All Forum Posts by: Daria B.

Any recommendations for tear gas clean up? Tons of listings but I’d like to get a referral of actually been used by someone. Location is Halethorpe MD, tenants teenage son had an arrest warrant against him and police did a lot of damage. Need to have the place cleaned up of the tear gas.

Any recommendations for tear gas clean up? Tons of listings but I’d like to get a referral of actually been used by someone. Location is Halethorpe MD, tenants teenage son had an arrest warrant against him and police did a lot of damage. Need to have the place cleaned up of the tear gas.

I posted this in the Baltimore group already and reaching g out to the neighboring county.

The property is located i Halethorpe MD.

My PM dropped the ball and I am intervening who has yet to schedule a cleaning company. Had ample time and didn’t do it. The security deposit is due to be returned August 15th and I need a complete close out before then. This needs to happen now.

Property is empty and my realtor has it listed already with a note it will be cleaned.

I need to find a reputable company that can:

1-dust entire house 3 level townhouse

2-clean bathrooms (sink, tub/shower, toilet), 2 full baths, 1 half bath

3-kitchen (if needed sink, oven, interior of refrigerator that’s empty),

4-no carpets so sweep out the luxury vinyl flooring

Thank you if you use a company you like and can count on please post.

PS: I would want to find a company that I can always utilize for my turns.

Quote from @Nate Shields:

Have you tried Thumbtack? It's a good resource to find service professionals. Response times are usually fast.

I have tried them in the past with unfavorable results.

My PM dropped the ball and I am intervening who has yet to schedule a cleaning company. Had ample time and didn’t do it. The security deposit is due to be returned August 15th and I need a complete close out before then. This needs to happen now.

Property is empty and my realtor has it listed already with a note it will be cleaned.

I need to find a reputable company that can:

1-dust entire house 3 level townhouse 

2-clean bathrooms (sink, tub/shower, toilet), 2 full baths, 1 half bath

3-kitchen (if needed sink, oven, interior of refrigerator that’s empty), 

4-no carpets so sweep out the luxury vinyl flooring

Thank you if you use a company you like and can count on please post.

PS: I would want to find a company that I can always utilize for my turns.

Quote from @Drew Sygit:

@Brandon Shepherd

In our experience, the #1 mistake owners make when selecting a Property Management Company (PMC) is ASSUMING instead of CONFIRMING.

It's often a case of not doing enough research, as they don't know what they don't know!

Owners mistakenly ASSUME all PMCs offer the exact SAME SERVICES and PERFORM those services EXACTLY THE SAME WAY, so price is the only differentiator.

So, the first question they usually ask a PMC is about fees - instead of asking about services and HOW those services are executed.

EXAMPLE: PMC states they will handle tenant screening – what does that specifically mean? What documents do they require, what credit scores do they allow, how do they verify previous rental history, etc.? You’d be shocked by how little actual screening many PMC’s do!

This also leads owners to ASSUME simpler is better when it comes to management contracts.

The reality is the opposite - if it's not in writing then the PMC doesn't have to provide the service or can charge extra for it!

We have a 14-page management contract that we've added our real experiences to over the years, with the intent of protecting both us AND the landlord. Beyond the Monthly Management, Placement & Maintenance fees, all other fees in our contract are IF EVENT -> THEN fees.

We don’t know any PMCs to recommend in the area mentioned, but since selecting the wrong PMC is usually more harmful than selecting a bad tenant, you might want to read our series about “How to Screen a PMC Better than a Tenant”:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/3094/91877-how-to-screen-a-pmc-better-than-a-tenant-part-1-services-and-processes

We recommend you get management contracts from several PMCs and compare the services they cover and, more importantly, what they each DO NOT cover.

EDUCATE YOURSELF - yes, it will take time, but will lead to a selection that better meets your expectations & avoids potentially costly surprises!

P.S. If you just hire the cheapest or first PMC you speak with and it turns into a bad experience, please don’t assume ALL PMC’s are bad and start trashing PMC’s in general. Take ownership of your mistake and learn to do the proper due diligence recommended above😊

Thank you for seeing the side of the investor and not just the PM. Your description of what we as investors should be asking is something I have always done and continue when reframing my questions if they seem vague. I like specifics!

Unfortunately, there are a few PM that don’t want to spend time answering these questions or talking to a prospective client. They want to rush through and not have an actual conversation.

Or we can’t actually speak with the person/people who make the decisions because they funnel this type of question/answer to one of their managers. I have had that experience of having a PM tell me one thing and do another because they were out of touch with the people who own/run the company. I hired them based on all the things I was told that I was looking for and then found out they were just a manager with no clout in a company and failed to understand their own companies procedures. Essentially told me one thing and I find out that’s not what the company does. Since this person was who I was told I needed to talk to, it is what it is.

Quote from @Chris Yeung:

@Daria B. I must've missed your response. I didn't know about this and didn't know that I had to for Gainesville. As I mentioned, the local PM was surprised as well and said they were flooded with the same inquiries I had. 

I think there are a few landlords who are not paying. I don’t know what their system is for determining landlords but it’s clearly not a good one.

Quote from @James Alderman:

@Linda Weygant @Daria B.

I'd like to check in a few years later with you both to see how the reglazing has held up. Are you still happy with it?

I did not have it done. When it was all said and done with the rehab I was able to just clean up the tile and tub and recaulk. 

Quote from @Bill B.:

This is a 2 minute fix for your cpa and something you’re tracking anyway to make sure you get reimbursed. It’s probably their software as my PM includes every dollar they pay me on the1099. I use quicken to track rental income and expenses anyway so I know how each property is performing and if they have paid back utilities I bill them. It’s been a non-issue for my CPA as I simply report my actual rental income per property and he adjusts the numbers. 

 Thanks @Bill B.

I was hoping someone in the same situation could tell me what they were doing. Although I spoke with the CPA I also want to find out if this was normal bookkeeping.

Quote from @Nathan Gesner:

And if the PM has been charging fees against the utilities, without fully disclosing that, I would demand reimbursement for those fees.

That’s not what’s happening.

They are “only” charging against the actual rent.

The issue is the 1099 includes the money collected from the tenant to reimburse me from what I paid out of pocket for utilities - as though it was income.

I’m looking for an avenue to go other than just firing them for bad accounting. I researched and couldn’t find anything other than a vague mention of the IRS but it didn’t say they would actually do anything to force the correction of “not” including money that is not income.