit property management due to over work of the property management company employees and turn around of employees and mergers. Do PMC says how many units employee handling assigned to me can they not change that number in future from 5 to 500 which I may not know? Also how many offshore employees PMC has whose availability and customer service and communication might limited.

Please advise

Hi All,

I have bi annual maintenance plan with one big HVAC company paid about 200$ a year for summer visit and winter visit who inspect HVAC system and do routine maintenance and provide me report with all items of concern and what is working well etc.  HVAC company told me they will schedule with tenants directly but apparently these days they are no longer calling tenants to schedule but using some AI for automated texts, calls these days. My big property management company employee reluctant to make these calls with tenants as there is lot of back and forth with tenant availability. My property management company employee is happy that HVAC company directly schedules with tenants (which happened earlier with other contractors and repairs as well). 

Problem is HVAC company keep sending automated texts and calls to me and tenants but tenant saying to call them to schedule the appointment. Tenant simply ignoring all the calls and texts as usual. 

Now I got ticket from tenant about 5 days back HVAC not working but PM on vacation. 

Big property management company Technician visited after about 5 days and inspected remove replace service valve core and add 2.5 lbs of refrigerant for about 700$

This is brand new HVAC system I replaced about 1 year ago spending about 12k.

How to handle these hvac bi annual maintenance plans and tenant scheduling and property manager issues around this.

Is it worth having bi annual maintenance plans paying about 200$ every year if tenant does not answer automated texts, calls and care to call back to schedule appointments.. 

My original intention is to avoid these type of big 800$ charges by having bi annual maintenance plans but since I am not managing PM or tenant are not as careful and responsive as me.

How you are all handling these type of situations. 

Please advise

Hi,

I got a ticket from tenant that AC not working about 5 days ago. I thought PM will handle and waited 4 days. Did not see ticket got closed even after 4 days. I sent email on 5th day to the property manager on top of the ticket trigger email about update on the ticket. I got automated reply that that employee of this big property management company is on vacation for past 5 days and about 5 days into future. My ticket is neglected. I was never told on property management company employee vacation plan. Is it expected that employee of property management company report to land lord that he or she on vacation and provide alternate contact of employee of property manager rather than automated message when the critical issue comes and I email them after 5 days hoping they work on it. Also I see employee of the property manager is different and person who schedules work different and I see lot of communication and understanding gap between them. How you handle these type of situations. Please advise