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Roly Poly
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PostTue Feb 24, 2015 8:52 am 
Anyone got any experience or recommendations for property management for a house rental? It seems that when you have a property manager, you essentially give up all control of who gets selected to be the renter, how much rent you will get. Just curious if people have had any positive experiences?

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DIYSteve
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PostTue Feb 24, 2015 9:30 am 
What city/town? What part of city/town?

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Malachai Constant
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PostTue Feb 24, 2015 10:01 am 
When we were in Ottawa we rented out our house through a property management company. We were pretty much satisfied. You can set the parameters for who to accept and they do the screening credit checks etc. you also control what the rent will be. We also had friends and relatives driving by occasionally. It is worth while if you will be away thousands of miles for a year or two.

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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Roly Poly
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PostTue Feb 24, 2015 10:42 am 
The house is in North seattle. Winderemere property management has it set up in their contract that they pick the tenants and I won't know who it is until it's time to sign the lease. They also determine the rental amount. It seems odd to me to have no control over these two aspects. Is it just Winderemere or is this how it's done these days.

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yukon222
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PostTue Feb 24, 2015 11:00 am 
I have been using John L Scott property management - they are based out of Seattle although the house they are managing is on the Eastside. They suggest the monthly rent amount and I agree to the figure. As I recall, I could tell them a different figure if I desired. The problem with that is if it takes an extra month or two to find a tenant due to the higher rent, you likely will earn less overall money over the year's time. Tenant - yes, they find the tenant and vet them. The only qualifier that they discussed with me was whether pets would be allowed (dogs OK, no cats, etc). I've been satisfied with them.

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Roly Poly
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PostTue Feb 24, 2015 12:33 pm 
Thanks, Yukon. I will give them a call.

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Randito
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PostTue Feb 24, 2015 12:36 pm 
My nephew does property managment in Yakima. It is a complex business that requires a lot of time, effort and experience. Managing properties yourself is a headache. When I worked for Boeing, I had a manager than owned several rental houses that he managed himself. One of worse nightmares was when he rented a house to some people that turned out to be biker gang members than had used stolen identities for their credit reports and knew every trick for delaying and defering an eviction under Seattle's complex rental rules. They never paid rent once they moved in. It took him six months to get those bums out of that house -- during which time they were using the living room as a shop for rebuilding Harley engines. The property needed major rehab after that.

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Roly Poly
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PostTue Feb 24, 2015 2:03 pm 
RandyHiker, that is exactly my concern. The property managers are more savvy than I could ever be as an individual that tends to be too trusting. It seems like a lot of money to spend but in the other hand it's kind of like buying insurance. When you need it,you really need it.

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cascadeclimber
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PostTue Feb 24, 2015 7:56 pm 
We have a rental that we self-manage. We live close by, which helps. But the biggest thing is choosing the right tenants. As pointed out, it's expensive to have it sit empty for a month, but it's a lot more expensive to try to get rid of a deadbeat tenant. The Seattle Rental Housing Association is a great resource. They offer all the forms and help with screening and procedures, etc. Well worth the small annual dues.

If not now, when?
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GrnXnham
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PostWed Feb 25, 2015 12:31 am 
You people have a lot more faith in property managers than I do. I don't have rental houses but I work with different property managers all the time in my line of work. In 25 years of working with them, I have never seen a property manager that was worth a damn. The truth is that no one cares as much about your property as you do. Property managers do the bare minimum and that's it. They are not good at screening potential renters. They just want to get someone in there ASAP so they can get their share of the rent. If the place gets trashed because the property manager picked a bad tenant, you usually get to pay for it. Any extra drive-by-checking on your house or seeing something that needs to be done maintenance-wise will be nil. Only get a property manager if you really really don't want anything to do with your rental houses and don't mind making a lot less money on your rental houses.

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Jake Neiffer
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PostWed Feb 25, 2015 7:11 pm 
How long do you plan to rent it? I'll give you my perspective as a long time renter. I probably should have purchased a house a long time ago, but I'm lazy and don't like feeling tied down. My current landlord rents houses for quite a bit below market value. Maybe 2 or 300 dollars below. This of course attracts a bunch of potential renters, and he basically screens kind of like a job interview. (Also I believe he contacts the previous landlord). Granted, he's skilled at determining a suitable tenant since he has 9 houses and has been doing it for a long time. But even at that reduced rate, I'm sure he clears quite a bit over the mortgage. Also doesn't charge an outlandish deposit. The other thing he does is never raise the rent. It makes for very low turnover, it's comical in some cases. Some of his houses have had the same renter for more than a decade. Not sure if this is helpful, just my 2 cents.

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Randito
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PostThu Feb 26, 2015 1:14 pm 
Because of my nephew's experience in Yakima he is now able to process an eviction in very few days. He has learned the court system there and the judges know him and have developed trust in what he says. Five years ago evictions took him a lot longer. Another experience he has related -- a potential tenent had a felony on his record, normally he never rents to felons, but this guy sweet talked him -- "yes I have that felony but that was 7 years ago and my record has been completely clean since then." However it later turned out that the only reason it was clean was he had just gotten out of prison -- and it turned out that he had not changed his ways.

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cascadeclimber
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PostThu Feb 26, 2015 5:36 pm 
RandyHiker wrote:
However it later turned out that the only reason it was clean was he had just gotten out of prison
Your nephew sounds smart, but this is easy to catch in employment and rental history: If someone can't explain where they've been living and working for the last seven years, and provide references for same...

If not now, when?
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Randito
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PostThu Feb 26, 2015 6:02 pm 
cascadeclimber wrote:
Your nephew sounds smart, but this is easy to catch in employment and rental history: If someone can't explain where they've been living and working for the last seven years, and provide references for same...
Yep it was one of many learning experiences. I only tell the story as a way of illustrating just one of the sorts of shenanigans that are involved when renting to the public. Most of the properties that my nephew manages are low-income, with a good number of folks living on disability. This seems to increase the amount of drama to some degree. A good number of them aren't able to balance a checkbook -- so it is essential to deposit any rent check on the same day it was collected.

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Chico
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PostThu Feb 26, 2015 9:40 pm 
I've got a rental next to me I call the "house from hell". I started calling it that when it was being constructed. Scum sucking developer in town who always skates by and seems to get away with it. Cut my phone wire, cut my power, cut my television cable. Painters stole my power. These last few years there have been good tenants and poor tenants. The poor included a grandmother on meth. I've love to torch the place. The last one said he was car jacked and shot in his driveway yet I and the other neighbors didn't see or hear anything. It USED to be a nice little quiet neighborhood. People move out and the houses get snapped up for rentals. Changes everything. I hate renters typically. Move in with no sense of place. Noisy, uncaring jerks some of them.

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