All Forum Posts by: Sarah Lam

Shawn is actually CC'd on all my correspondence with Mimi, so he's definitely aware of the issues. To be fair to TTP, they do resolve things honestly and mostly promptly once raised to their attention, but it's dependent on me noticing their mistakes. With all the snafu's I've had thus far, I definitely keep a close eye on the monthly statements. 

Good luck with your investing, and I  hope you post an update if you do decide to take the plunge with TTP! I'd be interested in hearing about your experience, too. 

Hi @Jason Kim - thanks for your kind words and for following along. Things have been smoother; some minor maintenance here and there which is expected. In April, they forgot to send me the extra $100 from the rent guarantee. I'm not sure if their accountant Mimi is just not very good or if maybe she's overworked trying to service all their accounts, but I reached out to her and did get it resolved fairly quickly. There was also a charge showing that I owe $40 which I couldn't figure out, so I asked Mimi about that, as well. She said she couldn't find a reason why I would owe $40, so to disregard, but we'll see what next month's statement shows. 

I also received a notice from RPM saying that new tax assessments were coming out, and they would contest the assessments on their investors' behalf, which I thought was nice since as most Texas investors know, property taxes are no joke. But I checked my 2017 assessment and my property value actually went down, which made me worry about the state of the neighborhood I bought in. With Houston's strong real estate growth and population influx, it seems ominous that my property is in a neighborhood with property values trending downward. I'm not going to worry about it for another year (I've still got a rental income guarantee through October 2018), but this is definitely on my mind. 

Overall, I would still say it's been a successful purchase that achieved my cash flow goal. However, would I buy from them again? No, probably not. It's not as passive as it may sound in their marketing pitch, and most of their returns I see in their inventory lists are not worth it to me now that I know how much chasing I have to do. I would prefer working with a smaller property management company who can pay more personalized attention to each of their investors. 

@Michael F. one thing you might keep in mind is that this thread has a lot of traction on BP. I would be surprised if Alex and team weren't aware of it.  @Michael L. might be getting some preferential treatment by Elite's PM team. 

@Willem Botha @AJ Singh Thank you for the encouragement! It does feel a little vulnerable sometimes to share all the details and open myself up to criticism or condescension, but being an investor means ignoring the haters and naysayers and making your own path. Most of the general population will never dare to get started in REI; in fact, a lot of people think it can't be done. So here I am, trying something new out and providing feedback, but at least ahead of the majority of people who are too scared to try. And all the advice I've been given might be right, or they might be wrong, or simply irrelevant to my path to financial independence. I get to determine the difference.

@Radhika M. yes, that's correct. Locked in for two years. Not too bad, because I don't mind being actively engaged with managing the PM, but buying a turnkey property has been an experiment for me as far as expectations go. 

A lot has happened in the past month! Real Property Management has made a few blunders, requiring me to be very active in managing them.  

1) In December, I received half a month's rent from the tenant. When a tenant moves in halfway through the month, they charge the full month up front and then half a month of rent for the second month. The other half should have come from the rental guarantee, which should have been deposited in my account later in the month. On 12/30, I still hadn't seen it come through, so I checked in with Shawn who said he would definitely send it that day. Unfortunately, it is now 1/6, and it looks like it was never deposited. They told me it will be issued in the next draw on 1/10.

2) While reviewing my December statement, there was a write up about two maintenance charges.  Early in Dec, some pipes burst and the drywall in the ceiling was damaged. Additionally, there was some sort of issue with the breaker. They had charged me $65 for each maintenance incident, but after I contacted their help desk, they refunded me the charges since I had only owned the house for less than 3 months. 

3) Upon a closer review, I realized they had been charging me 10% for property management instead of 8% per our contract since October. I raised this issue to them, and they responded quickly apologizing for the mistake and assuring me they would credit me the difference in the next draw.

While the response times have been prompt and the resolutions satisfactory, the issues I've run into with RPM are illustrating the downsides of using large property management companies. It's just harder for them to stay on top of everything when they're managing so many rentals. Hopefully things will smooth out since it's only been 3 months. Fingers crossed for a better 2017!

An update:

I received my October rent guarantee which was prorated from 10/4 to 10/31 at $1100/mo and the 8% property management fee. I was surprised to see a charge for home and termite inspections. I asked Shawn why they weren't included, and received a quick response explaining that since they weren't included in the prelim estimate from the lender, they bill for the inspections through the property management arm. Can any other investors chime in on if that's normal? 

A tenant moved in on 11/15 paying $1000/mo. I received November rent paid out on 11/21, $1000 from the tenant and $100 from TTP, fulfilling the rent guarantee. The property management fee is calculated based off $1100/mo rent, which makes sense. Hopefully it's smooth sailing from here on out. 

@Tom Chen sorry for my late response. It is 1228 sq feet. 

@Marco Deleon sorry for my late response. hopefully my update helps answer your question! Good luck with your investing! 

Hi @Jon Q. good questions. As I mentioned in my original post, the 15% COC return is only for the first 2 years. Once I add back in vacancy at 8% and maintenance at 8% of gross rents, I expect to see COC settle in around 8%. And of course, PITI and property management costs are included in that calc.

thank you @Calvin Waddy!

Hey @Account Closed good to hear from you! Thanks for the congrats, surprised people remember me :) I'm actually hoping to start investing locally now. I think I'm alternating between buying in appreciation markets and cash flow markets. Honolulu, Houston, and now hopefully the SF Bay Area.