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Keep It Simple
6 Plays14 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 covering how keeping it simple is the way to go. Investing and Property Management can seem scary but the best way to stay in control is to keep it simple.
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! 💛
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Website: McKennaPropertyManagement.com
Phone: 702-434-HOME (4663)
Owner/Broker: Jenni McKenna B.29819
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Transcript
Introduction to Simple Property Management
00:00:20
Irelynn Zurflueh
Hi everyone, welcome back to Thoughts for Rent, Realtors Keeping It Real. I am Ireland and with me as always is Jenny McKenna. And we are going to keep it real by offering one piece of advice today and that's going to be the advice throughout our whole conversation which is keep it simple.
00:00:43
Irelynn Zurflueh
You don't need to overcomplicate your investments. You don't need to overcomplicate property management. You just got to keep it simple. And so we are going to show some of our best suggestions on how to just keep it simple to keep everything really happy for you. And practical. And practical. Because I believe that practical is the number one ticket for property management as far as success, making it successful.
The Importance of Correct Pricing
00:01:07
Irelynn Zurflueh
So what would be the first practical and simple thing a landlord should do when they want to rent out their property? The most important, the first one, the one that's always going to come back time and time again is to price it right. What, Ireland?
00:01:25
Irelynn Zurflueh
I have a mortgage and you're telling me what the rent needs to be and my mortgage is $100 more. No, no, you need to rent it for what my mortgage is, Ireland.
00:01:35
Irelynn Zurflueh
Well, unfortunately, I can't rent out your mortgage. I can only rent out your house. And what your house is worth in the market right now is X amount of dollars. yeah And if you were to go over that, you're going to find yourself sitting with a vacant, empty home for a while.
00:01:54
Irelynn Zurflueh
And how long does somebody who maybe is not as familiar with the market, they might have just looked at Zillow, they might have just guessed it. If they put their property on the market at a certain price, when will they know that they hit the sweet spot?
00:02:08
Irelynn Zurflueh
I mean, I think you'll know right away. People who are in the sweet spot will receive applications within the first three days. Yep. People who are in the sweet spot will have people who want to run out their house within a week.
00:02:20
Irelynn Zurflueh
And if you're not seeing any showings, if you're not seeing any calls, even any apps within the first seven days, you're not in that sweet spot, unfortunately. And that means you have to adjust it. The market is telling you right then and there that you overpriced it. The other telltale sign I always think too is you may get applications, but if your applications are really, really bad, that also means you're a little too high for the market.
00:02:49
Irelynn Zurflueh
There's kind of this thought that people who have lower qualifications might pay more in order to disregard those lower qualifications. So if you're seeing applications that just have some red flags or just have a lower credit score you want or a lower income you want, Sometimes it's because you might be priced not in that sweet spot. And so people are like, oh, well, because they're so overpriced or because their price is so drastically different than everyone else around them, maybe that means they're more open to letting things slide. And I know that you hate to go, oh, i I kind of penciled in this amount for rent and now I got to go down. i get it. But every week a property sits vacant is money you'll never recover, ever. It's gone.
00:03:38
Irelynn Zurflueh
It's which out the window. So i am I'm having these heart to heart conversations right now with some of our owners, especially because we're towards the end of the year. Things have slowed down naturally. i don't want property to stay on the market for a long time. And if we haven't hit the sweet spot, we know it within seven to 10 days. And I'm talking to them about it.
Renewal Pricing and Inflation Impact
00:03:56
Irelynn Zurflueh
And some of the reaction is but Jenny, I penciled in this amount and this is what I'm supposed to have. And I said, well, you penciled in that amount and we have now been vacant for two weeks.
00:04:08
Irelynn Zurflueh
We may be vacant again for two weeks. If you don't adjust this, that definitely is not going to pencil out because that money just flew out the window. So adjust and adjust quickly is what I would think. Absolutely. And I think that can...
00:04:23
Irelynn Zurflueh
That piece of advice of the price is right also carries over into your renewals, just not even not just your vacancies. um At your renewals, there's definitely opportunity to get that sweet spot in that renewal price. So then that way, that renter that you have continues and renews compares to leaving. So keep that in mind too with even renewals. Sometimes if you try to aim too high on that renewal, you might find yourself with a vacancy. So keep that price right.
00:04:53
Irelynn Zurflueh
But most residents don't want to move because who wants to move? I mean, you have to load everything up. You have to find the mover that costs money. You have to go find a new place. So in reality, if you can just keep it to where the resident feels like it's fair, they'll stay.
00:05:10
Irelynn Zurflueh
Now, there's one thing we're going to talk about at the end, which is the the the fourth thing, which is a factor. And if you don't do this landlords, then your resident's going to leave you high and dry because they're pissed off at you. But if you've done everything right during the year of residency, then let's make sure that we don't make it to where it's so aggravating to them to stay that they will go and load up a yeah U-Haul and find another renter rental to move out of yours. So there's that there's that sweet spot that Ireland was talking about. You go too high, they're going to go out shopping. But there's always usually a little bit of of wiggle room in there.
00:05:49
Irelynn Zurflueh
Yeah, the sweet spot. Yeah. And I mean, right now, what I've been kind of thinking about is inflation is like 3.1% for the year. So my rule of thumb is you can probably be somewhere around that 3% and rationale that with a resident. They've seen milk go up. They've seen eggs go up. They've seen everything else in their world go up.
00:06:09
Irelynn Zurflueh
They don't want to see rent go up, but at least that's something that is a topic that they can understand. Absolutely. All right. So now that we've talked about the very most important thing, Price It Right, what's the second thing, Ireland?
Tenant Screening Essentials
00:06:24
Irelynn Zurflueh
I would say the second thing is high quality screening, being diligent about that actual screening process when it comes to those applications.
00:06:37
Irelynn Zurflueh
And I think that I find a lot of people that are self-managing that do what's called an emotional screening. They just think, oh, I met them at the property and oh, they're so sweet and they're so nice and oh, I love them. She's like a daughter to me. And they don't do the proper screening. You need to not do emotional renting. You want to do the screening process. Now, if somebody has a bad credit score, Ireland, is that someone I should automatically say no to?
00:07:12
Irelynn Zurflueh
My answer is no. And I'll actually give this example. um About a year ago, i had a man who was moving from New York to Nevada apply for a property and his credit score was low. and Like tell me how low. Low below 600 low? Yeah, like low. Okay. And um he basically called and said, I know that my credit score is low. I'm completely on top of it. I'm going through a divorce and it's a brutal situation. And the divorce is taking everything out of me, including my credit score. So here's what I can offer, you know, in order to get this house. And he moved in. The owner approved it, knowing that it was the divorce that was affecting the credit score. And he just signed his renewal. He's staying for another year. He's never been late. I'm pretty sure I've never seen him commit, like put in a work order. And he actually ended up calling during his renewal and said, thanks for, you know,
00:08:11
Irelynn Zurflueh
listening to what I had to say about the divorce and listening to what caused the low credit score. So we see a lot of divorces affect low credit scores. We actually see a lot of parents who have children with disabilities have really low credit scores because those medical payments are pretty brutal. Pretty brutal.
00:08:29
Irelynn Zurflueh
They're out of control. And then we even just have people who have medical payments yeah in general, not even for their children or for their family members. So there are certain things that cause low credit scores that we personally think don't affect the quality of a person living in your house.
00:08:48
Irelynn Zurflueh
So I don't think that it's a complete, heck no, don't rent to somebody with this credit score, but you always have to have that diligent screening to get those answers. yeah If someone just tells you, oh, I have you know X credit score, I have a 520 or whatever, and they don't tell you why or you can't find out why, then that's going to be Well, and the telltale sign too is did they get the 520 credit score because every three months they were late on something? Yeah. or did did they get the 520 credit score because at one point they lost their job and they were scrambling and everything got behind for that six month period. So you really want to do your due diligence because it's you are about to hand them keys to your investment property. And most of the investment properties here in Southern Nevada are $400,000 and up,
00:09:38
Irelynn Zurflueh
right So if you're going to hand them keys to that kind of ah of a value that asset, you better make sure you know who they are. And I am about to share a tip.
00:09:51
Irelynn Zurflueh
And I'm going to do this to all our listeners, for our listeners. For 20 years, I'm going to tell you something about medical delinquencies. Yes.
00:10:02
Irelynn Zurflueh
If somebody applies for your property and they have everything looks great except for medical delinquency, medical bills, medical issue, whatever it is, and and it could be thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars that they owe, smile and get them to sign that lease. I'll tell you why. One, they are going to never pay that medical bill because it's gotten too out of control. And and that's what we find a lot. Little kid broke his arm. They had to go in. They had to cast his arm. Medical bills got crazy. They're just never going to pay it. So you know what they are?
00:10:39
Irelynn Zurflueh
They are forever renters because they have to clear up that medical delinquency before they can buy a property. So they just, they kind of shrug their shoulders and they go, well, I'm always going to be a renter. And then their mentality is, I want to stay at this property, treat it like my home, make memories in this property and they'll stay forever. Some of our best residents are ones that have a hundred thousand dollars in medical bills and they're never late with their rent. And they're so appreciative that they have a roof over their head.
00:11:16
Irelynn Zurflueh
I agree. i think, To me, seeing medical bills, I do not view it as a negative. are The things i feel like I look for the most are, are they paying their monthly phone bills on time? Are they paying their monthly utilities on time? Are they paying their internet on time? So things that are already associated with like monthly, consecutive, consistent payments, that's what I'm looking for. Because if you won't pay your $45 phone bill, then...
00:11:45
Irelynn Zurflueh
how can you be trusted to pay yep x amount in rent with a medical bill? You were sick. And then the doctor said, here's 10 grand that you owe us. And you said, uh, I'm not to be paying that ambulance trip to the hospital is about $15,000 bill just in itself, not even counting anything else.
Application Verification and Processing
00:12:06
Irelynn Zurflueh
Also, i want to give another helpful or useful, that, Whenever we're looking for rental history, yes, rental history, in my opinion, is important. But do remember that the individual that they're living or the place that they're living at right now, that individual or that landlord may want them out.
00:12:29
Irelynn Zurflueh
They may be not telling the truth on their rental history. What I like is to go to the landlord before the one that they're actually living with, because the landlord before has no skin in the game. They'll tell you the exact, the the absolute truth of what they experienced. So if you can get that, that is something that would be very helpful. a lot of times you can't, but do remember that there may be something going on and that landlord's going to say, oh yeah,
00:13:00
Irelynn Zurflueh
Ireland's a great resident. She pays on time. Her dog never barks. The the neighbors never complain about her. You know, she never has any HOA violations because in the back of that landlord's head, she's like, I got to get Ireland out of this property and I don't want her to destroy my property or be mad at me. So just, yes, I'm going to tell the new landlord whatever.
00:13:23
Irelynn Zurflueh
Yeah, <unk>ve I've seen that before with the current landlord. I think one of the other really useful things too is asking for the actual rental ledger because a lot of landlord softwares or property management softwares, you can't go in and backdate payments. You can't go in and make alterations to that ledger. If they paid on the 10th and they were five days late,
00:13:44
Irelynn Zurflueh
there's no way that a landlord is going to be able to go in and say, oh, nevermind. We actually got the payment on the first. So I love seeing, we've been asking for ledgers a lot recently just because it really does keep them honest about what was the exact day that they paid. um So that's really helpful too. If they only have one landlord or if they don't have two that they can give you for reference, you can always go back and say, okay, well send me your your ledger and that will be really insightful. I also think that you should always double check when they say they're working at a particular job, go onto the internet and make sure that's a legitimate company. we've had We have found that there is somewhere, I'm going to call it on the dark web, but I don't know where they find it, but there is a website out there that will allow anybody to get job verification, W-2s, all kinds of stuff that look legit.
00:14:36
Irelynn Zurflueh
And they're not. But the good news is, is they're all coming from that same source or that same company name. So just take the company name, do a little search on the internet, see if anybody has said this is a false company. You know, I, these guys are not legit. I rented to them and then they never made up a payment.
00:14:55
Irelynn Zurflueh
That, that's been kind of going on. Not as much right now because we've caught some of them, but a couple years ago when it was first on the scene, we did get nailed. Yeah. We had, them I remember what ended up happening was that we put someone into a property with this company name and then about two months later they stopped paying rent. So very quick turnaround on them not honoring the lease. And right when we were going through the procedure of trying to remove that person for not paying their rent, somebody else applied with that same company, that same kind of invoice, not invoice, but
00:15:34
Irelynn Zurflueh
check stub with the exact same amount and we were like this is really strange w2 and we were trying to find this company we were like trying to find a business license or a website or like an instagram page or something and it didn't exist and so then i think we realized that's kind of how we started to realize oh this something's going on and then we saw another app come in a third app for the same company at the same salary price, the same name of what their like job title was. And we were like, okay, yeah, this is definitely like this is a scam. The dark web is what i I said. I go, oh, they're getting this from somewhere, dark web. And it really sucks because if you're not diligent about doing the seven day right away when they're late, that person, for somebody who doesn't know eviction law, like if you're managing your property yourself, you that person could probably live there for free for about six months.
00:16:26
Irelynn Zurflueh
Oh, yeah. Probably. You definitely want to make sure that you just get on the internet, ask a couple of questions, go back, do some study, make sure that the company they say they're working for is legit. You can even call up, make sure somebody answers the phone or, you know, whatever. I think that screening is definitely an important part. You're about to hand them the keys to a property that you are liable for.
00:16:49
Irelynn Zurflueh
For $400,000, $500,000. So yeah do a little screening. My two big pieces of advice with income checking is always check their year to date because I think some people like to say they've been in a company for a very long time. But then when you actually check their year to date, they've maybe been there for four or five months. Not that that's a bad thing, but it's important to know. And then the second thing is if they submit their bank statements as proof of income, are they getting...
00:17:17
Irelynn Zurflueh
Are they getting funds put into their bank because it's actually coming from a third party or is it a transfer from their savings account or from their checking account into something? I see a lot of that where people try to fluff up their checking account by transferring from their savings.
00:17:31
Irelynn Zurflueh
So if you're screening the bank statements, always be mindful for that because I see people do that a lot. And don't take too long. That's the other thing. Just, you know, when an applicant comes in, they really do want, except for the weekend, they give you the, there's a little bit of grace on the weekend. But if they give you an application with all the information you're asking for on a Monday, you can't really take seven days to to screen them. You need to do it within a 48 hour timeframe, or you're going to lose that applicant, especially if it's a good applicant. They're not going to stick around and wait for you to do all these things to make sure you're So everything that Ireland and I are telling you, they need to be done quickly.
00:18:10
Irelynn Zurflueh
Yes, absolutely. And then get that answer to the applicant right away. yeah And then I think our third piece of advice is, you know, prior to putting it on the market, prior to getting applications in, prior to pricing it correctly, be quick about getting it rent ready.
Property Presentation and Maintenance
00:18:26
Irelynn Zurflueh
Have that turnover be really quick and keep it just really simple. And do not put a property on the market that you are still cleaning up. Just don't do it. My advice is you are shooting yourself in the foot when you do that.
00:18:40
Irelynn Zurflueh
When somebody walks into a property expecting to see if this is the next home they're going to live in, they do not want to see paint cans and rollers and plastic on the floor. yeah They want to see the the end figure. I mean, when you, it's like anything, when you go shopping, they put beautiful gowns on the mannequin because they want us to see what it looks like. What will I look like in that beautiful dress? They don't,
00:19:08
Irelynn Zurflueh
leave the mannequin undressed and then say, oh, well, you can envision it. No, we don't get to it. We, as ah as a human race, we have a hard time envisioning things. So do not shoot yourself in the foot. If it's going to take you seven days to get the property rent ready, well then take the seven days, do it quickly. And then when you put it out there for marketing, it's truly rent ready. You will get rent faster. i promise you, your applications will come in faster. You will attract better residents, because the resident that was okay with all the stuff everywhere, you should be, that should be a red flag, yeah right? And then I just think that it reduces the the maintenance issues for when somebody moves in. If you're doing half done and then they want to move in and you weren't able to do everything that you wanted to do, well, then that resident is going to be calling you up saying, this isn't working. This is not done. I don't like this. So start it off the right way. So rent ready is the key on that.
00:20:06
Irelynn Zurflueh
Absolutely. And then that kind of carries over into our final piece of advice because we were mentioning residents calling in repairs. Keep it simple with your repairs. When a resident calls in about an issue,
00:20:21
Irelynn Zurflueh
Just send somebody out. Just take care of it. Yes. Do not say, oh I know that resident broke it. In the back of your mind, when you take the call, because if you're self-managing and you take the call and they say the garbage disposal has stopped working, do not place judgment. Stay in curiosity. yeah because appliances break. They just break. Not every resident is out there to destroy your appliance. As a matter of fact, think about it.
00:20:50
Irelynn Zurflueh
If a resident is trying to hurt their appliances, think of the inconvenience they are having. They have to call it in to you as an owner. They have to wait for the vendor to come by. Then they have to usually wait for, and this is time off work or inconvenience, And then they have to get that, you know, replaced or repaired.
00:21:11
Irelynn Zurflueh
They don't want that. They're not every resident is trying to damage and they're not being necessarily negligent. So stay in curiosity, stay out of that judgment.
00:21:23
Irelynn Zurflueh
Absolutely. Especially staying curiosity and then and then wait for the diagnosis for the report. We're not saying you have to stay in curiosity forever. Just stay in curiosity until the vendor can go out there and tell you yeah what's going on. yeah If the vendor comes back and says there was a million popcorn kernels in the garbage disposal, okay, now you can say, resident, you broke my garbage disposal. you get to fix it. But if it the garbage disposal is just cracked,
00:21:51
Irelynn Zurflueh
just crack It's just cracked. It happens, guys. It happens all the time. Water heater stops working. There's nothing that the resident did. They didn't go in and take too hot a showers for too many minutes. It just end of life, right? Appliances have end of life. Absolutely. And something that we recently learned is that the number one most, the number one reason that there is turnover, the number one reason that people choose not to renew a contract is,
00:22:23
Irelynn Zurflueh
repairs. Yep. It's, it's not, it's time. It's time away yeah for the repair and maintenance. Too long to handle repairs. That is why a resident, as far as what they were telling us with the data, That is why a resident will not renew a lease. Of course, ah rent is important too. So they go hand to hand in hand. But if you can keep the rent where the rent is doable, you will lose a resident if you are not quick on handling their repairs and maintenance. There have been some, just recently i have seen residents at one of our properties give us a call and say, I like working with
00:23:04
Irelynn Zurflueh
you know, McKenna, I like having the structure of a property management company, but I really struggle with this owner specifically. And they basically ask if they would still qualify for a different property. And most of the time, the answer is yes, because for whatever reason, that owner took a month to replace a washer in dryer and it's, they like having, you know, the access to pay rent. They like having the contract. They like having that third party keep the owner and them separate it. And the fact we were good with communication. Yes. So she wasn't left out in the dark. um
00:23:37
Irelynn Zurflueh
So it definitely, it happens for sure. i I get a lot of calls where people say I like working with, you know, the company, but I don't know how I feel specifically about having to always wait for that approval. So it it's definitely, I've seen it firsthand. I think the thing you should always look at is if the shoe was being worn on your foot and your washer and your dryer were not working.
00:24:02
Irelynn Zurflueh
you don't want to be weeks without it. You expect that to be addressed. I mean, a granted, it takes a couple of days. Then when, if you're waiting for, you know, ah a part, then that might be another couple of days. But what you want to do is you don't want to be like, as an owner, oh, you know what? I don't have the budget for a washer dryer right now. So the resident's going to have to wait until i have the extra money to pay for the washer and dryer. that It doesn't work that way. This is a business and that resident is paying a monthly rent to you. You expect them to pay on time. Part of that is you better make sure that the washer and dryer is working.
00:24:40
Irelynn Zurflueh
Absolutely. Yeah. So I would say definitely handle repairs quickly. And that's why i wanted to segue in when you're doing a renewal, how you've handled the repairs for that last year is going to be a big factor on if that resident says yes to your renewal or not. Absolutely.
00:24:59
Irelynn Zurflueh
We've had residents come in and say, ah you know, they I want to renew, but this happened and then this happened and then this happened. So I want to negotiate only this much didn an increase because of those inconveniences. So it all it all circles back. The history is all there. But the best way with repairs, with the turnover, with the screening, with the pricing is just keep it simple. Don't overthink it because usually the overthinking is what causes those delays, causes those things to be elongated and take more time. yep So if you keep it simple, you can keep it fast. And then hopefully you can get that income coming in quicker.
Conclusion: Embracing Simplicity in Management
00:25:38
Irelynn Zurflueh
Property management is not hard.
00:25:41
Irelynn Zurflueh
It's a very simple business as long as you're practical. yeah Common sense rules all the time in our business. Absolutely. I agree. Well, that is our show for today. Hopefully we've been able to share with you the top four things to do in order to get your property rented quickly. You've been listening to Thoughts for Rent, Realtors Keeping It Real with Ireland and Jenny. and if you've liked this episode, please share it and subscribe so you can hear all of the things that we're going to help you with as we progress throughout the year. Absolutely. and we'll see you guys next time. Bye.