Posts Tagged Property Manger
MANAGING RENTAL PROPERTIES FOR OTHERS – Statements and Payments to Owners
Posted by patandkrislarkin in Property Management on February 15, 2012
Monthly Statements
One of the purposes of property management we was to provide accurate accounting for our Owners, and part of that is to provide them with monthly statements. As we mentioned previously, a property management firm must set up and maintain a “Fiduciary Trust” bank account for all of the monies for the properties it manages to flow through. In our company, we had the rent revenues as well as mortgage, HOA dues, maintenance and a multitude of other expense payments for over 320 properties flowing through this account. Keeping it all straight is paramount!
Regardless whether you manage one property for an Owner or five, you will need to provide all of your Owners with a monthly statement. This statement spells out all of the income, expenses, disbursements to or from the Owner, operating profit or loss, and the beginning and ending cash position for each individual property for each month. You will send out each statement, along with copies of all invoices paid for the period and the Owner’s check (assuming they have positive cash flow) or advice of deposit in their account.
Cutoff times and statement dates
This has been an issue that was a difficult one for us to get our arms around. We all have different needs, and while we were building the company, like any other fledgling small business, we attempted to accommodate everyone’s needs. Some Owners needed their disbursements by the 10th of each month and others were OK so long as they received it before the first of the month. Consequently, we set up two statement dates for our Owners; one on the 10th and the other on the 25th. This became very labor-intensive as we found ourselves always dealing with statements and statement issues. We later learned that if people want your service, they will adapt to your processes and procedures, so we changed to one statement date of the 25th for all of our Owners. OK, we still had some of our oldest clients, (some had been with us for many years and others had been on this earth for many years and others . . . both!) who we maintained a 10th of the month statement date for their convenience. Though that number continued to decrease!
We set up our statement date of the 25th of the month so that we could manage our clients’ expectations as well as exceed them. You remember I mentioned that most of our Owners needed their funds before the 1st of each month? Well, that is why we set up the 25th as the date we specify in our contract. We promised that they will always have their money by then. Now, to exceed their expectations; internally, we worked with a 20th statement date. Due to the calendar and the tricks it plays on us from time to time, we may miss that and go to the 22nd or so, but with few extenuating circumstances did we ever miss the 25th and nearly all of the time we exceeded it! Which of course kept our Owners happy!
It is all well and good that we talk about a statement date of the 25th. So what? What that really means is that behind the scenes we have to have a cutoff date for all transactions between the 15th and the 17th of the month, depending on where the dates fall on the calendar. That means all rents have to be in; all payments made including mortgages, taxes, HOA’s and even security deposit refunds. Otherwise, we will need to run a supplemental statement for that property for that month. If we don’t, there would be a gap in the information on the statements from month to month.
If this information has been helpful to you there is a lot more where it came from! Visit our website for more books, videos, downloadable e-books and live seminars near you.
Thank you for reading!
Pat & Kris
RESUMES AND MARKETING YOURSELF IN TRANSITION
Posted by patandkrislarkin in Property Management on January 19, 2012
Let’s assume that your construct confirmed your suspicion that you would be well suited for a career in property management, what are the next steps. How do you put together a resume which will convince the people hiring that you are a good bet in property management even though you may not have as much experience in the field as some of the other applicants for the same position?
Resumes and marketing yourself is a vast subject and to do yourself justice you will really want to take advantage of some of the information that is out there which will take you to a much higher level of detail than we will here.
We do, though, have a lot of experience in the hiring side of things . . . both from the perspective of the employer as well as the employee.
In today’s wide-open Internet world, the possibilities for you to market yourself to countless numbers of people are nearly endless. It is really just marketing. Experts tell us that you only have seven seconds to make your first impression and that is why a great format for communicating to the decision makers is so important . . . scratch that . . . it’s imperative.
In my travels I have finally come across a resume format that literally turns heads. I’ve even had interviewers at the end of an interview say to me, “This resume looks great, it really got my attention. Where did you get it?” So in the spirit of sharing my stuff, I am sharing it with you.
Resume:
First you start with what I call the “Billboard” section of the resume. Remember the 7 seconds to make a great first impression? That’s what the billboard is all about. Please refer to our sample resume in the appendix at the end of this chapter to see what I am talking about.
Billboard – This at the top of your resume and it is going to give a quick snapshot of who this great applicant is (you). It will contain the title of the general position you are seeking and then a short (perhaps two lines) summary of who you are and how wonderful you are. Next part is just words in bold type that describe your skills and talents. Below this section is a section describing even more incredible skills and talents you have. I say that a bit tongue in cheek, but it is true, you need to be selling yourself and this is the place to do it.
Selected Career Highlights – This is where you list the previous positions you have held at various companies. Be careful here. Remember, you are not going to write this, as you would have when you were looking for another job in your old industry. You are changing industries so you need to find similarities between your previous positions and the one you are seeking. If you were a purchasing manager for a medical supply company and you want to be a property manager, you will want to find the things like: Balanced multiple projects simultaneously or Relate quickly and easily with all diversities, personalities and business levels. Tell what you did, such as: Contracted with major pharmaceutical companies balancing multiple priorities continually.
Don’t misunderstand me, I don’t want to put words in your mouth and I don’t want you to be dishonest. Tell the truth or you won’t be able to own it. Be sure and tell the part of the truth that won’t distract them and will show them the part of you that they want.
Be sure to limit your information per company to four or five bullet points in your first listing and less for the subsequent listing. This is of course unless one of your subsequent listing has the most in common with the position you are seeking.
You will want to continue to list previous positions to show at least the last five years of employment and, ideally, your entire career. You will need to balance this with length of your resume. Perfect world length is one page; I think 2 is OK, but I recommend that you not go over that.
Other Relevant Experience, I use this section in my resume for a position I held many years before the last job listing on my resume because it showed particular relevance to the position I was seeking but, did not fall into comfortable chronological order with the others.
Education – Just list the schools attended and degrees earned. If you didn’t finish college, as I did not, just list the schools you attended. I don’t call attention to the fact that I didn’t get my degree. The people looking at this are smart and will ask you about it if it is important to them. If it is a non-starter for them, then it is.
Professional – List your licenses, any and all Trade Associations you belong to, or special training seminars you have attended, and computer skills along with particular software you are proficient with.
Personal – You don’t want to make this too long or too personal. Just list your marital status – any children and what you like to do on your time off. Sitting on the sofa sucking down beers while watching the game probably wouldn’t be a good idea!
References – I subscribe to the idea that in your first exposure to folks, your mission is to make that great first impression. It is not to overwhelm them with paper work. I don’t include references with my resume but I do tell them that I will provide excellent ones if they would like. Again, if this is an important issue for them, they will ask.
Hopefully, this has been helpful to you. For more information and resources about transitioning your career to Property Management go to our website.
See you next time!!
TRANSITION YOUR CAREER TO PROPERTY MANAGEMENT
Posted by patandkrislarkin in Property Management on January 16, 2012
Once you answer that nagging impulse in your heart telling you that you need a change, then there are some action steps you can take to get you headed in the right direction. This exceprt from our book; “Mange To Make Money . . . with a Career in Property Management” should prove to be helpful. I hope you enjoy it!
So you’ve decided that a change in career path is for you. You are not alone in that thought. From time to time, our economy will help us to see that our career path may be leading to a brick wall . . . or a dead end . . . QUICK . . . turn or make a change before you crash!
Making that determination is an important step, but, now what?! Moving into a different area of discipline can be challenging. What is the next step in pursuing a new career . . . a career in property management?
Let’s roll up our sleeves and see.
The first step is to explore what other careers you might be interested in. Our opinion is that we can all do OK in a career that is not necessarily in our gift set. What does that mean? Well, I believe that we were all created with gifts and natural talents that are unique to each of us.
For instance, I am well equipped for managing processes, I am creative, I am a good speaker and enjoy teaching people things that I know. Now, if I decide that I want to be a doctor, beside the obvious void in my education, do I have the God-given gift to be a doctor? Do I have the aptitude to understand the stuff I would need to learn in order to be a doctor? The answer in my case is a resounding NO.
Think with me for a minute about people who are in the wrong career paths. We’ve all run into them; they don’t really like their job and we are an imposition to them for expecting them to do their job. You know the cranky store clerk, the non-helpful customer service person. I’m not talking about someone having a bad day, I am talking about someone who is terminally unhappy in their job or in the wrong career. That would probably be me if I chose to pursue being a doctor!
The first step in this direction is to identify what it is you were gifted to do. OK well, that is like asking someone “how long is a string?”
We have created a short little construct to help you identify what it is you like to do. Now, it is impossible to learn all of our gifting from one little construct. Our gifts are like a treasure hunt; we have gifts that we may not discover for years. For instance, Kris and I only learned that we love teaching just a few years ago. But I have to say this; it was after a great deal of self-discovery coupled with chance.
You can only find this construct and other self-evaluation tools in the appendix of chapter 3 of our book. You may purchase the book as well as many other helpful property management tools at our web site: www.ManageToMakeMoney.com
Thank you for reading!
TRANSITIONING YOUR CAREER TO PROPERTY MANGEMENT – BREAKING IN TO THE BUSINESS
Posted by patandkrislarkin in Property Management, Uncategorized on January 13, 2012
Before you go charging off to pursue a career in property management, we recommend that you first see if property management is for you. Or, are you for property management.
Managing rental properties takes a very broad but distinct set of skills and temperament. To give you a broad brush idea of what it takes to be a good property manager I have included below a brief job description of a property manager. Of course, the description will vary between property management companies:
Property Manger/Leasing Agent:
- Responsible for all maintenance on properties
- Responsible for all make-readies of properties between Tenants
- Responsible for collecting rent from Tenants
- Responsible for delivery of all notices to Tenants, including 3-Day Notices to Pay Rent or Quit
- Responsible for all Tenant issues relating to maintenance.
- Responsible for communicating maintenance needs of properties to owners and gaining their approval for work to be done prior to performing the work.
- Responsible for the collection of all “Funds Requests” from Owners.
- Manages all vendors and contractors as they relate to property maintenance
- Performs periodic inspection of properties
- Is primary contact for leasing ads alternating with other leasing agents
- Shows and leases properties.
- Screens all prospective Tenants, including running credit reports and writing up Lease agreements.
- Serves as liaison between Tenants, Owners and Home Owner Association.
- To have a working knowledge of the financial condition of each property managed.
- To oversee the timely production and communication of a monthly Owner’s statement and remittance of Owner’s distribution as appropriate
If that didn’t scare you off, let’s continue.
Again, in a broad-brush approach, below are some aptitudes and temperaments, which, while not absolutely necessary, will make your quest into property management smoother going:
Knowledge of Real Estate Law (state license is preferable)
- Knowledge of property maintenance.
- Knowledge of Accounting and financial statements.
- Strong People Skills
- Strong Communication Skills.
- Ability to “shift Gears” or change your daily or hourly priorities with a moment’s notice.
- Be a self-motivated, self-starter
- Ability to mange stress-charged situations and work toward consensus with all parties.
- Ability to work with agencies and organizations with authority and always work for consensus.
Something to think about: Our book: Manage to Make Money . . . with a Career in Property Management contains some self-evaluation tools to help you further assess your skill and temperament set for a career in property management. To check the book out CLICK HERE
Next is to figure out what type of properties you want to manage; industrial, commercial, institutional, retail or residential. Of course this book is oriented around residential but first a few notes about managing the other types: commercial, industrial, and institutional properties. Property management for these types of properties will tend to require much fewer hours to manage them. What do I mean by that? Well, with these types of properties for the most part, there is no one in them during the evenings or the weekends. No calls on Thanksgiving Day that someone’s oven doesn’t work. On the other hand, the retail and residential will require you to be on call more often to respond to service requests like the oven not working on Thanksgiving or the heating isn’t working on Black Friday and it’s too cold to have their sale. Just some things to think about.
So how do you break into the property management business as a career change? There are many ways you can do this but basically, you need education and experience. In many cases, the two go hand in hand, but, your life is going to be less complicated if you can get the education ahead of the experience. Otherwise, you will be making lots of mistakes as you learn the business and it will be in a real-world scenario with pretty high stakes.
We recommend that you take a course (or courses) similar to our “How to Profitably Manage Rental Properties” which will at least walk you through the basics of the day-in, day-out things that you will need to know in order to manage properties. In fact we taught a class in Pasadena, California and a few weeks after the class, one of our students contacted us. He wanted to get into the property management business and asked if he could intern with us for a while. We set up a part-time schedule with him and he learned a lot in his six months as an intern.
Another option would be to work for a property management company as an assistant to a property manager . . . a great source of education and experience.
Ok so that’s great, but how do you find a good property manager to even talk to? Believe it or not, it isn’t that hard, especially if you live in a fairly well populated area. There will be several companies out there to choose from.
How do you find a quality property manager? Do your homework, which will include research. My first and foremost piece of advice is to look for a firm that is a member of your local Board of Realtors. The Board of Realtors is a very strong trade organization, which also has a very positive history of regulating itself. You can call your local board and get a list of the firms who are property managers. If your board doesn’t keep the information that way then you can work backwards for it: search the web for property manager in your area and then screen them by which ones are Realtors.
Once you have the list narrowed down to between three and five, check them out! Go to their websites (if they don’t have one it’s not a non-starter but does raise a red flag) and see what they are about. From the website, you will be able to get a feel for their level of professionalism . . . or a feel for how much money they spent for a great web-designer!!
Next, check with the Better Business Bureau, Yelp Business or Yahoo Business and see if there are any complaints or comments that concern you, and if so what the status of them is. Also check with your State Department of Real Estate and confirm that they have a broker’s license with the State and that it is in good standing. Also, be sure to check if there are any complaints against the license. The internet is so well developed now that you should be able to do most of your homework sitting at your computer!
We recommend that you personally interview the companies who make the cut . . . at their office. This is a great opportunity to see their operation and possibly meet their staff. It is also a great time to see if there is a positive connection between you and them . . . do you share similar values? Do you communicate at the same level?
You may have to offer to intern for free or . . . at a much lower rate than is the market. This will help you get your foot in the door and you can always renegotiate, after you have shown that you are worth the investment.
Thank you for reading. To investigate our offering of Property Management Resources . . . Books, E-Books, Documents, Forms, Checklists, Seminar DVD’s and Live Seminars go to our Website: www.ManageToMakeMoney.com
PatandKrisLarkin.com 