Property Management recommendation

1

Hi guys,

I’m not too satisfy with my existing one. any recommendation and how much fee are they charging?

thanks

2

Is that fee you are not satisfied or service you are not satisfied? There are good and bad for low cost PM. How much are you paying now and Which Location?

3

I’m not satisfy a couple things

  1. vendor they use, example, one time a furnance has some problem, their vendor quoted me over 3k to replace it , but later i found another guy able to fix it for 350. Second time a thermostat broken down, their vendor claim the wiring is old, to redo the wiring and thing will cost a lot. but then i find my contractor to replace it for $100.

  2. very slow scheduling work. Both tenant and I are very disappointed their slowness. A simple conference call to schedule time to work should take less than a day, I’m not sure if they’re so busy or what, took them so long to even schedule vendor or anything with them.

  3. They started off pretty good with my old portfolio manager(left the company a few months ago) , but lately i think they expand so fast, they hire a bunch of fresh grad i can tell they’re very inexperience in property management.

I’m currently paying 5% each month. It’s on the low side. I’m just checking to see if there’s better alternative.
One good thing is that i get my rent on time.

4

5% is the lowest I have heard so far.

I had 5% person one time, but I did not like the service as there was a conflict of interest. The PM had become buyer agent of my tenant, did not properly handle the situation, and lost 18 days of rent ! Removed that PM afterwards.

Now, I engaged higher percentage one, but had faced similar issues (1) many times. Even though we engage PM, owner needs to be top of the issues, esp on high cost is involved.

For me, the PM told me replace the whole roof $11000 while my handyman identified leak which was fixable with $800. Similarly, the PM’s vendor quoted $4000 for laminate floor fix while I made it with $1100.

This is the way things are happening. When there is an issue, PM calls standard vendor and gets the quote, flash by you to agree or disagree. He/She (whether it is 5% or 10% PM) does not look whether the price is right or wrong, just pass it to owner to decide. This is very standard lethargic attitude I have seen over last 10 years, esp during peak bull period.

Changing PM will not help, but educating our-self will help in the long run.

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5

Now I’m convinced more than ever that I should not hire a PM, at least until I become disabled by old age…

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6

Pretty much i’m managing my own whenever problem occurs, luckily i’m close by enough.
So looks like PM use is only for collecting rent and whenever needs eviction.

7

What’s the name of the PM company and where is it? We will take note and not give them business.

There are special eviction companies that just do evictions. Rent collection is easy as @ptiemann pointed out you can have them pay at 7/11 or online. So if you can take care of everything else it doesn’t look like you even need a PM.

8

One layer of liability protection and allow you to own more rentals. Not familiar with PM in SV but my PM is Austin is pretty good. Btw, he has pretty bad review in yelp by tenants, suit me :grin:, being too tough and strict.

9

Is there money in becoming a PM?

10

manch, I’m using onerent.co
There’s a few good things about them

  • gurantee rent on the third into my account
  • 15k of legal fee for eviction and tenant damage.
  • 5% low cost

In beginning they’re not that bad, not sure what happen last half year, all starting to go downhill

11

I use Summerhill. It’s $1k finders fee to place the tenant then 6%. I get my money quickly every month, and I get an itemized statement. I think appfolio is the name of the software they use. My tenants don’t even know I exist or how to contact me.

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12

How they handle minor repairs and big ticket items? How many people in the company? My Austin PM has only 2 people :slight_smile:

13

Whatever dioworld stated has been happening with almost any PM.

Many Bay Area realtors are keeping PM as side business and their focus is to buy or sell where they make big money ! Few companies like Cal-western properties or similar corp companies involved in PM as their main business, charge between 6% to 7% range. Still owners need to review, challenge, work…etc

In fact, this is good for you as you learn a lot.

I always feel like this . PM is a first level of my support, while I am in final level of support.

If the issues cost me less than my limit, say around $200, I will always leave it with PM. Even If I am involved, it may not save me huge difference. Wherever it goes higher, I will jump in. It happens to me at least once a year, but that educates me a lot.

14

PM in SV is so bad?

15

I’m not sure how many people are in the company. I know there’s at least 2 (my PM and the person that coordinates repair appointments with vendors). You can set your own threshold for repairs. The default is they call for authorization on anything over $300… Anything under $300, they just handle it for you. They have at least 2 different handyman that they use. They are $50/hr which seems cheap by BA standards. If they buy materials, they include the receipt for that. I always get copies of the invoices, and the monthly statement has vendors and total amount spent.

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16

In bay area, One sale deal will easily give you $25000, while rent gives you $2000/home/year.
Which do you focus? PM, by virtue of low amount, is your side business while sales as main business.

Think the same situation in Austin. The ratio is better and PM may focus on rental.

There are realtors, in bay area, who does not even lift a phone if the deal is less than 1M. It does not mean bay area realtors are bad, but their focus is based on their own return !

17

PMs have no incentives to save you money on repairs. .They also have no incentives to maximize the rents…Need to build those incentives into the contract. .
The key to set your properties up to minimize repairs and maintenance. …

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18

I agree 100% with this. Hence why i just sold my rental that was too far to manage. It made complete sense on paper when I bought it a few years back, but never yielded anywhere close to it’s theoretical cashflow because i had to remind the PM every year to raise rent (after I found out the PM wasn’t raising rent except on vacancies) and the cost of the repairs (far higher then what it cost me locally at my own place since i quoted competitively after troubleshooting the issue first)

19

That is why I do my own management and repairs. .I usally do repairs myself or with a helper. …Plumbing, roofing and electrical, I hire trades people. .Even in Tahoe they are $100/hr…Finding good tenants is an art…After doing if for 40 years I don’t enjoy it, but am getting better at it…I would rather paint than deal with tenants, and I hate painting…The only problem with being a landlord is the terrible T’s…Tenants, taxes, and toilets. …of the 3, I prefer toilets. .they only stink part of the time…lol…Just put in a sump pump today…It was actually fun…My tenant did the grunt work for $15/hr…Was a joy to work with…Army vet, used to crawling in tight spaces…Tenants can surprise you , once in while they become good friends…

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