All Forum Posts by: Wesly Aldrich

Here is their response to my question about maintenance fees:

When it comes to maintenance issues, will there be a set hourly or flat rate fee for repairs that are performed by your maintenance person? Yes, our current maintenance / repair rate is $35.00/hr. For cleaning, clean-outs, and turnovers, our rate is $28.00/hr plus supplies. For painting, it would be on a per job basis. As discussed, for the maintenance / repairs, we will do everything we can to take care of the issue ourselves before moving it to an outside vendor where the rate is generally double or triple of what we charge. We're not going to spend extraordinary time diagnosing an issue and burning up time (expense). I know very well what we can handle and what we can't. Again, and as always, our goal is to minimize your expense as much as possible and everything is documented.

Here is the response to my question about placement fee refunds:

Pertaining to the new tenant placement fee, is there a tenant guarantee? For example if a tenant moves out prior to the lease ending or gets evicted, is there a discount on the next tenant placement fee or a partial refund or credit for the fee paid? Yes, absolutely. We will credit 100% of the placement fee if the tenant is evicted within the first year. We will credit 50% of the placement fee if they vacate within the first 6 month. In all cases, we will be fair with you.

Also PM will be responsible for paying all bills related to property except mortgage payments.  IE, taxes, utilities, insurance etc...

Looking to hire a property management company and these are the fees they are proposing below.  What do you think about the new tenant placement fees?

Management Fee (paid monthly):8% of collected rent; minimum fee of $60/unit

New Tenant Placement Fee (as a percentage of one months rent, paid after first month):

12 Month Lease - 60%, minimum of $450

24 Month Lease - 80%, minimum of $600

36 Month Lease - 100%, minimum of $750

To make a long story short, I am using my rental income to purchase a new home that we will be living in and was prequalified with no issues (mortgage company hired third party firm to look at my rental income and returns to qualify my income, I gave them every document on earth, leases, taxes, insurance, mortgages, etc...) and then underwriting says no due to the fact that the last 2 years of tax returns (2017, 2018) I reinvested all my money into my rentals and they are deducting all that out of my income, ie. depreciation, capital improvements, supplies, repairs, utilities, maintenance etc...  They are basically saying it doesn't matter how much comes in this year or any year, it's all about how I filed my taxes over the last 2 years.  I invested heavy because I had a day job and needed write offs etc.  Does this sound right?  I do not have a day job currently however my cash flow from rentals well covers me for this loan.

I am in the process of hiring a property management company as I am moving out of state 12 hours away, I am in a unique rural area where it is impossible to find a larger company, basically have to use individuals (normally real estate agents) who manage a few properties here and there or own their own.  Anyhow I think I have found my "guy" however he has never actually collected rents into his account then dispersed payments for owners, his situations were to have the money go directly into the owners account via online payments or they are his properties and collects rents for himself, this market is slightly different and I have a hard time getting people signed up online and with the amount of units I think it is a better idea for him to collect rent into his account then disperse.  I am looking for property management software that would track incoming rents and automatically deduct his commission per rent payment so that he knows exactly what my payout would be each month.  50 units spread over 16 properties.  I have searched and cannot find that specific feature in any of the software that I have looked at.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi, I am a full time small business owner and a part time landlord.  I own 5 properties currently (going on 6)  3 duplex's and 2 mixed commercial/residential units.  My main interests are to learn more about the experiences of other "seasoned" landlords to help me not make the same mistakes or better my overall experience as a landlord.

A roll off dumpster and a couple ambitious people would have it done for about $600, problem is, whats under all that stuff, mold? wildlife? unseen damage?  you cant fix what you don't know/care about.  The term "out of sight, out of mind" comes to mind here.  I'd figure out a way to clear out a couple areas of the house ahead of time during some sort of inspection to figure out if there are any major problems lurking, unless you are getting it dirt cheap...

Really you have two options as the poster mentioned above, do not renew the lease, odds are out of the 4 one is due to be up soon, if they are month to month you would ask them to leave at the end of the month, if they are nice people they will leave, if they are jerks they will make you evict them and you will most likely have to wait 60 -90 days.  If it were me I would try to offer one of them enough money to entice them out quickly, something like the amount they would need for first months rent and security deposit at a new location...

One other clever option may be to make it a stipulation to the sale that one of the apartments has to be empty before closing.  This will force the seller to do your dirty work ahead of time...

KEEP WORKING, sacrifice some stuff such as latest smartphones, fancy new cars, dining out, shop at discount stores, build up a bit of credit (takes a couple years), show a steady wage for a few years, buy a duplex, live in one side, let the other side pay your mortgage, KEEP WORKING the entire time, you will be amazed how quickly you can start saving money when you take large bills out of the equation such as rent/mortgage.  Its not easy and its not quick, otherwise everyone would do it right?

1st lesson I learned as a landlord... never let a tenant move in with a "promise" of deposit or first months rent, once they are in, they have the upper hand and know it.  I have learned this the hard way.  Many renters have worked the system.  New York State is strict, we have to serve a 3 day notice to pay or quit, then after 30 days of no payment we can serve a 30 day notice (before the first of the month) with a court date, show up to court and as long as all your paperwork is done properly the judge for file an eviction summons and judgment against the tenant that has to be served by a county Sheriff.  If their are kids in the house they can ask for a few more days or weeks to find proper housing.  The judgment the judge files is important for future collections of past due rent, this can be used to pursue the tenant in small claims court at a later time.  However you will most likely never see your money or find that it is worth it to chase it down.  It is best to cut your losses and move on and properly screen your tenants in the future.  Also stand strong and have a "show me the money" or move on policy after you find the right tenants.  Never, ever let a tenant move in early without paying at the very least first months rent and full security deposit.