All Forum Posts by: Joy Shaw

We're in central pennsylvania.  I could understand keeping the bookkeeping and property management separate.  We don't have a ton of turnover with tenants so our property management is typically pretty low key.  By hiring out a property manager, we'd be paying out thousands per month more than if we just hired a w2 property manager.  Even if we just did 10-15% of rent by using a 3rd party property manager, that amount of money could afford us at least 2 in house property managers.  With the number of units, it just doesn't seem to make sense to use a 3rd party.  I combed around on bigger pockets but haven't found many threads about having a property manager as an employee.  Is this an unusual idea or do people just not post about it?

My wife and I are expecting our first child in June.  We have 65 rental units (single family, duplex, triplex, multi, commercial etc) and we both have full time jobs.  Currently, we self manage all of them and do the showings, leasings etc.  We could hire an outside property management company, but we have seen the local property management companies fees/contracts, and it would be quite cost prohibitive with this  many units.  We are considering hiring an in house property manager to handle day to day tenant interactions, showings, leasings, bookkeeping and probably other items that I haven't listed.  They'd be a W2 employee.   We'd certainly have to train them and guide them along the way, especially the first year or so, but our goal is to retain a long term W2 property manager.   

Has anyone out there done this?  I scoured BP but mostly saw people hiring management companies, I was having a difficult time locating many posts about having an in house property manager.  Now that we have as many units as we do, the numbers do not seem to make sense for hiring a management company.  Losing 10 percent plus the first 1-2 months rent would crush profit margins, and the management really isn't that hard to do, I'm just looking to free up our time to raise our kid.  Has anyone had good/bad experiences with this?  What are some things that you found worked for training your in house property manager?  Was there a lot of turnover with having your own PM, or did you find that you were able to retain a long term employee?  Did you have better success with in house vs management company?  Are there any online courses for training property managers?  I'd very happily train this person, but a course can really cover a lot of ground quickly and introduce a lot of information to a new employee.  

Thank you for you input,

Gabe

Hello everyone! I just have a question on ending month to month lease. I am giving my tenants 30 day notice and letting them know that I'd like to end the lease. I sent that information via certified mail but I think the tenants are not picking up on purposes. These are not eviction notice so I'm not sure if I have to send them via certified mail? I'm just protecting myself in case we have to go to court since these tenants are difficult. I'm wondering if anyone has any experience on this type of situation. Thank you! 

Thank you everyone for the response. Just an update, I got all the tenants to sign our month to month lease. I appreciate the responses that are constructive and come from a place of kindness. 

@Jesse Soriano 

What the tenant is fearing is exactly why we are having her sign month to month so we can get her to leave. So if she doesn't sign and she has violated her precious lease since she didn't pay rent for 6 months, how would I get her out of the property? 

Hello everyone! My partner and I recently purchased a 6 unit apartment and some tenants have a current lease that doesn't run out till sep of 2021. We would like to get them to sign our month to month lease just so we have more control since these tenants had history of not paying their rent. So far they have been avoiding us and not signing our lease. I'm wondering since we took over do we have to honor their current lease or since we are not on their current lease as landlords the lease will become inactive. 

I have a feeling that they are not going to sign the new lease or pay rent so I would really like to vacate them but I know if they are on their current lease it will be more difficult. 

Thank you!!

Hello everyone! I am recently closing on a multiunit. One of the current tenants has not paid rent for 6 months. The previous landlord does not have a written lease, he has just been renewing the lease verbally so technically she does not have a lease now. When I'm taking over the apartments I will have them all sign a new lease. I would just like some suggestions on how I can handle this situation. I think I can either have her sign the lease and hope that she will pay on time with me. I am leaning towards not having her as a tenant though. If I don't want her as a tenant what ways can I handle this without causing too much problem? 

Also another question, the previous landlord did not collect security deposit. How can I go about collecting it without making them upset?

Thank you so much!! 

Hello everyone! I would like to rent out my home using Airbnb on weekends. I have a real estate business card for my rentals. I'm wondering if it is ok for me to use my business card for the renovation/decorating of my Airbnb/home since it is real estate related. Thank you! 

Hello everyone! I have a tenant that is moving out and her lease is month to month. She gave us proper notice and is moving out April 5th. Our lease renews the lease day of the month. In this case do we need her to sign anything to terminate the lease. Also in the future if tenants are moving out on month to month lease does any documents need to be signed to terminate it or do I just need to have a written notice from them? Thanks!