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Why Trust is #1
8 Plays1 month ago
🎧 Welcome to Thoughts For Rent — the podcast where real estate gets real (and local)!
Hosted by Jenni McKenna, a Las Vegas born and raised seasoned broker, and Owner of McKenna Property Management, this show is your inside look at what’s really happening in the Vegas property management and real estate world. With over 20 years of experience herself - Jenni brings not just knowledge, but heart to the conversation.
Whether we’re talking market trends, property tips, community happenings, or just the everyday quirks of Vegas living, this podcast is all about keeping you in the know.
💬 Real talk. Local stories. Professional insight – provided from a company who has their boots on the ground and hearts in the community.
In this episode, we’re covering why it is so important to listen to the professionals and allow us an opportunity to take care of your investment. It is all about trust when it comes to you, your PM, and your investment.
McKenna Property Management, proudly managing Las Vegas homes since 2005 (and loving every minute of it).
Hit subscribe and comment down below to join the conversation! 💛
✨ Stay connected with us!
Instagram: @mckennapropertymanagement
Facebook: McKenna Property Management
TikTok: @TheMcKennaTeam
Website: McKennaPropertyManagement.com
Phone: 702-434-HOME (4663)
Owner/Broker: Jenni McKenna B.29819
#ThoughtsForRent #McKennaTeam #LasVegasRealEstate #JenniMcKenna #PropertyManagement #MarketTrends #PropertyTips #Community
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction
00:00:20
Irelynn Zurflueh
Welcome everybody. This is Thoughts for Rent, Realtors Keeping It Real. And today I'm with my favorite co-host, Ireland, who happens to be my daughter, who works at McKenna Property Management here in Southern Nevada. Hello, Ireland.
00:00:40
Irelynn Zurflueh
Hi. I'm going to tell your husband that you said I was your favorite co-host. I know. Rubbing his face a little bit. I think you should because I think next time I do it with Max, I'll probably say he's my favorite husband co-host.
00:00:57
Irelynn Zurflueh
Okay.
Property Management Challenges
00:00:58
Irelynn Zurflueh
What are we going to do today? We're going to talk about some property management stuff. And I thought, actually, I'll tell you why I brought this theme up.
00:01:09
Irelynn Zurflueh
I think before you talk about that, we should talk about these super sexy microphones that we have. Yeah, we're upgrading our podcast equipment. Do you guys like it?
00:01:21
Irelynn Zurflueh
For some of those that don't see us on YouTube, though, you kind of have to describe. Well, I think they're going to be able to tell how good the audio sounds, but I think that everyone should give me a pat on the back because i am now an IT t expert in microphones.
00:01:40
Irelynn Zurflueh
ah you My voice still doesn't sound like Demi Moore, so can you do that, please? No. ah dar can't do that That has nothing to do with IT. That just has to do with your vocal cords. Oh, darn it. So I'm still going to sound like Minnie Mouse for the rest of my life?
00:01:56
Irelynn Zurflueh
I don't know if that you know would be how to describe your voice. That's how I hear it. Really? Yeah.
Micromanagement Issues
00:02:03
Irelynn Zurflueh
So Ireland, this is what's been going on in my world for the last month or so.
00:02:09
Irelynn Zurflueh
I have had owners that have hired McKenna Property Management And then they don't let me do the job. And it's a bit frustrating because I've been doing this for a long time.
00:02:25
Irelynn Zurflueh
Everyone at the Makata property management team are experts in what they're doing. And I just feel like there's a lot of micromanaging that is happening within when they come on board, I guess, to to hire us.
00:02:41
Irelynn Zurflueh
And so i think trust matters. And i Feel like if you're going to hire a property management company, first and foremost, you need to trust them.
00:02:52
Irelynn Zurflueh
And then after you trust them and you hire them, remember they have the expertise, they have the tools and the equipment, and they are ian that game with you. They're a team with you.
00:03:08
Irelynn Zurflueh
Because most property managers are set up to where if rent's not coming in, they're not getting paid. So why is this thing happening where all these owners think that they are the experts in property management, but they are hiring us?
Trust and Expertise in Management
00:03:26
Irelynn Zurflueh
I feel like my theory on the matter is that it's probably they feel like they're experts in their own homes. And then that is translating into, oh, well, then i must be also an expert in property management.
00:03:44
Irelynn Zurflueh
And I do think there's a little bit of a disconnect there. I think that it makes total sense that you know where the your mailbox is. You know what day your trash day is you If you have a pool or you have a landscaper, you might have a really trusted vendor already.
00:04:02
Irelynn Zurflueh
You do know your home. but you don't know rental contracts. You don't know potentially HOA fees or taxes, or you don't know year-end statements because for your year-end taxes. So I think that there's this idea that maybe we're only just you know taking care of the home and collecting money But there are a lot of other things that at least McKenna Property Management would offer to owners that they probably aren't experts in.
Micromanagement Costs
00:04:38
Irelynn Zurflueh
Well, and I know that in the department that you work in, special projects and maintenance and repair, pull back the curtain a little bit on what you would do on, let's say, a serious repair, like a slab leak.
00:04:55
Irelynn Zurflueh
And how an owner micromanaging all of that could really end up costing the owner more money, frustration to the resident, and and pretty much set you back to not be as efficient.
00:05:10
Irelynn Zurflueh
So do a real life story. Well, i I mean, I have so many, but I do think of a past owner of ours who there was a leak. They wanted to send their vendor out to address it.
00:05:23
Irelynn Zurflueh
They wanted to take care of the insurance claim. They basically just wanted to give us updates. And then at the end of everything, i kind of asked the resident, hey, i was told by the owner that this is done. i just want to confirm and it is actually done.
00:05:41
Irelynn Zurflueh
And the resident was like, yeah, you could say it's done, but I now have five different types of flooring in my house. I have major like cosmetic damage on my walls because they were moving the washer and the dryer.
00:05:56
Irelynn Zurflueh
and i can literally lift up my carpet and show you the concrete underneath because when they replaced the carpet, they didn't replace the carpet padding.
00:06:07
Irelynn Zurflueh
And when I told the owner that they didn't replace the carpet padding and I sent those photos, they didn't know. And I think that that's a great example of you can be very hands-on, but at the end of the day, if you're not letting us stay in communication and you're not letting us talk to the vendors directly, there's going to be issues.
Vendor Trust and Service Delays
00:06:33
Irelynn Zurflueh
And then I think a very constant ah example that I work with is that we have habitability laws. Certain things need to be fixed in 48 hours.
00:06:46
Irelynn Zurflueh
hot water and for us in Nevada ACs. We have great plumbers and great vendors for ACs that we've spent years working with.
00:07:01
Irelynn Zurflueh
We have an AC vendor who's been here since I was in high school. So I like wasn't even working here and they got onboarded. We know that their prices are very competitive. We know their warranties are really competitive.
00:07:15
Irelynn Zurflueh
We trust them. If there's ever an issue, they go back and they fix it for us. That's the first vendor we send out to any major AC problem. When the owner comes back to us and says, well, i just want to get a second estimate that delays everything and probably exceeds the 48 hour time limit.
00:07:36
Irelynn Zurflueh
I can like 90% of the time guarantee you it's not going to be cheaper. I can 80% of the time guarantee you that second vendor is going to want to charge a service fee. And I can 100% of the time guarantee that the resident's going to be pissed that instead of getting and approval, they now have to have a second appointment with a second AC vendor.
00:07:59
Irelynn Zurflueh
So I see that often where it's almost like they might trust us as McKenna, but they don't necessarily trust our vendors.
00:08:12
Irelynn Zurflueh
But you, by a trusting us, you trust our vendors because we are doing our best to vet them. So I see both. I see
Management Charges and Pricing Transparency
00:08:21
Irelynn Zurflueh
owners wanting to delay really big problems simply because they want just a second opinion.
00:08:28
Irelynn Zurflueh
I think they don't understand how inconvenient that delay is because they're not delayed. It's the resident that is delayed. So that's always a little frustrating too, that somebody calls in and we jump on it we get the estimate and then the owner goes, Oh, give me a second or a third.
00:08:49
Irelynn Zurflueh
Well, a second or a third estimate means two to three days. And they're sitting in their 70 degree office or home as an owner. And the resident is not so,
00:09:02
Irelynn Zurflueh
Yeah, I agree with you. I think delay is a big issue, especially on the haveability off issues. I also think that if you trust the property management, you need to trust that they're working with vetted vendors.
00:09:20
Irelynn Zurflueh
And with that being said, you do need to understand there's certain management companies that do ah admin charges on top of vendors, as well as maybe an upcharge on vendors.
00:09:33
Irelynn Zurflueh
Maketa Property Management does not do that. So what the vendor is going to charge is exactly what our owners are charged. But again, vet your property manager before you hire them. Ask that question.
00:09:49
Irelynn Zurflueh
and if you're okay with a 5% increase because they take care of everything, great. But I just think let them do the job, right? Yeah. And we have some owners who have made amazing connections with vendors.
00:10:06
Irelynn Zurflueh
And we either onboard them because they're a great vendor and we'd love to work with them too. Or we keep that in the owner's file. And instead of sending out our first trusted vendor and then the owner saying, oh, we'll send this second guy out. I really like him.
00:10:24
Irelynn Zurflueh
We can just skip that step and go straight to the owner's preferred vendor. And so I think that there are moments where you can give us recommendations. We'd love to take your recommendations, but let us know before the issue happens. If you love an AC guy, let us know before your AC crashes on a Saturday. Yeah.
00:10:48
Irelynn Zurflueh
and ah We've had garage door vendors, pool vendors, landscapers that we actually have now been working with for multiple years because we had an owner say, I really like this person. And then we've gone ahead and onboarded them.
00:11:03
Irelynn Zurflueh
So we're not against owners giving us recommendations. We just love getting those recommendations before we're in the thick of it before we have the repair or the leak or the busted water heater or the not working AC.
00:11:18
Irelynn Zurflueh
We just want to know those things
Balancing Management Complexities
00:11:19
Irelynn Zurflueh
ahead of time. When I think that owners that want to step in they just don't have the whole scope of everything that is ah like intricately working when it comes to resident, vendor, timeframe, the whole shebang.
00:11:35
Irelynn Zurflueh
So, Be careful. Let your property manager do what you're paying them to do. I
Market Pricing and Over-improvement
00:11:42
Irelynn Zurflueh
have to share this one. So you're we're talking about after the resident moves in and you know things are rolling.
00:11:49
Irelynn Zurflueh
I've got one that's kind of been bugging me. So I have an owner that didn't a lot of upgrades on a property. And it's gorgeous, Ireland. That property is gorgeous.
00:12:02
Irelynn Zurflueh
However, it's over-improved. It's over improved for the neighborhood. We said that in the very beginning. We also said, you want this amount fair market is this amount using my professional experience and opinion.
00:12:20
Irelynn Zurflueh
However, the owner said, well, let's try my amount for a little while. I'm not against that. Not against it. you You have so many upgrades in this property. We might get lucky.
00:12:33
Irelynn Zurflueh
Let's not leave any money on the table. Let's try it. That was 60 days ago, 60 days ago. And I get a call from that same owner.
00:12:44
Irelynn Zurflueh
Remember every week we've been updating. We get a call and the call is, why don't I have any apps? Why don't I have any showings? I think it's because Zillow doesn't have stainless steel appliances in the in the verbiage. It's all your fault because it doesn't have stainless steel appliances.
00:13:07
Irelynn Zurflueh
So I guess the moral of this story is from the time that individual has put his property on the market, we have rented 62 properties since then.
00:13:18
Irelynn Zurflueh
We know what we're doing. If he had listened to the professional advice of the property manager that he hired, that he even said he trusted us, why is he not letting us put it on the market for what we tell it to?
00:13:38
Irelynn Zurflueh
Yeah. Sometimes
Legal Knowledge in Property Management
00:13:39
Irelynn Zurflueh
they're their their own devil. Yeah, they're their own worst enemy. Exactly. They cause their own problems because they get something in their head and they just don't want to listen and allow us to put into action what we know is going to be the best for them.
00:13:59
Irelynn Zurflueh
So that's a little bit of frustration when you are very good at what you do and then you have an owner that says, oh I trust you, and then they don't. They're just micromanaging before they even get resident in the property.
00:14:16
Irelynn Zurflueh
One of the other things that I wanted to bring up that I think owners don't always realize, yes, they might be able to do a great and I'm speaking from an owner perspective, they know their property. They might write great verbiage.
00:14:30
Irelynn Zurflueh
They might know what the community is. They know all those ins and outs about the property. What they don't know, eviction laws or how to vet a vendor properly, or maybe the fact that you have to be very careful when an application comes in so you don't get hit with a discrimination lawsuit.
00:14:55
Irelynn Zurflueh
So you may know the property really well. You might even be
Cost Efficiency in Repairs
00:14:59
Irelynn Zurflueh
fantastic at nine of the 10 things. But if you don't know that last 10 thing, that could head you to court or could be very costly when it comes to the contract.
00:15:13
Irelynn Zurflueh
And I think a lot of owners obviously see this big number for a big job, like a leak or an AC. And i'm I've heard this a hundred times. You're not the one paying the bill, so you're not going to care how expensive it is.
00:15:29
Irelynn Zurflueh
And it's an unfortunate thing to hear because I do disagree with it. I very much care how expensive the bill is because i am looking at the big scope of things. I'm looking at how quickly we can get this done so the resident wants to renew and wants to stay, how quickly we can get things done so you don't have to pay a rent rebate or any kind of displacement.
00:15:52
Irelynn Zurflueh
i'm thinking about you having to pay a service charge for two other people to go out. And if you send three people out and one person gets this really expensive job, you're still going to have to pay out a service fee for probably these other two vendors.
00:16:09
Irelynn Zurflueh
And I think that it's, I know that owners can see that final price tag and it can be really overwhelming at times, but we do care about how expensive it is Because we want to make sure you're happy, the resident's happy, and you're not overpaying.
00:16:29
Irelynn Zurflueh
And I think that that is something that I hear a lot is it's not your property, so it's not your problem. We very much treat it like it's our problem. And in
Communication Skills in Management
00:16:40
Irelynn Zurflueh
the same aspect, we're sometimes closing out work orders because it's a resident responsibility. We have people wanting their carpets redone.
00:16:52
Irelynn Zurflueh
That's a cosmetic natural wear and tear thing. So I think it's like sometimes the residents see us turning them down and think that we're owner friendly and sometimes the owners see us wanting them to approve a job and think that we're resident friendly.
00:17:08
Irelynn Zurflueh
But it's a game of making everyone happy so you can stay in your home and love it. And then also you as the owner can get the renewal and can continue to grow your investment.
00:17:23
Irelynn Zurflueh
And they, it's, it's such a wide game and either the resident or the owner, you're only going to see half of the game.
00:17:34
Irelynn Zurflueh
True. And you know what? Owners don't realize that the conversation that you just talked about where it's resident to owner, owner to resident, you do that 15, 20 times day.
00:17:47
Irelynn Zurflueh
a day Add that up over the course of a week. Add that up over course of a month. And you've been with us for six years. You are an expert on communicating.
00:18:00
Irelynn Zurflueh
And I've always loved the little saying that you know you're a great communicator when you tell somebody to go to hell and they say, thank you, I appreciate that.
00:18:12
Irelynn Zurflueh
Because
Direct Owner-Resident Communication Issues
00:18:13
Irelynn Zurflueh
there's a lot of times that you have to give bad news, but when you're giving it, you know how to frame it. You know what, what way you're going to say it.
00:18:24
Irelynn Zurflueh
And then that way, the person on the other end is appreciative and not angry. That doesn't happen once every two years. If you are an owner taking care of your own property.
00:18:38
Irelynn Zurflueh
Or if you are a newer property management company or a property management company that maybe doesn't have the integrity of really teaching the team members those skills.
00:18:52
Irelynn Zurflueh
I know that there are some owners in our portfolio that do have direct contact with the resident and maybe it's a positive relationship, but the number of calls that I've had to take to an owner who is exhausted and worn down and upset that they're getting all of these messages.
00:19:13
Irelynn Zurflueh
And my advice has to be stop answering the phone and send them to us because that's our job. is It happens. And it happens more than the positive.
00:19:27
Irelynn Zurflueh
and And the positive exists. I don't want to live in this bubble
Choosing Management Based on Trust
00:19:30
Irelynn Zurflueh
of negativity. Actually, Ireland, I don't see the positive. I'm going to tell you right now, I don't see it. Because even if the owner believes they've got this great relationship with the resident, the minute you raise the rent to be fair market rent at the renewal, the resident's pissed off at the owner.
00:19:49
Irelynn Zurflueh
I mean, it's just not a good It's just not a good relationship. The owner has an investment. They want the rent to be paid. The resident wants to live in the property as inexpensively as possible with no maintenance that they have to deal with.
00:20:06
Irelynn Zurflueh
You need a middleman. You need that person in the middle. And what I tell my owners, and I don't know why not all of them listen to me again, trust your property manager. We've lived through some experiences.
00:20:22
Irelynn Zurflueh
Never, ever let the resident have your phone number. Why? Guys, i I'm so serious. Two different properties just in the last five days have called up my associate Jill and said, well, spoke to the owner and the owner's fine with it.
00:20:41
Irelynn Zurflueh
And then she hung up that call and she called the owner and the owner said, that is not the conversation that we had. So- And then it becomes he shape he said, she said, and then we end up being the bad guys.
00:20:56
Irelynn Zurflueh
You're paying us to be the good guys to make everything smooth. Let us do our job. Yeah.
McKenna’s Services and Final Advice
00:21:05
Irelynn Zurflueh
And then to end this, because we've been going on for about 20 minutes, I think a lot of times owners will hire property managers based upon money.
00:21:16
Irelynn Zurflueh
Be careful. I'm just saying, be careful. Hire for trust. Do not just go for the lowest rate. It's like the old saying, you're going to get what you pay for and you're going to find out when it's a really bad situation that you didn't hire the right company. So just be careful.
00:21:36
Irelynn Zurflueh
Yeah. I think that we have so many great services that we offer. We offer to help with HOA violations, HOA dues. We offer to help with utility collections and taxes. And we produce this beautiful end-of-year statement for your taxes. And we're constantly providing monthly owner statements for um the rent so you can see a full breakdown.
00:22:05
Irelynn Zurflueh
We're giving you weekly check-ins when your property's vacant. We're processing applications. with the goal of a 24 to 48 hour turnaround. We're, you know, collecting, holding deposits and we're holding the security deposits and we're doing legally legally and we're doing, you know, vacancy turnover reports within 24 hours after we've received the keys.
00:22:31
Irelynn Zurflueh
Those things can't always happen when you're at, when you're looking for a property manager to help you save money. I think McKenna is very competitive, but I also know that there are people who could outbid us price-wise, but I don't know if they'd be able to give you that same list of services that are offered. I'm 100% sure they cannot.
00:22:56
Irelynn Zurflueh
They just can't. it's There's a cost factor for some of those services, so it has to be a part of that. Well, I think that we gave a lot of insight, and hopefully, if you've been thinking about buying an investment property or So hiring a property manager, this has been some words of wisdom, hire for trust, and then let them do their job.
00:23:24
Irelynn Zurflueh
Yeah, I think that's a great. A great final motto is just hire for trust. That's what I do with my hair. That's what I do with my nails. That's what I do with my dog sitters.
00:23:34
Irelynn Zurflueh
So why not your house as well? Why not do it for one of your most expensive assets, right? yeah All right. Well, I guess we'll see you guys next week again offer you up some more advice when we have it.
00:23:49
Irelynn Zurflueh
And hopefully you found this to be helpful. Or if you've got somebody in your world that you think this would be helpful, share this episode. And then make sure you subscribe so you don't miss anything that Ireland, Max, or i talk about on our podcast.
00:24:09
Irelynn Zurflueh
Thoughts for Rent, Realtors, keeping it real. And we hope that you will listen next time. Bye, guys. Bye-bye.