I finally got my act together enough where I feel I can manage other people's properties (all legal hurdles, software, owner agreements, checklists, etc). Goal is really to have just a few clients, not to be the biggest in town. My town already has 2 big PM companies (which do a poor job in my opinion). So my questions are:

1. What should I do to attract people like you to hire me to manage their properties? What are your concerns? What would motivate you to hire it out? What would make you go, hmm I need to call this guy?

2. How should I go about it - direct mail, ad in newspapers and fliers, facebook (ugh, hate facebook) Keep in mind, small town, no REI clubs. Talk to other RE agents? How should I find the prospects? Also have a full time job so this isn't my sole focus.

3. Compelling verbiage for converting prospects to clients? "Tired of your tenants? - Better Call Saul?" IDK something that would resonate with you.

I'll manage them like they are my own

Good communication between manager & owner - frequency the owner desires

Two very important maintenance items to do. change furnace filters and testing smoke detectors. Don’t rely on tenants to do it.

Where do landlords advertise their properties? That might be a good place to get some contact information and perhaps you could call the landlords and ask them some questions and learn what’s important to them.

I rent to college students, so for me, the big things are: 1) advertising and getting tenants every year. I’m not sure I’d trust anyone else to do this, as good tenants are the key to making this business enjoyable. 2) handle garbage to avoid fines 3)snow removal 4) scheduled maintenance like filters, dryer duct cleaning, gutters, checking for leaks, etc., etc.

As someone else I think said, you having a regular job would be a turn off for me, I think.

You might find you get resistance to managing other's property like you manage your own. Owners will complain if the building sits empty while you screen for good tenants. They will complain about repair costs.

your state doesn't require A Brokers license TO MANAGER FOR OTHERS?

Since you said there are no real estate investment clubs in area, I assume there are also no apartment owner associations but if there are, I would go to those meetings regularly and get to know those owners so they became comfortable with your level of knowledge and especially the quality of your character and values so they believed you could be trusted.

I would also consider offering a short term service to handle any maintenance calls for a few days if owner wanted to leave town for a few days for vacation or whatever.

I assume that you would need to be licensed to work for other owners.

Restrict your service area.

Farm an area or two or three where you already own rentals and show well, and can optimize your time and those of your maintenance crew. Be the concierge PM for just those neighborhoods. Write to all owners in those neighborhoods, both owner occupied and non-owner occupied. Use your own properties as visual examples. Tell them that you are interested in maximizing rental profits and property values, and in choosing excellent tenants, and list some of the services described by others here. Ask them for either their business or for their referrals. Have a separate letter for owners of badly managed rentals in your area. Neighbors who have had bad PMs next door will gladly tout you to owners whose properties are irritating them.

Reinforce with before/after pictures on your Facebook page and similar groups, and announcements of progress and "coming soon" properties in Nextdoor. (E.g. We at ABC Rentals are happy to announce that Barb and Joe Smith have chosen us to manage their home at 123 Main Street. Look for further postings and pictures as we refresh this beautiful home. In the meantime, interested prospects can go to www.abcproperties.com to apply or get on the waitlist.).

Then follow up with periodic postings designed either to stay on the radar of owners in Happy Acres subdivision or to generate interest in renters before you are ready to put it on the market or show the property.

When you get new renters, with the new renters' permission, post a message to Facebook or Nextdoor like "Welcome Billy and Susie Seuss to the neighborhood with their two adorable toddlers and their little lapdog Tinkerbell", along with some non-obvious wording that is social pressure to be a good neighbor, take care of the exterior , not blast music, and not sneak in pitbulls. (This is taken from upscale developments, where there is signage or announcement identifying a new lot or home owner. You are effectively making your new renters a part of a very exclusive group in that very exclusive and desirable and trendy neighborhood. If it is not an exclusive neighborhood when you start, it will be after a few years of such repeated and reinforcing language on social media.) Note that exclusive does not necessarily mean most expensive.

Follow up with an annual Christmas card and letter all owners in the farm area, touting how you have been of service to the neighborhood, along with photos.

When owners call you, have specific information on hand of how you benefit them, maximizing returns without having their profits being run down. Be prepared for discussions like what Oregon says, maybe with previously prepared written materials (brochure, paper, blog post, etc.)

Bonanza, at this critical time, consult a branding company. Settle on your company website look, signage, etc.

By getting it settled, then keeping the identifiable characteristics across all future advertising, you will save time, money and will soon be viewed as an established, professional property management company. Credibility is your goal.

Additionally, good branding companies are up to date on the most effective advertising avenues, advertising platforms don’t stay hot for long nowadays.

I’m curious how many employees do you need to service 400 doors?

It would probably help you to hear what goes through an investor's head when he hears what you have pitched so far. I don't mean this to drag you down, rather so you can prepare and address those thoughts when you are networking.

1. You have no experience managing rentals for others, my first thought is you are an inexperienced person who has a higher perceived value of his skills than he actually has. To overcome that feeling I need to see statistics. What is your vacancy rate, eviction rate, turnover rate for the last 3 years. What is your average repair time when a tenant calls with a problem.

2. This job you are asking me to pay you for will take 2nd seat to your day-job. You will not be able to show vacancies during the day, only in the evenings so I will loose some applicants. You will not be able to take emergency calls thus my property may sit for hours with water pouring out of a fixture because there is no one there to solve it. Again, how do you handle these situations so that I get a sense that this isn't a big deal.

If it were me, I'd find a few investors in town and ask to buy them lunch. I'd put a spiel together that basically says you are starting this business out of frustration because there were no good PM companies in town that take care of clients property like their own. They are more interested in lining their pockets than taking care of their clients and tenants and it really ticks you off. Show them the stats from your own business operations. I would finish with an introductory fee which is very very low for the first year so they can see what you can do and help you build your reputation with others.

Your success in getting new clients depends on presenting your spiel well and getting two or three on board. Once that happens, word of mouth will spread it through the rest of the community once you prove yourself and develop a good reputation.

I would market using an out of state investor list first.

Bonanza,

Branding: short, simple, easy to spell, memorable name that means HOUSING and can be your website. Go to GoDaddy to search web names.

Keep your contract simple, easy for a DIY LL to accept.

Start by calling the biggest customers of the competing PMs. Ask them what they would like.

I would show them my 19 point screening checklist and 2 Minute In Home. Visit to demonstrate professionalism (the competition is not doing that!) and how you work to protect their property and income by keeping out the baddies.

PMs I know worn against bringing on too many new units too quickly. They say it takes time to get the new units up to speed - cleaned up to their standards, painted, modernized, locks changed to LLLocks master key, photographed for ads, advertised.

Sales is about conveying confidence in your ability to orovide what they really want.

Bonanza, document how much time you want to spend on the business and the target of how much you want it to grow. Then, identify two things 1) who is your ideal or target customer and 2) just as importantly, who is not your ideal customer. And lastly, what is your service area?

Are you were targeting experienced or hands on landlords/investors? Are you targeting accidental or one off landlords? Are you targeting those disenchanted with current property managers?

Regarding your service area, how far can you and your service people reliably service from some center (or centers). A five minute drive? A 10 minute drive? A 20 minute drive? Are there areas that you would be stuck in traffic or behind the train tracks if you would hit it at a certain time of day? Are there neighborhoods that you don't want to service?

When you can convey those answers for what you would like out of it and can put into it, you will be in a better position to answer those questions for a prospective client.

by myob [GA]) Posted on: Dec 3, 2022 11:26 AM

Message:

your state doesn't require A Brokers license TO MANAGER FOR OTHERS?

Yes it does. All legal requirements taken care. Even formed my own company to give this a go.

by Sisco [MO] - At this point I don't want any employees. I already have that at my day job. I only want enough business that I can handle on personal level. I have a good set of trustworthy people to do the maintenance side and they will be 1099s. I am shooting for a more boutique and local PM company.

As always, my fellow LLs are a wealth of knowledge. I appreciate all your thoughts.

If the plan works, the day job will end in 36 months and I will transition to property management full time. I don't want to be the biggest. I will only be managing properties in my home town. I will personally be doing the inspecting and tenant selection. I wont manage for people who don't want to fix things, they need to have a similar mindset to mine. Which leads me to think I may have to develop a screening form for owners. :-)

Thanks for the brokers license update.

If I were looking for a manager AGood one I would be more interested in what ur approach we be in not disturbing me.

How u would sell to me

I need a 800 00 fund to draw on. Any expenditures over 200.00 Doesn't need my approval but need to inform me. Account balance maintained.

Need list of your approved contractor for my approval. All contractors to employ and deploy non criminal s.

Ken wouldn't u think when u give approval of licensed list of contractors insurance and business license would be in that package?

Ken wouldn't u think when u give approval of licensed list of contractors insurance and business license would be in that package?

Do you have Errors and Omissions insurance?

What is your compensation structure?

What is the low to high range of rents you will accept?

Do you give discounts for multiple properties under management?

How many properties under management will you need at time X to make it worthwhile to continue?

How often do you inspect? What do you inspect for? Echoing Robert J, when is it appropriate to notify owners of issues and when is it appropriate to work it out first?

Do you allow owners any customization of your lease or lease clauses? If so, which ones?

Which lease will you use, and how are the optional portions of the lease filled out? Specifically, in NC, the requirement for renter's insurance is often not filled out, and many PMs don't even notice it, or know what to do with it if something should occur?

How would you communicate to the owner that a fire, water, or significant damage occurred to the property, and under what timeline? What specific language would you use? How would your maintenance staff report it to you? If a fire occurred at the property, would you contact that the fire department in a timely fashion for them to do necessary investigations for insurance company reimbursement? (I kid you not, these questions come from real life PM company experiences.)

Have you planned even informal training sessions with your 1099 maintenance staff on how to interact with tenants? Are they open to such discussions? What are their strong and weak points and what will they "hide" from you?

How do you verify that work has been done properly, and communicate that verification to owners?

Do you have Errors and Omissions insurance?

YES

What is your compensation structure?

This is my thoughts so far:

1. We charge 8% of the total rent collected. If there is no tenant in the unit, there is no monthly charge.

2. There is a 10% charge on performed maintenance that we coordinate. If you coordinate, no charge

3. New property onboarding fee of $49, waived if it coincides with a new tenant.

4. New tenant lease signing is ½ the first month’s rent (8% fee waived for this month).

5. There is a quarterly inspection charge of $49 for changing the air filter, water filter, and inspecting the property.

6. Existing tenant lease renewal fee of $49

7. Move in / out inspection fee of $49

8. Rekeying fee is cost +10% (mandatory between tenants)

9. Master keying all your properties will run about a $100 a lock. We will only charge you what it will cost us to do it. It is extremely convenient for both you and us to have 1 key that opens all your properties. This system allows us to quickly swap cores to change the locks between tenants.

10. Evictions are cost +10%. Hopefully this will not happen.

11. If you sell the house to the tenant, we will act as your broker and charge 2.5% of the sale price.

12. If you sell the house on the MLS, we will act as your broker and charge 5% as this will be split between us and the buyer’s agent. If you chose to sell the house and do not use XXX as the broker, there is a $2500 fee.

13. If you terminate the contract before the first year is over, we will charge a fee equal to balance of remaining contract. After the first year, just give 30 days’ notice.

What is the low to high range of rents you will accept?

I am only willing to accept SFH and duplexes. No apartments

or mobile homes. By design it will only be higher rent places

Do you give discounts for multiple properties under management?

Had not thought about that

How many properties under management will you need at time X to make it worthwhile to continue?

Doesn't really matter as I am using my own properties to ultimately fund retirement. Just a little extra income.

How often do you inspect? What do you inspect for? Echoing Robert J, when is it appropriate to notify owners of issues and when is it appropriate to work it out first?

Quarterly - filters and smoke det. Owner would get a written report on the state of the property.

Do you allow owners any customization of your lease or lease clauses? If so, which ones?

Hadn't thought about it. I am sure my lease is much better than theirs and their tenants are going to ultimately sign my lease for standardization (after theirs's expires)

Which lease will you use, and how are the optional portions of the lease filled out? Specifically, in NC, the requirement for renter's insurance is often not filled out, and many PMs don't even notice it, or know what to do with it if something should occur?

I have created my own tenant lease based on NC Realtor's lease and modified via brad, and everyone else here.

I have created an owner agreement based on NC Realtor's but modified so you can understand it as there are parts that are obtuse. Both have been looked at by attorney

Property insurance on the owner side with at least 500K liability required.

Tenant insurance required with at least 100K liability

PM software will track it on both sides - owners and tenants

How would you communicate to the owner that a fire, water, or significant damage occurred to the property, and under what timeline?

Immediate

What specific language would you use?

Dude, you got a problem, remember that house you used to have on Elm St?

How would your maintenance staff report it to you?

Don't have staff, I am the single point of contact

If a fire occurred at the property, would you contact that the fire department in a timely fashion for them to do necessary investigations for insurance company reimbursement? (I kid you not, these questions come from real life PM company experiences.)

Very good questions. Son in law is captain at FD so I got an in there.

Have you planned even informal training sessions with your 1099 maintenance staff on how to interact with tenants? Are they open to such discussions? What are their strong and weak points and what will they "hide" from you?

Most of the vendors I use i have been using for years so we "know" how each operates our expectations.

How do you verify that work has been done properly, and communicate that verification to owners?

You people are some smart cookies.

@Ken - I don't want employees. Already experienced that. The property management companies that have employees are large and can afford to have their own crew. I don't want to be that large. Light and nimble is my goal

@Plenty - I'd be willing to just be the secretary. If a problem comes along I call you and you'd handle it with your vendors. Either you can pay the bills or I can pay them to consolidate the data for tax time.

I got the website, the business cards, the branding so to speak. Property management software was the next hurdle and I think i have it tamed. It will do all the accounting for me and the owners, ACH payments, etc.

finalized an owner agreement but I am sure it will need tweaking just like a tenant lease.

It has been a long adventure to get to this point so I appreciate all your comments - pros and cons

Ken thanks for answering. Just wanted to be sure of your direction.

Nice layout but one thing missing: how about vetting the owners? Something to the effect the monthly debt load only 1/2 of rental income.

Bonanza, at what area you want manage?

I was thinking about rental property in NC.

Hi Libi,

I don't know much about any other place than my little town. Asheboro

Looking to invest?

Toyota battery plant coming

Chip plant coming to Chatham county.

I am dreaming to relocate from NY, but want to go more south. Somewhere closer to Wilmington area.

I need to get back to this.

@Bonanza

You got it to the point!

I am departing Tuesday evening.

Bonanza,

Your prices are way too low. Your time is worth more than minimum wage prices.

Just do what you are good at and most profitable use of your time. for extra income and build wealth.

I helped a pastor friend and a missionary rent out their homes while they were away. It was awful. I could not do what I saw as necessary or to raise the home to our normal standards (clean, paint over smidges, worn carpet...) - minor updates to attract good applicants, having to discuss and rehash every tiny repair expense,