All Forum Posts by: Randy Steele

@Quaid Cde Baca @Sid Shankar My experience with A2Z is a general improvement over Mcdonnell. My units are now full and turn time is a bit faster (Mcdonnell was taking 4-5 months, A2Z seems to be trending more like 3-4 months). Jordan at A2Z is not great with communication, she has not closed the loop on several of my emails even though she asks that I use email to communicate with her. But she does know the first name of the tenants and seems to have a relationship with them which I appreciate. I received an email from Michael Pease in December asking for input on the performance of A2Z, I believe he is the owner of A2Z. I provided feedback but never heard back from him, so not really sure it did any good. 

I have a theory that once a small property management company exceeds a certain number of units they need to completely change their org to manage more units. Jordan told us last year she manages around 200 units, and then she signed up to manage 19 of mine, so she is well over 200 units which is likely too many for a single person, but hiring more people and managing a team requires a different skillset than just being a property manager, I'm not sure Jordan has the skillset to run a team of people or manage tasks effectively but I'm trying to be patient with her since my units are all full now that I left Mcdonnell.

Milltown Realty seemed to have a good management structure in place, they limit the number of units each property manager is responsible for and utilize a team approach for maintenance and other items. I would suggest contacting them if you are looking for another option in the QC area.

Fellow BPers,

A2Z has been a breath of fresh air compared to my previous property manager, so far so good!

@Adam Hutchison I spent several hours on the phone with several companies (Milltown, VP, Ruhl/Ruhl, A2Z) and have decided to move my units over to A2Z. They seem like a good fit for our portfolio. The frustrating thing is there's really no way to put items in a contract that have forced us to leave McDonnell: 1) have good communication, or 2) turn a unit in a timely manner. So time will tell if their actions live up to their sales pitch from our discussion. Wish me luck!

@Adam Hutchison You guessed it, I've been with McDonnell for roughly a year now. I don't want to throw them entirely under the bus, they do some things well, but overall communication and time it takes to turn a unit are not acceptable and have me looking elsewhere.

@Sean L. @Bryan O. @Adam Hutchison

I have started investing in the Davenport, IA, area in the last year. I like the potential return the pro-forma shows, but I've been burned a couple of times already with expensive turnover, tenants leaving a mess and having to pay thousands $ to remove the junk and prep the unit for new tenants. Also my property management company says they are having trouble hiring good people so they are taking 2-3 months to turn a unit and prepare for the next tenant.

I'm really frustrated with this slow turn time. Also this firm has pretty poor communication, they seem generally unorganized. One of my buildings is a 4-plex, and they were somehow confused with the number of units and were only advertising for 3 of them. 9 months after buying the building only 2 units are rented out.

I'm interested in hearing others feedback about the Quad Cities market. Are people seeing high % of tenants leaving a disaster behind when they move out? Are people having trouble filling their vacancies? I'm not sure if these are symptoms of the market or instead of a poor property manager.

Thanks for all the responses. The foreclosure process doesn't make much sense to me. We purchased the property for $40,001. It had existing liens against the property for well over $40,000. I thought the reason it went into foreclosure is to sell it and take all the proceeds to pay off the liens (or at least pay as much as possible). The liens at the top of the list were higher priority and got paid first (such as the $54K the former owner owed the IRS) while the liens towards the bottom of the list would only be paid if there was still money left after paying the higher priority liens.

Since the IRS lien was priority (or at least that's my understanding) didn't they get all $40,001? And didn't that mean the rest of the liens got $0 and were then wiped clean, otherwise what's the point of a foreclosure? If it doesn't clear the title of previous liens the entire foreclosure process is pointless, nobody would ever purchase a foreclosed property if they inherited all the liens that didn't get paid during the foreclosure, so homes would just sit forever and nobody would buy them. What am I missing here, why aren't liens wiped clean during the foreclosure process?

We purchased a property from the courthouse steps 3 years ago. Our understanding was this process cleared all liens on the property. But now we're being asked to pay delinquent bills from the former owner to the HOA. Does anybody know if we are legally obligated to pay the former owner's bills to the HOA even though the property went through the foreclosure process? The property is located in WA state.

I have used Venmo for about 8 months for one tenant with no problems. Another tenant started paying me using Venmo last month and shortly after I received their payment I received an email from Venmo stating: 

"It looks like there have been some business payments made on your account - these types of payments are not allowed per our User Agreement. These can include payments for tickets, shoes, apparel, or any transaction made in exchange for goods or services with someone you don't personally know. You are free to continue using Venmo for personal transactions, but please be advised that your account may be subject to limits if additional business activity takes place."

Have any of you current Venmo users experienced this? Their payment service works great for me, but I'm worried if they cut me off I'll have to find another service which I'd rather not do.

I have seen coon op units at sears scratch and dent for sale at times. I own a duplex with similar doors to yours in parkland. One unit has an inside door that opens into the mudroom. This tenant can access the laundry from that door without going outside. The other 2 tenants walk around the building to the exterior entrance to the mud room to access the machines. It has worked ok since i bought the place 3 years ago. my machines are really old, i figure if they stop working the tenants can always go to a laundrymat, not a huge crisis, so i would recommend you purchase new or used coin op units and keep the profit.

You also need to be upfront with who pays the power for the dryer, i give that tenant $10 per month break on rent since the dryer is tied to his power meter. Best of luck. 

A tenant provided notice that she is not renewing the lease and moving out, the building is a triplex, each tenant has separate entrances and parking areas. Her lease reflects that she will pay for garbage and electricity, it was signed in 2015. In addition the lease with the former building owner from 2014 states that she will pay for trash.

She is now asking for me to reimburse her for all her garbage bills for the term of the lease because she found a WA state law pertaining to trash service for multi-family properties. Here is the language of the law:

Except in the case of a single-family residence, provide and maintain appropriate receptacles in common areas for the removal of ashes, rubbish, and garbage, incidental to the occupancy and arrange for the reasonable and regular removal of such waste.

Has anyone in Washington state dealt with this law before? She is threatening to take me to court, and while the law appears clear that I'm supposed to arrange for trash it doesn't specifically state that I have to pay for the trash service. I had no idea this law existed.