All Forum Posts by: Tricia O'Brien

Hello !  Can anyone recommend a good property manager that covers Modesto, CA?  I'd prefer a smaller "Mom and Pop" type company if possible.  This is for a 3 bed/2 bath single family rental home.

All input would be appreciated!  Thanks :) 

Is the landlord required to return the full security deposit to tenants ( or partial security deposit with itemized list of what deductions were made) within 21 days?  This is within 21 days of them returning the keys and giving a forwarding address, correct? Or is it a different number of days now? 

Are landlords required to give photos to tenants of the areas of damages / lack of yardwork / etc or just an itemized list of the deductions?

I heard that one of the new laws that went into effect 1/1/25 in CA requires landlords give tenants photos of any areas/issues that were a cause for security deposit deductions.

Thanks in advance for any input ! :) 

Can you set up an account and post a rental directly on Zillow if you are not a realtor? 

Is RentRedi as easy to use as Avail for posting the listing and managing the listing?

Is this a single-family home or a multi-unit?  Which utilities are separately metered?

Hello!  I am looking for feedback from property owners about property managers / management companies who operate in Modesto CA.  My property is in Modesto, but if you're based in Stockton or Merced, I'd like to hear from you as well! 

How well did they manage your properties? Good communication? 

Feel free to contact me directly or respond to this post, whatever works best for you.  Thanks in advance! 

Tricia

Hi Michael,

Thanks for responding to my post. Great advice! Especially about validating information.  I have a few follow up questions:

1) What's an example of "get referrals and cross reference them to get as much accurate information as possible"?  Would that be, for example, if the PM says, "I manage a duplex for John Smith in Turlock," then I call John as a reference, ask John a few questions, and then ask John the address of his duplex so I can later look it up on the county website and verify if he is the owner?

2) I have on single family home (rents for $2100/month) that needs a PM.  Is it realistic to ask for and expect to get at least 2 landlord references and 2 tenant references (current clients) if I am a " small time" landlord with one property, not multiple units?

Thanks,

Tricia O'Brien

Helo Bigger Pockets folks!  A couple of years ago there was an excellent long article on BP about all the things to look for and ask when interviewing property managers.  I think it was written by @Nathan Gesner, a property manager from Wyoming. 

Does anyone know where I could find this or a similar overview for property owners? Thanks in advance :)

@Gregory Schwartz Good point!

I found out on July 15 that my landlord policy in California on my single family rental home is being non-renewed and the last day of coverage is Aug 1.  The stated reason is that my independent agent is being cancelled by Safeco and will no longer be a Safeco agent. 

I'm going to try to get Safeco to waive their new policy of not allowing any change of broker requests to go through after July 1, 2024 based on the fact that I never received their notice of Non-Renewal (dated May 4, 2024 ) in the mail and only got a copy of  it by email from my agent's office on July 17.  

I've been told that the law requires insurance companies to give  90 days written notice of non-renewal, but if I never received it by US mail from them, do I have a good case that they are out of compliance with that law and need to allow me to switch agents and renew?

How should I approach negotiating with Safeco? 

Does anyone know if the 90 day notice requirement is a California law or federal law? 

Since I've been told the insurance market is really tough right now in California with most of the big companies (Nationwide, Allstate, State Farm)  not writing new policies to new customers, I'm trying to do a change of broker to a different Safeco agent. I found one is Sonora CA who is willing to do this, but I have to negotiate with Safeco to get them to allow this exception to the July 1 deadline; however,  I would not have needed the exception if I'd gotten the Non-renewal notice in time.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions ! :)