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All Forum Posts by: Walt Dockery

Walt Dockery has started 2 posts and replied 165 times.

Post: What do you charge for cleaning upon move out?

Walt DockeryPosted
  • Investor
  • Winter Park, FL
  • Posts 171
  • Votes 165
Originally posted by @JD Martin:
Originally posted by @Walt Dockery:
Originally posted by @JD Martin:

We provide a professionally cleaned unit when the tenant moves in. If it requires anything barely beyond a broom sweep and light dust we have cleaners come back in and finish the job at the tenant's cost. 

If all it takes is a quick broom sweep ... then do you just do that and not provide the next tenant "a professionally cleaned unit"?  Or do you have it professionally cleaned anyway?

 Believe it or not, some tenants actually leave the unit in a pristine state. Others hire their own cleaners to come in. We have a checklist we provide to tenants who are preparing to move out that we use to determine readiness at turnover. 

I don't really consider a tenant leaving it acceptably "broom clean" at move out the same as a professional deep clean. I'd have it professionally cleaned in between either way, and would expect as much if I were a renter moving in. 

Post: What do you charge for cleaning upon move out?

Walt DockeryPosted
  • Investor
  • Winter Park, FL
  • Posts 171
  • Votes 165
Originally posted by @JD Martin:

We provide a professionally cleaned unit when the tenant moves in. If it requires anything barely beyond a broom sweep and light dust we have cleaners come back in and finish the job at the tenant's cost. 

If all it takes is a quick broom sweep ... then do you just do that and not provide the next tenant "a professionally cleaned unit"?  Or do you have it professionally cleaned anyway?

Post: Give PM access to my bank acount ?

Walt DockeryPosted
  • Investor
  • Winter Park, FL
  • Posts 171
  • Votes 165

I don't care how little is in the account, it's completely out of the question IMO. 

Post: Grow Your Portfolio or Debt Free Properties

Walt DockeryPosted
  • Investor
  • Winter Park, FL
  • Posts 171
  • Votes 165

Depends on a lot of factors - your personal risk tolerance, goals, income requirements, time horizon, how many units you want to deal with, what the rest of your investment portfolio looks like etc.  Leverage increases return on equity but also increases risk.  

I would beware advice that ignores vastly different levels of risk, compares income only on one asset class to total return (income/dividend + appreciation) on another, or that is predicated on straight line return assumptions and gimmicky made up catchphrases like "artificial cash flow". 

Personally, my view is while I'm in the wealth accumulation phase of my life I'm comfortable using debt to build up a portfolio, as I approach financial independence I'd ideally like getting some or all of them them paid off.  In my case investment real estate is a pretty small % of my nest egg and will likely remain so. 

Post: Give PM access to my bank acount ?

Walt DockeryPosted
  • Investor
  • Winter Park, FL
  • Posts 171
  • Votes 165

No way would I trust someone with that.  They can send me an invoice like everyone else. 

Post: What do you charge for cleaning upon move out?

Walt DockeryPosted
  • Investor
  • Winter Park, FL
  • Posts 171
  • Votes 165

I'm sure I'm an outlier but I would have it professionally cleaned between tenants as a matter of course, and wouldn't charge unless they left it pretty bad.  As a tenant I would not want to move in to anything that hadn't been deep cleaned since the prior tenant. 5-10 minutes?  Gross. 

Post: Tenant damaged lock; no one claims responsibility

Walt DockeryPosted
  • Investor
  • Winter Park, FL
  • Posts 171
  • Votes 165

Not worth it. Any of them could have made a copy of their key and still have a good key, plus was an accident and it's not a big enough repair to care. 

Post: Rental Listing Scam / Fraud

Walt DockeryPosted
  • Investor
  • Winter Park, FL
  • Posts 171
  • Votes 165

If it were me, in addition to notifying Craigslist I would also file a police report with my local PD (call the non emergency number). Yeah, the scammer is probably not local and Internet scammers are rarely caught, but you never know plus would want to start a paper trail esp in case anything happens with the victims on the other end of the scam. I have heard some of these scammers will go so far as to tell people they are out of town go ahead and call a locksmith to change the locks.  

Post: Do property management companies know market rents

Walt DockeryPosted
  • Investor
  • Winter Park, FL
  • Posts 171
  • Votes 165

@Darek Zurawski

Yeah, I was agreeing with you. They have an incentive to underprice. 

Post: Do property management companies know market rents

Walt DockeryPosted
  • Investor
  • Winter Park, FL
  • Posts 171
  • Votes 165
Originally posted by @Robert Gilstrap:

I suppose if you're dealing with non-professionals then you are right you will get subpar results. Real professionals represent their clients just like it was their money and commission is the last thing on their mind. I would add that it's a statistical fact that Realtor represented properties sell for higher amounts and faster so there must be good agents out there.

Professionalism or lack thereof has nothing to do with it, you specifically brought up incentives and the incentives don't work the way you claimed they did.  That professionalism may lead good agents to act other than what's purely incentive driven doesn't change the incentive. 

Commissions being "the last thing on an agents mind" is wishful thinking to the point of naivety. Of course there are plenty of good/professional agents out there who will put their clients interest first, this does not mean commissions aren't on their mind. 

I never made any claim one way or another wrt sales prices being higher or lower with an agent, I said agents are almost always more eager to cut the price or agree to a lower offer than the seller.  Good agents still bring plenty of value to the table though.