People love to pick on our country, but we still have $15T GDP, which is 3X our closest competitor.

The level of management needed will depend on the age of the property and what type of repairs have been completed along the way.If you buy a property with deferred maintenance getting it turned around the first 6 months will take a ton of time.A manager should be compensated for the extra work in that case.A 10% fee simply will not cover or make worthwhile all the work involved.There will be eviction,court dates,trash outs,re-conditioning,advertising,tenant apps with criminal and credit check,ongoing repairs with tenants that are staying,etc.For all of you that want to manage other people's properties you need to check with your state's real estate commission.In many states including mine you will have to hold a license with a brokerage or be a broker.Some exceptions is if you are an employee of the company etc.I think often times investors have a high expectancy of PM work.Simply it's like owning a restaurant and having an 8 hr worker.To expect that worker to be just as excited and diligent about the business when they get nothing but a small check is a pipe dream.If I pay 100 for a steak then I demand service.If I go through the drive in at Taco Bell I expect the food to be correct and nothing else.Managing 100 properties yourself without help is the exception and not the rule.This is based on my experience dealing with apartment owners.One had about 210 units over 10 buildings all within a few miles of each other.Vintage stock and unit mix was all different ages.They ran it themselves BUT had a full time leasing manager,bookkeeper,and about 3 maintenance guys.There is no way without the help they could run them selves.I have seen basically one person locally could handle up to about a 20 to 30 unit by themselves.After that it becomes really difficult.Many investors buying in this range are not purchasing a new building.These are older buildings that need constant upkeep and have problems.Typically the mechanicals,plumbing,electrical all start failing at different intervals.I have a 20 unit and have a live in PM.It lets me focus on my real estate deals and I check in with them every 2 days or so to see how things are going.I don't want to do 10 hr work when I can make hundreds per hour selling real estate for my clients.If you want to invest out of state you could do triple net leases for mail box money.The CAP is about 7 to 8% where I am at right now.If you want higher returns then usually you have to take on more problems and risk.

We also agreed that the only backyard projects that would need the Architectural Committee approvals were projects that required permits by the city, so we're free to landscape how we wish, the concern was that the closest Home Depot or Walmart is 25 miles away, and if we see sales there on plants, we want to be able to pick them up then and there and know that we're okay to plant them, so it was decided that plants would be fine and not subject to AC approval in the backyard, we still need to address the front yard.

What is the closest city?

I wanted to a little advice on how to go about finding the closest estimate value on a multifamily property.

The closest we ever got in modern history is the enactment of the patriot act.

If you want steak, it is really expensive.

You kinda have to "sell the sizzle and not the steak", and obviously back it up with numbers.

i checked her just liek my other tenants...i guess the lesson would be that some tenants pay, and some don't...budget and minimize risk the best you can..again, nothin you can do to predict it besides just expecting it at some point...at peter: as i mentioned, the deposit has been eaten up by rent she didn't pay, so that's a non issue, but i like your thinking-my time is money, and that's why i intend to not sit out there in the heat for hours upon hours...at mike: thank you for coming closest to answering my question...lol....all i want to know is what is a reasonable time frame to allow her to get her crap out...i wanna give her an hour...maybe 2, and that's it..i don't plan on wasting my saturday there while she moves her crap..again, i may just arrive 2 hours before our scheduled window and set it out for her...that might be the best idea..thanks again guys for your advice

Reader's Digest once did an article on Colorado calling it "the closest place to Heaven".