Midnight Movers And Other Landlord Nightmares

A tiny leak, a vague lease clause, or a listing photo that hides the street can cost landlords far more than they expect. We walk through the real world property management challenges we see around Stark County, Summit County, and Cuyahoga County, including Cleveland, and we explain how to spot the issues early while you still have options.

We start with deferred maintenance and why “waiting” is rarely neutral in rental property maintenance. Water problems grow, mold concerns trigger tenant complaints, and small repairs become big invoices. We talk about the tenant side of it too: slow responses raise frustration, increase vacancy risk, and can even create compliance issues that put the property under a microscope. The takeaway is not “spend blindly.” It is “fix the right thing at the right time” and communicate a clear plan.

Next, we dig into move out surprises, including the dreaded midnight mover. When a tenant leaves without notice, you may not learn about it for weeks, which is especially dangerous in winter when frozen pipes can destroy a home fast. We share why routine inspections, strong documentation, and clear records of appliances and unit condition reduce risk and help control your turn costs.

We also cover DIY ownership pitfalls like weak internet leases and unclear utility language. If metering and responsibility are not spelled out, the numbers on your deal can fall apart after closing. Finally, we talk about out of state investing and why properties often look better in pictures than they do in person, plus how local boots on the ground support can save you from buying the one thing you cannot change: the location.

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Transcript

Welcome And What We Cover

SPEAKER_01 0:00

The wiggle star is over. We can drink the help and numbers flow before you buy after you blow. Welcome to the Rick and Shauna Show.

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Hello everyone, welcome back to the Rick and Shauna Show. If this is your first time here, we are a local property management company to the Stark and Summit County area, also Cuyahoga County that includes Cleveland. We are here to give you some tips, advice, um what to do, what not to do, how to choose a property management company, all of those things on this podcast. So we hope that you stay tuned and come back for more.

SPEAKER_02 0:51

Alright, well, let's just get started here. So we're gonna be, you know, looking at our notes here. There's there's quite a bit of information on this particular one. So we want to make sure that we don't forget anything.

Deferred Maintenance Gets Expensive Fast

SPEAKER_02 1:01

But um, you know, one of the challenges um that can come up um with an owner, and it's it's you know, a lot of it is based on money, and we totally understand that. Um but you know, the owner who would not approve repairs, right? And you know, at face value, it seems like, well, what's that mean?

SPEAKER_01 1:19

Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:20

You know, and we're more or less talking about repairs that um are gonna cause issues down the line. They're causing issues for a tenant, but they're also damaging the property. So, you know, just things to think about there because these will kind of come back to bite you.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

Yeah, it can start out super small, right? Oh small plumbing leak or something. Hey, my I think it's leaking under the underneath, right? And it doesn't get addressed. It doesn't get addressed. You're like, well, that's small. Well, that's gonna turn into something major because now it's damaging, it's creating mold, it's doing all the things, right? And that deferred maintenance will come back to bite you nine times.

SPEAKER_02 2:00

Every time, every time it's a face value, you are saving a little bit of money because you're saying, okay, well, I can just kind of put that off.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:07

But what ends up happening is that problem continues to grow, and then somebody actually does go in there because now something does have to be done. It's it's no longer minor.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Right.

SPEAKER_02 2:17

And then you get that big bill.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

So it it almost never pays off when you defer maintenance. Some things you you know you can, you know, but uh it almost never pays off you know in the long run.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Yeah, we've had some land orders throughout the years that unfortunately, you know, whether they have just one property and it's not really cash flowing that well, so they're like, well, if I can, you know, if I can hold off and go to. Um whether the tenant already lives there or it's like before a tenant moves in, we're getting ready to market it. Um it just doesn't pay to defer that maintenance because it's damaging the house, you know, it's it's causing more issues and even not just things that you can see, especially with water, it's causing these things that could be happening behind the scenes. You know, mold grows, and trust me, it doesn't matter if it's what is that stuff called? Effervescence.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

Effervescence, yes. That's actually the kind of white stuff that grows on that.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

It doesn't matter if it's that or actual mold, a tenant's gonna call it out and all of a sudden they're sick, they're you know, not able to breathe, they've got allergies. And I'm not saying that those are not all valid, but we want to try to prevent those.

SPEAKER_02 3:30

Absolutely. You don't want to put somebody in that position. Yeah, you don't want to put somebody in that position right out of the gate. You know, it's it actually becomes, to your point, if somebody's moving in, first of all, if somebody sees some of those things that maybe you're thinking, oh, I just didn't want to do that, that changes things for who's gonna get in that property because the the tenant that really is looking at this stuff and really paying attention, it believe it or not, it's actually the tenant you want. Yes, because they are gonna take care of the property, they're not just gonna be like, oh well, you know, hey, it is what it is.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Right.

SPEAKER_02 4:05

Um, but and and ultimately you could cost yourself a vacancy. That you know, you think you you put the money and everything in it to turn the property, and then you have some challenges going on, and you could be frustrating a tenant, like, well, you know, I'll do that, and the tenant's like, hey man, this really should be done. Frustration level starts to get up, and you know, they may be at the end of their term, too. So if they're at the end of the term and you want to get a renewal and keep that tenant in there, they're like, you know, hey, I I'm gonna move on.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:33

So there's this this can cause some problems.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

It it makes them mad too. So if they're not at the end of their term, they're gonna wish they were, right? And they're gonna give us a really hard time as a property management company, and that means we have to give an owner a hard time, basically. We gotta kind of put the hundred percent.

SPEAKER_02 4:52

In the worst case scenario is when somebody takes it a step further, and they either they get somebody else involved, which could be fair housing, it could be uh definitely you know, you your how your property could go into abatement. Um, there's all kinds of things that can happen there. So it's just easier to stay on top of it. And deferred maintenance, it's like I get it with a roof.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

It's like, hey, can I get a couple more years out of the roof?

SPEAKER_02 5:15

Yeah, absolutely 100%. This is the stuff that's really uh that's causing a tenant a problem, more than likely. And damaging your property, right?

SPEAKER_00 5:24

So just do the work, basically. Bottom line, the lesson here is do the work. When it comes up, you have a happy tenant, happy property management company, you know, a a nice house, you're you're you're maintaining it, you're preserving it, um, because it's not cheap.

SPEAKER_02 5:40

Yeah, and even if you can't do it all once, that it's it sends a good signal to the tenant. It's like, hey, look, we're gonna do these things in steps. Like, hey, I know you have this issue with the water, we're gonna get that handled right away. The next thing we're gonna do is this. So it just shows a tenant that you're staying on top of it, yep, and that you want to do a good job for them.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

Yeah, yeah. So, you know, the cheapest decision isn't always, doesn't always come out to be the least expensive.

SPEAKER_02 6:03

Um almost never.

SPEAKER_00 6:05

Right.

SPEAKER_02 6:05

Almost never.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

The most expensive.

SPEAKER_02 6:07

All right, so you're gonna take the notes for me.

Midnight Movers And Move Out Damage

SPEAKER_00 6:10

The next one is the move out surprise. The tenant that I call them midnight movers, right? They don't tell us, we have no idea they're getting ready to move out, and then all of a sudden, you know, we drive by or somebody calls, or the utilities are shut off, whatever, or they're not paying, right? And we've found out that maybe two, three weeks, a month down the road, they've moved out. So it's uh there could be a lot of things that go with that. When they move out, they don't always move out delicately, right?

SPEAKER_02 6:42

No, and to your point, moving out and not even like they could it could be two or three weeks.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

Yep. Because there's no reason for us to be washing that house, it's occupied, right?

SPEAKER_02 6:52

Absolutely not. And then especially you know, it could be winter.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

Yeah, oh gosh.

SPEAKER_02 6:56

And that that's just a whole nother mess.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

The winters here in Ohio are not landlord-friendly.

SPEAKER_02 7:05

No, and we and then trust me, that is one of the biggest concerns. Once October rolls around, you know, property management companies start getting nervous about a lot of things with properties because you know, frozen pipes and we're losing sleep. No, yes, because those can cause just an incredible amount of damage.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 7:23

Huge.

SPEAKER_00 7:23

It's very important though, like with these people, you know, whether they're midnight movers or they are just, you know, moving out, um, doing your due diligence ahead of time, right? Doing your walkthroughs, making sure you document what's at the house, like appliances and you know, what belongs to them, what doesn't. Because I gotta tell you, a lot of times when these people move out and it's not a scheduled move out, they take everything with them. They take the fridge, they take the stove, and it may not even belong to them. No, it's not a good thing. You know, so documentation ahead of time is very important. So, you know, being self-managed, or if you're with a smaller property management company, I mean, because let's face it, we've seen it where they don't have the policy and procedures in place like you know, a larger property management company does with more volume and more um where you have to have more structure.

SPEAKER_02 8:13

More structure, yeah. You know, and well, and one of the things is, and you kind of touched on it there for a second, but is with the with the inspections. You know, with inspections, you know, we don't we leave that up to the owner. We do you know, so uh the owners basically will state, hey, I would like to have inspections, we leave that up to them. But the the I guess the value of having those inspections is that you discover a lot of things in the property.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:39

You know, you could be discovering the fact that they've, you know, who knows how many people may be living in the property. You know, it might be a lot of people living in the property. Um, and the property may not be being taken care of well.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

Right.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

Um, and if you can catch those things, a lot of times it's like, hey, just a you know, a quick message to a tenant, hey, we noticed when we did a walkthrough, there was this and that, there was a couple things that they weren't right, and you know, these tenants can like get on, you know, we can get on top of it.

SPEAKER_01 9:07

Right.

SPEAKER_02 9:07

So ultimately, down the road, then when that tenant does move out, you know, there's not this big surprise like you've got this big expensive turn because you know the tenant just did not take care of the property the whole time they were in there. So there's there's no guarantees, but this certainly um is you know an important one.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

Yeah, don't wait until they move out to find out what your property looks like. Absolutely. You know, especially if these are tenants that have been there for a while. I I mean we at Icon property management, we do leave it up to the property owners to do it by request, but we highly suggest that they do it, right? Yep. Do what at least every if you're not gonna do it once like once every six months, do it at least once a year. At least get some eyes on it.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

I know we have maintenance people that go in and you know, but and we try to get them to to you know pay attention to these things.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:58

But when you're specifically there for that reason, you're looking at it in a different way. That's right. You're there to different way. Yeah, you're there to look at it and try to see what's going on in the property if it's being taken care of.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

Which is kind of like another reason why you want to use a property management company, right? You want to have one that has the policies and procedures in place. We have the staff that can do that, we have the um system that will document all of that all in one place.

SPEAKER_02 10:24

Yeah, and it's great because then an owner can go in and they can actually look at this stuff. They get these pictures and they can kind of see. It's you know, it's a comforting thing as an owner to go, hey, look, I got you know great tenants in there. They're taking really good of the you know good care of the place. And you just know at the end of that term, if they do leave, you know, hopefully they stay.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:44

But if they do leave, is that hey, my cost is probably gonna be minimal. Yeah, you can embrace yourself for it, right? And I will tell you, you know, as we've talked about many times, um, those turns, that's you it can make or break you.

SPEAKER_00 10:59

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:59

It can make or break you.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

So yeah, an inspection I think also kind of lets the tenant, you know, it lets them know or it makes them aware that we're paying attention. So we're just not letting it go. You know, an inspection here or there is gonna keep them on their toes a little bit per se, like, oh, they're coming through. So if they don't keep it clean nine months out of the year, at least at least they have one time where they clean up.

SPEAKER_02 11:24

But chances are, chances are when they know it's gonna happen. Yeah. You know, if it's done quarterly, every half, whatever it is, they know that they can't let it get too far gone because they are gonna have to it's coming.

SPEAKER_00 11:37

Well, it's it's setting that expectation.

SPEAKER_02 11:39

Setting the expectation, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

So, and which is another thing, you know, we we try to do as much of that upfront as possible, anyways, um just kind of letting them know, you know, about all of our processes. But that one really sets the precedent for that.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

Well, and then just understanding too, is after that inspection happens, if there's things that if the property is not being taken care of, the tenant is gonna get information, you know, uh addressing that. Oh, yeah. So they are gonna know that, well, okay, I gotta do this, I gotta clean this up, I gotta get make sure my lawn's mowed, I gotta make sure all these things are done because if it's not done, you know, it's gonna be a problem.

SPEAKER_00 12:13

Right. We're pointing those things out. We're not just gonna come and go and be like, okay, and then that becomes a lease violation. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

You know, once that is stated like that. So, you know, it there's just a big benefit to doing it.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 12:25

Um okay.

Weak Leases Create Utility Chaos

SPEAKER_02 12:26

So next one is uh DIY owner with a weak lease.

SPEAKER_00 12:29

Yes. So I was gonna say that takes us into the next one when you know a tenant has to pay attention to their lease. You better make sure you got a good one, right?

SPEAKER_02 12:38

Yeah, so this next one is um you see this so much because we take owners on that either have done it themselves or investors, um, and they pull lease um, you know, more than likely off the internet. It's just a generic lease. And um this is really kind of sets the stain stage for how you know the expectations at a property, what the what the tenant is responsible for, uh also how the property management is going to enforce those policies.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Right.

SPEAKER_02 13:13

Um so if it's a very generic lease that's very vague, when things do happen in the property, it's very difficult to hold a tenant to vague statements. Oh, yeah. Like we've literally I mean the one that we get probably the most is like you know, tenant is responsible for um uh all utilities required for the property.

SPEAKER_00 13:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:37

Now that is super vague.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:39

Because sounds good, right?

SPEAKER_00 13:41

Just like it's a blanket statement and you you're responsible for everything. You do, right.

SPEAKER_02 13:46

You gotta cover it but then then when you look at it, you go, okay, well, what it's in the city of Canton. The city of Akron. Well, you can't even say that.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

Right.

SPEAKER_02 13:54

You know, because they're thinking you you're basically making a statement that the tenant is responsible for all these utilities, but you don't you don't actually state which ones they are. And as you know, the water and Canton and Akron, you can't the the tenant can't even put the water in their name. Now they're gonna be responsible for paying for it, but there's a lot of gray area there.

SPEAKER_00 14:13

Oh yeah. What if it's a multifamily and there's one meter? You know, you can't, there's no splitting it up. You guys, there's no splitting it up. Yes. Just so you know. We've had that.

SPEAKER_02 14:22

And we've seen this. We've literally seen the other thing. We've seen where they're responsible for all utilities, and there's one furnace, there's one hot water meter, and there's one electric meter. Or I should say, I'm sorry, it's one gas meter, one electric meter.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:37

You know, so at that point, none of the tenants can be held liable for for you know handling those things or paying those things. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:45

It just makes it really hard for us as a property management company. I do the onboarding for icon, and man, the different, the amount of the different leases that I get that they are all over the place. And the information is not clear, or like you said, it's so vague. It's a one-pager, you know, and you're trying to fit all this important information. And how did you fit it in on one page? Yeah, it's a good thing. Because ours is 20 pages long.

SPEAKER_02 15:14

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

I mean, I know it might be a lot. It's a lot, but you know what?

SPEAKER_02 15:17

There's a reason, right? That's right. There's a reason because and it's not just, it's really, it covers everyone. It covers the owner, it covers the property management company, and it also covers the tenant. Yeah. Because everybody's on the same page. You understand exactly what's expected and how a tenant is supposed to perform at that property and what we're going to enforce as you know a property management company. So it's so important.

SPEAKER_00 15:42

Yeah. So important. You know it's worse than a week lease, no lease at all. We have had that where we've had no lease, so you can't really verify even the rent amount because is it still this price? Or because they've lived there for 10 years, is it has it been increased? You know, and and guess who I'm asking? We're asking a tenant at this point. What's your what's your rent amount? Do you know what they're gonna tell us? Whatever they want. You know, I mean, now not all of them are like that. Some of them will be truthful, but come on, let's face it. Now we're taking the you know, the the word of of somebody who now has the advantage. Yep. Yeah, and if I don't have a lease and you've been there for 10 years, you can tell me whatever you want.

SPEAKER_02 16:27

That's right. And well, and to back that up even a little bit further, is to like, hey, when it when an investor is, you know, looking to buy buy a property and they've made that decision, they think this is a good, this is a good property for me. It's very important to have all that information up front. Like, hey, I want to see copies of leases, I want to understand what these utilities are all about because we have it happen so often that, and and no fault of the owner that they really don't know. No, they don't they don't know what's metered in the property. They they literally just don't know, or they've been given bad information.

SPEAKER_00 17:03

I was gonna say that next. They just don't know because they've been given bad information. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:07

And and they're out of state owners, so they can there's only so much that they can do.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

Right.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

You know, they have to lean to your point we've made many times, is that's the importance of having somebody that's local on the street that can go look at the property, try to figure this stuff out because um it there's a lot of unwinding.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

Let us help you. Let us help you. Let us help you. I mean, because there's so much that there's already so much to unwind when you take on, you know, a property owner that's either either self-managed, maybe just bought a property, or has had a previous property management company that just kind of wasn't, you know, working out. And getting those accounts and getting those property owners on, they're already frustrated. They don't have everything in place, you know, and all of these things that we're going over, all these challenges that we're going over, all they all happen.

SPEAKER_02 18:02

Right. And an owner has also made a decision based on the income that's gonna come in on that property. And when you start throwing utilities in there that they're now gonna have to pay for, that just throws everything off.

SPEAKER_00 18:14

Well, we just ran into one of these, right? Yeah. So I j we just onboarded one that the lease said the tenant pays gas and electric, right?

SPEAKER_02 18:22

Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

And guess what? They paid neither.

SPEAKER_02 18:26

Neither.

SPEAKER_00 18:27

So when this is a brand new purchase, you're as an owner thinking that you don't have to cover all utilities, only water sewer trash.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

And now we have had to be the bearer of bad news and say, hey, sorry. That's not right. Tennessee says they pay nothing. And and the utility companies confirm that.

SPEAKER_02 18:47

Yeah, and that's just r I mean. So so disappointed when it happens because you just you just basically just took money out of your pocket that you were unaware of, that you didn't know about.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:59

So yeah, very important.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

Aaron Ross Powell So it's just that that is that lends to the importance of how good your property management company is too and how much experience they've had. Unfortunately, if you have all good experiences, you don't know what to research and you don't want know what to dig into, right?

SPEAKER_02 19:14

We've just had we've done this for so long that you just find you just through trial and error you find out.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

And you think you've come across every single thing, but until you don't. And there's one more that you're like, man, never dealt with that before. Right.

SPEAKER_02 19:27

Well, and that's and that's that's exactly right. That's how we learn and that's how you get better and better. Because unfortunately, there's no way that you can cover every situation because that's one thing about property management, it's it's it's a moving target. Oh, yeah. It's always a moving target target. Things change all the time. You see things uh you you know, every day you see something, you're like, well, never saw that before.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

Right.

SPEAKER_02 19:50

Or never had that come up before. So as those things happen, we're we're trying to put policies and procedures into place that are going to prevent that. Hopefully.

SPEAKER_01 19:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:00

Hopefully. So um, you know, it's just a it's just a moving target. And the more information you have, and the better we can be about communication and all of those things, the better the it's just gonna be a better experience for everyone.

SPEAKER_00 20:13

Right. So moral of the story with this one, with a weak lease or no lease, is the lease is more than just paperwork. It actually has to say something and be specific.

SPEAKER_02 20:23

It can't just be a signature.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

That's right. Be specific, right? Yeah uh it kind of just sets the sets the tone for the whole experience, the whole relationship, uh, clears up anything that you know could be a disagreement. So

When Photos Lie About The Property

SPEAKER_00 20:39

moving on to the last one: the property that looked better in pictures. How many times have we run across this one?

SPEAKER_02 20:46

Oh, this is a big one. This is huge. This is a big one.

SPEAKER_00 20:49

That out of state investor that's purchasing a property, doesn't do a walkthrough, pictures look great, it's rent ready, get it on the market, here's what I want to get for rent. And then what happens? We go.

SPEAKER_02 21:02

So we go, and we see the real deal.

SPEAKER_00 21:04

We're like, hold up.

SPEAKER_02 21:06

Yeah, everything it's it's turnkey.

SPEAKER_00 21:08

Yeah, it's turnkey. In those pictures, it looks like it.

SPEAKER_02 21:11

And I it's unfortunate now. Like there's a lot of tools out there now, like you know, AI. AI is wonderful. There's a lot of people. You can stage a property virtually. I mean, literally, you can stage a property and you can make them look very good. You can make them look very good. And you know, it's just one of those things that um it's just another thing you have to pay attention to. Definitely. Because just because it looks good in pictures, it doesn't mean that's exactly what it's gonna look like. And it's not very often that somebody will take a picture of the right and the left of the property and up and down the street. And there's a reason for that. You know, because if there's a big problem on either side or the street doesn't look good, it's going to be more difficult for them to move that property. Because if if if an investor is really looking at it, they're gonna say, that is my number one kind of

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Yeah. Always get a neighborhood snapshot. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 22:03

Where is that property setting? Because you can make a crappy property into a really nice property that sits in a nice spot, but if it doesn't, that's the one thing you can't change. You can't change where it sits.

SPEAKER_00 22:14

That's that's our motto these days. Like 100% is sitting next door.

SPEAKER_02 22:19

Yeah, I would rather I'm gonna say I'd rather see an investor buy a property that has a lot of challenges because I know once we get it there, once we help that investor get that property up to speed, we know that this is gonna be this property is gonna do well. It's gonna perform well.

SPEAKER_00 22:32

Well, those are the ones you can control, right? Those are the things within the control of you know to change it. However, it does still lend to the challenge that you bought it probably at a higher price because you thought it was turnkey.

SPEAKER_02 22:46

And there you go.

SPEAKER_00 22:47

And now we if we manage it, we do a move in, or I'm sorry, we do a walkthrough, right? We do like that initial walkthrough. We want to make sure before we send our uh photographer out there that it's ready to go.

SPEAKER_02 23:00

And I will tell you, that is the that for us, we have there's many times that uh uh we have investors will say, Hey, can you guys take a look at the property? And really for us, we're not even that concerned about the inside. When we go look at a property, we're more concerned about driving that street and looking what's around it. Because the rest of the stuff we're gonna be able to manage. Now it depends, you know, obviously if the inside needs just an incredible amount of work, you know, that changes things a little bit. But um, most of the time that's not the case. Right. It's pretty minor, it's mostly cosmetic stuff.

SPEAKER_00 23:34

Yeah, yeah. Stuff you can do.

SPEAKER_02 23:35

And it can be man, it can be managed.

SPEAKER_00 23:37

Definitely can be managed, yeah. Yeah, I I just can't stress enough again with the whole property management thing. Of course, that's that's what this podcast is about. So that's what we keep going back to is find a property manager that's gonna help you. Somebody local, somebody with boots on the ground, somebody that's gonna, you know, um be willing to do the extra work. Even call us before you close, right? Yeah, no. Call us before you close. We will walk the property and kind of just have a different insight on it. We look at things like that.

SPEAKER_02 24:10

Yeah, call us before you even, you know, if you're even concerned about like even putting an offer and like, hey, I'm just not sure here, can you guys help us out? We have owners we do this for.

SPEAKER_00 24:18

Yes. We are starting to get a bigger pool of those investors that call us first. And that's great.

SPEAKER_02 24:24

Yeah, and we hope that is the way that it goes because trust me, nobody wins when an investor brings a property to us that has not just cosmetic problems, but where the property sets problems.

SPEAKER_01 24:37

Or compliance problems. Because we have problems.

SPEAKER_02 24:40

We already know before we even start to market this thing, we're gonna get challenged. And then we're gonna get asked the questions like, hey, why isn't this property renting? All of these things.

SPEAKER_01 24:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:51

And some of the things that we're gonna have to share are gonna be the things that we can't change.

SPEAKER_01 24:56

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 24:56

So there's only one thing you can do then. Yep. You just lower price. And then that creates a whole other ball out. Right. So it's it's just like that's difficult.

SPEAKER_00 25:05

That avalanche, right? That domino effect that you just and and we don't want to be the people that have to give you all bad news all the time, right? We don't want to do that. So I'd rather you just, you know, for these investors, I'd rather they just call us up front.

SPEAKER_02 25:19

Do the homework up front.

SPEAKER_00 25:20

And listen, we love our agents, right? We love our agents. We have lots of agents who have to do that.

SPEAKER_02 25:24

Wonderful relationships with agents.

SPEAKER_00 25:26

And but sometimes, you know, like an agent, they just know what they know. They know sales, they know what they're looking for as a sales agent. That's why you partner with us and let us come in. Sometimes you're not gonna get the deal, I guess, but you're gonna get a better deal out of it.

SPEAKER_02 25:41

But it won't be a one and done.

SPEAKER_00 25:42

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 25:43

Because when an owner finds out that, oh my gosh, this property sits in a horrible spot, it's just not the best property. I'm never gonna be able to rent it. You want to be an advocate for your buyer.

SPEAKER_00 25:54

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 25:55

You know, so you know, and it's just important.

SPEAKER_00 25:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:59

So we you know, we know that sometimes we we may, you know, cause a couple challenges for for uh property that maybe isn't uh isn't the best property, but that's our job.

SPEAKER_00 26:10

I mean, and in the long run, though, you're gonna keep a client because they didn't buy the one house, but now you've you've created a team, right? A team of people, and now this investor is like I got a great team.

SPEAKER_02 26:24

Yeah, I got a great team. I'm comfortable.

SPEAKER_00 26:25

That's right. And that's what most of them are looking for these days. And then they've there's lots of classes and seminars and things like that out there now that actually point investors in that direction. So it's getting better with you know, wherever they're getting their knowledge from first before they even find a property manager, is go find a property manager first. Get your team together. Um because that online research, that's great, but nothing compares to local knowledge. No, no.

SPEAKER_02 26:55

So absolutely not.

SPEAKER_00 26:56

Yeah. So with your um walkthroughs and once you buy the property, you know, and we do w when we do those walkthroughs, there might be some things that we point out, right? Hopefully they're not big things. Hopefully we can get them done quick and we can get it on the market. We've got somebody at icon can do that, right?

SPEAKER_02 27:17

Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, so I think um I think that's kind of where we want to wrap this up at.

Build Your Team And Next Guest

SPEAKER_00 27:23

Yeah, I think that's enough. That's enough property management challenges for one podcast. We don't want to overwhelm. We don't want to scare anybody away because honestly, these are these are all very much containable and manageable with the right people on your team.

SPEAKER_02 27:40

Right. And and just really, uh, a lot of times I think that when we the whole idea when we do these podcasts are to uh educate uh people about you know the the best way to go about this. And that's really the goal.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

Right.

SPEAKER_02 27:55

So it it there is a lot of information, there's a lot to know. So we just want to make sure that we're you know getting that information out there and and maybe make challenging a an investor to think a little bit more about what they're doing.

SPEAKER_01 28:07

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 28:08

You know, especially in a market that they may not be familiar with.

SPEAKER_01 28:11

That's right, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:12

So I think that's where we're gonna end this. Um we are going on our next pod podcast, we are going to have a gentleman on that does our unit turns.

SPEAKER_01 28:21

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 28:22

Okay, here at icon, and he is a wealth uh of knowledge. And we know that uh this subject is a oh, there's so much information. It's a it's a huge one because the turns uh that could make or break you, depending on you know what your margins are on the property, you know. So it's one of those things that, you know, at first glance, sometimes uh you may not completely understand a uh you know a bid and what goes into it. Right. You know, so that's the whole reason that we want to have Bob on. He can give a good explanation, he can kind of run through the things, um, the challenges and the questions, because all of these, you know, anytime that we send a bid out to a property owner, there's always a lot of questions around it. That's right. Oh, yeah. Like, you know, um, and maybe just not even understanding as to why those things are even in the bid. Okay. But there, trust me, there's a reason. There is a reason reason for all the things that get put in there. And and the great thing is, is um Bob is about the most laid-back guy. Very understanding, very trustworthy, and really willing to talk through talk uh, you know, investors through these turns.

SPEAKER_00 29:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:39

So we're excited to have him on.

SPEAKER_00 29:41

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_02 29:42

Um because I think he's going to shed um a lot of light on a lot of things.

SPEAKER_00 29:46

Well, the rent readies are the biggest thing outside of the rent increases since COVID that has really impacted investors.

SPEAKER_02 29:58

We hear about it every day.

SPEAKER_00 29:59

Every day. Every day.

SPEAKER_01 30:01

Every day.

SPEAKER_02 30:02

So um I think that's where we're gonna end it up. So uh we'll be putting that out here probably within the next week.

SPEAKER_01 30:08

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 30:08

Um, so don't forget to like and subscribe. And um we will see you on the next podcast.

SPEAKER_00 30:16

That's right. Thanks for tuning in. See you next time.