All Forum Posts by: Tom Kaider

We pay $11 though Buildium, which uses TransUnion Smart Move

For rentals, there is specific software available, like Buildium and Appfolio.  I use Buildium.  If anyone has any questions about it, just message me. 

@Thomas S.  I totally agree.  I am a property manager, and we pick up a lot of clients who got themselves in trouble trying to be nice.  Rental properties are a business. 

Also, I want to invest in Milwaukee, so if anyone has deals, I can bring cash to the deal. Message me if that is of interest. 

My management firm is expanding into Milwaukee.  We have a great reputation in Chicagoland, and have picked up a few clients in Milwaukee.  I have an important question for everyone:

Describe your ideal management contract.  I am very interested.

What would be the setup/listing fee, if any?

How much to pay for placement?

Monthly fees as fixed or a %?

Renewal fee, if any?

We are creating a new brand just for the Milwaukee market, and we are fiercely committed to client satisfaction.  I also invest, so I tried to create our fee structure based on what I would want as the client.  

We present the background check to the client and let them choose.  We do not ultimately choose the tenant.  We solved the skin-in-the-game problem by structuring our fees to hurt us if the tenant moves out.  But I want to build a fee structure based on what investors see in their mind as something really attractive.  Please let me know your thoughts.  

You may want to hire a manager if nothing else to be a legal buffer.  I am a property manager, and it changes the dynamic of the entire process when a manager is in place.  We only work with repair vendors who provide before/after photos.  And we video record walk-throughs.  I tell my staff all the time, "Behave like this will all end up in court, because one day it will, and we want our client to have a very, very strong position."

Your fiancee made a great choice.  This site has a lot of friendly people who just want to see others succeed.  I love L.A. and would like more reasons to visit.  If you have any questions about leasing, tenants, etc., that is what I know the most about so please feel free so message me with any questions. 

There is no state or federal agency to "certify" support animals, which is an interesting bit of trivia that most people do not realize.  Those certification agencies you see are like the international star registry.  You pay them and name a star after your grandma; give her the framed certificate, but that name is only valid with that company; not with NASA.  NASA doesn't care what some firm being run out of a basement calls a star.

It is the same with service animal certificates.  The government hasn't certified them.  I've had to deal with this many times as a property manager.  I just tell the person making the claim that their animal is a service animal that the burden of proof is on them to demonstrate that the state for fed agrees.  They cannot prove it, because there is no such certification. 

So then the question comes down to whether or not my client, the property owner, really wants to take it to court and let a judge decide if it is a service animal or not.  

Craigslist is brutal. That is asking for bad tenants. We are a management firm and have totally given up on Craigslist. Now we use Zillow, Trulia, the MLS, rent.com, etc. We type in the listing what the financial requirements are. We want to weed out any problems before they even think to respond.

For the management, I've got you covered. We have expanded rapidly in the Midwest because we are super honest, no contracts, and our clients make higher ROI by using us vs. trying to do it all themselves. I agree that you need a great team. We can handle all the back office stuff: listings, background checks, rent-collection, work orders, etc. But, we are not a construction or maintenance firm. We can oversee that, but we don't ourselves employ handymen/women. But what we do is very important, and we love to partner with investors. Please send me a message.