Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Q&A with Jenni and Irelynn
5 Plays2 days 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 going over some questions online about property management and give our best advice for the submitted problems.
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
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Holiday Traditions
00:00:20
Irelynn Zurflueh
Hi everybody. Welcome back to Thoughts for Rent. Realtors keeping it real. I am Ireland and as always i am with Jenny McKenna. whoop And we are finally listening to Christmas music.
00:00:35
Irelynn Zurflueh
We're shopping. You guys are cutting down a Christmas tree tomorrow for the first time ever. First time ever. And I don't know how it's going to turn out. We're going up to Cedar City We are going to go to this little area where the map is. You have to be 100 feet from any road, and then you're going to find your tree.
00:00:53
Irelynn Zurflueh
And everybody that knows me keeps saying that I don't think you're going to like this experience, Jenny, because you like perfection. And when you're out there with a natural Christmas tree, i guess they're not, they don't look the same. We spent a lot of time at the Christmas stands just checking every single tree and then you would have Max rotate the tree because you had to make all sides look good. And I'm pretty sure when we were kids, it was like five minutes in, let's get that one. And then we spent another 45 minutes just waiting for you to make your final decision.
00:01:28
Irelynn Zurflueh
and so this one's going to be interesting. It's going to end up being about a seven to eight hour journey going up, cutting it down, bringing it back. But we'll see. Maybe it'll be a one and done.
Christmas Advice as Gifts
00:01:38
Irelynn Zurflueh
I don't know. Well, I'll keep you posted. But ah we're going to give a little bit of Christmas presents in the form of advice. So that's our Christmas gift to you guys. There you go. I didn't even think you were going to go that way, but that makes sense. So we have um some questions that have come in over the course of the last six months. And I said to Ireland, let's pick a couple of these and then share our advice. And that's great. We'll do it during this holiday festive giving opportunity. This giving time.
Managing Rental Properties with a Spouse
00:02:10
Irelynn Zurflueh
Yeah. So the first one is somebody who wrote in and said, owning rentals with my wife is testing our teamwork more than our marriage ever did. I wonder how you would feel when you work with your dad, your husband, your daughter, and your son.
00:02:29
Irelynn Zurflueh
Like that wasn't your plan the whole time. She was planning it. it was she was She was pulling the strings in the background. I digress. This is about this individual. Me and my wife bought a few rental properties together a couple of years ago, and lately it's been causing more tension. than either of us expected. We both work hard and earn well, but when it comes to the rentals deciding who handles what, how to split expenses or who deals with tenants, we just can't seem to stay on the same page. It's not about the money itself. It's about control and communication. She feels I'm too strict with budgets. And I think she's too lenient with repairs and tenant requests. Sometimes I wonder if couples should treat co-owning property like a business partnership with clear written agreements from the start because emotions really get in the way.
00:03:22
Irelynn Zurflueh
And they have asked, has anyone had trouble separating us as a couple from us as co-owners? Ireland, I'm going to let you start. What do you think about this?
00:03:34
Irelynn Zurflueh
Well, I think the answer of is anyone else struggling is yes. But the good news is that we see people work through it. So i think it's totally possible. We have quite a few owners in our portfolio that even have notes that are like, for accounting, call so-and-so, but for repair, call so-and-so. So there's obviously been couples who have come to the decision, oh I'm going to take this, I'm going to take that. So I do think not all hope is lost. It's absolutely possible.
Decision-making Framework for Co-owners
00:04:08
Irelynn Zurflueh
And the other thing of should we make it a business arrangement? Absolutely. But that's just across the board. This is your investment. This is a way to make income. You should treat it as such. So,
00:04:24
Irelynn Zurflueh
I can completely understand where this person's coming from, but I think it's totally possible to resolve the issue. i think that with the maintenance question, always like the idea of having like a one thing, almost like Gary Keller, right? So Gary Keller always says like, what's your one thing? And that's more so in the regards of motivating yourself, but you can even implement that with your investments.
00:04:53
Irelynn Zurflueh
If the tenant wants a repair, what's like the one thing that's going to lead to that decision that both you and your wife can agree on? And the answer should be, does this better my investment and better my ROI?
Role of Property Managers in Co-ownership
00:05:08
Irelynn Zurflueh
Or you can, you know, mix up the question however you see fit.
00:05:12
Irelynn Zurflueh
But if your resident wants damaged blinds to be replaced because they're eight years old and their son damaged, and you ask the question together, will this improve my investment? And the answer is yes. Then it's not a matter of what you want or what she wants. It's a matter of what's going to get you the best result and the best ah ROI and the best care for your home. So that'd be kind of my advice. And that comes down to being more co-business partners. You're not going to have the emotion involved. And when Max and I started doing our investments, we found out what we were both good at.
00:05:50
Irelynn Zurflueh
So he's really good with accounting. And I'm really good at telling residents no. So my my thought is always, if it's a cosmetic thing, it doesn't need to be repaired.
00:06:04
Irelynn Zurflueh
That can be discussed at a lease renewal as kind of a win-win for both parties. Hey, you want to stay in the property? Hey, I want you to stay in the property. Oh, but I need my blinds to be replaced. Okay, great. I'll do it at the lease renewal. And market determines that maybe it should be $50 or $75 more in rent. Then it makes sense, right? So I think deciding what in this business arrangement, what each one is good at, they become that specialist in that business arrangement. And if you might both have the same strength, that's when you can lean on your property manager. If the property manager is presenting you a bid and you're asking, should we, should we not do it? And you...
00:06:48
Irelynn Zurflueh
are thinking one way and she's thinking the other way, you can kind of use that unbiased third party and take advantage of their opinion. I've seen that before where owners come back and say, we're kind of, you know, at a stalemate. What do you suggest? And sometimes I say, no, it's cosmetic.
00:07:08
Irelynn Zurflueh
Who cares? Other times I'll say, i think this would be a good idea to take care of. So always lean on that. like consultant almost, that advisor, if you're training it like a business arrangement, you're going to want to always advise with somebody in any business arrangement. So use your property managers to that advantage. When I got into real estate, they said, you're going to wear a lot of hats in real estate. You're going be a psychiatrist. You're going to be an accountant. you're gonna And one of the things that i know for sure is it sounds like in this scenario that they don't have a property manager. yeah So what I was going to say is we're kind of a marriage therapist too, because if you involve a property manager, in this real in your rental world, they take a lot of the pressure off.
00:07:59
Irelynn Zurflueh
Just like Ireland said, they're going to give you their opinion. They're going to find the right vendors. that A lot of what they might be disagreeing about can be resolved by just having that third-party professional company. So not to toot our own horn, but we kind of are. um If you are involved in something that is becoming kind of like not what you want it to be, ah taking up too much time, too much energy, just everything, maybe that's the time you outsource it.
Issues with Property Management Companies
00:08:27
Irelynn Zurflueh
I'd say so. Yeah. All right. So that's the first one. Let's go to this second one. You want to read this one? Sure. So the second one that we had was, um, my property management company is completely mismanaging my condo. Any recommendations?
00:08:42
Irelynn Zurflueh
I own a modest condo and the property management company that manages it has made serious breaches of contract. I don't know if it'd be worth filing a suit, but they've cost me so much money and created a huge burden of stress. If I change companies, won't I lose all the fees I paid and essentially have to absorb the cost of their mismanagement? Some of the issues that they have dealt with is They charged thousands in repairs without being given approval and unlawfully withheld rental payments to me.
00:09:14
Irelynn Zurflueh
They attempted to bully me into paying half of what I never approved and only after a lot of back and forth, they finally removed these charges as requested. Did not clear out previous tenant items in the unit storage closet or even bother checking it before renting the unit to somebody else. So it's full of junk. Most recently, the tenant broke the lease and caused damage to my unit, some of which the company didn't even catch in their inspection. And they want me to eat the cost of normal wear and tear, even though it's clearly pet damage. They're pressuring me to lower the rent, even though the tenant who broke the lease is on the hook to pay rent until it's rented.
00:09:54
Irelynn Zurflueh
That's a lot to unpack, but let's start with number one. I am sorry that this individual is involved with a property management company that is not doesn't obviously have integrity, and that's unfortunate because in our industry, i would like to see all of us have a high level of integrity when you're dealing with you know, individuals' assets that are in the $500,000 range.
00:10:22
Irelynn Zurflueh
but let's go over what he indicated that they did repairs, thousands of dollars of repairs without approval. It could have been an emergency. That's my thought.
00:10:33
Irelynn Zurflueh
Because when you're dealing with a thousand dollars of worth of repairs and they had to do it quickly, I'm thinking it had to be something with habability, AC, heater, water, you know, wa hot water. And even though he he didn't approve it, sometimes the property manager, has to get those things done. Absolutely. And I think kind of circling back to his first thought, which is I might lose all these fees that I've paid.
00:11:01
Irelynn Zurflueh
Every PMA or property manager should make you sign a property manager agreement. And just like how I tell residents, read your lease, start to finish make sure you're actually signing something that you know i say the same thing to owners just read your property manager agreement because there are things in there that stipulate stipulate certain things such as your broker your property manager might be able to make repairs on your behalf if it's an emergency And so step one, obviously, I know he's in this current contract.
00:11:40
Irelynn Zurflueh
But before you sign a contract, read it start to finish. Just make sure that you know what you're getting yourself into. For example, McKenna Property Management, our PMA a 12-month PMA. So in his scenario, I don't know how long his PMA is for, but if any owner doesn't love our services or is just not a good fit, they can give us a notice and it's a one-year contract. So that might also be something he would want to look into is kind of seeing what those penalties are because maybe he thinks he's going to have more penalties than he actually will, especially if the property is vacant. Sometimes when the unit's vacant,
00:12:20
Irelynn Zurflueh
That PMA could be voided with no penalties.
Handling Lease Breaches and Property Condition Verification
00:12:24
Irelynn Zurflueh
So you kind always want to read the contract that you're signing. And every contract honestly can be negotiated because when he signed the contract, there were no issues, right? There wasn't anything that he was upset about. A broker of a property management company is not going to want to stay in business with somebody that really doesn't like them.
00:12:43
Irelynn Zurflueh
it's It's just not a good, it's not a good fit. So if he has been with them and like, it sounds like the property is vacant, he might just want to go to the broker and say, Hey, look,
00:12:54
Irelynn Zurflueh
i I need out. We just don't see eye to eye. i I don't think that you're managing the property the way I want you to. What's my out strategy? And nine out of 10 times, the broker's going to be like, okay, just pay me what you owe me and then I'll release you.
00:13:09
Irelynn Zurflueh
you know Because why do they want to stay in a crappy relationship? It's not worth it, especially at the percentages that property management companies charge. They're just not at a high percentage. Yeah. I also think something just that he mentioned where he said the storage unit full of junk.
00:13:26
Irelynn Zurflueh
Technology is so evolved today and almost every property management company is going to document the move out. So asking for those photos if you're not already receiving them from the very beginning of your vacancy.
00:13:40
Irelynn Zurflueh
Your property manager definitely has photos of the property. If you're not in town, just ask for them. They should be able to send them over and then you would be able to get eyes on the condition of the home in that moment rather than post repairs, post the closeout, which it sounds like that's what he's dealing with. So never afraid to ask. On that line, I like what you're saying because even today we had a move out and we actually was going to release all of the security deposit to the past resident because they left the property in great shape. We sent the photos to the owner And then the owner emailed back and said, hey, the fridge looks a little gunky. um Is there any way we can get a wipe down on the fridge? And we saw a little bit of a mess underneath one of the bathroom sinks. So we were like, we we didn't catch it. It was in the photo, but when we were looking through everything, we just didn't catch it. Human air. But because their eyes got put on it, we were able to send out, we are going to send out just a really light janitorial, maybe like a 150 charge, get all that wiped down so that we can get it on the market for rent.
00:14:57
Irelynn Zurflueh
And the owner actually helped us. And I always think in property management, the owner and the property manager, they're a team. It does no benefit for a property manager to leave a property vacant.
00:15:09
Irelynn Zurflueh
They only get paid when rent comes in. They want to find and secure a great resident because again, if you have to evict them, that's just a bunch of time, energy, and money from the property manager. So I would say, love great idea. Ask for those photos and then maybe catch something that they didn't catch. yeah And as far as pet, that's a tough one. I mean, we we do a lot of move outs and some days when there's Humidity in the air. Yes, there's humidity sometimes in Las Vegas. You'll walk into a property and it'll smell a little bit like pet, but four days earlier when there wasn't any humidity, nobody smelt it. So I don't know exactly what pet damage he's talking about, but that is unfortunate that it didn't get caught.
00:15:58
Irelynn Zurflueh
again, there is a little bit of human error, you know? Yeah. And it sounds like since the resident moved out early, he breached the lease, which should be a forfeit of security. And then let's clarify his last statement when he said, the management company wants me to lower the rent, but the past resident is on the hook.
00:16:20
Irelynn Zurflueh
um At least in Nevada, I'm only speaking for Nevada. no judge is going to award that to a landlord. yeah The judge is going to say, look, you got the security. You can charge one month's rent because it took one month to get the property up and running. So yeah, charge the past resident that one month and you can charge the resident for any past utilities and you know things to get it on the market.
Trust and Transition in Property Management
00:16:46
Irelynn Zurflueh
But if you go to a judge and say they bailed six months early, so I want all six months, He's going to say, what? No. You should have put it back on the market and actively try to re-rent it. And in Nevada, that just doesn't, it doesn't work. Yeah. And i think a lot of states...
00:17:07
Irelynn Zurflueh
I'm not don't hold fully quote me, but a lot of states have the stipulation of you have to make an active effort to rent it out. And part of that active effort is keeping it within market value. If you are trying to run out of property three times more than what the market should be allowing. that judge can also say, you weren't making an active effort. You were overpricing your unit.
00:17:32
Irelynn Zurflueh
And then that's not okay. So I think that's kind of something to know too, is that's part of what the active effort is, is keeping it within that market value. And then also just I always think to myself, you don't want your property empty. You don't want your appliances not being ran for six months or your toilets not being flushed for three months or your plumbing not being used.
00:17:57
Irelynn Zurflueh
A home that sits untouched sometimes starts to have issues. so It likes to scream at you. Yeah. I always think a home wants to be loved, a condo, a townhome, all of it It wants things to be living in that property, the AC, the heater, all of it. So when you leave a property vacant, you are just asking for trouble. And not only that, but every city everywhere has squatters. You don't want to be in a situation where a squatter decides to pop in there because it's freezing cold at night. And then they could give, you know, they don't care about what they're going to do on the carpet or the flush the toilets or whatever. And then that's just going to cost you more money to clean it back up. Yeah. So I'm not, I don't think it was probably a bad thing that the property manager is being honest about what the fair market rent is. I just think this individual's already lost the trust yeah of the property manager. the teamwork isn't there anymore. And when you lose trust in a property manager, you should probably look for another property manager because you're more than likely not going to get it back.
00:19:09
Irelynn Zurflueh
Yeah.
Handling Partial Payments from Tenants
00:19:10
Irelynn Zurflueh
That's my thought. All right. So we have another one. All right. So this one, do you think we have time for this? oh yeah, because this answer is real short. Okay. I think Ireland already knows what she's going to say. So this is tenant has a great rate on a studio apartment, probably the best in town. However, they have been renting four months now and always pay $10 less than the rent amount, despite the rent amount clearly stated in the signed lease. The first couple months, she has gone back to the bank and deposited the missing $10 after being messaged about it and a lot of back and forth. The second time, we waived a late fee even though she completed the rent late. Oh, she completed it as rent late. But this month now, she again paid late and $10 short.
00:20:00
Irelynn Zurflueh
Why is she doing this as $10 short? It's like she just wants to aggravate everyone. The lease states there is a $20 late fee if they pay late. So I messaged her saying, as is lease policy, she needs to complete rent.
00:20:14
Irelynn Zurflueh
and the late fee, $30. She refuses and pays no more. Obviously, the woman is taking charge of the lease, paying the rent amount she wants and when she wants, despite the contract she signed. But the only card I see for a property manager is sending the five-day notice and filing in court for an eviction hearing. What else can you do? You can find them but you can't make them pay? Question mark.
00:20:41
Irelynn Zurflueh
So where are we at? So my answer is don't accept the partial payment. Ding, ding, ding. You do not have to accept a partial payment, again, in the state of Nevada.
00:20:53
Irelynn Zurflueh
most states, you won't have you don't have to accept a partial payment. When you have a late fee or a utility charge or something of that nature, it is considered part of the rent. And so if they're not providing that money, they're not providing the full rent, you don't have to accept it. I've been in these situations. I think the first month and the second month, there should be communication and there should be some leniency and there should be some conversation. There's no reason to like...
00:21:22
Irelynn Zurflueh
come in hot and heavy on the very first time. But if this is becoming a repetition, that's when you have to establish, no, this isn't going to happen. And so I've had those conversations with people where I say, I'm going to accept your payment this month, but just so you know that $10, it's going to roll over into next month. And then next month, if you don't provide me the full rent, I will be denying it So I do give almost like a full month's heads up whenever I have that conversation. I'm never just like shocking somebody that day.
00:21:56
Irelynn Zurflueh
But if they then come in that next month and they're short, I'll say, I'm not accepting this. We had a conversation last month. You need to come up with the remaining amount.
00:22:07
Irelynn Zurflueh
For this specific person, i will say it sounds like maybe she's not thinking of the cost of what a money order a cashier's check costs, a money order a cashier's check is right around $10.
00:22:20
Irelynn Zurflueh
So I've had that exact same conversation where someone says, I brought the money and I had the full amount, but then the fee to get the cashier's check was $10, so I'm $10 short. Again, that's why it's like month one, month two, they probably don't know, we're communicating that. But month three, month four,
00:22:40
Irelynn Zurflueh
Just don't accept it. Set those rules and and
Educating Tenants on Lease Agreements
00:22:45
Irelynn Zurflueh
go from there. I see red flags all over this. I see this resident as big red flags. So after this second month, I would be absolutely just like what i Ireland said. It is all of what you owe or I'm not accepting it. And then on that month that I do file the seven-day pay or quit, there would be a conversation with the resident that says, hey, and oh, by the way, If I go to court, I don't have to accept anything.
00:23:14
Irelynn Zurflueh
I do not. You're already in breach. So if I go before the judge and you might have the money right then and there, the judge will look at me and say, do you accept it? And I can say no. And if I say no, she's gonna have to be out in 10 days. Now, obviously that causes, you know, contention and problems and everything. But I think you need to educate the resident, right?
00:23:39
Irelynn Zurflueh
They can't play games. This is a contract, just like, you know, the question, the individual wrote the question. She needs to play the rules of the contract because quite honestly, the owner has to play the rules of the contract too. And I think it's, I think it's completely fine to be generous once, but what I've practiced is that I vocalize that generosity. If I'm accepting a partial payment I'm rolling over $25, I make it very clear in that moment. I'm accepting this even though I shouldn't as a courtesy to you, as a one-time courtesy to you.
00:24:14
Irelynn Zurflueh
This is what I expect in the following months. And I'm not doing it to be passive. I'm not doing it to be Expect praise. I'm doing it to establish this is a one-time courtesy. This is not something that's going to become a pattern. So I think communication helps with that.
00:24:33
Irelynn Zurflueh
Don't be afraid to be nice that one or two times that makes you feel like it helps strengthen that relationship. But after that first or second time, it's no longer a courtesy. It's it's following the contract. Absolutely. And even though you did that, even though you might've waived it on the first or the second month, that doesn't mean that it changes any contractual obligation. So I would just, I see red flags. I'd be careful moving forward. I would make sure I got all of the rent. And
Closing and Listener Invitation
00:25:05
Irelynn Zurflueh
if there's a late fee, then they need to pay that late fee or yes, serve them that seven day pay or quit. Yeah.
00:25:12
Irelynn Zurflueh
Yep. Well, if anyone has any other questions or stories or conversations, please send them in, comment below. We'll be happy to hear them or you can email them in with our information. But this was Thoughts for Rent. We kept it real with a couple of your questions and we love getting them. And if you love hearing them and hearing these stories, then please like and subscribe and follow and we'll be happy to take you along. But until then, I hope you have a good holiday. Bye, guys.