In Episode 29 of the Profitable Powerhouse Properties Podcast, Jonathan Cook and Bryan Jenkins welcome DD Lee of Skyline Properties in Atlanta. They discuss the differences between the Birmingham and Atlanta markets, how COVID has impacted operations and the markets, what has stayed the same, and the value of a NARPM membership. Episode Highlights:The Atlanta market is 3 times as big as the Birmingham market.DD says that before COVID, if a tenant was late on rent, they would receive a form letter and be charged a late fee, but since COVID happened, they no longer charge late fees and they have a dedicated team member who personally calls each tenant and offers a payment plan.Both AHI and Skyline have been looking at a tenant’s entire situation and trying to be more flexible.Skyline’s average property rent is $1600-1650.Class A properties have been the least negatively impacted by delinquency and Class D has been impacted the most, but Class A has been doing worse with rentals overall.In Atlanta, the average time a property is on market is only 14 days.DD thinks COVID has benefitted the southeast US because people who lived and worked in the northeast now have the flexibility to keep their job and work from anywhere.Skyline has had 111 move-ins this year so far, which is really high for them.DD has not had to change much as far as Skyline’s leasing operations because they were already using Tenant Turner for self-showings.If a tenant who’s moving out is uncomfortable with Skyline showing the property while they are still in it due to COVID, they will wait until the tenant moves out.There are benefits to using technology like Zoom because now more people understand how to use it so it allows property managers to do things more efficiently.There has been an increase in sight-unseen leases, and DD is adding a lease addendum for that circumstance.Inventory in Atlanta is still limited.An average 3BR, 2BA house in the Atlanta metro area will be about $200-250k for early 2000s construction.Atlanta’s cost is prohibitive for a lot of investors but is still a lot more accessible than other major cities like New York or LA.Skyline has a set lease renewal increase of 3%, and right now 7 out of 10 are renewing their leases.They are getting more move-out notices this year, and DD speculates it’s because people want bigger houses and nicer upgrades.Maintenance requests have increased, seemingly because people are spending more time in their homes to notice issues.Skyline makes a home truly move-in ready by having utilities already on.Concierge services like utility activation and the ability to pay bills and do all related things in a single portal will create stickiness for your tenant.Tenants are willing to pay more in rent for better services and in order to save money on move-in costs.NARPM allows best-in-class property managers to share ideas and raise the bar for the industry as a whole.Being part of the NARPM community helps you to find the next service or tool to improve your business, and to problem solve with colleagues.Something DD found through NARPM is Pinata, an incentive-based, free service to tenants that allows them to earn points every time they pay their rent on time that can be redeemed for gift cards and other rewards.NARPM members have a level of professionalism that non-members typically do not.The NARPM community has been even more valuable during COVID.If you are renting out a property in a state where you don’t live, visit the NARPM website to find a property manager. 3 Key Points:Now that people are able to work remotely, we’re seeing a big move out of major northeast metro areas into the southeastern states.More people are willing to rent a property sight unseen, and are willing to pay a premium for convenience and other concierge services.A NARPM membership gives you access to a community of the best in class property managers to learn from. Tweetable Quotes:“People who realize they’re gonna be stuck in their homes indefinitely, they are upgrading to a better model, they are upgrading to a bigger house. So all of those things contributed to our wonderful leasing rate this year.” –DD Lee“Nowadays, people want convenience. They will pay a premium for convenience.” –DD Lee Resources Mentioned:Check out our website ahiproperties.comBuy, sell, and own investment properties the way the pros do it with www.roofstock.comEmail Jonathan and Bryan at Podcast@AHIProperties.comPPP Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/PPPwithAHI/PPP Twitter: https://twitter.com/PPPwithAHIPinata: https://www.pinata.ai/www.skylinepropertiesga.com info@skylinepropertiesga.com

Profitable Powerhouse Properties with the AHI Group

Atlanta Investment from a PM Point of View with DD Lee

In Episode 28 of the Profitable Powerhouse Properties Podcast, Jonathan Cook and Bryan Jenkins discuss strategies and services they have used to support their operations during COVID. They also share insights about treating your tenants like humans and approaching property management in an empathetic way while still protecting investors.   Episode Highlights: An important KPI is the percentage of rent collected, but that is less useful during COVID. It’s sometimes better to look at your entire portfolio’s vacancy rate, delinquency rate, etc., instead of looking at individual properties. Their immediate action when COVID became urgent was to make their operations as safe for themselves, their tenants, and their vendors as possible, including unaccompanied property showings. Unaccompanied showings made sense as a way to remove friction before the pandemic, and they’re happy they had already started using Tenant Turner to make that happen. They seek to eliminate financial barriers to entry for tenants. Simple Bills saves tenants money by eliminating utility connection and disconnection fees. They’ve started using a photo editing service for property pictures that allows them to put a fire in a fireplace, adjust the lighting, add furniture, etc. Jonathan and Bryan believe there needs to be some mortgage relief for property owners who are extending human empathy and understanding to tenants who are struggling to pay rent during the pandemic, and while evictions are halted. They found their leasing rates increased because people wanted to move as quickly and efficiently as possible so they could get into a house and stay there to hunker down. Not everyone will have the capacity to implement all of these tools, particularly the higher cost tools. Times change, technology changes, the market changes, and you can’t pretend that isn’t true; you have to evolve and respond to changing conditions. They charge a lease renewal fee because as property managers they do more than just sign off on a lease. It is impossible to avoid some pushback from tenants when you raise rent, but you can help alleviate that tension by explaining the reasons and demonstrating how you’re still giving them a deal compared to market value. They provide essentially a report card to tenants based on how many times they’ve been delinquent on rent, any damages, and other lease violations, to calculate how much of a rent increase should be made for a lease renewal. Tenants get benefit of the doubt, because it’s physically impossible to live in a house and not, for example, discolor a carpet; that doesn’t mean a tenant is irresponsible.  Look at all of your operational data and look at what is most easily made automated. If you have the availability and means to hire a best-in-class property management firm that is focused on technology and processes, Bryan strongly suggests you do that.   3 Key Points: The usual KPIs may not be useful during COVID without added context and a human touch. It is vital to be open-minded and flexible about changing technology, changing markets, and changing industry standards. Your goals as a property manager should be to create stickiness for the tenants while protecting the investors’ assets.   Tweetable Quotes: “There’s a reason that we do this podcast, there’s a reason that we do everything that we do—it’s designed to not just grow, but it’s designed to get better, to constantly improve. Because it’s a conscious choice to not improve.” –Jonathan Cook “Why did a tenant that would have been a 9 out of 10 tenant for the majority of their lease suddenly drop to a 6? Oh, COVID happened, they lost their job… There is some human element that has to be associated with it.” –Jonathan Cook   Resources Mentioned: Check out our website ahiproperties.com Buy, sell, and own investment properties the way the pros do it with www.roofstock.com Email Jonathan and Bryan at Podcast@AHIProperties.com PPP Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/PPPwithAHI/ PPP Twitter: https://twitter.com/PPPwithAHI 

PM Operations During Crisis

In Episode 27 of the Profitable Powerhouse Properties Podcast, Jonathan Cook and Bryan Jenkins welcome guest Seth Kelly from Blue Ink. They talk about the many benefits of electronic signatures, why you should choose Blue Ink, and more. Learn about their security features and all the ways e-signatures can help your business.   Episode Highlights:   Blue Ink is an electronic signature provider that is more secure than other comparable software. Seth used to be a property manager. In the first demo of the software Seth saw, it had an avatar reading the contract to you as you signed the document, and it impressed him so much he was sold immediately. During the pandemic, electronic signatures are especially useful as a means of reducing in-person meetings. Some people who are less comfortable with technology have been hesitant about e-signatures because of their fear of fraud. Jonathan and Bryan see it as a customer service issue with clients and making them happy and comfortable, but fewer and fewer people are requesting hard copy signatures. Blue Ink is just as secure as email or online shopping, if not more so. For investors whose entire full time job is buying and selling homes, especially investors who buy property online, e-signatures are crucial.  Using e-signatures saves a lot of time and money by eliminating the need to mail documents back and forth. Other use cases for e-signatures that Blue Ink has seen are human resources, employee onboarding and education. Blue Ink offers greater cost savings and better customer support than any of the big box competitors out there. Blue Ink allows you to create templates out of your regular documents. Blue Ink has an incredible and responsive support team, with an average response time of less than 3 minutes. When someone signs a document, Blue Ink captures the IP address and geolocation, plus senders have the option of adding up to 3 additional layers of security and verification. Additional verification includes a two-factor authentication PIN, a selfie, and uploading your photo ID. In the UK, documents of transference no longer require notarized signatures but will accept electronic signatures.  The audio narration of the documents on Blue Ink can be set up in any language you need—a university in Toronto uses it for their international student housing complexes. On an annual basis, Blue Ink does 7 figures worth of signings, with their biggest month being around 320,000 signings. They’ve seen 250% growth average year over year. Blue Ink considers it their goal to make electronic signatures as accessible as email.   3 Key Points: Electronic signatures are safe and secure and pose very low risk of fraud. E-signatures can benefit many different industries, not just real estate. Electronic signatures should be an accessible technology just as common as email.   Tweetable Quotes: “Electronic signatures really should be a bulletproof opportunity to execute documents, contracts, agreements.” –Seth Kelly “The power of Blue Ink, and the intention, is to create a notary process that’s done electronically, that’s even more capable and more error-proof because it’s not human.” –Seth Kelly “Electronic signatures should be like email… We really have embraced that concept. We don’t think that use of electronic signatures should be so prohibitive that you can’t take advantage of that key benefit.” –Seth Kelly “Clients want that ease of use. They don’t want to come into your office to sign a document, wait for the mail, or any of that.” –Bryan Jenkins   Resources Mentioned: Check out our website ahiproperties.com Buy, sell, and own investment properties the way the pros do it with www.roofstock.com Email Jonathan and Bryan at Podcast@AHIProperties.com PPP Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/PPPwithAHI/ PPP Twitter: https://twitter.com/PPPwithAHI www.Blueink.com  Email Seth: seth.kelly@blueink.com 

Seth Kelly and Blue Ink

In Episode 26 of the Profitable Powerhouse Properties Podcast, Jonathan Cook and Bryan Jenkins welcome guest Tim Wallace from Point Central. They discuss how amenities like smart home technology create stickiness for tenants, how Point Central works, and more. Find out what the benefits to this are for property managers and how you can get the system installed at your properties!   Episode Highlights:   Point Central is a subsidiary of alarm.com that is strictly focused on the property management space. AHI likes to be on the cutting edge of technologies that could improve the experience for their staff and tenants. Tenants aren’t merely people who can’t buy a home for whatever reason and so they have to rent; there are many reasons a person may choose to be a renter. Point Central is smart home technology that serves as an amenity for tenants and helps with security for everyone. They offer keyless entry, app-controlled thermostat, doorbell cameras, alarm systems, geofenced actions, and more. Point Central uses z-wave technology instead of wifi or bluetooth because particularly for vacant homes, property showings, vendors or contractors, there may not be accessible wifi. For the alarm system, Point Central integrates with alarm.com. Tenants often ask about installing a Ring doorbell or Nest smart home system or something like it, and it’s better for the property manager to install something correctly once than to install, uninstall, and reinstall different things for different tenants. Point Central has decreased their prices a lot in the past few years in response to feedback from property owners. Your monthly subscription is usually between $10-20 per month. A lot of property managers are adding $4-7 per month on top of the subscription fee for tenants to pay. Scheduling and the ability to control your heating and cooling remotely can save you hundreds of dollars on your energy bills. All devices on alarm.com and Point Central are completely wireless. Cloud storage for video captured from security systems is included. Property managers can mark their properties that are connected to Point Central as either vacant or occupied, and it will affect the permissions and billing. Point Central allows you to pull reports, set up scheduled reports, and they can also help you develop the reports you need. You get a dedicated customer success manager to help train you on all the features of the system. You can use the doorbell camera, motion detector, and other hardware as burglary deterrents at vacant properties even if it isn’t connected to anything, and you can move this hardware between vacant properties as needed.   3 Key Points:   Smart home technology is an in-demand amenity for tenants. Using Point Central can be turned into a profit center for property managers and can save tenants substantial money on utilities. Point Central systems provide extra security for vacant properties.   Tweetable Quotes:   “It’s really about what services you can provide to the tenant and create that stickiness factor.” –Bryan Jenkins “People are putting in these doorbell systems, people are putting in these Alexas, people are putting in these Nests, they’re doing it anyway. They’re doing it in properties that they’re renting. Just do it for them and do it right.” –Jonathan Cook “We’re billing straight to the property manager and we’re giving you guys the opportunity to go back to the tenant and choose what you want to charge them. It’s turned into a profit center for you.” –Tim Wallace   Resources Mentioned: Check out our website ahiproperties.com Buy, sell, and own investment properties the way the pros do it with www.roofstock.com Email Jonathan and Bryan at Podcast@AHIProperties.com PPP Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/PPPwithAHI/ PPP Twitter: https://twitter.com/PPPwithAHI Point Central website: https://www.pointcentral.com/ Email Tim: Timwallace@pointcentral.com Call Tim: 801-326-9299 

Tim Wallace and Point Central

In Episode 25 of the Profitable Powerhouse Properties Podcast, Jonathan Cook and Bryan Jenkins give an overview of today’s real estate investment markets in the context of COVID-19. They discuss what you should look for when searching for investment properties, how to make the most of your money, the benefits of being hyper-local, and more.   Episode Highlights: Jonathan and Bryan give an overview of the markets today, with everything that has taken place this year with COVID. There has been an increase over several years in built-to-rent homes. Some neighborhoods that have properties that used to sell for very little money have skyrocketed in value and they’re seeing much higher than usual appreciation in value. A good market is simply one that makes money, and a bad market is one that doesn’t; it has nothing to do with whether you would want to live there. When you’re looking for an investment property, you need to find a local expert, usually a property manager, who pays attention to data beyond sale price to give you a much better sense of cash flow. Use hyper-local data to find where your money will be best spent. It took the real estate industry several weeks to sort through all the implications of the CARES Act and CDC guidelines.  AHI is able to track highly detailed KPIs, beyond cap rates. Bryan says in addition to needing a market-specific expert, you should have both a 10,000 foot view and a 1,000 foot view; balance the macro and micro. Use all the tools at your disposal and choose the best tool for the job. A property manager’s job is to maintain your investment and help you get the highest return possible. Roofstock has created the category of e-buyer, and has necessitated a lot of additional education. Property managers maintain relationships between the people on a lease. Real estate is a mainstream investment now.   3 Key Points: The markets are strong right now despite COVID. Find a local real estate investing expert to help you direct your money. A property manager’s job is to help you maintain your investment and the relationship between you and your tenants.   Tweetable Quotes: “What is a bad market? One that will make you no money. What is a good market? One that will make even more money.” –Jonathan Cook “It’s a client measuring our performance. So we internalize that. We want to optimize performance within our operation. So that’s why we monitor it.” –Bryan Jenkins “We are here to bring to our listeners expert knowledge through our lens, which is the one that hands the money to the investor at the end of the day.” –Jonathan Cook   Resources Mentioned: Check out our website ahiproperties.com Buy, sell, and own investment properties the way the pros do it with www.roofstock.com Email Jonathan and Bryan at Podcast@AHIProperties.com PPP Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/PPPwithAHI/ PPP Twitter: https://twitter.com/PPPwithAHI 

Covid Reset

In Episode 24 of the Profitable Powerhouse Properties Podcast, Jonathan Cook and Bryan Jenkins speak with Eric Krauss of Rhino. They discuss the benefits of using Rhino as an alternative to traditional security deposits, how to get set up and onboarded with the platform, and why you’re doing it wrong if you aren’t signing up for Rhino as soon as you hear this episode!    Episode Highlights: Rhino is a cash security deposit alternative for renters that allows renters to pay a small monthly fee for an insurance policy that accomplishes the same thing. This can increase applicant pools, leasing velocity, and more. Rhino will approve anyone a property manager approves to rent. In addition to the monthly payments, Rhino also offers the option to pay for the entire lease term up front. If you put down a security deposit, you run the risk of that landlord holding your money from you. To sign up, a renter will receive an email from Rhino with all their information populated, they’ll be asked for some basic information, and receive their quote. Property managers can advertise their partnership with Rhino in their listings. Rhino also reduces work and overhead for property managers in terms of returning money to renters. A tenant does not have to choose your property, and your houses are your houses, so think instead about what makes people want to rent from your property management company? Eric sees Rhino as an advocate for renters. Rhino currently has about 1 million units on the platform. Some landlords are now offering Rhino at the point of lease renewal, which allows them to return security deposits back to tenants, which has helped landlords with retention. Onboarding is often the barrier to entry for property owners. How long onboarding takes with Rhino is really dependent upon how available you make your property management staff; it takes a very short amount of time once you get started. Rhino covers loss of rent, damages, and fees—anything you normally would retain from a security deposit. You can file claims mid-lease instead of waiting for the end of the lease term. They ask for one piece of evidence with a claim. You are able to set policy terms individually per tenant. Rhino is able to write a policy for anyone, not just tenants who would already qualify under traditional terms. To renters, this looks like an amenity, but it comes at no cost to the property manager. It literally takes tenants under a minute to sign up. Rhino policies are a three-party agreement between the landlord, the tenant, and Rhino, so if a tenant attempts to cancel a policy, Rhino notifies the landlord to confirm.   3 Key Points: Rhino comes at no cost to property managers but provides a massive benefit to tenants. Using this service broadens your pool of potential tenants. Rhino provides additional security beyond a traditional cash deposit by notifying landlords if a tenant attempts to cancel a policy.   Tweetable Quotes: “It’s not just people that can’t necessarily afford a security deposit. It doesn’t matter if you can afford a security deposit or not. Why would you pay a security deposit when you have Rhino as an option? Why would anybody do that?” –Jonathan Cook “A happier tenant makes a better kept and maintained property, makes a better investment for an investor or homeowner.” –Jonathan Cook “This isn’t set for just the A-class properties for your approved renters, if there’s a certain credit score we won’t write them a policy, that’s just gonna create a hiccup in your system and make people upset that you’re offering a service they can’t end up using.” –Eric Krauss   Resources Mentioned: Check out our website ahiproperties.com Check out Birmingham Insurance Group online or call them at (205) 616-1107  Buy, sell, and own investment properties the way the pros do it with www.roofstock.com Email Jonathan and Bryan at Podcast@AHIProperties.com Rent relief GoFundMe Rhino Wesbite Email Eric: eric@sayrhino.com 

Rhino to the Rescue

Covid had us backed up a bit and we finally have our Birmingham Market highlight episode published...  In this episode recorded in April, and finally published in... September... we go over not only the highlights of the Birmingham Market as well as how we were handling the Covid-19 situations.  In Episode 23 of the Profitable Powerhouse Properties Podcast, Jonathan Cook and Bryan Jenkins discuss the real estate investment market in Birmingham. They talk about the impact of COVID-19 on the market, the benefits of C-class properties, and the importance of working with an expert if you’re a beginner investor.   Episode Highlights: The housing crisis right now is the opposite of the 2007-2008 crisis, in that we currently have a housing shortage. Businesses are closing or scaling back, but other companies are necessities and are growing. How businesses operate is going to change moving forward, and companies may not need large commercial properties anymore. In 2019, the Birmingham market was really strong, growing the most in April. In February and March 2020, the Birmingham market leased double the number of homes as the same months in 2019. Rent and mortgage rates have dropped, so now is an excellent time for investors to get higher class properties for their portfolio. They recommend diversifying your portfolio if it’s an option for you. In Birmingham, there are east side and west side C-class markets, and they are significantly different. There are some towns and neighborhoods in each of these markets that they highly recommend as profitable areas for investors. These areas see significant property appreciation because of their proximity to the Birmingham city center. In flips, rehabs, and renovations, the focus right now should be on home office space due to the changing work environment in the pandemic. There are places outside the main high value areas in the west side market where you can buy a home for under $10,000 and put a tenant in it to get some cash flow, but Jonathan strongly recommends finding somebody reputable to guide you through the process. Birmingham is a great city to start in as a new investor because it has every type of property you might be interested in and could be an effective gateway to expanding your portfolio in other cities.   3 Key Points: The rental market in Birmingham is doing better right now than it has in recent memory. There are options in Birmingham for if you want to invest a small amount of money as a first time investor and can get quick, steady cash flow, or if you want to make a larger investment for greater appreciation of value. This is an opportunity for investors to seize the moment for finding good deals on properties and being confident they can lease them quickly.   Tweetable Quotes: “You probably have to consider this in your rehabs, your remodels: the focus being on office space in the home. Given the current situation, given the new work environment, putting more emphasis on that.” –Bryan Jenkins “There’s a place you can go and you can spend almost nothing, and you can put a tenant in the property. You can make some cash flow. If that’s all you’re concerned with, if that’s what you want to do, it’s really easy and quick to do.” –Jonathan Cook “Most of the time that I’m actually working as a realtor, that’s my discussion. That’s who I’m talking to, is people who’ve got about 100—that’s what I can comfortably spend. Help me aim this $100,000 in a direction. Find me a few things to show me what I can do with it.” –Jonathan Cook   Resources Mentioned: Check out our website ahiproperties.com Check out Birmingham Insurance Group online or call them at (205) 616-1107 Buy, sell, and own investment properties the way the pros do it with www.roofstock.com Email Jonathan and Bryan at Podcast@AHIProperties.com Rent relief GoFundMe  

Birmingham Market Highlight

In Episode 22 of the Profitable Powerhouse Properties Podcast, we talk to Jason Green of Roofstock about the company’s growth, how their platform works and benefits new and experienced investors alike, the impact COVID-19 is having on the market, and more. Keep buying, keep learning, and keep earning!   Episode Highlights: AHI Properties has been partnered with Roofstock since 2017. Roofstock is an online marketplace for people to buy tenant-occupied rental properties, removing geographic barriers to investing in real estate. Roofstock is different from other aggregators because it is more full-service, walking buyers through the process and offering coaching. The platform is now in 35 states so you can compare properties across hundreds of markets. For a property to get listed on Roofstock, it has to first be evaluated against sales comparables and appraised. Roofstock partners with the property manager for every listing to do a third-party inspection. Without Roofstock, buyers often pursue buying a rental property with wildly inaccurate assumptions about what they could earn in rent in that market. Roofstock uses market rent estimates from many different data points to avoid inflated numbers. Zillow has an outsize impact on expectations of market estimates because people take the “Zestimate” as an objective fact. Roofstock is transparent about any repairs or deferred maintenance a property might need so buyers are fully informed, especially since maintenance is the biggest challenge for absentee landlords. Roofstock listings have remained steady throughout the pandemic, though there has been some buyer dropoff. Roofstock has adapted their home inspections for COVID, and both Roofstock and AHI Properties have seen some slowdowns because due diligences have had to be delayed. Some property managers are not renewing leases, but are just granting 2 or 3 month extensions so as not to disadvantage their tenants. Buying and selling portfolios of many properties at once can be a fun puzzle to solve. It isn’t the job of retail agents to know investors. Roofstock only deals with single family rental properties, not multi-family units. New construction homes are prevalent in the market right now and it provides peace of mind for remote investors. Roofstock would like to reach a point where they can pre-sell new construction before it’s complete, but Jason hasn’t really considered selling land itself. They’ve held off on working on properties under construction because they haven’t figured out how to track progress, manage vetting contractors, etc. Roofstock sold all of their 65 initial launch properties and were ready to launch the next product, but they were advised to hold off due to COVID-19. They will soon launch the ability to buy fractionalized equity of an investment property. Roofstock maintains ownership, insures it and manages it. They’re considering trying vacation rental management.   3 Key Points: Traditionally, people have only been able to buy and manage real estate near to where they live, and Roofstock opens up the market nationally. Most retail agents don’t know about the intricacies of investment property world. Maintenance, renovations, and construction are the hardest things for a property owner to manage remotely.   Tweetable Quotes: “We don’t change our underwriting or financials for anyone. It’s based on an algorithm, based on when the home was built, based on how large they are, & we’re not customizing those for providers that don’t feel like it’s showing their properties in the best light.” –Jason Green “The client level services versus consultant level services you provide, that’s what someone needs when they’re looking at either purchasing or selling investment properties.” –Jonathan Cook   Resources Mentioned: Check out our website ahiproperties.com Check out Birmingham Insurance Group online or call them at (205) 616-1107 Buy, sell, and own investment properties the way the pros do it with www.roofstock.com Email Jonathan and Bryan at Podcast@AHIProperties.com Roofstock Website: https://www.roofstock.com/ 

Roofstock with Jason Green

In Episode 21 of the Profitable Powerhouse Properties Podcast, we talk to James Barrett of Tenant Turner about the benefits of this technology to property managers and renters alike.   Episode Highlights: Tenant Turner is a lead generation and tracking software for property managers to centralize their leasing process for rentals and coordinate showings. James Barrett and his co-founders were previously in IT and they also managed a few rental properties. They are affiliated with NARPM and it has been a very beneficial partnership. Tenant Turner offers lockboxes on properties so owners don’t have to conduct showings in person, which is especially beneficial during COVID-19. First-time investors tend to be hesitant about potential renters doing self-showings. Tenant Turner allows you to screen leads so only qualified renters can view your property and be allowed in when you aren’t there. Tenant Turner collects data on renters who submit to qualify for a property and sends reporting to property owners. Other sites like Craigslist and even Zillow don’t screen people for scams like Tenant Turner does. Opening up times for showings allows people who work a traditional 9-5 job to see homes, and allows property owners and realtors to maintain more regular hours. Property managers can adjust the available times for showings for when they’re comfortable. Tenant Turner tracks when tenants arrive at a showing and that information is in your report. Of course, certain small things happen like someone accidentally leaving lights on, so using Tenant Turner still requires property managers to visit their properties for cleaning and regular checks and maintenance. After a showing, the tenant gives feedback to the property manager including a rating, what they liked or didn’t like about the property, and even pointing out issues that need to be fixed by the property manager, like yard maintenance. This has increased the amount of feedback received because it no longer has to be face-to-face and removes the personal barrier to criticizing something. Tenant Turner now works with thousands of property managers in the US and Canada and has processed over 10 million tenant leads and has tens of thousands of lockboxes. Tenant Turner has highly responsive customer service if you’re having trouble with a lockbox or other feature so you don’t get stuck. The lockboxes also allow vendors to access the property. Self-access showings recently surpassed in-person showings on Tenant Turner. The main thing stopping a tenant from renting a property is being able to see the property, so anything that can make that easier is a good business move.   3 Key Points: If you are able to pre-qualify tenants, then allowing them to do self-showings carries low risk. A property manager should not use this technology as an excuse to never check on the properties. You can use feedback to show your potential tenants better properties for them and to improve the properties themselves.   Tweetable Quotes: “The reality is there is gonna be some risk with people gaining access to the property, but what we’ve found is if somebody’s gonna be truly malicious, they’re not gonna go through the hassle of using Tenant Turner.” –James Barrett “What we find is helpful is we’re taking a tool like what you’re providing and we’re balancing it out. There’s always that balance of marketing the property, getting it leased quickly, but then finding a qualified renter.” –Jonathan Cook “We had pre-COVID-19 property management workflows, and now we have, obviously, COVID-19 protocol. And once again this is a key piece of any successful property management and leasing team to have this type of technology deployed.” –Bryan Jenkins   Resources Mentioned: Check out our website ahiproperties.com Check out Birmingham Insurance Group online or call them at (205) 616-1107 Buy, sell, and own investment properties the way the pros do it with www.roofstock.com Email Jonathan and Bryan at Podcast@AHIProperties.com Tenant Turner website: https://tenantturner.com/ Learn More about Self Showings with Tenant Turner Email sales@tenantturner.com  

Tenant Turner with James Barrett

Our team began thinking of ways we could help out our communities during the COVID-19 Pandemic.  We drafted an email asking our property owners and clients to pitch in and create a Rental Assistance Fund to help those truly in need of rental assistance during this crisis.  We wanted to be proactive and help our residents who have lost their jobs due to the virus.  We have established a goal of $10,000.00 which will be used exclusively to assist those residents who have been directly impacted by the virus to include employer shutdown due to COVID-19, reduction in work hours due to COVID-19, reduction in wages earned/paid due to COVID-19. Please Visit our Website www.Ahiproperties.com and follow the link to the fund if you can donate.  For a direct link to the fund please visit: https://www.gofundme.com/f/ahi-properties-rental-assistance-fund?utm_medium=email&utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_email%2B5806-thank-you-ask-share  

AHI Properties Rental Assistance Fund

In Episode 20 of the Profitable Powerhouse Properties Podcast, we continue “Market Madness March” with your hosts Jonathan Cook and Bryan Jenkins. They discuss the market in Huntsville, Alabama, from how quickly it’s growing to the speed the market is moving.   Episode Highlights: 4,600 jobs will be added to Huntsville with the construction of a new Toyota plant. In regards to manufacturing, the growth of cities like Montgomery and Mobile has primarily been in service to support manufacturing already going on in Huntsville. The FBI and over 60 other federal agencies and contracting centers have locations in Huntsville. The jobs being created in Huntsville aren’t your standard blue collar factory jobs, they’re literally in rocket science—highly skilled work requiring incredibly smart people. Google also has a data center in the area. These are high-paying jobs, meaning property values will go up. Home value has increased by about 9% each year since 2017. These new highly skilled jobs and the growth in overall population means Huntsville will need more support staff, construction workers, police, even Uber drivers. There are over 200 new construction homes that are selling in the $200,000-500,000 range. The market is moving incredibly fast; homes lease at $1,800 a month in a day. You can’t use generic vacancy rates to figure out your profits, you should use local data to get a real understanding of the market.   3 Key Points: Huntsville is unique for the skilled jobs being created there as opposed to blue collar factory jobs. Growth in skilled labor requires growth in blue collar and unskilled labor workforce too, to support the growing population overall. If you want to invest in Huntsville, you have to be ready to move quickly.   Tweetable Quotes: “In any sort of cap rate or return that you’re looking at, you’ve really got to play with the real numbers. And one of those numbers that I really think everybody needs to focus on is that vacancy rate, and maintenance.” –Jonathan Cook “If you want to play in that market, you have got to be ready to pull the trigger. If you want to put an offer on something, you’ve got to do it that day or you lose it.” –Bryan Jenkins   Resources Mentioned: Check out our website ahiproperties.com Check out Birmingham Insurance Group online or call them at (205) 616-1107 Buy, sell, and own investment properties the way the pros do it with www.roofstock.com Email Jonathan and Bryan at Podcast@AHIProperties.com 

Market Highlight: Huntsville

In episode 19 of the Profitable Powerhouse Properties Podcast, your hosts Jonathan Cook and Bryan Jenkins contribute to their March Market Madness series, putting a spotlight on the Mobile, Alabama market, the many reasons why this real estate market is on the rise, and the plentiful amount of business expansion in the Mobile metro area.   Episode Highlights: March Market Madness is a focus on one of the major housing markets in Alabama every week in March.  Post-Hurricane-Katrina recovery efforts in Alabama allowed for tax incentives for those doing new construction to be able to depreciate 50% of the value in year one.    Mobile is an older seaport city and is where Marti Gras started.   They have under 100 homes in the Mobile market and shows the least amount of lead activity.   The Mobile metro population is 413,800 people.   The cost of living in Mobile is 7% below the national average.   The average days in Mobile above 90 degrees is 81 and the national average is 37.  2018 Airbus decided to do an expansion to their plant and revealed their plans in 2020.   Austol is another big company driving economics in Mobile as well.   Alabama and the Southwest region is the new Detroit for automobile production.   Alabama has the second lowest property taxes in the United States.  Jonathan and Bryan about the Mobile deep water seaport project’s impact on the market.   Amazon and Walmart both have distribution centers in the metro Mobile area.  Look past everything you think you know about a market.     3 Key Points: Mobile is the smallest real estate market in Alabama.   The median price for a home in Mobile, Alabama is $151,000 and has increased 6.3% in the last year.   The median household income in Mobile, Alabama is approximately $47,000 in 2019.   Tweetable Quotes: “We started here in the Birmingham metro marketplace and we almost simultaneously did two expansions and part of the expansion model was to Mobile and that was following Hurricane Katrina.” –Bryan Jenkins  (Mobile) “If the median price is $151,000, you are talking about a deal is probably floating around $100,000. You will be able to get in there at a reasonably low price and this is going to be one of those areas that buying in early is going to make you a lot of money.” –Jonathan Cook “If you are kind of shooting yourself in the foot right this minute because you didn’t buy into Huntsville five or six years ago, then buy into Mobile because this is where that was before.” –Jonathan Cook   Resources Mentioned: Check out our website ahiproperties.com Check out Birmingham Insurance Group online or call them at (205) 616-1107 Buy, sell, and own investment properties the way the pros do it with www.roofstock.com Email Jonathan and Bryan at Podcast@AHIProperties.com 

Episode 19: Market Highlight Mobile

In Episode 18 of the Profitable Powerhouse Properties Podcast, kicking off “Market Madness March,” your host Jonathan Cook interviews Kim Furlow, a Realtor with AHI Properties. They discuss the details of the Montgomery, AL property investment market, from its biggest industries, transportation, and cultural attractions.   Episode Highlights: Montgomery is a better market to buy in than Birmingham if cash flow is your priority. The median value in Montgomery is $120,000 with a median rent of $900. This gives you an income of about $11,000 per year, with under $1,000 in property taxes each year. Montgomery has the first North American Hyundai production facility that employs around 1,300 people and has an economic impact to the state of over $4 billion. Maxwell employs about 17,000 military, civil service, and contract personnel, with about 34,000 students going through there every year. These major employers mean housing demand is extremely high and makes Montgomery a great place to invest. Montgomery is within 600 miles of ⅓ of the entire United States population. It is centrally located to major interstates, an airport that accommodates 350,000 travelers each year, access to major rail systems, and the Alabama River giving you access to the port city of Mobile. Montgomery has a rich history and a lot of cultural sites including Martin Luther King Jr.’s home, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, and more. A large conference and recreation center is getting built in Montgomery, which will further expand development and construction. There has been an 8.5% increase in tourism in Montgomery in 2018 alone. $15.5 billion were spent in the tourism industry in Montgomery in 2015, before many of these developments even happened. There are also A class homes in the suburbs outside of Montgomery, in towns like Prattville. Just in the first 6 weeks of 2020, they’ve seen a 10% increase in rental properties in the Montgomery area.   3 Key Points: Montgomery has low taxes and high potential for cash flow, so it’s a great place to buy rental properties as an investor. People are more likely to stay in a city that has things to do and feels like a community in the way Montgomery does. Montgomery is at the point in its growth that Birmingham was at around 10 years ago, so now is the time to invest.   Tweetable Quotes: “We’re taking a lot of these historic homes & properties & renovating them, keeping the old touches & adding a contemporary flair, & folks want to be in those areas—walking distance to downtown, to a lot of these activities, the nightlife, it’s growing exponentially.” –Kim Furlow “When you add the Legacy Museum and other historic points of interest on top of the theatre and the baseball and this huge venue, you don’t have to drive to Birmingham or Atlanta.” –Kim Furlow   Resources Mentioned: Check out our website ahiproperties.com Check out Birmingham Insurance Group online or call them at (205) 616-1107 Buy, sell, and own investment properties the way the pros do it with www.roofstock.com Email Jonathan and Bryan at Podcast@AHIProperties.com Email Kim at kfurlow@ahiproperties.com  

Episode 18: Market Highlight: Montgomery AL

In episode 17 of the Profitable Powerhouse Properties Podcast, your hosts Jonathan Cook and Bryan Jenkins interview Nishant Phadnis from RentPath. Nishant discusses housing supply and demand, market statistics and trends, and more.   Episode Highlights: RentPath is the company responsible for the Apartment Guide books that were printed before the Internet, and is now a fully digital company that also owns Rent.com and Rentals.com. About ⅓ of the entire United States rents their home. Rental supply has grown primarily because demand for home buyers has declined. The average of millennials buying a home is 34-35, when it used to be 24. Because there’s little demand for homes to buy, those properties aren’t being built. Millennials prefer renting because of the flexibility and affordability it offers. Landlords who don’t allow pets are instantly limiting their tenant options. Property managers should treat their decisions like they are the renter/homeowner; don’t just paint the one wall with scuffs, paint the whole room. Laundry facilities is the number one amenity renters search for, followed by air conditioning. If you have more capital and better cash flow, you’ll get a better return on your investments and be able to add more properties to your portfolio. The Southeast is seeing a lot of job growth and there’s still a lot of land to buy, so there is a lot of opportunity. Many people are searching “homes for rent near me” rather than homes for rent in a particular city.   3 Key Points: The types of properties being built are shifting from single family homes to multi-family units to match demand. Landlords should think and make decisions from the perspective of a tenant. As the demand side slows down, people are getting more innovative on the supply side.   Tweetable Quotes: “You’re giving yourself a different classification of tenant than you would like. You want your tenants to want to live in that home. That’s their house, not your house that they’re borrowing for the term of the lease, that’s not what that is.” –Jonathan Cook “We see that more and more, is what renters are filtering upon when they come to our website is in-unit washer/dryer or accessibility. It was a surprise to me because we would have thought it was privacy or things like granite countertops.” –Nishant Phadnis   Resources Mentioned: Check out our website ahiproperties.com Check out Birmingham Insurance Group online or call them at (205) 616-1107 Buy, sell, and own investment properties the way the pros do it with www.roofstock.com Email Jonathan and Bryan at Podcast@AHIProperties.com RentPath website Petscreening.com  Nishant Phadnis Linkedin 

Episode 17: Market Info with Nishant Phadnis

In episode 16 of the Profitable Powerhouse Properties Podcast, your hosts Jonathan Cook and Bryan Jenkins interview Charlene Minor from Bailey & Hunter LLC, and Joe Levio, AHI Properties’ Leasing Manager in Oklahoma City. They discuss the vetting process of Section 8 tenants, potential benefits to participating in the program, and more.   Episode Highlights: You can have the best property out there, but if it doesn’t have tenants, you aren’t going to make any money. 80% of Charlene’s portfolio involves housing vouchers. Every housing authority is going to have different requirements for tenant approval. With Section 8 tenants, you can’t charge more than one month rent for a security deposit, and you can’t charge extra fees. One big objection to Section 8 tenants by property managers is a perceived inability to get a tenant out if they violate the lease. There are a lot of misconceptions and generalizations people make about Section 8 tenants that are incorrect and harmful, like assuming they are more likely not to pay their rent on time. Charlene does a home check for Section 8 tenants in their current home to assess cleanliness, pet screenings, whether they have a car, etc. There may be slightly higher cost up front to approving a Section 8 tenant, but that money is made up by the longevity of that tenant in the property. If your voucher tenant has failed their inspection, they have to complete any repairs they’re responsible for within a certain amount of time or they’re removed from the voucher program. In some cities, if the landlord doesn’t complete repairs they’re responsible for within a certain timeframe, then the tenant’s rent can be abated. Often, you can get higher than market value rent from Housing Authority tenants. Whether your tenant is a Section 8 tenant or not, you should know who they are so that you don’t expect, for example, an elderly person to crawl into a loft to change an air filter. It can take the housing authority a couple of months to make banking transitions if you make changes. Certain investors will find participating in the voucher program particularly beneficial.   3 Key Points: The tenant approval process for Section 8 tenants is similar to an average tenant. There are protections in place for property managers and landlords with Section 8 tenants. Working with the housing authority and Section 8 tenants is not as scary as it seems.   Tweetable Quotes: “Just like with any other investment, with real estate we always recommend you have a reserve available for those big items. The big ticket item I mentioned was the septic, that’s several thousand dollars.” –Joe Levio [I think] “The Atlanta housing authority is desperate for houses because they have so many people with vouchers & not enough landlords participating. So they’re offering much higher rents, they’re offering leasing incentives… they’re doing everything possible.” –Charlene Minor “It’s all about treating the tenant well and trying to understand the tenant. Like Charlene said, you’ve got to know your tenant. It can’t be a blanket ‘all tenants are the same.’ No they’re not!” –Jonathan Cook   Resources Mentioned: Check out our website ahiproperties.com Check out Birmingham Insurance Group online or call them at (205) 616-1107 Buy, sell, and own investment properties the way the pros do it with www.roofstock.com Email Jonathan and Bryan at Podcast@AHIProperties.com Charlene Minor Contact Info: Phone: 770-912-6496 Email: Charlene@baileyandhunter.com 

Episode 16: Section 8 Expertise and Advice

Jonathan Cook and Bryan Jenkins explore successful strategies and pitfalls of investing in Real Estate. Bryan Jenkins is a Master Property Manager and the Principle Broker of AHI Properties which has offices in Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile, and Montgomery AL and Oklahoma City, OK. With Expert Guests we cover all the ins and outs, associated with growing your wealth with Real Estate.

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Profitable Powerhouse Properties with the AHI Group

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