Property manager recommendation?

[ArtM]

A mainland friend of mine is looking for a good property manager for her Puna rentals.

Can anyone offer a recommendation?

Mahalo,

Art

[Wao nahele kane]

It’s funny you should ask that question…
I’d avoid a management group comepletely.
We’re looking for a rental house to stay in while we’re building our new house and now have our present house up for sale here in Kirkland Wa.

Yesterday I contacted one of the local management places and they wanted us to fill out applications and go through credit checks BEFORE they will even simply SHOW a place to us. I was informed that they all operate this way.

I looked through the inventory of what they had available online and I saw nothing worth subjecting ourselves to the inconveniences of that garbage. So I started thinking about it… what if we were to fill out the apps and let them do the credit checks and all we saw was not what we’re after… then we went to another outfit and had the same experience and so on. Each time you get your credit checked it knocks your credit score down a bit for each check. Then I though; why in the heck would I want to gamble that sort of inconvenience?

This all this makes perfect sense now; I had a friend that could not get her place rented in the Seattle area (it was an excellent condo) it was not getting rented and each time the property manager said they were having problems finding people who qualify.
She ended up having to sell her place after 6 months of this bull and the condo sold in less than a week.

Now I know why these people have these problems getting places rented out… people who will qualify aren’t so quick to gamble that a lazy property manager will have a place that they want; so why jump through the hoops? Why pay the fees that these lazy folks set up because they don’t want to gamble that you’re not qualified and therefore accidentally show you a place and waste their time?

We’ll be looking through Craigslist for a place and rely on finding one that is being handled by the owner or their family or friends, we’re not going to toy around with a management group and then have to deal with them should something go wrong, No Way. The credit check is not a problem or criminal back ground check, but… we’re not doing it until we find the place we want to rent. We refuse to do it just to LOOK through a meager number of places a rental management is “handling”.

So I would say… the best management group is a friend or family member and stay away from the lazy management groups who collect fees regardless of whether the place is rented or not as they could care less about renting out a place as it just makes them have to work if they do.



E ho'a'o no i pau kuhihewa.

[John S. Rabi]

It's a law here in Hawaii to have a property manager if the owner of the property doesn't live on the Big Island. I'm sorry but I disagree with your opinion, as a property owner I would want to know if my tenants are credit worthy or not. You have an option to get a free credit report on your own and provide a copy to the property management companies, instead of having them to check your credit score, but it doesn't really matter since those kind of credit inquiries do not affect your credit score.

Aloha,
John S. Rabi, GM,PB,ABR,CRB,CM,FHS
808.989.1314
http://www.JohnRabi.com
Typically Tropical Properties
"The Next Level of Service!"

[EightFingers]

John said: "... It's a law here in Hawaii to have a property manager if the owner of the property doesn't live on the Big Island. ..."

Even for vacant land?

[Wao nahele kane]

quote:

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Originally posted by John S. Rabi

It's a law here in Hawaii to have a property manager if the owner of the property doesn't live on the Big Island. I'm sorry but I disagree with your opinion, as a property owner I would want to know if my tenants are credit worthy or not.

---

Sorry but you obviously don't even KNOW my opinion as you clearly misconstrued what I expressed. Read it again. I never expressed anything about not needing a credit check etc, I expressed that one should not have to give this information just to SEE A PLACE.
Get it now?
So now... I find that a homeowner must use a managment group if not on the island... doesn't that just take the cake, NOW I KNOW WHY THINGS ARE SO SCREWED UP OVER THERE! What sort of nonesense law is that? If I had a house there and I wanted my family to care for it while I was gone and wanted them to handle the renting of it... that's my choice not the damn States! That violates the constitution expressly with regard to meddling in private contracts.

E ho'a'o no i pau kuhihewa.

[Wao nahele kane]

quote:

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Originally posted by John S. Rabi

It's a law here in Hawaii to have a property manager if the owner of the property doesn't live on the Big Island.

---

Considering that you misconstrued my position regarding credit checks and application fees to view potential rental houses; I also suspected that your understanding of the Hawaii law was flawed also.
As I suspected you are incorrect on your assumption of the law.
So my position has not changed nor have the circumstances.

You are not required to have a "property manager" if not living in Hawaii. A homeowner who is not living in Hawaii and want's to rent out their house must find a "Legal resident of Hawaii" as a "Legal Contact" to "represent" the property. This is far removed from the bogus fictitious law of required hiring of a "property manager" as expressed by John.

So indeed, I could have a friend or family member take care of my rental house if I so desired. I didn't think the State was stupid enough to violate the Constitution directly in the matter of private contracts.

As per my opinion regarding this matter, I'm not alone and there is an on-line article also describing the odd nature in starting the application forms and being charged fees before even SEEING a property with regard to management groups. It's a practice that will ultimately impede ones property from being rented quickly to a qualified renter.
Below is the URL to the article and this is why you shouldn't use a "property manager". If you do use a "Property Management Group"... at least make sure you have a contact who will show your house to any perspective renter without having them jump through an application process to see the place and make sure your property manger is advised of this requirement to freely show your house without the application process upfront.
Using a property manager who is affiliated with a Real Estate agency or broker is also a bad idea as they are more inclined not to rent your house out and bleed you to the point that you end up simply selling the house and guess who gets the listing? You got it, your trusted “property manager” with the real estate sales affiliation.

http://www.hiloliving.com/Hilo_Renting.html

Another thing to keep in mind… unless you have a vast number of homes to rent out, using a property manager is not a good idea because they will favor making sure that the client with the most number of houses gets the found available renters first. If they lose a client with a large number of homes, they lose their bread and butter. So… be very cautious about using a management group and make sure they are not requiring an application processes and fees up front to view the properties. If they do… you may end up paying a management fee atop every mortgage payment for months on end with no rental compensation in return.

[John S. Rabi]

quote:

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Originally posted by EightFingers
John said: "... It's a law here in Hawaii to have a property manager if the owner of the property doesn't live on the Big Island. ..."Even for vacant land?

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Nope, not for vacant land. [] As far as the property manager question is concerned, please note that I never said it has to be a licensed company. In fact, as per the HRS, any individual can be a property manager without license so long as the person does not manage more than one property, or manages multiple properties for the same owner.
It's a common business practice of property management companies to get a credit report before showing any property to prospective renters since they wouldn't rent anything to anyone with a bad credit. It's just like the real estate companies require the prospective buyers to have a pre-qualification letter before showing them properties.

Aloha,
John S. Rabi, GM,PB,ABR,CRB,CM,FHS
808.989.1314
http://www.JohnRabi.com
Typically Tropical Properties
"The Next Level of Service!"

[DanielP]

Wao,

Try looking at this from a property manager's position. Do you have any idea how many bad renters there are out there trying to get someone to rent to them? Thousands. I do not agree that a fee should be charged to the prospective renter, but the application is a must.

A representative is the same as a property manager. This is someone who the renter can contact locally if say there is a plumbing leak, etc. etc.

I would suggest that you fill out an appropriate application and get a copy of your credit score and fax a copy of the one form to any prospective representative. Then get their information before you lay out $$$$. Wouldn't want to pay first, last and security on a place that is about to be foreclosed on!

The rental world can be an ugly place, from both sides.

Good Luck, Dan

[Wao nahele kane]

quote:

---

Originally posted by John S. Rabi

It's a common business practice of property management companies to get a credit report before showing any property to prospective renters since they wouldn't rent anything to anyone with a bad credit. It's just like the real estate companies require the prospective buyers to have a pre-qualification letter before showing them properties.

---

I’m not being mean spirited here, but let’s get real John.
LOL... pre qualification letter for real estate agents to show you houses! LOL Bull. I've looked at countless homes in Hawaii without any such pre-qualification letter and so have friends. Have you been using "zero down" agents? LOL.

Before we get any further into this topic and I didn’t feel the need to mention this, but; I owned a management company for 5 years in the city of Seattle in the later part of the 80’s into the early 90’s and it was a subsidiary of my construction company. We showed anyone a perspective rental and they only filled out applications and paid the routine fees after they had found the place they saw and wanted… NOT BEFORE HAND (I had never heard of such a practice until just yesterday and I was shocked!). How other companies do this is up to them, but it is BAAAAAD business and you will lose countless great potential renters before they even look if you pull a prequalification to show. This is why I am responding to this post, because of experiences in this matter. BTW... I would never accept a copy of a credit report that some-one handed me off the street. It could be bogus. You get a credit report directly from the horses mouth, not by the hand of the person to be checked.
So let’s try again here.

You still don't get it with regard to the use of management groups in Hawaii who practice pre-qualification to show stunts.
People who have awesome credit, references and no criminal history do not want to fill out applications with bank account numbers and personal references just to VIEW a limited rental house selection pool as they don't want their personal information submitted to multiple management groups to see all those that might be available through all of them combined. They also don't want their references badgered by multiple people calling them and all their personal and financial information in the hands of all those different people. Chances are that one management group will not have what you want anyhow or if a great place, it may be rented out by the time they put you through the viewing hoops, so why should we or anyone else for that matter bother? Point is, we WON’T and the previous link is proof that others won’t either. This is why I say avoid management groups in Hawaii.

We can use Craigslist, the Hilo Tribune, our real estate agent and a whole host of other folks to find a place that matches us and not deal with a nuisance management group. We've already been given an offer to rent a place in Leilani Estates that we're already to rent for 2 weeks as a VRBO, they want us to rent it while building our house, but we've yet to see it, in fact she referred us to this awesome site (Thanks Stefanie!). We'll find a private owner manager and not pay any stupid fees and give out personal info to SIMPLY SEE A PLACE (thank-you very much) and we will give the people we want to rent from the information they require but we will not give it to every Tom, Dick and Harry who would like us to, NOT just to see a place. It isn't happening and that’s the feeling of many other folks too. (Redundant, I know, sorry)
If I had an apartment manager running my apartment building that refused to show my units unless perspective people pre-qualified to SEE them... I would fire the idiot on the spot and kick them out on the street faster than you could say "Flash". Business is business... business charlatans are a dime a dozen and those foolish enough to use them will reap the losses they deserve, bottom line.

Also back in 1999 I rented a house through a managemnt group out of Kona, they required no application before showing the house. We did the application AFTER viewing the house and the gal said "Most folks in Hawaii have terrible credit but all we're really concerned with is wheter or not a person is a child molester".






E ho'a'o no i pau kuhihewa.

[csgray]

Another way to look a the whole application before showing issue is that if there is not a manager on site, then the management company has to have someone drive to the rental, open and show it, lock it back up and drive back to the office. Probably a 1 to 2 hour prospect, more if it is in lower Puna or Volcano. If a company has many rentals then that can really add up if you are showing to people who wouldn't qualify, plus most rentals come open at the same time of the month, and the company could easily not have the manpower to show them all, if they are wasting their time showing to people who couldn't qualify anyway.

When we first moved here we put in applications at several property management places, most told us that they wouldn't run the credit check or bother our references unless we found a place we liked. They just wanted to be sure the things like income and employment history were good enough before investing time with us, and to have the application completed and ready to run.

On the other hand, we had a certain property management company whose initials are DL charge us an application fee and then just ignore us after we put in our application. They kept advertising the place we wanted to rent, probably to get more application fees from renters, but kept telling us they had someone all picked out and that we couldn't see it. They were just scamming us out of their $25 application fee, because we had no kids or pets, great employment and references, income, credit, and savings! But somehow they just never had a house we were eligible to rent from them, no matter what they advertised. Ginoza, on the other hand, was our landlord for 2 years and were great in every way.

Carol