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I agree with Wao, I'd never give my vital info to a company just for a chance to browse what they are offering. You could end up having to do this all over town, and just setting yourself up for identity theft, and wasting alot of time. Better just go thru more direct means.
On the other hand, I can understand why they'd want to screen people before driving around, this island is pretty large. I think they just have a built-in annoyance to their business model, it may be unavoidable. They probably don't get as good of prospects as an independent owner could, just because of this.
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Carol... LOL!  Thanks for the heads up; check out this reply in my e-mail box...
******
"Aloha,
Thank you for your interest in Day-Lum Rentals. In order to view apartments (or property) we require all our tenants to fill out an application and be pre-approved. We check your employment, credit, background (criminal & sex offender) and landlord references. I have attached an Availability Listing and Application for your review. If you would like to apply for any properties, please fill out the application and return to our office with your application fee. Please review all the attachments and if you have any questions, contact us.
Mahalo
Lisa
Day-Lum Rentals"
******
YIKES!
Right on Ric,
We may have already identified a potential scam artist just talking about it in this thread. The practice creates an open target for scammers through craigslist and such.
I'd say this is a golden oportunity for someone enterprising to set up a house showing service, complete with front door lock boxes. How's that for a solution to the showing dilema?
E ho'a'o no i pau kuhihewa.
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quote:
Originally posted by Wao nahele kane
I'd say this is a golden oportunity for someone enterprising to set up a house showing service, complete with front door lock boxes. How's that for a solution to the showing dilema?
Wao, I think you got this completely wrong. Property management companies have to be registered and licensed in Hawaii. They also have to have a licensed Principal Broker responsible for the operation in order to get licensed. The property management companies have the fiduciary duty to and represent the property owner, not the tenant. If they rent out the property to someone who is not qualified than they could be held liable and open to legal action by the property owner.
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!"
Wao, I agree with your resentment of all the hoops and charges just to look, but you are really coming off (to me) as contentious, and insulting to John. John has been doing business on the Big Island for some 20 years and a helpful contributor to Punaweb since before I got here. Real estate is his profession and yes, he observes the laws regarding licensing.
It doesn't matter how it was done in Washington. What matters is the law here.
While I love the idea of dealing directly with other human beings, I understand why landlords have to be careful here. There are quite a few horror stories about bad tenants, and the law is pro-tenant here; it's hard to evict. I don't doubt some bad landlords too.
I am not fond of the property management companies I've dealt with, as most all have been soulless. However, I disagree strongly with this:
quote:
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.
Getting a seller's listing of a property in distress or on the brink is nothing desirable, and certainly not enough so to do something wholly unethical such as you describe. Plus which, it is a bit silly. If some agency screwed me over, I would certainly NOT list my house for sale with them; sellers do have choices.
On a personal note, my husband and I rented a house (that we were moving out of) through class ads, to a couple who seemed real nice and quickly morphed into tenants from hell. We ended up getting our real estate agent involved (the house was listed with for sale with the condition that the tenants' lease would continue, so they wouldn't have to move). For no fee or commission, she mediated the situation as the one tenant was utterly paranoid of our motives (what a weird guy he was).
Her stellar work made me appreciate that we should have used a manager in the first place. She never did ask for a management fee, and eventually she did sell the house, although it didn't sell until the tenants had moved.
Another person I know of sublet her house furnished, with all her of her personal furnishings staying in it. The tenant SOLD her stuff and trashed the house, and had to be sued to get her to leave. So I understand why landlords are leery. Also, you sound nice and up and up, but it's not beyond the pale that thieves would pretend to want to rent places just to case them. I can understand why there might be a desire to check people out before letting them on one's property. Sadly.
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I agree with Wao nahele kane. I refuse to pay in advance (especially in this economy) to be able to see a place and have had a couple of companies even tell me that I have to submit to credit reports and reference checks even though I offered to pay 6 months rent in advance, in cash, for a 6 month rental! Apparently, I have a problem with reference checks because I have not rented in 15 years! I owned all of the houses we lived in! These idiots still insist upon my supplying them with landlord names and phone numbers to contact!
This is why I am going thru vrbo and renting direct, long-term. It is also much easier because one gets all utilities provided, including sat tv and internet and pays a small deposit too. I make ONE payment and worry about nothing.
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John, what you are saying is true, but I think you miss a main concept of what Wao is saying. I think everyone agrees that a tenant should be fully screened before renting, but what Wao is compaining about is the practice of collecting all kinds of personal data and performing credit checks, phone inquiries to your employer, etc. before you can even see the product being offered.
There is another factor which I think plays a role here, that nobody has mentioned. When a business is licensed (and in some respects, this even applies to laypeople), they cannot simply use a personal judgement on which policies they require of people. For instance, someone shows up with a nice car, nice clothes, well-spoken, and they get the red carpet treatment (no credit check). . . then the next guy shows up looking like a bum, and he gets screened. Could be a problem for the agency. If they just show to everyone, besides the time constraint, could be a security problem for empty properties being 'cased' by criminals. I think it sucks that our society has made is so that marketing your (or your client's) private property is subject to other peoples rights, but I suspect this has alot to do with the policy.
If we want the management companies to change their policies, then we need to allow them to do some sort of profiling at their own discretion, something that has been a hot-button issue for years. All of these laws that get passed (to protect this or that) seem like good ideas when someone is sitting in a committee somewhere, but when they have to be applied, they are impractical.
Again, I wouldn't use a management company if I was looking, but I can see why they may have to screen like that.
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ric, my company does not do property management, but I know all the property management companies do business the same way here in Kona too, so apparently that's the standard of practice in the business. When I needed to rent a place a few years ago for a year after I sold my condo and the new one I bought wasn't ready yet, I went through the same procedure even though everybody knows me here in Kona. (And I drive a nice car too!) [  ]
Prospective tenants have other options, like classifieds, VRBO, Craigslist, etc., so they do not have to deal with any company if they don't like the company policies. (They also have an option to establish a property management company themselves and do business differently, but that's a different matter.)
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!"
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To put this back on topic if I had to leave the area and rent my house I would use Ginoza Realty. After being their tenant for two years, I feel they looked out for both the apartment owner's interests and our interests in a fair and professional manner. They also have an excellent staff of appliance repair and fix it people to deal with those things, which would be priceless if one was off island.
Carol
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
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Again John, I think you missed Wao's point again (and mine). Why are you explaining to me about licensing, etc., as if I am arguing with that? My comment to you was that Wao is not suggesting that a property manager rent to someone without screening, . . . just that they could show their units without screening. And I never made any comment that they shouldn't, only that I wouldn't use them (and I never said that your statements were wrong either, btw).
quote:
Originally posted by John S. Rabi
If they rent out the property to someone who is not qualified than they could be held liable and open to legal action by the property owner.
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!"
quote:
Originally posted by John S. Rabi
ric, my company does not do property management, but I know all the property management companies do business the same way here in Kona too
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I guess we both are having difficulty making ourselves clear. [ ][ ][ ] My point was that's the industry standard since all property management companies do it that way. It's an opportunity for an entrepreneur to do it differently.
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!"
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