Property Manager recommendations to rent/manage a SFH

gpower25

New member
Hello,

I am looking to rent my SFH near Columbus Grove/Tustin Fields. Please provide recommendations for a property manager that you may have used in the past. I will likely be traveling so I need someone to manage the home.

Thanks,

G
 
This isn't what you were asking but I honestly think you don't really need a property manager esp in Irvine.  I've self managed for the past 4-5 years and haven't had any issues yet but I am very careful when selecting tenants.  I use Fidelity national home warranty and pay $500 a year for any things that need fixing (appliances etc) and have insurance for everything else.  Most issues are probably plumbing/air conditioning or garage related and they send a guy next day.  All rent gets directly deposited every month and I can say I haven't had to visit my properties yet.  I know a lot of realtors double up as property managers as well
 
SoclosetoIrvine said:
This isn't what you were asking but I honestly think you don't really need a property manager esp in Irvine.  I've self managed for the past 4-5 years and haven't had any issues yet but I am very careful when selecting tenants.  I use Fidelity national home warranty and pay $500 a year for any things that need fixing (appliances etc) and have insurance for everything else.  Most issues are probably plumbing/air conditioning or garage related and they send a guy next day.  All rent gets directly deposited every month and I can say I haven't had to visit my properties yet.  I know a lot of realtors double up as property managers as well

Listen to Soclose.  It's not difficult or that time consuming to manage your own rental property, especially if you have a tenant in place.  I personally think that paying a property manager 8%+ is a waste of money. 
 
zubs said:
USCT, I thought you run a rental management service yourself.

Nope, I just take care of a few of my own rentals and provide realtor services for landlords and tenants.  I'd easily be able to manage half of my landlord clients' properties but I told them it'd be a waste of money.  I shared with them how I managed my rentals and told them if they ever needed a contractor/repair person to just text me. 
 
So a real estate agent says it's not difficult to manage rental property.

That's like me saying it's not hard to eat donuts.

C'mon USC... if you're working fulltime, have a family, etc etc... it's a little difficult.
 
irvinehomeowner said:
So a real estate agent says it's not difficult to manage rental property.

That's like me saying it's not hard to eat donuts.

C'mon USC... if you're working fulltime, have a family, etc etc... it's a little difficult.

Obviously USC is in a way different tier than me , but he was agreeing with my premise that self managing is not difficult.

I'm as basic as it comes to real estate. No real estate license.  I work full time at a normal job not related to real estate.  I jumped into my first investment property when I was 24 and learned from experiences there.  Like USc said, most of the issues were the basic repair guy/handyman and everything else was covered from home warranty/insurance.  Why pay someone 8-10% for that...
 
For me even with a full time job and three little kids, when problem does arise at the rental, its a matter of picking up a phone and contact the specialist whatever the problem may be to have them comes out and fix the issues. I am operating on a tight ship so when problems come, I do it myself. The last time my renter call about being attack by ants, I first went with the Andro dry bait on all of the perimeters of the house. I did not hear from them for a couple of weeks then at 6 AM in the morning, the frustrated renter called again. This time I settled with a professional and have them sprayed all out side and inside of the wall. At my rental, the builder installed a tubing between the wall 18 inches high from the ground that deliver the poison between the wall. This is the most effective defense to keep pest outside. I instructed the exterminator guy to also squirt liberal amount in the tubing that feed through out the inside of the wall and after 3 months I have yet to hear anymore complaint about ants. This cost me 75 bucks. Most current newer house did not employ such a system and once in awhile I see ants a few here and there. And the liquid indoor Andro bait is perfect for it.

The other part of being a hand-on land lord is that you deliver a message to your renters that you do look after your investment closely. And you also have an opportunity to look at your house every now and then to make sure all that is good with your rental. Its those combined facts that help keep your tenants happy and your house in good standing.
 
SoclosetoIrvine said:
irvinehomeowner said:
So a real estate agent says it's not difficult to manage rental property.

That's like me saying it's not hard to eat donuts.

C'mon USC... if you're working fulltime, have a family, etc etc... it's a little difficult.

Obviously USC is in a way different tier than me , but he was agreeing with my premise that self managing is not difficult.

I'm as basic as it comes to real estate. No real estate license.  I work full time at a normal job not related to real estate.  I jumped into my first investment property when I was 24 and learned from experiences there.  Like USc said, most of the issues were the basic repair guy/handyman and everything else was covered from home warranty/insurance.  Why pay someone 8-10% for that...

Because that 8-10% may be worth less than my time.

Renter called me while I was on vacation and although I had a home warranty I had to arrange for the repair person to go to the home, arrange payment etc etc. After that (and a few other incidents) I just got tired of it. Even now we are having the AC replaced at a property... not cheap.

Yes, you can self manage, but a PM probably fits more into my busy life.

Edit: Less not more.
 
Especially in California, I would be extra careful in screening your tenants as California is a tenant friendly state. A landlord I know who owns a rental in California took almost 6 month to evict a bad tenant who knew how to work the system out of his home. There are a lot of bad PMs out there, but the few that are really good are like gems who know what to do in every management issue.

Some landlords are very hands on who can self-manage while others are better off hiring a good PM.

irvinehomeowner said:
SoclosetoIrvine said:
irvinehomeowner said:
So a real estate agent says it's not difficult to manage rental property.

That's like me saying it's not hard to eat donuts.

C'mon USC... if you're working fulltime, have a family, etc etc... it's a little difficult.

Obviously USC is in a way different tier than me , but he was agreeing with my premise that self managing is not difficult.

I'm as basic as it comes to real estate. No real estate license.  I work full time at a normal job not related to real estate.  I jumped into my first investment property when I was 24 and learned from experiences there.  Like USc said, most of the issues were the basic repair guy/handyman and everything else was covered from home warranty/insurance.  Why pay someone 8-10% for that...

Because that 8-10% may be worth more than my time.

Renter called me while I was on vacation and although I had a home warranty I had to arrange for the repair person to go to the home, arrange payment etc etc. After that (and a few other incidents) I just got tired of it. Even now we are having the AC replaced at a property... not cheap.

Yes, you can self manage, but a PM probably fits more into my busy life.
 
Panda said:
Especially in California, I would be extra careful in screening your tenants as California is a tenant friendly state. A landlord I know who owns a rental in California took almost 6 month to evict a bad tenant who knew how to work the system out of his home. There are a lot of bad PMs out there, but the few that are really good are like gems who know what to do in every management issue.

Some landlords are very hands on who can self-manage while others are better off hiring a good PM.

irvinehomeowner said:
SoclosetoIrvine said:
irvinehomeowner said:
So a real estate agent says it's not difficult to manage rental property.

That's like me saying it's not hard to eat donuts.

C'mon USC... if you're working fulltime, have a family, etc etc... it's a little difficult.

Obviously USC is in a way different tier than me , but he was agreeing with my premise that self managing is not difficult.

I'm as basic as it comes to real estate. No real estate license.  I work full time at a normal job not related to real estate.  I jumped into my first investment property when I was 24 and learned from experiences there.  Like USc said, most of the issues were the basic repair guy/handyman and everything else was covered from home warranty/insurance.  Why pay someone 8-10% for that...

Because that 8-10% may be worth more than my time.

Renter called me while I was on vacation and although I had a home warranty I had to arrange for the repair person to go to the home, arrange payment etc etc. After that (and a few other incidents) I just got tired of it. Even now we are having the AC replaced at a property... not cheap.

Yes, you can self manage, but a PM probably fits more into my busy life.

Also depends on which city in CA you have a rental in....if it's within the City of LA bounds or Santa Monica it's going to be painful to evict a tenant.  I was able to evict a tenant in a little over a month in my OC rental a few years back. 
 
irvinehomeowner said:
SoclosetoIrvine said:
irvinehomeowner said:
So a real estate agent says it's not difficult to manage rental property.

That's like me saying it's not hard to eat donuts.

C'mon USC... if you're working fulltime, have a family, etc etc... it's a little difficult.

Obviously USC is in a way different tier than me , but he was agreeing with my premise that self managing is not difficult.

I'm as basic as it comes to real estate. No real estate license.  I work full time at a normal job not related to real estate.  I jumped into my first investment property when I was 24 and learned from experiences there.  Like USc said, most of the issues were the basic repair guy/handyman and everything else was covered from home warranty/insurance.  Why pay someone 8-10% for that...



Renter called me while I was on vacation and although I had a home warranty I had to arrange for the repair person to go to the home, arrange payment etc etc. After that (and a few other incidents) I just got tired of it. Even now we are having the AC replaced at a property... not cheap.

Yes, you can self manage, but a PM probably fits more into my busy life.

Edit: Less not more.

Because that 8-10% may be worth less than my time.

1% Problem. I get it.
 
Also, that 8-10% PM fee may be the difference between the property cash flowing and not cash flowing for some landlords.
 
Compressed-Village said:
For me even with a full time job and three little kids, when problem does arise at the rental, its a matter of picking up a phone and contact the specialist whatever the problem may be to have them comes out and fix the issues. I am operating on a tight ship so when problems come, I do it myself. The last time my renter call about being attack by ants, I first went with the Andro dry bait on all of the perimeters of the house. I did not hear from them for a couple of weeks then at 6 AM in the morning, the frustrated renter called again. This time I settled with a professional and have them sprayed all out side and inside of the wall. At my rental, the builder installed a tubing between the wall 18 inches high from the ground that deliver the poison between the wall. This is the most effective defense to keep pest outside. I instructed the exterminator guy to also squirt liberal amount in the tubing that feed through out the inside of the wall and after 3 months I have yet to hear anymore complaint about ants. This cost me 75 bucks. Most current newer house did not employ such a system and once in awhile I see ants a few here and there. And the liquid indoor Andro bait is perfect for it.

The other part of being a hand-on land lord is that you deliver a message to your renters that you do look after your investment closely. And you also have an opportunity to look at your house every now and then to make sure all that is good with your rental. Its those combined facts that help keep your tenants happy and your house in good standing.

LOVE this post!  HAHA I can relate so much
Call me sheltered or spoiled as a kid, but when I thrown into the fire at 24, I've had to learn so many new things.  First part that was tough for me was I looked 24 or less, so I think it was tough I think to see grown people looking to me as their future landlord.  Secondly, I never changed a light bulb on a elevated ceiling before or 10" ones.  Most lightbulbs were easy enough to change with a stool or chair but man these required special tools.  I also learned how to fit a toilet from watching youtube videos and saved some money there.  Also changed batteries on a fire alarm (my dad must've done this when I was at school or something)

But useful info for sure and life experiences that I wouldn't have had any other way.  I agree that tenants are much more likely to take good care of the property if they know I'm very hands on and involved and emotionally invested in the property

USCTrojanCPA said:
Also, that 8-10% PM fee may be the difference between the property cash flowing and not cash flowing for some landlords.

Agreed.  I'm net positive $100 right now/month, but 8-10% PM fee? I'd be negative around $200-$250 a month.  Keep in mind just because you are paying the PM fee, you still pay for all maintenance anyways.  You just aren't the one calling to set it up.  And 99% of maintenance can be done with a home warranty attached with your own insurance
http://www.homewarranty.com/pdfs/samples/dtc/sampleCA.pdf

Attached a sample of stuff covered typically by a home warranty with comprehensive (around $450/year).  I didn't do much reserach with finding but so you might have a better warranty.  That along with a good handyman that you can trust should be all you need for 99% of issues.  In terms of bad tenants, having a PM doesn't mean you won't have bad tenants, it's typically the same screening process as you did it yourself (background check/income/credit check) so it's like your judgment vs a PM.  I agree in terms of eviction it may be good to have legal advice from a PM but in that scenario I would find a real estate lawyer for something like that...I may be wrong but I'm pretty sure they don't have a on-staff lawyer included for free within the PM fee. 
 
Compressed-Village said:
irvinehomeowner said:
Because that 8-10% may be worth less than my time.
1% Problem. I get it.
I wish... that's a 100% problem.

Time is money and if there is something not worth your time, pay for it.

It's why I stopped mowing my own lawn.

Now that my knees are so bad, I'm going to start paying someone to play pick-up ball for me so I can talk trash and not have to take Advil afterwards. :)
 
It just depends on the rental.  The PM charge is the same regardless if it's a new property in Irvine or a 40 year property with questionable tenants in Santa Ana.  For a property in Santa Ana, I would definitely hire a PM.  Not worth my time or effort.  But for a new or relatively new property in Irvine, you can just manage it yourself.  I've done it for almost 5 years and it's probably taken up 15 hours of my time total (including leasing the property over the years).  Little issues will happen, like leaky toilet, broken waste disposal, etc., but these can all be outsourced.  I initially tried to fix things myself, but then realized that my time is worth more than $50-60/hr.  I've been "ripped off" when I've been out of town a few times, but in the end, it's not THAT much money.  For example, paying $160 to a plumber instead of $65 to a handyman to fix a problem just to guarantee the problem gets fixed.

I've also noticed it seems VERY VERY difficult to find a good PM.  I have many friends with rental properties and it's not uncommon to hear them say that they are on their fourth, fifth, sixth PM.  So even having/finding a PM can be a hassle in itself.

I think the most important thing to understand is what a PM will/should do and what a PM does not do for the 8-10% fee.
 
I have to agree with Iho on this one. Once you have family responsibilities, you wonder what you did with all that "extra time" before you had a spouse and kids. When all you have is yourself to think about, it's a completely different story. Sure, manage a property -- or a handful of them. Your time is yours and yours alone. Parents -- Who among us doesn't have a long To Do list that's been sitting around for months, waiting to get completed? I know I do and I'm pretty on-the-ball. Sometimes I don't even like the hassle that comes with owning my primary residence let alone manage a rental. Heaping more responsibilities onto the full daily routine could be a real pain in the ass, plain and simple. Maybe if you have a ton of family support it would be a lot easier but I wouldn't know about that. It just depends on what stage of life you're in.
 
SoclosetoIrvine said:
Compressed-Village said:
For me even with a full time job and three little kids, when problem does arise at the rental, its a matter of picking up a phone and contact the specialist whatever the problem may be to have them comes out and fix the issues. I am operating on a tight ship so when problems come, I do it myself. The last time my renter call about being attack by ants, I first went with the Andro dry bait on all of the perimeters of the house. I did not hear from them for a couple of weeks then at 6 AM in the morning, the frustrated renter called again. This time I settled with a professional and have them sprayed all out side and inside of the wall. At my rental, the builder installed a tubing between the wall 18 inches high from the ground that deliver the poison between the wall. This is the most effective defense to keep pest outside. I instructed the exterminator guy to also squirt liberal amount in the tubing that feed through out the inside of the wall and after 3 months I have yet to hear anymore complaint about ants. This cost me 75 bucks. Most current newer house did not employ such a system and once in awhile I see ants a few here and there. And the liquid indoor Andro bait is perfect for it.

The other part of being a hand-on land lord is that you deliver a message to your renters that you do look after your investment closely. And you also have an opportunity to look at your house every now and then to make sure all that is good with your rental. Its those combined facts that help keep your tenants happy and your house in good standing.

LOVE this post!  HAHA I can relate so much
Call me sheltered or spoiled as a kid, but when I thrown into the fire at 24, I've had to learn so many new things.  First part that was tough for me was I looked 24 or less, so I think it was tough I think to see grown people looking to me as their future landlord.  Secondly, I never changed a light bulb on a elevated ceiling before or 10" ones.  Most lightbulbs were easy enough to change with a stool or chair but man these required special tools.  I also learned how to fit a toilet from watching youtube videos and saved some money there.  Also changed batteries on a fire alarm (my dad must've done this when I was at school or something)

But useful info for sure and life experiences that I wouldn't have had any other way.  I agree that tenants are much more likely to take good care of the property if they know I'm very hands on and involved and emotionally invested in the property

USCTrojanCPA said:
Also, that 8-10% PM fee may be the difference between the property cash flowing and not cash flowing for some landlords.



Agreed.  I'm net positive $100 right now/month, but 8-10% PM fee? I'd be negative around $200-$250 a month.  Keep in mind just because you are paying the PM fee, you still pay for all maintenance anyways.  You just aren't the one calling to set it up.  And 99% of maintenance can be done with a home warranty attached with your own insurance
http://www.homewarranty.com/pdfs/samples/dtc/sampleCA.pdf

Attached a sample of stuff covered typically by a home warranty with comprehensive (around $450/year).  I didn't do much reserach with finding but so you might have a better warranty.  That along with a good handyman that you can trust should be all you need for 99% of issues.  In terms of bad tenants, having a PM doesn't mean you won't have bad tenants, it's typically the same screening process as you did it yourself (background check/income/credit check) so it's like your judgment vs a PM.  I agree in terms of eviction it may be good to have legal advice from a PM but in that scenario I would find a real estate lawyer for something like that...I may be wrong but I'm pretty sure they don't have a on-staff lawyer included for free within the PM fee.


Good for you. Start young and early. At 24 I was still chasing girls. You are way ahead of your pack
 
Thanks everyone. Great suggestions. I contacted a few PMs and they usually charge 7.5%-8% of rent and take 1/2 month's rent for finding a tenant.

I guess I will have to find a responsible handyman who can handle problems that the home insurance will not cover. It may be tricky while I am traveling though. Need some friend/family to handle it while I am away..

Rental posting - do you guys post on Zillow/Trulia or is there a way to post to MLS? I understand that picking the right tenants is the key..
 
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