The Importance and Value of Relationships and Being Proactive

I greatly appreciate all the knowledge and wisdom that PropertyManager freely shares with this forum. I’m also an avid reader of his blog, which is the reason for this post.

For those of you unfamiliar with his blog, here’s a quick summary. Recently he has been discussing his recent purchase of a 7 unit apartment building that is currently in bad shape. He has talked about the actions he is taking to correct the problems: current tenants are involved with drugs which leads to criminal activity and the poor condition of the property as a result of poor re-active management. Being able to solve these problems effectively requires pro-active management which brings me to my first point.

Mike says that “the best defense is a good offense.” He says this when discussing a recent threat from a tenant to call the building inspector. Instead of calling the tenants likely bluff, Mike is proactive and contacts the building inspector himself to alert him of the situation and prepare him for a possible claim being filed by an angry tenant that is in the process of being evicted. This leads me to my second point.

Your reputation and word are extremely valuable assets that most people do not recognize the value in. If the building inspector does not know Mike or that Mike has cleaned up crack houses in the past, the building inspector doesn’t give much weight to what Mike has to say, regardless of Mike being proactive.

Propertymanager’s blog is constant reminder of what it takes to run a successful business in general, especially one related to real estate or property management more specifically. I’m anxious to read his next update to see how things turn out.

If your reputation has ever been an asset anything real estate related, I would love if you would share them with the forum. Also, any positive experience you have had as a result of being proactive that you would have missed if you were reactive.

SulivanEnterprises,

Thanks for the kind words. Unfortunately, I learned the being proactive lesson the hard way. About 3 years ago, I had what appeared to be a nice young girl on Section 8 move into one of my apartments. I say that she “appeared” to be a nice young girl, because she was actually SATAN!

Literally, within 1 hour of moving in, she called to complain that her apartment was INFESTED with roaches. Then, a few minutes later, she called to complain that her apartment was infested with mice. To make a very long story short, she brought all the roaches and mice into the apartment via her grandmother’s furniture that had been sitting in an old garage for months!

Even though all this was SATAN’s fault, I agreed to take care of the roaches and mice. I installed an electronic pest device. I put out mouse traps. I put out roach traps and roach gel. Apparently, an INSTANT fix was what SATAN wanted. So, she called Section 8, the health department, and the building department to complain about her “infested” apartment.

Section 8 had just inspected the apartment about a week earlier and knew that it was not infested with anything. They refused to re-inspect the property. The health department called me (I knew the head of the local health department) and the told me that SATAN sounded like a “nut” on the phone. They also refused to do anything. That’s where my luck ran out. The building inspector came to look at the apartment and even though he didn’t see any mice or roaches, he did see mouse droppings. I received a letter saying that the entire building would be CONDEMNED if I didn’t have it professionally exterminated within 10 days. I had already done everything needed to get rid of the pests, but didn’t want to go through an appeal, so I had my exterminator come do a cursory extermination for $40 and the issue was over.

I was still a little upset about the issue, so I wrote up a lengthy explanation of the issue and went to talk to the building inspector. His response: “why didn’t you just come talk to me? If I had known what was going on, there wouldn’t have been a problem in the first place.” That’s how I learned to be proactive.

Mike

The relationships you build from the beginning with Section-8, Codes, and the health department are invalueable. I bought a 16 unit complex over two years ago. The place had been so poorly managed by the previous owner that Section-8 and codes were threatening to have the place condemned. When I took over the first thing I did was call Section-8 and codes and built a relationship with them. Things have improved greatly and I have an open relationship with them. At anytime they are more then welcome to inspect one of the apartments. I have nothing to hide. Tenants on occassion will make threats and I call thier bluff all the time. Why? Because I can afford too. How you set yourself financially when you buy the property can determine how much crap you are forced to put up with. If your leveraged to the hilt in mortgages, you give up your power.

Excellent advice all around on this thread…

Sullivan…Keep in mind that the building inspector, town clerk, sherriff, mayor, etc. etc. are your EMPLOYEES not your employers, they are paid by your tax dollars.
If you purchase a PropertyManager type property and want them on board make them toe the line, a history of past violations with the property, a list of the actions you are prepared to take to correct them along with an overall game plan for the property, etc. should help you prove you are doing your part.
Don’t be afraid to be a phone caller letter writer emailer if you do not get satisfaction from your local officials…your cogressman, senator, state governor, etc…may help motivate them…

You are paying taxes just the same as this supposed well known property turnarounder, and shouldn’t require a “reputation” to get service.

I would not get too wrapped up in the line of thinking that public employees are your employees. At the end lf the day, public empolyees can be rather unaccountable to tax payers and properties owners from my experience.

What does work, as other have suggested, is pick up the phone and have a business-like conversation with these folks and that will go a long way. Professionalism will overcome even the worst situation where you might be in the wrong. Not matter how POed you are when you get that certified letter, always start the discussion on the phone in a calm and controlled manner(not with attitude and accusations).

Staying level headed and professional is throughout any process is key…

Most folks get nowhere with public employees because they give up after the first bureaucratic offput, do not maintain records of phone calls, ofice visits, paperwork, etc…
Also, they are unaware of the capacity and job description of a public employee (mail carriers pick up as well as deliver mail, but many people still bring their mail to the post office themselves)…

A public employee can be sued personally in addition to their public position if the discriminate, show favoritism, or do not perform an element of their job to the public…an extreme measure hopefully one would not have to pursue, but can be very effective if pursued.

Congressmen and upper level government often consider one letter or other communication representative of 15% or more of general population opinion because so few people take this step.

Hotheaded disorganized non-persistent people are easily dismissed…Level headed well prepared persistent and intelligent people are the one’s who get service from the government…

Here’s a nice little lesson I learned about playing ball with City Hall…

About 10 years ago I purchased a house lot in a beautiful neighborhood from an elderly lady who had owned it since the 1950’s. Every house in this neighborhood was different, all very well built by individuals, (not cookie cutter builders homes) The lot was 13,000 sq. ft and had 99 feet of frontage. EVERY LOT ON THE STREET had 99 feet (remember that for later)

I struck a sweet deal with the owner pending perk and septic design approvals and everything goes great. I paid cash for the land, had my septic design approved, and my plans for a classic reproduction New England Colonial in hand… I bring 5 sets of approved (stamped) plans with me to City Hall and ring the bell at the inpectors desk. Some LOSER comes over acting like doing his job should make me feel LUCKY, he proceeds to tell me that even though my lot and every other one in that neighborhood is 99 feet across I’ll need a zoning variance to build on it, because they require 100 ft of frontage now. I politely explained that I thought I might be grandfathered because every house lot in the neighborhood was the same and it was a FOOT we were talking about…NOPE he said. " You got to see someone in zoning, and their backed up about 6 months"

At this point I actually visualized my hands around his scrawny little neck, and his eye balls popping out of the sockets. I got out of there.

Went home and typed up a letter to the Mayor telling him what SUPER, GREAT, OUTSTANDING employees he had staffed his building department with. I told him it was a testiment to his administration to have such a GREAT level of service. I mailed the letter and waited…
About 2 weeks later I receive a letter from the Mayor THANKING ME for the praise I had heaped on his building dept. That day I returned to the same counter, with the same LOSER behind it, only this time MY LETTER was proudly hung, ALL ALONE, on the wall. I handed the idiot the same plans he looked at 2 weeks earlier, he looked at the name on them. I could see his little hampster brain gears SLOWLY starting to turn. He said…“Hey your the letter guy. WOW, that was real nice of you, we don’t get many of those around here” Hey listen just take these plans down stairs to zoning. Have Vinny call me…I’m Bobby from upstairs, you’ll be all set.

BINGO… NO MORE PHONE CALLS, WE HAVE A WINNER!!!

Left 10 minutes later with all my permits!!

Sorry for the length of the story guys, but this was a GREAT lesson for me. I hope it helps someone else.

thanks for sharing the story. its a great example!

I just recently started a home building company. In my other business, I deal with government agencies as well, so I knew how to handle this on. On my first trip through the building dept. to get plans approved, I made sure to be in a good mood and to smile alot. I asked questions and was polite when things didn’t happen immediately. I asked politely for explanations, and explained that I was new to the business and just wanted to understand the process so that I could play by the rules and not get crossways of them. At the beginning of the time, they were very brusque and typical, “you don’t have x or y here”. When I asked what else I needed, they looked at me like I was an idiot and should know this stuff. Of course, nowhere did it say I needed the things they wanted, and the natural reaction would be to get tense with them. But by being polite and treating them like we were working together on this project and I just wanted to get it right for them, I finally got them to loosen up and help me. By the time I left, not only did they know me and recognize me, but one of the people actually gave me a hint about which site inspector to call ( not one of the pricks, but someone who actually understands building ) when I needed inspections.

If you can smile and be polite and treat them right and do what you can to fit their system, you can turn some of these people into great assets. But fight with them and most of them immediately either give you the " I could care less about your project, deadlines, etc. " attitude, or they actively start to hamper your efforts. " Oh, I’m sorry, that application got lost on my desk somewhere, can you submit it again."

Since I was new, I also made it a point to meet the inspectors at the property when they came for the first inspections. They also were standoffish at first and one was almost hostile, but they all warm right up as I asked questions and demonstrated that I wanted to fit the system as much as I could, and there by make their job easier.

my experience,

D B