http://www.TwinCitiesUSA.com/video/Bob-Molitor-Discusses-the-Role-of-a-Property-Manager

STEVE:  Hi, this is Steve Westmark.  Thanks for watching my video blog this week.  As a continuance of my series on investment real estate, I’ve brought in today a property manager who manages and rents real estate for people.  And it’s Bob Molitor of Molitor & Associates.  Welcome, Bob.

BOB:  Thank you, Steve.  Appreciate being here.

STEVE:  So Bob, how do you help someone determine a fair market rent on their property when you go to rent it for them?

BOB:  Thank you, Steve.  That’s a good question.  At the end of the day, the amount of rent that a property can earn is supply and demand function of the rental market.  And the general trend is, as you can see from a newspaper story recently, is up.  Rents are up pretty substantially in the last few months.

STEVE:  So in rental of houses and townhouses, why does someone pick that over renting an apartment?

BOB:  That is a good question.  Many times people envision someone living in a house that’s far different from themselves, but they’re really not.  It’s a lifestyle choice.  Once someone has lived in a single-family home, it’s very difficult to take your whole kit as the English would say.  You’re compacted into a smaller space in an apartment and so for many people when they recombine families in a yours, mine, and ours situation, they need all the space that they can get in a house.  Storage space is very important.

STEVE:  Now sometimes people have heard about real estate taxes being a lot higher on single-family housing.  Is that still true today?

BOB:  Thank you Steve.  That’s an excellent question and commonly people when they guess at the answer they’re very mistaken.  The ____ [1:43] people tell us that the average property’s taxes only increase by about $200 per year when they no longer have a homestead credit, in other words when the property is rented.

STEVE:  Well, Bob, I know you have two divisions in your company.  One is renting.  The other one is management of it after it’s rented.  Talk a little bit about some of the things that you do in the rental area in helping someone get their property rented.

BOB:  Thank you, Steve.  That’s a good question.  First things first, of course a property needs to be ready for a tenant.  Sometimes it requires some cleaning.  It may require painting.  We can refer the owner to vendors who do that sort of thing at reasonable prices.  Or if we’re managing the property, we can take that on.  The leasing of the property or renting of it is primarily marketing the property.  We help the owner price it.  We take photos of the property, prepare materials in order to find tenant prospects, and then we begin advertising it and marketing it and show the people through who are interested and have called on the property.

Those who are interested submit an application.  We check their credit.  Sometimes we check if they have a criminal background and check their other credentials before we talk to the owner.  Then we speak to the owner and make a recommendation.  And if the owner is inclined to go forward, we negotiate a lease with the people, get it executed.  And at that point, the leasing service is pretty much been completed.

STEVE:  As you can see, there’s a lot of technicalities that happen within that and even putting the lease together I know is a big undertaking.  And a well-written lease is a great lease.  What do you do to help people, especially even people who want to have the property managed?  What happens as you manage a property for a person?

BOB:  Well, the management, Steve, involves the basics.  Once the property has been leased, we begin collecting the rent each month.  We’re paying the obligations on the property.  For example, many owners have a service agreement on the furnace and water heater and those appliances to one of the utility companies.  We pay the monthly charge for that.  We pay other repair bills and bills on the property.  For example, the mortgage taxes, insurance.

And each month, the owner gets a monthly statement showing receipts and dispersements for that month.  At the end of the year, we can put together a spreadsheet so they can have it all on one piece of paper in front of them or one electronic screen full of information.  When we’re managing the property, before the people move in, we do a lengthy inspection on the condition of the property, noting cleanliness and condition, so that at the end of the tenancy we have some way to judge whether they’re performed properly or not.

Along with that, of course at the end of the tenancy, we go through and check the tenant out of the property, a final walk through.  It’s anything but a walk through.  It takes a couple of hours in many cases, but we go through to check and see if they’ve done what they said they would do, hold them accountable in other words.  Each day and each week, we’re available 24/7 every day of the year for emergencies.  If the tenant has an ice dam, which we’ve heard a bit about this winter, or any other problem, we’re available to respond immediately to that on the owner’s behalf.

In many cases, the investor may not have the wherewithal to repair many of the things that arise.  So it’s helpful having someone who’s experienced that they can call on.  And of course if it’s a leasing client, we’ll be happy to give them a referral to a competent professional.  Sometimes there’s after initial leasing.  For example, the tenant may purchase a house and ask to be relieved from their obligations a couple of months early.  Usually, we call that a sublet situation.  And so we market the house.  You don’t want to have the home rented to two people at the same time and so we make sure that the old and the new are coordinated properly.

And we handle myriad calls from the tenants and other concerned individuals, anyone from city councilmen to neighbors and other interested parties.  So we’re the landlord for hire.

STEVE:  I’m grateful to have a partnership with Bob, and Bob can both help in managing of investment properties but also in helping as a person as maybe an expatriate and I know that you can do both those things for people.

BOB:  Yes, we do.  We handle many homes for expatriate employees.  They’re on a job in another country and they hang onto their home.  In many cases, they can’t find a similarly situated home or a home that exactly meets their requirements on a two-week house hunting trip or a one-week house hunting trip.  So they may decide to retain their home.  And investors appreciate our services and our advice over the years.  We’re ready and willing and happy to help any of your investors with their property management or leasing needs.