Advice For Renting Home
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Advice For Renting Home
Hey everyone,
I'm interested in experience with hiring a property management company (PMC) to rent out and take care of houses. It's near Ft. Meade and I've considered the idea of using a PMC since I don't have time to manage the property myself.
Are there red flags to look out for? Does hiring a PMC really help reduce the worry of maintenance, etc?
I'm interested in experience with hiring a property management company (PMC) to rent out and take care of houses. It's near Ft. Meade and I've considered the idea of using a PMC since I don't have time to manage the property myself.
Are there red flags to look out for? Does hiring a PMC really help reduce the worry of maintenance, etc?
Re: Advice For Renting Home
I bought a small out-of-state rental house a few years ago. I hired a PMC. Overall, they weren't very good, but I made a reasonable profit before selling it. I used a PMC because I wanted everything to be as "hands off" as possible.
I guess it depends how active you want to be in collecting rent, scheduling maintenance/repairs, etc. I'm not really sure about red flags. You may want to join biggerpockets.com and ask questions there. It's a very helpful real estate site/forum.
I guess it depends how active you want to be in collecting rent, scheduling maintenance/repairs, etc. I'm not really sure about red flags. You may want to join biggerpockets.com and ask questions there. It's a very helpful real estate site/forum.
Re: Advice For Renting Home
skiehawk11 wrote:Hey everyone,
I'm interested in experience with hiring a property management company (PMC) to rent out and take care of houses. It's near Ft. Meade and I've considered the idea of using a PMC since I don't have time to manage the property myself.
Are there red flags to look out for? Does hiring a PMC really help reduce the worry of maintenance, etc?
Is this your first time renting out a property?
OCTOBER: This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks in. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August, and February. - Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar
Re: Advice For Renting Home
Oh boy. I used to manage my own rentals. When I moved to Japan, I hired a local property manager.
July-
I moved to Japan on 10 July. I owned two houses. My roommate was supposed to move out from House 1 at the end of July, so that we could pay to have the renovation finished and sell the house. House two had already been rented to a lady for a year, so she just signed a new lease with the PM and stayed there. I opened a 2nd checking account at my credit union and gave them access to the 2nd account only. I can go online and immediately give them access to additional funds, and I can also go online and withdraw my rent money to my personal checking.
Problems started at the end of July. My old roommate didn't want to move out, and I was already living abroad. I called my PM and she detailed the eviction process to me and I had her issue the appropriate 30-day notice. Meanwhile, we were having trouble finding contractors, so I called my PM and she took on some of the work through her own company's handyman, and found me a contractor for the rest.
At the end of the month, she e-mailed me a statement showing the deposit of the rent check from house 2 and the deduction of the management fee. She e-mailed me a separate statement for the work they did on house 1.
August-
She was effective in getting my old roommate out of house 1. At the end of the month, she e-mailed me a statement showing the deposit of the rent check from house 2 and the deduction of the management fee.
September -
At the end of the month, she e-mailed me a statement showing the deposit of the rent check from house 2 and the deduction of the management fee.
October-
At the end of the month, she e-mailed me a statement showing the deposit of the rent check from house 2 and the deduction of the management fee.
November-
Once the contractors were done with the renovation on House 1, I called my PM to see if she knew any house cleaners. As it turns out, she has her own cleaning crew, so I hired them. I also asked my PM to get quotes for having the abandoned underground oil tank at house 2 pumped out and filled with concrete. At the end of the month, she e-mailed me a statement showing the deposit of the rent check from house 2 and the deduction of the management fee. She e-mailed me a separate statement for the work they did on house 1, and two quotes from the oil companies. They were unable to find the tank, so I gave her specific instructions on how to locate it and she went to the house twice to meet with the contractors and show them.
December-
My neighbor at house 2 wakes me up in the middle of the night saying "Matt, something is going on at your house. The cops have it surrounded and they woke up the whole neighborhood." As it turns out, my tenant was selling meth out of my house, and the raid was led by the DEA. By the end of the month, my PM had met with an attorney, contacted the local jails, contacted the courthouse, and contacted the local police. She hit a lot of dead ends but finally met with the attorney again to get advice moving forward. The attorney helped her locate the tenant in jail, and also helped her with some questions regarding the eviction process for drugs, which she doesn't have much experience with. She was able to get a written statement from the local police.
January-
The second eviction in 3 months went rather smoothly. My old tenant was out as of the 25th and we discovered she changed the locks. There was a broken window, so my PM entered through the broken window. Within 3 days, the PM tore out the damaged carpets and steam cleaned the rest, replaced two broken windows, changed all of the locks, replaced two toilets, had the oil tank decommissioned, replaced the slider screen, fixed the gates, replaced the front door (broken in by DEA), spent 21 hours cleaning, and sent me a detailed statement. On day 3 of the house being vacated, they sent the evicted tenant a bill, and showed the house to multiple prospective tenants. She also called and made recommendations about what we could update in the house to get higher rent going forward.
Of course, all of these services have cost me money. The 10% property management fee only covers the regular services such as collecting rent and issuing statements. I pay for every hour they spend cleaning, making repairs, or calling contractors. But I live half way around the world, and despite the double-whammy of good tenants gone bad, I haven't stressed a minute. When I move back to the states, I will keep working with this PM if I still have rental property. The only thing I could see myself doing going forward is some of my own maintenance work. I will happily pay her to deal with all the money, contractors, tenants, and lawyers.
-Matt
July-
I moved to Japan on 10 July. I owned two houses. My roommate was supposed to move out from House 1 at the end of July, so that we could pay to have the renovation finished and sell the house. House two had already been rented to a lady for a year, so she just signed a new lease with the PM and stayed there. I opened a 2nd checking account at my credit union and gave them access to the 2nd account only. I can go online and immediately give them access to additional funds, and I can also go online and withdraw my rent money to my personal checking.
Problems started at the end of July. My old roommate didn't want to move out, and I was already living abroad. I called my PM and she detailed the eviction process to me and I had her issue the appropriate 30-day notice. Meanwhile, we were having trouble finding contractors, so I called my PM and she took on some of the work through her own company's handyman, and found me a contractor for the rest.
At the end of the month, she e-mailed me a statement showing the deposit of the rent check from house 2 and the deduction of the management fee. She e-mailed me a separate statement for the work they did on house 1.
August-
She was effective in getting my old roommate out of house 1. At the end of the month, she e-mailed me a statement showing the deposit of the rent check from house 2 and the deduction of the management fee.
September -
At the end of the month, she e-mailed me a statement showing the deposit of the rent check from house 2 and the deduction of the management fee.
October-
At the end of the month, she e-mailed me a statement showing the deposit of the rent check from house 2 and the deduction of the management fee.
November-
Once the contractors were done with the renovation on House 1, I called my PM to see if she knew any house cleaners. As it turns out, she has her own cleaning crew, so I hired them. I also asked my PM to get quotes for having the abandoned underground oil tank at house 2 pumped out and filled with concrete. At the end of the month, she e-mailed me a statement showing the deposit of the rent check from house 2 and the deduction of the management fee. She e-mailed me a separate statement for the work they did on house 1, and two quotes from the oil companies. They were unable to find the tank, so I gave her specific instructions on how to locate it and she went to the house twice to meet with the contractors and show them.
December-
My neighbor at house 2 wakes me up in the middle of the night saying "Matt, something is going on at your house. The cops have it surrounded and they woke up the whole neighborhood." As it turns out, my tenant was selling meth out of my house, and the raid was led by the DEA. By the end of the month, my PM had met with an attorney, contacted the local jails, contacted the courthouse, and contacted the local police. She hit a lot of dead ends but finally met with the attorney again to get advice moving forward. The attorney helped her locate the tenant in jail, and also helped her with some questions regarding the eviction process for drugs, which she doesn't have much experience with. She was able to get a written statement from the local police.
January-
The second eviction in 3 months went rather smoothly. My old tenant was out as of the 25th and we discovered she changed the locks. There was a broken window, so my PM entered through the broken window. Within 3 days, the PM tore out the damaged carpets and steam cleaned the rest, replaced two broken windows, changed all of the locks, replaced two toilets, had the oil tank decommissioned, replaced the slider screen, fixed the gates, replaced the front door (broken in by DEA), spent 21 hours cleaning, and sent me a detailed statement. On day 3 of the house being vacated, they sent the evicted tenant a bill, and showed the house to multiple prospective tenants. She also called and made recommendations about what we could update in the house to get higher rent going forward.
Of course, all of these services have cost me money. The 10% property management fee only covers the regular services such as collecting rent and issuing statements. I pay for every hour they spend cleaning, making repairs, or calling contractors. But I live half way around the world, and despite the double-whammy of good tenants gone bad, I haven't stressed a minute. When I move back to the states, I will keep working with this PM if I still have rental property. The only thing I could see myself doing going forward is some of my own maintenance work. I will happily pay her to deal with all the money, contractors, tenants, and lawyers.
-Matt
Owner/creator of TSPcalc.com - "Know your numbers"
Re: Advice For Renting Home
mjedlin66 ,
What was your PM doing? Did she verify employment? Most PMs verify employment and salary.
skiehawk11 ,
I was asking if it was your first time because of the above problems for repairs. Make sure you have enough money for any repairs or problems you think will arise, and then double that amount.
What was your PM doing? Did she verify employment? Most PMs verify employment and salary.
skiehawk11 ,
I was asking if it was your first time because of the above problems for repairs. Make sure you have enough money for any repairs or problems you think will arise, and then double that amount.
OCTOBER: This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks in. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August, and February. - Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar
Re: Advice For Renting Home
When I moved from Wyoming, I hired property management company to manage house that we had lived in. Initially it took a few months to rent but wanted reasonable rent--a little higher than what company initial recommended.
--high enough that you don't have to deal with section 8 applicants that involve a lot of red tape and tenants that often don't take care of the home.
--willing to reduce rent slightly for longer lease term--usually have to pay month's rent for new lease
It has been rented pretty continuously ever since which a few change overs in tenants...usually within a month of prior tenant leaving. When it comes to repairs, some of the minor items seem a little bit high but not unrealistic--they are in it to make money. Major repairs include outside painting that was needed, floor replacement (recommend ceramic tile which lasts longer over cheaper vinyl or other materials that have to be replaced repeatedly), roof that was covered under insurance due to hail damage (upgraded to hail resistant cost extra but reduced insurance premiums) and most recently the water heater replacement. Repairs generally just taken from rent receipts so I don't have to send money to management company. House is paid off now and it provides consistent stream of income with little stress other than occasional repairs and turn over. Overall, it has been a good experience.
Nothing like Matt's experience
--high enough that you don't have to deal with section 8 applicants that involve a lot of red tape and tenants that often don't take care of the home.
--willing to reduce rent slightly for longer lease term--usually have to pay month's rent for new lease
It has been rented pretty continuously ever since which a few change overs in tenants...usually within a month of prior tenant leaving. When it comes to repairs, some of the minor items seem a little bit high but not unrealistic--they are in it to make money. Major repairs include outside painting that was needed, floor replacement (recommend ceramic tile which lasts longer over cheaper vinyl or other materials that have to be replaced repeatedly), roof that was covered under insurance due to hail damage (upgraded to hail resistant cost extra but reduced insurance premiums) and most recently the water heater replacement. Repairs generally just taken from rent receipts so I don't have to send money to management company. House is paid off now and it provides consistent stream of income with little stress other than occasional repairs and turn over. Overall, it has been a good experience.
Nothing like Matt's experience
Re: Advice For Renting Home
ArrieS wrote:mjedlin66 ,
What was your PM doing? Did she verify employment? Most PMs verify employment and salary.
Well both of these nightmare tenants had been selected when I was self-managing. I used a background and credit check service provided by Trend Micro that turns out was a total waste of money.
The roommate who refused to move out by the end of July was a close friend of mine. I knew he had shitty credit, and I watched him buy a $35,000 pickup truck while he was working for $15 an hour for an unpredictable boss in construction. I begged him to return it, I offered to help him shop for pickups in the $1000-2000 range, but he never was good at being honest with himself. Anyway, the truck was repossessed. Despite that, he was a great guy. We had lived together in that house for a year, and he and I did 80% of the renovation work ourselves. Before I left, we had an understanding that he would leave by the end of July so that we could get contractors in starting August 1st to finish the house. After I got here, he told me that he couldn't find anywhere but one house that was willing to rent to him, and they couldn't let him in until August 20th. I told him he couldn't stay that long, and it blew up.
The other tenant told me she was a professional house cleaner in the next town over. I never questioned it, because she had already lived there for a year before I hired the PM, and every time I went over there to fix something or pick up mail, the house was spotless. She honestly took better care of the place than I did, up until the raid.
My PM's application and screening process is tighter than a middle aged woman in her high school jeans. I am confident that we won't have any issues with the next tenant.
Good luck. I have made WAY more money on real estate than I have in my TSP, even though the DEA bust ended up costing me about 3 grand out of pocket (above and beyond her deposit).
Owner/creator of TSPcalc.com - "Know your numbers"
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Re: Advice For Renting Home
ArrieS wrote:skiehawk11 wrote:Hey everyone,
I'm interested in experience with hiring a property management company (PMC) to rent out and take care of houses. It's near Ft. Meade and I've considered the idea of using a PMC since I don't have time to manage the property myself.
Are there red flags to look out for? Does hiring a PMC really help reduce the worry of maintenance, etc?
Is this your first time renting out a property?
It is my first time renting a house out. I have a decent amount of money already saved for repairs, but I shouldn't have a problem dealing with that. My concerns are: (1) PMC selecting bad tenants; and (2) paying out the wazoo for un-needed repairs and maintenance.
mjedlin66, wow! It seems that your PMC was amazing. Were they recommended to you? How did you go about selecting yours?
Re: Advice For Renting Home
skiehawk11 wrote:
mjedlin66, wow! It seems that your PMC was amazing. Were they recommended to you? How did you go about selecting yours?
Honestly, I sought them out because I had seen their truck driving around town. "Landlord's Dream" it said on the side. Ironically, I couldn't find "Landlord's Dream" online anywhere except a dead website, but I was able to cross-link that to "P&L Properties", and it turns out they were my neighbor. Four houses down. That's probably why I saw their truck.
Anyway, I got three references from the PM before I hired them. The references were all from other landlords and they were all glowing.
I wouldn't worry about paying for unneeded repairs and maintenance. The contract that my PM presented to me said that they had to get permission for any repairs over $300. Because I was moving abroad, I gave them a bit more leeway. I believe I wrote "The PM must get permission from the landlord for repairs over $500, except in the case of emergency repairs to restore living conditions, such as window replacement, plumbing repairs, hot water, electrical, etc."
Owner/creator of TSPcalc.com - "Know your numbers"
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Re: Advice For Renting Home
skiehawk11 wrote:ArrieS wrote:skiehawk11 wrote:Hey everyone,
I'm interested in experience with hiring a property management company (PMC) to rent out and take care of houses. It's near Ft. Meade and I've considered the idea of using a PMC since I don't have time to manage the property myself.
Are there red flags to look out for? Does hiring a PMC really help reduce the worry of maintenance, etc?
Is this your first time renting out a property?
It is my first time renting a house out. I have a decent amount of money already saved for repairs, but I shouldn't have a problem dealing with that. My concerns are: (1) PMC selecting bad tenants; and (2) paying out the wazoo for un-needed repairs and maintenance.
mjedlin66, wow! It seems that your PMC was amazing. Were they recommended to you? How did you go about selecting yours?
Your fears are shared by many a landlord I would think. I ran my own rentals for over ten years and personally prefer investing in mutual much more. I work near Ft. Meade myself and the past year I have reluctantly had to dip my toe back into the rental business to take care of some family business. I have had a positive experience with Renter's Warehouse in the sense that they got me a tenant quickly (about three weeks). I think their fees for finding them were expensive (one months rent. I have a cousin that handled the PM the first year but have started looking for a PMC and haven't been pleased with the two companies I've contacted so far. Been looking at reviews through Yelp and have been appalled with the poor renter reviews of the management companies.
Good Luck with this. I'm rooting for someone to give you good intelligence on this
Re: Advice For Renting Home
I had an old house I couldn't get rid of after the downturn and rented it out but moved out of state. I hired a PMC and they pretty much hosed me out of a bunch of money. They had me pay them to start off and they found a tenant right away who only paid one months rent. From that point forward the PMC charged me an arm and a leg to handle the legal proceedings to evict and then some how afterwards they couldn't find a renter for months on end all the while charging me a monthly fee to pay them for managing an empty property. At the end of the year I called and told them I was terminating our relationship and they acted bewildered and said they had a bunch of interested tenants lined up.
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Re: Advice For Renting Home
mjedlin66 wrote:skiehawk11 wrote:
mjedlin66, wow! It seems that your PMC was amazing. Were they recommended to you? How did you go about selecting yours?
Honestly, I sought them out because I had seen their truck driving around town. "Landlord's Dream" it said on the side. Ironically, I couldn't find "Landlord's Dream" online anywhere except a dead website, but I was able to cross-link that to "P&L Properties", and it turns out they were my neighbor. Four houses down. That's probably why I saw their truck.
Anyway, I got three references from the PM before I hired them. The references were all from other landlords and they were all glowing.
I wouldn't worry about paying for unneeded repairs and maintenance. The contract that my PM presented to me said that they had to get permission for any repairs over $300. Because I was moving abroad, I gave them a bit more leeway. I believe I wrote "The PM must get permission from the landlord for repairs over $500, except in the case of emergency repairs to restore living conditions, such as window replacement, plumbing repairs, hot water, electrical, etc."
Can you share what city and state P&L Properties works in?
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Re: Advice For Renting Home
Morning,
My wife and I have both used PMC in the past have haven't had the greatest of results. Be careful of what your expecting from them for their 10% (or your profits) for watching your place. The attachment shows a recent sale of a rental property near me and the 70,000 dollar lost that the "out of state" owner took when the tenants moved out.
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5068- ... 3512_zpid/
Airwinger6
My wife and I have both used PMC in the past have haven't had the greatest of results. Be careful of what your expecting from them for their 10% (or your profits) for watching your place. The attachment shows a recent sale of a rental property near me and the 70,000 dollar lost that the "out of state" owner took when the tenants moved out.
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5068- ... 3512_zpid/
Airwinger6
-My fantasy account mirrors my real TSP account-
Re: Advice For Renting Home
You may want to check with the housing office at Fort Meade and see what property management companies they recommend to service member in the market for off post housing. You can have a horror story whether you do it yourself or with a management company. I would recommend that you interview several before deciding to go with one. Ask them why you should go with them over their competitor(s).
Re: Advice For Renting Home
P&L is in Bremerton, WA.
Owner/creator of TSPcalc.com - "Know your numbers"
Fund Prices2024-04-16
Fund | Price | Day | YTD |
G | $18.19 | 0.01% | 1.24% |
F | $18.58 | -0.32% | -3.33% |
C | $79.08 | -0.21% | 6.34% |
S | $76.95 | -0.41% | -0.18% |
I | $40.73 | -0.98% | 1.37% |
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L2060 | $15.67 | -0.50% | 3.67% |
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L2050 | $31.50 | -0.44% | 2.93% |
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L2040 | $52.59 | -0.38% | 2.72% |
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L2030 | $46.37 | -0.32% | 2.50% |
L2025 | $12.95 | -0.18% | 1.90% |
Linc | $25.31 | -0.14% | 1.64% |