The time has finally come. I finally hired a property manager while I invest in real estate, after 7 years of managing the my rentals myself. Here’s why and what led me to that choice - enjoy! Add me on Snapchat/Instagram: GPStephan
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I ended up buying two houses and a triplex in late 2011 and early 2012. Since then, managing them has been extremely easy. For the most part, it took me 1-2 hours per MONTH of work to manage 5 tenants at the time. Most of this time was spent making sure rent had been paid, cashing rent checks, making sure bills were paid, and just generic accounting. If something broke, I’d just call a contractor to go out and fix it. I also rarely had vacancies..
My rental landlord philosophy was this… I generally don’t raise rent, unless it’s a unique situation or cash flow issue. For instance, on my original 3 properties, I’ve only raised rents when a unit becomes vacant. I’ve had some tenants since 2011 that are paying the SAME rent since back then. Am I leaving money on the table? Sure. But on the upside, I have really, really great tenants that take really good care of the place, treat it like their own, always pay on time, and are all around really awesome people, making it easy for me to manage. They have zero desire to move since they’re paying so much less than they would if they went somewhere else and in return, it’s easy for me. It’s a win win.
But recently the unthinkable happened…a tenant had to move and relocate for work. And now my vacant place needed a little work - just minor fixes, re painting some stuff, etc. And finally, at that point, I thought about it…the time it would take for me to drive an hour each way just to go there, the time it would take to coordinate a walk through, meet and screen tenants, handle payment, etc…just wasn’t worth it. My time was better spent doing just about anything else. And finally, it clicked…I gotta hire a property manager, I just can’t handle it myself.
So I did some research online, found a recommendation…did some negotiating back and forth for a day on prices between that and another company, and settled on a flat 8% management fee, everything included, and I moved forward. My reasoning now is that my time is way more valuable doing anything else other than managing a place, and the money I spend will save me more money that I can make elsewhere.
So I did it…I hired a property manager for my first house. Now remember, I’m still managing my other 4…that’s really easy. But if I have another vacancy, the management company will get that one too. And eventually I’ll slowly phase the management company in to replace all the work I currently did.
I’m only a month into this so far, but overall I like it. It’s amazing to be “Stress free” and have that distance between you and the tenant. I like that someone else handles it all, and all I have to do is simply just collect the check…I’m a little paranoid that something might fall through the cracks if I’m not micro managing it, but I’m doing my best just to let someone else take over.
So that’s the story, and that’s why I hired a manager for one of my properties. If this goes well, I’ll slowly phase it in to everything else and have real estate investing become 1-2 hours per month more passive.
For business inquiries or paid one-on-one real estate investing/real estate agent consulting or coaching, you can reach me at GrahamStephanBusiness @gmail.com
Suggested reading:
The Millionaire Real Estate Agent: http://goo.gl/TPTSVC
Your money or your life: https://goo.gl/fmlaJR
The Millionaire Real Estate Investor: https://goo.gl/sV9xtl
How to Win Friends and Influence People: https://goo.gl/1f3Meq
Think and grow rich: https://goo.gl/SSKlyu
Awaken the giant within: https://goo.gl/niIAEI
The Book on Rental Property Investing: https://goo.gl/qtJqFq
Favorite Credit Cards:
Chase Sapphire Reserve - https://goo.gl/sT68EC
American Express Platinum - https://goo.gl/C9n4e3
Join the private Real Estate Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/therealestatemillionairemastermind/
Get $50 OFF + FREE Coaching Call FOR A LIMITED TIME: Code THANKYOU50 - The Real Estate Agent Academy: Learn how to start and grow your career as a Real Estate Agent to a Six-Figure Income, how to best build your network of clients, expand into luxury markets, and the exact steps I’ve used to grow my business from $0 to over $120 million in sales: https://goo.gl/UFpi4c
I ended up buying two houses and a triplex in late 2011 and early 2012. Since then, managing them has been extremely easy. For the most part, it took me 1-2 hours per MONTH of work to manage 5 tenants at the time. Most of this time was spent making sure rent had been paid, cashing rent checks, making sure bills were paid, and just generic accounting. If something broke, I’d just call a contractor to go out and fix it. I also rarely had vacancies..
My rental landlord philosophy was this… I generally don’t raise rent, unless it’s a unique situation or cash flow issue. For instance, on my original 3 properties, I’ve only raised rents when a unit becomes vacant. I’ve had some tenants since 2011 that are paying the SAME rent since back then. Am I leaving money on the table? Sure. But on the upside, I have really, really great tenants that take really good care of the place, treat it like their own, always pay on time, and are all around really awesome people, making it easy for me to manage. They have zero desire to move since they’re paying so much less than they would if they went somewhere else and in return, it’s easy for me. It’s a win win.
But recently the unthinkable happened…a tenant had to move and relocate for work. And now my vacant place needed a little work - just minor fixes, re painting some stuff, etc. And finally, at that point, I thought about it…the time it would take for me to drive an hour each way just to go there, the time it would take to coordinate a walk through, meet and screen tenants, handle payment, etc…just wasn’t worth it. My time was better spent doing just about anything else. And finally, it clicked…I gotta hire a property manager, I just can’t handle it myself.
So I did some research online, found a recommendation…did some negotiating back and forth for a day on prices between that and another company, and settled on a flat 8% management fee, everything included, and I moved forward. My reasoning now is that my time is way more valuable doing anything else other than managing a place, and the money I spend will save me more money that I can make elsewhere.
So I did it…I hired a property manager for my first house. Now remember, I’m still managing my other 4…that’s really easy. But if I have another vacancy, the management company will get that one too. And eventually I’ll slowly phase the management company in to replace all the work I currently did.
I’m only a month into this so far, but overall I like it. It’s amazing to be “Stress free” and have that distance between you and the tenant. I like that someone else handles it all, and all I have to do is simply just collect the check…I’m a little paranoid that something might fall through the cracks if I’m not micro managing it, but I’m doing my best just to let someone else take over.
So that’s the story, and that’s why I hired a manager for one of my properties. If this goes well, I’ll slowly phase it in to everything else and have real estate investing become 1-2 hours per month more passive.
For business inquiries or paid one-on-one real estate investing/real estate agent consulting or coaching, you can reach me at GrahamStephanBusiness @gmail.com
Suggested reading:
The Millionaire Real Estate Agent: http://goo.gl/TPTSVC
Your money or your life: https://goo.gl/fmlaJR
The Millionaire Real Estate Investor: https://goo.gl/sV9xtl
How to Win Friends and Influence People: https://goo.gl/1f3Meq
Think and grow rich: https://goo.gl/SSKlyu
Awaken the giant within: https://goo.gl/niIAEI
The Book on Rental Property Investing: https://goo.gl/qtJqFq
Favorite Credit Cards:
Chase Sapphire Reserve - https://goo.gl/sT68EC
American Express Platinum - https://goo.gl/C9n4e3
I was charged 70 dollars to change light bulb im getting rid of that pm and now have great pm
I think the only reason why you had some negotiating power with the property manager is because of your 4.39 m subscribers. Most regular folks are ignored or have much more difficulty with this.
Then you have fire inspection to come out did put out side yet
How was scream you think your number say: overnight for coming in at Apt for housing vilasion and your number say :
As a painter… that light bulb was reachable or needed a extension ladder?
The property management industry needs an overall. There are very few oversight and regulations for property management. Any Joe Smoe can call themselves a property manager and get hired to manage multimillion dollar properties without any training, experience, or credentials.
No one will take care of your stuff like you would . I’m wondering can you do a six month contract with a renter ?
Do you recommend buying tenant occupied properties?
whats ligma ?
not raising rent is really stupid
Hire a good one! certain property managers are horrendous who attack you for doing nothing wrong as a tenant during inflation
I like knowing my tenants
We don't raise rent either unless a new tenant. Thought we were the only ones. lol
I like how I was watching this video while working subway at night when he mentioned that the lightbulb change costs as much a subway footlong 😂. I listen to Graham Stephan’s videos with my AirPods while I’m working so no one notices
Graham, do you have any recommendations for a good property management company in LA? Thanks!
So nice to see a young man doing this. And he is as cute as my cat too. I wish him well and happiness too with peace of mind because renting is hell because of at least half of the population on this planet suck.
What a great strategy you did there, Graham! Hiring a property manager must have helped you grow your real estate business even more as you no longer need to do all the leg works all by yourself. Just a question, do you also ask your property managers to do background checks to possible tenants before letting them rent your properties. What's the biggest red flag are you keeping an eye to move on and choose another tenant? 🙂
I would have liked your segment if you were not such a foul mouth nasty man.
The property management company contractors charge 3X the price here. When I try and help the landlord out by finding one at a fraction of the price, the management company won't allow it. The worst was a crooked company who charged $35,000 to excavate for a sewer line that DIDN"T NEED TO BE REPLACED. No-one would listen, "you're just the tenant", the landlord signed the work order then raised the rent (obviously, this will be every year to the end of eternity). I had Rotor Rooter offer to do the job for 1/4 of "whatever Milani is quoting" but the management company wouldn't allow for competitive quotes. Once excavated, as I expected, THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG WITH THE SEWER LINE.
Ligma… ligma nuts
I am a stickler for nice photos of properties too. It's so irritating when the photos are blurry.
I think it’s justified to pay seven dollars for a lightbulb because you’re giving the property manager the responsibility of calling the tenant calling a repair man or handyman, scheduling, and verifying the the change or repair. Normally for our contract, the tenant is the one that changes the lightbulb and we don’t charge them any management fee anyways. So if a manager is charging you a fee that doesn’t make sense it’s best to call them or send them an email describing why they are charging you three dollars or four dollars more for a lightbulb, I think that’s ridiculous but at the same time it also depends on what their policy is that warrants that extra cost.
don't worry. no one is going to work for you you expect way too much
not raising rent. after 10 years you are going backwards. no tenant will thank you property manager will not solve all your problems. its still your place.
What company is your property manager from? I currently have a house in Ontario and planning on renovating, and re-renting it out within the next few months.
Hey man, I really enjoy your content. You’re only one year older than me and it is very inspiring to learn about real estate and your success. Congrats!
Running a business is expensive
Ask the tenant to replace the bulb and deduct it from the rent unless it is in an inaccessible location.
Update ??? Still use them ?
I think the best course of action is to hire a real estate broker to rent out the place on your behalf (in my country tenants pay the commission fee, so you don't even have to). As ya, it's super tedious to keep answering phone calls, show potential tenants the place, yada, yada. Other than that, it depends if you own multiple properties like Graham does. If it's 1-4, I think you could definitely take care of it yourself (if there's repairs needed, etc).
"But Graham " you can save that money for coffee ☕️ jk 😜
Hey so I’m in the navy and I wanna figure out how to get into this business how would I rent out places.?
So what your saying is if I open a 24/7 property management company we can gain some business?
I love what you’re doing, keep it up. I see you being self-critical on the ability to delegate and it’s something you’re working on, which is great. Just be careful with your “nobody can do it as well as I” thought process because that will only hold you back. There actually are people who can do things much better than you, because they have more time to dedicate to the skill / craft / service. That’s why you hire the best, and use their skills to help you grow yourself. You should be saying “nobody can do it better than this person, and that’s why I hired them!”
New property manager raised everyone's rent every year, so the long term tenants, including us, moved out. Fed up with rent going up every year so we bought our house. Paying cheaper than rent now…YESSSS!!!