Property Management Brainstorm

We are so proud to announce that this is our 50th Five Minute Friday! When combined with our 50th full episode from last week, Property Management Brainstorm, TODAY is celebrating our 100th published podcast. Wow, our 100th episode, hard to believe but a great way to kick off our first FMF of 2021.And what better topic for our 100th episode to tell you all that the speaker slate has been finalized and our full agenda is now available for the CALNARPM Conference, coming up on March 11-12, 2021. Register to attend today, it’s only $99, and a portion of your registration will go to support the California Wildfire Relief Fund to assist those impacted by the recent wildfires which devastated California. Register  For the CALNARPM Conference Here:  https://narpmcalifornia.org/conference/This is a must attend event which will not disappoint, especially if you are a property manager in the state of California.  But, you can attend from anywhere because it is a virtual conference and tradeshow. The recent political ch

We are proud to kick off 2021 with the “Best of Brainstorm”, snippets from our top guests of 2020.Topics Covered[3:48] Episode 42 featured Andrew Smallwood of Second Nature, who knows a lot too about why air quality is so important in rental properties.  [5:35] In Episode 44, our guest was Citizen Home Solutions, featuring Peter Hernandez. Citizen provides a concierge onboarding service for new tenants to get their utilities setup. [7:27] Perhaps the most inspiring conversation of the year was Episode 38, with Mayor of San Diego, Todd Gloria, addressing the housing crisis and being the first person of color and openly LGBTQ to be elected Mayor of San Diego.   [10:32] A super knowledgeable person in the area of landlord-tenant law, Tracey Merrill of Kimball, Tirey, and St John, joined me for two Episodes, 37 and 40.[12:04] A hot topic last year was “process automation”. Jordan Muela from Lead Simple joined me in Episode 47 to discuss automating property management processes. [13:50] Diving deeper into the topi

Hello Brainstormers!  We are taking some time off from production during the holiday season but will be back with our normal Property Management Brainstorm programming in January 2021. Until then, happy holidays and we look forward to having you back with us in the new year!Connect with Bob Prestonhttps://www.propertymanagementbrainstorm.com/This episode is always available for listening, sharing, or download at Property Management Brainstorm. Subscribe to Property Management Brainstorm on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn, iHeart Radio and YouTube.

On this Five Minute Friday, Bob discusses facing fears in our property management businesses as we head into 2021. Simply put, the  issues we fear the most are the ones we  most need to discuss and resolve! Are there areas of your business that need attention which  you’ve been avoiding during the pandemic? What better time to focus on these items than now as we are working on our new year resolutions and 2021 business plans.This episode is always available for listening, sharing, or download at Property Management Brainstorm. Subscribe to Property Management Brainstorm on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, TunedIn, iHeart Radio and YouTube. Connect with Bob Prestonhttps://www.propertymanagementbrainstorm.com/This episode is always available for listening, sharing, or download at Property Management Brainstorm. Subscribe to Property Management Brainstorm on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn, iHeart Radio and YouTube.

On today's FMF, Bob Preston speaks about the importance of relationship management in every business. Most of us would agree that Property Management is a “relationship business”. Imagine the number of people your team interfaces with daily in making your business successful: property owners, tenants, vendors, prospective tenants, HOAs, and more.  This amounts to literally 100s of individual personalities on an ongoing basis. Bob refers to this group of people collectively as "stakeholders" and explains why he views them at the center of the company culture at North County Property Group.Relationship management is establishing the groundwork for stakeholders to have the possible experience through their journey with your company. Make it count and you might just find you attract new business in the process!Company Culture Chart: Company Mission, Vision, Values, Guiding PrinciplesNotice the stakeholders are at the center (Clients, Tenants, Vendors)https://www.ncpropertygroup.com/about-us This ep

In this time of gratitude, I wanted to say thank you to all of our listeners who tune in for Property Management Brainstorm. Counting you among our listeners is something for which we are especially grateful!This has been a trying year on all of us in property management, so, I’m also wishing you the gift of faith and hope as we gather with the family we love, the friends we cherish, and for the blessings that will come. I’m certain we will all emerge from this crazy year stronger than ever.Warm wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving and a wonderful holiday season. Bob Preston and the production team at Property Management Brainstorm.This episode is always available for listening, sharing, or download at Property Management Brainstorm. Subscribe to Property Management Brainstorm on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, TunedIn, iHeart Radio and YouTube. Connect with Bob Prestonhttps://www.propertymanagementbrainstorm.com/This episode is always available for listening, sharing, or download at Property M

What the heck is normal (or ordinary) wear and tear? This term is used in many of our states where we practice property management and is often the cause of misinterpretation, conflict, and disputes. In today's Five Minute Friday, Bob describes his "common sense" rule as it applies to determining what is normal wear and tear or what otherwise might be considered damage. This topic is of course hugely important when determining charges to a security deposit when a tenant moves out at the termination of their lease agreement. By definition, in the State of California and according the HUD, the security deposit cannot be charged for repairing property defects or deterioration caused by normal daily life at the property. Bob offers some common sense examples and refers to a HUD document, pages 55 and 56,  which can be found at this link: https://www.hud.gov/sites/documents/HSG-06-01GHBGUID.PDF This episode is always available for listening, sharing, or download at Property Management Brainstorm. Su

Bob has been addressing "process" in the past few episodes, speaking to why it is so important in property management. But what if many of those processes could be “automated”? The concept is to let technology handle your repetitive tasks. Might this allow your property management business to work smarter, not harder?  In this Episode 49 of Property Management Brainstorm, Bob discusses this topic with Heather Park, Co-founder and Managing Partner at RentBridge. They will be speaking about how to bring daily aspects of property management into a system that automates day-to-day business.Topics Covered[2:25] Heather introduces herself and the core concept behind RentBridge.[5:00] What is the technology behind the RentBridge platform?[6:55] The concept can seem a bit abstract. Heather gives a concrete example of lease renewals to explain how process automation works. [11:25] Heather explains how "tickets" work within the scenario of internal property management tasks.[13:25] Utilizing "l

Today's Five Minute Friday poses a hypothetical questions. There is no right or wrong answer, only personal preference of how you think a property management company should be run. A lot of companies have come into our property management space offering technical solutions based on automation and artificial intelligence. The concept is a sound one, what tasks in your property management workflow can be automated? And by automate, we are talking about digitizing the process, often taking it out of human hands, and into the hands of artificial intelligence for the follow up, scheduling, and management of a task.  But how much is too much?  At what point might we overengineer what could be considered relationship aspects in property management that involve human touch?  Might we be putting ourselves at risk of losing that human element in what is essentially a relationship management business?  This episode is always available for listening, sharing, or download at Property Management Brainstorm. Subscribe

Exciting news!  The Calilfornia State Chapter of NARPM® (CALNARPM) has announced its theme and the dates of its annual conference. This will be a virtual conference, titled "Embracing Change", to be held March 11-12, 2021.  Embracing change is something all property managers have had to do during COVID-19 and may need to do more than ever as we come out of the pandemic next year. We will be charting new directions in property management as we begin 2021.Join property managers, landlords, and investors from around the State of California for networking, education, workshops, CA legislative and compliance updates, great guest speakers, and much more. At the CALNARPM Virtual Conference you will learn how to run your business successfully in the unique regulatory and challenging business environment Property Managers encounter while operating in the State of California.Attendees from other states are also welcome! As the President of CALNARPM, I am super excited about this virtual event because it promi

Real estate brokers and property managers receive what are known as “trust funds” in the normal course of doing business. These are typically deposits and payments received and held on behalf of others, thereby creating a fiduciary responsibility to the funds owners. In our business as property managers, we must handle and account for these funds according to established legal and accounting standards within the rules and regulatory requirements of our individual states. Not being in compliance could have significant financial and legal consequences for our property management businesses.  On this episode of Property Management Brainstorm, Bob Preston discusses accounting and bookkeeping for property management trust accounts with Taylor Hou,  Chief Happiness Officer at APM Help. Bob and Taylor discuss the importance of keeping  the books clean, what auditors would see as red flags, and how to spot irregularities and discrepancies in your property management accounting reports.Topics Covered[2:20] Taylor tell

The role of being a landlord comes with many financial, legal, and ethical obligations. As an owner of an investment property, time is money.  There are two ways to go, managing the property yourself or hiring a property manager. On this week's Five Minute Friday, Bob poses a question to real estate investors:  should you manage a rental property yourself or should you hire a property manager?There are of course lots of questions to ask yourself and many aspects to consider. Bob covers these questions and aspects in today's episode. If you are not completely confident in handling all these items properly, then perhaps it is a good idea to consider hiring a property management company. Property management companies, like North County Property Group, have skilled teams of professionals who are specialists in handling all the nuances of renting your property and managing it properlyThis episode is always available for listening, sharing, or download at Property Management Brainstorm. Subscribe to Prope

In this week's Five Minute Friday, Bob reviews and gives his position/endorsement for either a "yes" or a "no" on four California Ballot Measures in the upcoming election on November 3rd, that he believes to be  significant to landlords, real estate investors and owners of rental property. Bob provides his opinion from a nonpartisan, independent position, as the owner of a property management company in the State of California. Here is a summary of the ballot measures of particular interest:Proposition 15: Tax on Commercial and Industrial Properties for Education and Local Government Funding Initiative (“Split Roll Measure”)Bob's Position and Endorsement: "NO"Proposition 19: Property Tax Transfers, Exemptions, and Revenue for Wildfire Agencies and Counties AmendmentBob's Position and Endorsement: "YES"Proposition 21: Local Rent Control InitiativeBob's Position and Endorsement: "NO"Proposition 22: App-Based Drivers as Contractors and Labor P

What is a "process" and why do we need it as a landlord or property management company? Webster’s defines process as a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end. All you property managers out there, sound familiar? Our daily workflow in this business requires us to follow certain steps for several reasons: legal compliance, efficiency, profitability to name just a few. Think of the activities in our jobs which need to stay streamlined: business development, owner onboarding, move-ins/outs, rent collection, evictions, and more. On today's episode, Bob discusses the need for property management processes with Jordan Muela, CEO at Lead Simple.Topics Covered[2:45] Jordan introduces himself, his various business ventures related to property management, and Lead Simple's new workflow solutions module to help bring process to the property management lifecycle.[7:25] Is a process the same or different from a checklist, workflow, standard operating procedure, or system?[

We've been getting a lot of questions this month about the new eviction protection laws recently passed by the CDC and in California so we wanted to provide an overview to California landlords and property managers on this episode of Five Minute Friday. Full disclosure, Bob Preston, the host of the show, is NOT an attorney so this episode should not be take as legal advise. It offers only his opinions and summary, from his interpretation, as to how a landlord should handle such situations under the new law. In all cases, should you find yourself in this situation, please consult an attorney.The California state legislature and Governor Newsom have taken action by signing the COVID-19 Tenant Relief Act (AB 3088) into law on August 31, 2020. The purpose of this update is to bring you up to speed on this new law. We will warn you, it's all pretty confusing, so we have pasted in a link to additional resources for further reference and clarification. AB 3088 continues protection for residential tenants w

As the host of the show, Bob often gets asked about the name of his podcast, Property Management Brainstorm. That often leads to the question, is Property Management a creative business? is the business of being a landlord and managing rental properties an open landscape for brainstorming and innovation? If asked, many of our listeners would answer "no" and they would not necessarily be wrong! Many property managers are still utilizing old school ways of doing things and the same processes they’ve been operating under for years. But from Bob Preston's perspective, he says “au contraire”. Bob suggests that in this business we call property management, we are undergoing a paradigm shift, with lots of room for creative thinking, innovation, and new ways of approaching how we run our businesses. In this episode, Bob discusses the topic of creativity and innovation in property management with Nir Bashan, author of The Creator Mindset, to who offers his insights on how we can and should be embracing

A common question we get at North County Property Group is what type of rental should I have for my investment property, long-term rental or short-term rental? Long-term rentals involve annual leasing on a home that is normally unfurnished. Short-term rentals, sometimes called vacation rentals, are homes that are furnished with all utilities and amenities provided by the owner, rented to incoming guests while on vacation. In this FMF episode, Bob offers two differing profiles of success factors pertaining to both long-term and short-term rentals. He also suggests that if you take time to calculate the overall finances of both approaches, it is very likely to come out in the wash as a 50/50 proposition. For more information on this topic, see Bob Preston's blog post, and the property owner profile table he offers and refers to in this episode:  https://www.ncpropertygroup.com/blog/long-term-or-short-term-rental.This episode is always available for listening, sharing, or download at Property Management Bra

This episode is dedicated to property managers wanting to grow their business. Bob discusses hosting landlord seminars with Mike Connolly, Broker/Owner at East Bay Property Management of Freemont CA. Mike's company has successfully hosted landlord seminars to bolster their business development efforts and grow their rental property portfolio.  Heading into the Fall of 2020, the market may be ripe for gaining new property management clients. Many self-managers of rental properties are not sure how to lease a property at tenant turnover within CDC measures for COVID-19 safety?  Might landlord seminars be an approach for you to bring in new clients to your property management business? Topics Covered[3:25] Mike tells listeners about himself and his business at East Bay Property Management.[7:15] Bob and Mike discuss the concept and premise of landlord seminars and why someone would want to attend.[11:20] How frequently should landlord seminars be hosted and what is the ideal length to keep the attention of

There are two times of the year when a functioning HVAC system is critical for a tenant in a rental property, winter time when in need of heating, and the middle of summer when cooling is necessary during hot temperatures. In this episode of Five Minute Friday, Bob explains why regular HVAC service is not only worth it, but how his company considers it a mandatory regular maintenance item. Many landlords my consider HVAC systems "out of sight, out of mind" until they break down. This sort of neglect of heating and air systems can lead to upset tenants, expensive repairs after the fact, and headaches in finding technicians to service the property during extreme weather events.Connect with Bob Prestonhttps://www.propertymanagementbrainstorm.com/This episode is always available for listening, sharing, or download at Property Management Brainstorm. Subscribe to Property Management Brainstorm on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn, iHeart Radio and YouTube.

When society emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, will there be a paradigm shift across industires, our economy, and even how we live our lives?  Might that shift create a need for us to make permanent adaptations to the way we run our property management businesses?  In this Five Minute Friday, Bob Preston ponders these questions and more as he discusses what happens when the usual way of thinking is replaced by new perspectives. Of equal importance is to spot the changes as they emerge and plan for the inevitable to stay ahead of the curve and be ready when the paradigm shift occurs.This episode is always available for listening, sharing, or download at Property Management Brainstorm. Subscribe to Property Management Brainstorm on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, TunedIn, iHeart Radio and YouTube. Connect with Bob Prestonhttps://www.propertymanagementbrainstorm.com/This episode is always available for listening, sharing, or download at Property Management Brainstorm. Subscribe to Property