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Building a Scalable Property Management Company with Jason Martins · The Academy Presents podcast

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  Did you know that 90 % of the world's millionaires
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  invest in real estate? Well, I'm Angel with the
• 0:09
  Academy Presents Real Estate Investing Rocks,
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  and I'm here to help you if you want to go for
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  your piece of that pie. Are you new? Are you
• 0:19
  new to this and you just don't know where to
• 0:20
  start? It's okay. Are you someone that has invested,
• 0:25
  but you feel stuck, you feel like you've lost
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  momentum, you don't know where to really head
• 0:30
  from here? Are you a seasoned real estate investor
• 0:33
  who is doing great but maybe you just want to
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  hone a few skills here and there? This is the
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  place for you. The Academy Presents Real Estate
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  Investing Rocks podcast will connect you with
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  industry experts so that you can save time, avoid
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  costly mistakes, and begin living the life you've
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  dreamed of all through real estate investing.
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  You're already taking the first step. just by
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  joining us here today. Hey guys it's Angel and
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  you're here for the spring edition of the Academy
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  Presents Real Estate Investing Rock Summit and
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  I hope you've been enjoying all of the content
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  here. We've got tons more and you know remember
• 1:15
  There's that stealthy way to get that VIP upgrade
• 1:17
  by joining in and getting that subscription and
• 1:19
  you get the free upgrade. So we'd love to see
• 1:22
  on the live side. But again, there is plenty
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  of content on this side as well. And it's all
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  here. You can watch it at your leisure. You can
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  watch it at whatever speed you want to watch
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  it at. And it's all here for you to peruse at
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  your leisure. So our next guest, we're going
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  to be talking to Jason Martins, and he's going
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  to step up, step us through pretty much what
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  he did to create a property management company.
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  So for those of us that have been thinking Hey,
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  I think being my property manager would be really
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  cool too. Number one, spend at least a week on
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  the property before you make that decision. It
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  made me know that I don't ever do property management,
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  but having a property management company would
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  be a little different, hopefully, fingers crossed.
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  Oh no, I saw the look. But I'm going to let Jason
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  introduce himself, give us a little bit about
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  his background, and then we'll get going. Does
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  that sound good? Sounds good to me. Awesome.
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  So yeah, my name is Jason Martins. I'm a certified
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  property manager. I was born and raised in Rhode
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  Island and I now live in Florida, but my business
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  primarily is still based in Rhode Island. And
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  so I started, I always knew I wanted to be involved
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  in real estate and I knew that real estate was
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  gonna be my long -term game plan, retirement
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  plan, the whole thing. So when we got married,
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  my wife and I got a duplex. And that was like
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  our first taste of it. Right. And I also joined
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  the local we a group in Rhode Island. So at the
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  time before once we got that, I was actually
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  working part time, well, mostly full time at
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  a radio station in Providence. And that just
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  wasn't paying the bills. I got married. Wanted
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  to have a family. So I said, oh, you know what?
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  I want to get a full time job, a real job and
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  something in. real estate. So I opened up the
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  newspaper, which we used at that time. And there
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  was an ad for property management position. So
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  I applied and they hired me. And so now I'm in
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  the game. Now I'm in real estate. And so I got
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  all my accreditations and all that. And again,
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  I was a member of the local RIA. And so over
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  a period of time, other members of the RIA knew
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  that I was a property manager and asked if I
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  would manage their property. So I started doing
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  that on the side. And once that started getting
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  big enough, I eventually let the radio business,
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  the radio side, go because the property managers
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  had taken up too much of my time. And then it
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  got to the point a few years ago where I had
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  grown my property management business large enough
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  that it was going to be taking up most of my
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  time. So that's when I jumped in full time with
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  the property management company. And here I am
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  now. Awesome. So most of the people that I know
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  that have been in the space a little bit are
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  looking at creating the property management companies.
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  A lot of the really big players have all that
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  stuff in house. They have their property management
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  company. They've got their investing arm part
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  of the company that's like overseeing the asset.
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  Some of them hire outside asset managers. So
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  now they have an asset management team that's
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  specifically looking at the different properties.
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  And then a lot of them have construction companies
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  too. So they've got like three arms that are
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  taking care of all of their business. But I mean,
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  we're not there yet. We've only got a couple
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  of properties, but we have discussed potentially
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  starting our own property management company.
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  If someone was looking at that, what would be
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  their first steps? Well, I think it's a great
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  idea. And I recommend that to most people who
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  are trying to really build up their multifamily
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  portfolio is to just do it in house. You can
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  really save a lot of money and you have a little
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  more control over it. So the first steps, now
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  remember I was doing a third party management,
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  right? So I was managing for other people. I
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  manage my own property as well, but I also managing
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  for other people. So if you're talking about
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  someone who wants to start a management company
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  to manage their own portfolio, Well, believe
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  me, it's a full -time job. And I've had people
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  mention to me that they want to start a management
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  company because they want passive income and
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  whatnot. It's really not like that. It is a full
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  -time job. It's a 24 -hour day job. So you really
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  need to be dedicated to it. But you just have
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  to have someone on your team who who has a background
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  in property management. And I would also say
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  is that I would get involved in the different
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  property management organizations involved. So
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  you can stay educated in it because believe me,
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  it's not something that you should take lightly.
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  It's a serious thing. You're really the lifeblood,
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  the backbone of your business if you're doing
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  property management. There are plenty of organizations
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  out there that are related to property management.
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  One I belong to is called IRM. It's the Institute
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  of Real Estate Management. A little plug for
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  them there. And I'm glad I did. There's so much
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  education there. But that's a key part of it.
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  You have to get familiar with different real
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  professional upper level property management
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  software programs. Familiarize yourself with
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  those. Those are critical. And there's a lot
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  of steps. You have to have a lot of vendors in
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  your markets. uh maybe some leasing agents in
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  those markets there's there's really multiple
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  it's multi -layered uh part of the business you
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  know bookkeepers things like that so uh it sounds
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  simple like yeah i can manage it but there's
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  really a lot to it well and i just think about
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  um this past summer i call it the burning i spent
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  a solid week and a half two weeks on property
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  there were moments where I thought I might die,
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  not actually, but it was really hard. Because
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  you really, you come face to face with a lot
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  of things that you wouldn't think about. There
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  was a resident who had moved out that had been
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  a hoarder. And I was arranging for the clean
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  out on that. And I just remember how, I mean,
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  it hurt my heart because it was like staring
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  that issue that because I mean, it's a condition
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  staring that condition in the face and seeing
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  it in real life. And I was like, I will never
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  say I live in a hoarder paradise because I've
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  always joked around. We've got a lot of stuff
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  in our house. There's six of us in this house.
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  We've got a lot of stuff and I'll joke and say
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  it's a hoarders paradise. I will never again
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  say that after having seen that unit because
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  I mean, it was like heartbreaking. I called Frank.
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  I was like, oh my God, I'm losing it. And he's
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  talking me off the ledge. He's like, how many
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  years you've been in real estate like we've been
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  in real estate 20 years he's like and you've
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  never seen that i'm like no we encounter that
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  a lot actually i shouldn't say a lot but we do
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  encounter that quite a bit and it's but you know
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  it's it's really not for everybody i'll be honest
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  i tell that to a lot of people like property
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  management isn't for everybody uh because you
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  do see some things uh that will disturb you at
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  times and it's hard to deal with people and you
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  gotta remember some some of these people you're
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  dealing with their lives. And you have to, you
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  know, there's sometimes there's a balance that
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  you have to be able to manage and maneuver to,
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  because you're trying to help people, but you're
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  also running a business. And you see a lot of
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  things and do a lot of people have different
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  issues. You're really sort of a psychologist.
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  You have to sort of have to have that mentality.
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  And I tell people all the time, it's not for
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  everybody. But for those of us, you know, who
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  do handle it well, I mean, it's really a a huge
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  benefit to a multifamily team. Absolutely, if
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  you can keep it in house, but it's certainly
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  not for everybody. Well, and that was that particular
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  unit was just one of the myriad of things that
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  happened during that two week period. It was
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  insane. But I also learned that when you have
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  third party management, don't ever get involved
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  in it. Don't find yourself breaking the chain
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  of command. Because once you do that, you have
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  opened yourself up to old. Cause you said it
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  was a 24 hour job. Yeah, it is. Yeah. You know,
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  I deal with that to call me. I was like, why
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  is my phone blowing up? Yeah. Yeah. You know,
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  it's interesting. I deal with that actually quite
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  a bit with, especially when we inherit a building
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  and the tenants are used to talking to the property
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  owner. And sometimes they, they don't. go to
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  us they go right to the property owner and then
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  the property owner gets frustrated because well
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  why did I hire a management company these people
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  keep calling me so it takes time to get them
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  out of that mindset of calling the property owner
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  for everything so uh it's um you know so on the
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  third party side yeah that that happens quite
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  a bit actually we deal with it on a regular basis
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  yeah we've actually been really fortunate um
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  in our residential properties I don't believe
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  we've ever not had third party management. And
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  part of that comes from me and Jason grew up
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  in families that had residential real estate.
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  And I can remember being a very little girl,
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  three years old, four years old. My grandma put
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  us both in these little pigtails. They were like
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  this long. Your grandma had short hair too. And
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  I remember driving to the properties and my grandpa
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  working in those properties. And it wasn't just
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  one time. I mean, that's my most vivid memory
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  is the pigtails, but we did it all the time.
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  And my grandparents self -managed, and my grandfather
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  was a, he was a fireman, but then he also knew
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  how to do drywall. And so he did some repairs
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  on his own, but he was, he was very, very skilled
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  at drywall. And so he could do some of the work
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  on his own. And then I remember the plumbers
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  coming in and like, I remember all the work that
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  they put into it and they would, I mean, they
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  would go door to door the first of the month
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  and collect rent. And I was like, I never, ever,
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  ever going to do that. And after my grandmother
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  passed away, my grandfather was still shuffling
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  door to door at the first of the month. And I
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  was like, grandpa, what the heck? We need to
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  get you a property manager. And of course, the
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  first property major company sucked. So we had
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  to find a second one. But so he was like, I can't
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  believe you got me a property manager. I'm like,
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  grandpa, they're not all like this. And so we
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  were able to find him someone that was really
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  skilled at the job. But I just I can't imagine.
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  And so in my mind, I've got this block of having
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  a property management company is going to be
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  like what my grandparents used to do. And it
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  doesn't have to be that way. I really don't like
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  that anymore. And again, I'm going to give you
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  the point of reference. I'm 1 ,500 miles away
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  from most of our property, and I manage our property
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  management company from here. So it's really
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  not like that. Most tenants now can pay online.
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  They write work orders online. We can contact
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  our vendors and our maintenance people right
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  online, everything's done online. So it's actually
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  a lot easier. And, you know, in a lot of ways,
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  it's, it's so much more improved the tenant experience
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  as well, right, because the tenant now knows
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  if they jump on to their port, they can communicate
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  with us right away and get a response and get
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  action taken. Whereas back in the old days, you
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  have to call the landlord if they didn't answer,
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  what are you going to do, and things like that.
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  So it's really the technology, which is the key
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  to it nowadays, has really improved everything,
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  like with the communication with everybody, owners,
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  and the management team, and us with the tenants.
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  So it's really different. And believe me, I used
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  to go door -to -door, too. We don't do that anymore.
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  And even with people who pay cash, we're like,
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  nope. print with barcode on it. And we tell them,
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  take this to CVS and give them the cash and they'll
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  charge it right to your account. So it's so much
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  better and so much easier, more efficient nowadays.
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  Rents get collected on time more, everything.
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  It's really so different than it used to be.
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  That's why I tell people is you really can be
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  doing this in -house. You really should consider
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  it. Even for people who are still self -managing,
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  like we have a program with our company to help
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  people who still want to self -manage. It's just
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  a more affordable way to operate your business,
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  but still have a professional look and feel to
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  it. So that's a program that we have in our company.
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  But for people who are growing the multifamily
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  business, it's so easy nowadays and that's why
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  I recommend it to everybody.