All Forum Posts by: Tracy Streich

@Matthew Ford

Are you an investor or a landlord.   The two are very different and both can be great.   You will find on here there are many people on both ends of the spectrum.   Never hire a PM they will suck the money out of you and do a terrible job.  On the other side there are those who have never been to their property and the PM does it all and does it well.  If you have the time you can do it yourself with the right tech and systems on place but all the tech in the world does not solve you going to the property or properly screening tenants etc.  There are plenty of online trading platforms that allow people to invest in the market.   Great technology at their finger tips, yet they still loose money.   Tech does not mean experience and knowledge.   

Time is another big factor.   If you have a career that allows you to bill your time and hours at few hundred dollars and hour why would you take the time to coordinate maintenance and screen tenants.   Keep billing and pay someone else to do that work.  So many factors make this a very grey question and most want it to be black or white. 

Hire a PM like you would a money manager.   You need an asset manager PM.   Someone looking at the whole picture not just a rent collector.  

@Christopher Abele.  I have to agree with @Nathan Gesner on this one.   Just because a property manager gets paid it does not incentivize them for turnover and letting the house get run down.   Perpetuation of these fallacies does nothing support your point or help others.  There are good and bad PMs and self managers.   Don’t lump all together for either.   

@Stephen Bruce. Screening is the most important thing you will do in the leasing process.   We manage close to 1000 homes.   We only show vacant rent ready homes.   I know each market is different.  The leasing time right now is very short.   I would not walk the tenant though the house with you and your stuff in the house.   Just be patient. Use an online service to receive and run applications and background.  Decide what you want the criteria to be and stick to to it.   3x rent, 3.5 x, credit score etc.   Take the emotion out of it.   As to going to see their current house.  Well that is just crazy.  Would you rent from someone that wanted to come see your house?   Facts not emotions.    Good luck

Typically you are filling it out to get paid.   Do what you have to do to get your $$$.

Document your time and materials.   The odds if the tenant taking you to court is very slim.  Provide the account to tenant for repairs.  You don’t have to break up labor vs materials to them.   Just be specific.  Wall repair and repaint xx$$. 

@Anthony Pantuso   You can give notice to cure the problem..remove the pet.  If they do not you then have to look at your local court and see what they will allow.   Yes it is a violation but will you be able to evict them.    That is a big question.   What does the current lease say about pets and pet fees.   You can charge what is in the lease.   If the lease does not address it you can charge them but they or may not pay.   Not sure how they are under market $500 and still have almost a year on the lease?  You might need to do a little more due diligence prior to close.   Maybe contact a local PM and get their opinion    Good Luck

@Darren Carnes

Just what @Nathan Gesner said.   Just tell them this is new PM.   Pm cannot make them sign a new lease even if it is the "same"    The Pm agreement authorizes the PM act on your behalf even with your lease.  Once you turn it over to PM.... block the tenant numbers. 

@Preston Stapleton. As an investor the license protects me.   Why would I hire you being unlicensed?   Cost?  My thoughts are it will eventually cost me more to hire someone who cuts corners and does not do it the right way.  

@Nathan Faselt   We only show vacant rent ready units.   Too much of a problem with current tenants cleaning up and showing while they are there.   Yes we have electronic locks on all units.  You can use lock boxes that generate the code with a key inside or digital locks.   If you are only leasing a few doors per year the lock boxes are very affordable. 

@Alysha Pederson   And thats a hard no.   Are they a real pro or are you just trying to save money.   They money you will spend correcting their mistakes, especially if they burn the place down, is just not worth it.