It was about 8am and I just received word that after 3 months of no rent, the tenants in unit B had moved out in the middle of the night and were nowhere to be found. This was not good.
I quickly drove over to the property to inspect the unit. I had my key, so I knocked on the door and turned the handle. It appeared the electricity had been off for a while because the lights weren’t coming on and it was very musty inside. As I passed over the threshold at first I thought there was some water dripping onto my head, but there was something strange about this particular water… It only took a second to realize that what was falling on my head from above the door, were live cockroaches! They were in my hair, they were in my clothes, they were everywhere. I was instantly on the front lawn doing a hop, jump and skip frantically brushing myself off. Any neighbors who happened to be observing this were no doubt entertained. I, on the other hand was furious. You see this property was supposedly being handled by a professional management company. But now, due to the management companies lack of oversight, the unit had become (among other things), completely infested with roaches. They were in everything! Between the doors, the walls, the floors, everywhere. When you stepped on the carpet, it looked like the floors were literally moving! Even to this day, that’s probably still one of the worst roach infestations I have ever seen. That wasn’t the only problem. I found the roof was leaking, mold was growing inside and there was a problem with the main water line that had been neglected as well. None of this had been communicated to me at any point.
Here’s what happened. I had purchased a duplex, and hired a management company to handle the leasing. It looked like a great investment at the time. I got a good price on the duplex and there was a strong demand for rentals. With a professional property management company in place handling the leasing and tenants, life was good. Retirement, here we come! Or so I thought….
Soon reality set in. Come to find out, not all property managers are good, and apparently the ones I hired, were especially bad. I had naively assumed that they would look out for me and my property as I had hired them to do. But that was not what they did at all. They put their interests first, earning themselves plenty of fees, but costing me tremendous amounts of time and money.
These managers, were not only ruining my property, but they were going to ruin my reputation as well. It was at that moment, standing there brushing away the last of the roaches that I decided to dedicate myself to learning all I could about property management and to become the best property manager I could be. That was almost 10 years ago now and it has been quite the adventure. It’s a continuing journey and I strive to learn and grow everyday when it comes to being a professional property manager. I always try to remember the stress I had as an owner dealing with a management company that did not care one bit, and I promised that I would never let one of my owner clients or one of my tenants get into one of those situations ever again. It was my hope that when I managed a property for an owner they would say thank you. But, in order for that to happen, I would have to work hard at knowing the business and understanding how to be ahead of the game at all times. Property management can catch you sleeping at the wheel if you’re not careful. Houses and buildings don’t call you and tell you when they are going to break down or have issues. The key to property management is being proactive rather than reactive. It’s about having systems in place to manage people and to manage situations.
When I decided that I would dedicate myself to becoming the best property manager I could be, admittedly, it wasn’t necessarily because I had a great passion for property management, but because I felt that if the property management company who I hired to handle my rentals could do it, then any idiot could become a property manager! While that’s not exactly the case, that is pretty much how I got started. And I’m so glad that I did. It has been tremendously rewarding and I am thankful for all the ways that I have been able to help people over the years. Now more than ever, as I see the renter economy growing and demand for rentals increasing. I know that more and more real estate agents are going to get involved in leasing and management and it’s my hope is that you will use this information to hit the ground running with your property management business while also avoiding some of the mistakes that I made early on.
Are you a real estate agent who’s looking to get started in property management? Are you a property owner who wants to more effectively manage your rental units? I hope that you will continue to read my posts here at property management Pete and learn from my experiences in the world of property management. I love to share my knowledge with pretty much anyone who will listen. If you are in the Tampa/St Petersburg, FL area come out to one of our Ultimate Landlord meetups. Or reach out to me through the connect page and connect with me on social media. If you’re in the area and want to talk about property management, we can do lunch, or get together at my office or yours. If you’re not in the Tampa Bay area I’d be happy to chat by phone or by email. Please reach out, I hope to connect with you on all things property management and learn from each other. Thanks! – Property Management Pete.
