Property Management Is Secondary to Property Selection — But Still Critical
Choosing the right property manager is foundational.
They are your eyes and ears — especially if you invest at a distance.
A great property manager impacts:
But even with a great manager…
Ownership still requires engagement.
Best Practice #1: Build a Relationship With the Boots on the Ground
If you're a DFY client working with Specialized Property Management (SPM), you have direct access to a dedicated asset manager.
Don’t wait for problems to connect.
When you’re engaged, service improves.
Property managers perform better when they know the owner is paying attention.
Best Practice #2: Log Into Your Owner Portal
Every professional property manager has software that gives you access to:
If you’ve never logged in, do it.
Technology can feel intimidating — but clarity creates confidence.
Best Practice #3: Perform a Quarterly Audit
This might be the highest ROI 15 minutes you’ll ever spend.
Steve shared how he once found a $289 plumbing charge that should have been billed to the tenant — not him.
That single oversight equaled an entire month of cash flow.
The lesson?
Mistakes happen.
Good companies fix them quickly.
But only if you catch them.
A simple quarterly review:
Maintenance Isn’t a Problem — It’s Protection
Here’s a mindset shift:
Seeing maintenance activity means your property is being cared for.
No maintenance activity for long stretches?
That can mean deferred maintenance — which becomes expensive later.
Water damage. HVAC neglect. Small issues turning into major repairs.
A well-maintained property:
Maintenance is not the enemy. Neglect is.
Schedule Routine Property Inspections
At least annually — ideally every 6 months.
Inspection reports with photos provide:
No news is not automatically good news.
Radio silence can sometimes mean nobody is checking.
Perspective Is Everything
Two investors see the same repair invoice.
One thinks:
“Why did I buy this headache?”
The other thinks:
“My property is being protected. My tenant is being taken care of. My asset is being preserved.”
The difference isn’t math.
It’s mindset.
Real estate rewards long-term perspective and engaged ownership.
Key Takeaways
Let’s keep stacking singles. ⚾
This is episode 140, here is the transcript, please give me episode summary, episode notes, and keywords:
Kevin Clayson (00:01.756)
All right, welcome to the Moneyball Real Estate Show with Kevin and...
Steve (00:08.109)
Steve, how you doing today, Kev?
Kevin Clayson (00:09.168)
Fantastic, and I see that you and I dress to match. We are the black t-shirt brigade today. That's who we are. Yep.
Steve (00:14.924)
Yes.
Steve (00:21.548)
Yeah, was like, man, it's Friday today. I think I'm just like go super casual, put on my Harley, one of my Harley, you know, t-shirts, makes me feel cool in the middle of winter.
Kevin Clayson (00:31.45)
Yeah, see, you're cool because you have Harley on your shirt. I have nothing on my shirt because I'm not cool enough to ride a Harley. We've established that. That's a well-established fact on this podcast. You're cool and ride motorcycles, and I go to musicals. That's the difference. But you know what? I'm cool in my own way, right? Yeah. Well, hey, man. It's good to be with you for another wonderful, marvelous, fantastic episode of the Moneyball Real Estate Show.
Steve (00:47.15)
Yeah, yeah.
Kevin Clayson (00:59.162)
Today, we are gonna be talking about, this is kind of that rubber meets the road aspect of real estate. Now, I think it's probably been one to two years. I remember doing an episode on the pitfalls of property management ages ago, when we were just kind of saying, look, here's the things you need to be aware of. This is an episode about property management, but what I like about the discussion that we're gonna have today,
is in the way that you phrased it before we came on air was how to best utilize your property management. So this isn't just selecting a good property manager. We've already taken that work off your shoulders. If you come and work with us at Dunphy Real Estate, at DFI Real Estate, you've got two incredible property managers that we interact with. One on the midterm rental side.
one on the long-term rental side that really are the exclusive managers on both the real estate singles and then the real estate doubles separately. We've done the vetting, we've done the work, we've put in the grind. You get to benefit from that, but even with that, the question becomes, I'm a real estate owner, I own property, I have a property manager, that's where the rubber meets the road because...
Steve (01:58.478)
Thank
Kevin Clayson (02:17.648)
Real estate doesn't mean a whole lot if I'm not getting it paid for and maybe I'm cash flowing a little bit, but I certainly don't wanna be just funding it 100 % myself for the entirety of me owning it. So property managers are a critical piece. But most people don't think about how do I best utilize my property manager? What are the resources that are available to me? How do I make the ownership of this asset as...
easy and frictionless as it can be, it's real estate, there's gonna be friction, there's gonna be trouble, there's gonna be hardship, but all in all, there's so much that you have available to you when you utilize an excellent property manager, and that's what we wanna talk about today so that you are well aware that whether you're not a client of DFI and you've got other property managers, if they don't have the kind of stuff that we're gonna talk about here today, that's a pretty big indicator that you might wanna find a better one, but if you are a client of DFI,
These are the kinds of ways that you should be talking to and utilizing your property managers. And so Steve, let's start with the long-term side. So we've got our incredible property management company, Specialized Property Management. We've been working with them for years and they're unique in a number of ways.
Steve (03:33.186)
Yeah, so, Kev, in fact, let me just take a minute to kind of set the table for this conversation because what we're gonna talk about is secondary to who you choose for a property manager. And that's a whole other podcast. Like you say, we've already done that podcast. We'll probably do another one similar here in the near future. But that's your very first most important decision is making sure that you're working with a well-qualified
strategically positioned, experienced property manager who you can trust. And especially if you're buying single-family rentals like we do at a distance, where literally they are your eyes, your ears, they are the ones who are stepping foot in the property as opposed to you. Most of our clients will never step foot in their clients. And so this is such a critical relationship and the overall experience.
And I would say in two ways, Kev. The first way is just financially. Because the better your property manager manages the property, all the way from finding a qualified and vetted tenant to how they do the maintenance and who their vendors are and how efficient they are and their cost structure to how effective they are at leasing and how effective they are.
on tenant turnovers and if you haven't forbid, if you have an eviction and things like that, those are things that are really, really critical. And so we've been very careful and we've had some excellent property management companies over the years. And in fact, when we switched over to SPM, it wasn't because we were unhappy with our existing property managers. They did such a fantastic job for us, but we saw an opportunity to align with an organization that could provide the services in
all of the markets where we were at. And we felt like that was such a critical component to our clients' experience and the opportunities that they would have to own properties in multiple markets and have the same property managers, right? And so, you know, we went into that new relationship very, very carefully. And so, like you mentioned, Kev, like we've gone through that process. We've spent the last almost 20 years
Steve (05:59.244)
becoming experienced enough to know that when we did come across the property managers who we're with right now, it made the most sense for who we are and who our clients are and what our strategies are. having said that, secondarily, this is, Kev, this is why, I'm just gonna set the table also for why I really wanted to have this conversation. Because we do promote that,
in a very large way, in a very comprehensive way, our clients can be very hands off with the properties, right? They don't have to be there. They don't have to see them. They don't have to interact with client, with tenants. They don't have to do any repairs, that kind of a thing. Property manager is going to take care of all that stuff. Having said that, you are the owner of probably one of the most valuable assets that you own in your investment portfolio.
and therefore you should be paying attention to it. And there are some things that you can do, which are best practices that you can do in very, very little time where you can trust, yet verify super, super critical. It's kind of like if you're working with your financial advisor and they're picking stocks for you, it's like, hey, if you just say, hey, go do whatever you want and I'll just check in with you every couple of years, it's like,
Well, if things don't go well, like you have nobody to blame but yourself, even though you are a very competent person and they're gonna make hopefully really good choices and decisions. Like if you're not paying attention to that asset, you maybe need to consider changing your ways a little bit. Because with your insight, with your thought process, your...
Kevin Clayson (07:31.738)
That's right, yeah.
Kevin Clayson (07:46.854)
Right.
Steve (07:53.806)
financial advisor is going to do a better job if he or she knows that you are fully engaged. It is no different with a property manager. So having said that, there's some things that can be done in terms of best practices. And so we're only gonna highlight a couple, Kev. I have a list of, I think, or 15 items that I have as best practices.
that I use in my stewardship over my own personal properties and my partnership properties. And it is amazing as I implement some of these best practices, what I find and the conversations I end up having with the property manager. And what's really great is the property manager
not just because I interact with them on a very high level. I had a conversation with the CEO of Specialized Property Management just this morning, but I'm talking about at that ground level with the local maintenance coordinator and with the leasing agent and with the people who are the individuals who are going into my properties. That's where the rubber meets the road and that's where some of these things can happen.
One of the things is one of the best practices is having a relationship with the individuals who are literally the ones who are seeing, touching, feeling your properties. So number one, you don't have to take a whole lot of time, but you can have a conversation with them, not just when things are going wrong, but whether it's an email or a text message or a phone call.
They should know who you are and what your expectations are, and you should know who they are. And talk to them just a little bit. So first and foremost, that's an important and critical part of owning property at a distance. Like I say, you don't have to call them every day, you don't have to call them every month, but just on occasion, just touching base so that when you do have a need, you have their phone number in your phone and you can dial them up and you've connected with them such that they have
Steve (10:21.842)
your number in their phone so that when you're calling, they know that you're calling. So item number one is just getting to know the boots on the ground individuals. Yeah.
Kevin Clayson (10:31.856)
Real quick, Steve, just a word on that. I can't tell you how often I talk to our clients and, you know, something will come up and they'll have a question about this, that or the other. I'm not the property manager, right? Now we talk with the property managers, we talk with SPM on a regular basis, but they'll come to me asking for, you know, guidance and I'm happy to provide whatever I can. But my recommendation is always, listen, have you talked to, insert, you know, property manager's name. And I would say more often than not,
The answer is no, not yet. And so we want, know, if you are a DFI client, we love to be in the loop if there's something going on, but really you have access and resources available to you, you can reach out. I know sometimes that feels a little weird or intimidating, but they are welcoming. In fact, Nick, who is our, the DFI asset manager for specialized with DFI clients, he tells us all the time, he's like, I want more phone calls.
I wish I had people reaching out more frequently. And so that is an open invitation out there to those of you that have properties managed by specialized property management. is, he wants to hear from you.
Steve (11:42.38)
Yeah, I was chatting with him today about one of my properties and he was like, yeah, it's so awesome. And he called me, Steve, see your phone number is like, I know we're gonna have a conversation. And he's like, hey, and this is probably why we're even having this podcast as subject today is because it's been on my mind. Nick said, will you please make sure all of your clients have not just my email, but my phone number, my cell phone, they can call me anytime.
And this is legit, like he is so genuine. He's a young guy, but he's been in the business for over 15 years. He owned with his dad, his own property management company until actually SPM bought them and he became part of SPM. And he genuinely loves what he's doing. So for everybody on this podcast, his number is 407-618-34-
So for those of you like scrambling to grab your pen or pencil or whatever, you're typing into your phone, I'm gonna say it one more time. Now, and I feel comfortable doing this because it's not like this podcast isn't going out to 6 million people who aren't our clients. The vast majority of you listening today are DFY clients. So here, Nick Guadagnino is his name and it's 407-618-3475.
If for some reason he doesn't pick up, just send him a text and he will absolutely get back to you. So having said that, like it is so important to have that relationship. And Nick is like, Nick is it. He is the guy for DFI. So SPM, they literally switched Nick's position two years ago to be DFI's dedicated asset manager.
Kevin Clayson (13:16.015)
Yes, right.
Steve (13:40.322)
He does not interact with non-DFY clients. He only interacts with DFY clients. That's one of the benefits that our clients get in being associated with Dunferry Real Estate from that standpoint on the property management side. are collectively, we are SPM's single largest customer and they're very, very interested in treating us a little bit different than the rest of their
They have a few thousand other clients and we do get some special treatment and some special attention. And so take advantage of it. Like that's one of the best practices. Nick Guadagnino, speed dial and take advantage of that resource. Now, the next thing, Kev, that is really critical and is the third best practice that I wanna talk to today.
your property manager, whether you're with SPM or if you're still with one of our other property managers, that's great. Each of them have a property management software program that you have access to where you can log in, you can see your properties, you can see the register of the repairs, the expenses, the revenue. You can access all of your documents, your property management agreement, the lease agreement that
that your tenant has signed and that either you signed or your property manager signed. And so all of that documentation, all of that information is all right there at your fingertips. If you have not learned how to access and get in there, it's not rocket science. It really is. If you've ever used Word, if you've ever used Excel, if you've ever used any kind of a database, QuickBooks, anything like that,
They're all like very, very similar. And so it's very intuitive. You can go in and, you know, get your password set up. And if you have a problem, if you don't, if you're not sure if the first step, can't log in, call Nick. He will help you get logged in. Like he loves doing that stuff. He'll spend time with you. He'll walk you through. Like he's motivated and incentivized to help you understand and know how to look at your owner portal. Because,
Kevin Clayson (16:06.164)
And Steve, just a word on that real quick. I know, you know, I spent a lot of time in technology, on the internet, and I know that sometimes the biggest barrier for people accessing and utilizing digital tools is there's this barrier of uncertainty and they're just not sure what they're gonna get when they get in, they don't know how to log in. It seems really confusing. If you are one of those people, Steve just gave you the best recommendation.
Just call Nick, he'll talk you through it. And if you don't know, just set up your login, get in there. If none of it makes sense, just call Nick. That is something that is accessible and available to you, but it does require that you pull it up at least once. Try it, log in, see what you can figure out. There's a lot of people that just won't do that, because there's just a degree of uncertainty. I guarantee you've got the link, and if you don't know where the link is, where to access it, call Nick, you will have it.
and just log in and see.
Steve (17:07.522)
Yep. one of the absolute keys, once you jump in there, like I say, you know, it's, fairly intuitive. And so, my, the, the, last best practice that I want to, well, maybe it won't be the last one, but the next best practice that I, that I want to suggest is once you kind of figure out, you know, the, portal, I think that it's important that at least on a quarterly basis, just jump in there.
and do a little audit. Like go through the register. the call it your check register, right? Where you can see all of the expenses, you can see the rent coming in, you can see all of the different items. And within that portal, you can like dive deeper and you can find like all of the detail on each of the invoices. I wanna give you just one simple example.
And I'm basing it on a previous company that I used to run. I'm just gonna tell a short story because it kind of sets the stage for this fourth best practice. So.
Kevin Clayson (18:19.42)
Steve, love story time. Hold on, before you tell the story, let me go get a juice box and a blanket and let me sit Indian style, because I love stories.
Steve (18:27.47)
Okay.
There you go. It probably won't be that long in the story. You have to go quick, quick. So back in the day when I was running my painting company, know, it was a pretty sizable little painting company and my paint bill was probably, you know, anywhere from 50 to $70,000 a month. And so, you know, for me, you know, that was a big chunk of change and it was a...
Kevin Clayson (18:32.2)
dang it. All right.
Steve (18:57.838)
a large percentage of my overall revenue,
Kevin Clayson (18:59.804)
unless that was what, 25 years ago?
Steve (19:03.19)
It was like 20 years ago, yeah, literally. That's like a.
Kevin Clayson (19:03.452)
Yeah, that's like, know, stuff costs more. Now that was a lot more, that was a lot, that was probably what, 100 and something grand a month today, right?
Steve (19:14.658)
Yeah, exactly. And we paid for everything in wooden nickels. So it's like, so I would, I would pull up my, you know, my paint bill and Sherwin Williams was the main company that I worked with. This is a company who's been in business for like 150 years, Kev. And they've got their systems down, their processes, so organized, like you wouldn't think that you would have to question
Kevin Clayson (19:19.516)
It's the barter system.
Steve (19:44.2)
anything about this organization. It's just like, is what it is, right? You get your receipt, you pay that bill. Well, my bill was like 16 pages long every month and I took the time every single month and I would go through job by job and I would scrutinize that bill based on my pricing and so on. And I would take a look at everything and I would do an audit. And it would take me, like it would...
it would probably take me about two hours to do that audit once a month. But Kevin, I'm telling you, every single month, I love doing it. And you know why I love doing it? Because it was the most money I've ever made hourly in my life probably. Because I would save anywhere, I would find anywhere between one and $2,000 in mistakes on that $70,000 bill. And I would highlight things and I'd, you know,
get them all set. And then I call up my paint rep and I'd be like, Hey, it's me again. He's like, yeah. Once a month, right? He'd be like, yeah. He's like, how much money do I got to refund you this time? And yeah, that's how many wooden nickels I got to bring down to this, to your shop this time. And, and so like, it was one of the best things that I did because even though I was working with an amazing company, like I wasn't offended that I was finding these issues.
Kevin Clayson (20:52.624)
You mean wooden nickels. How many wooden nickels would you need? Yeah.
Steve (21:11.392)
It's just part of the nature of doing business and working with a company who has a lot going on. And it's not like any of the errors were like on purpose or, you know, it wasn't due to negligence. was just oversight here, a computer glitch there, somebody entered something in wrong over there, whatever the case was. Right. So I do the same thing over the properties over which I have a stewardship, either
in my partnerships, my own properties, and I'll go through each property. I do it probably quarterly because there's not that much to do. There's maybe four or five transactions per month per property. So it's not like I need to do it every month. So recently I was doing this audit on one of the properties and I noticed that there was a repair. so the property managers have a threshold, right?
If there's something that's less than, think SPM is like $500, like they're authorized in the property management to just take care of it. They don't have to bother you about it. They just do it, right? And so I saw this expense is like $289 and it was a plumbing issue. And so I pulled up the invoice and I started reading the detail. It was like a tenant called said the toilet was plugged.
Kevin Clayson (22:14.652)
Yeah, I think so.
Steve (22:40.034)
they couldn't flush it or it was backing up. And so we sent out a plumber. The plumber went out and they found a carrot lodged in the P trap. And so they took the carrot out and, and now the toilet flushed, right. But as I looked, I did not see a reimbursement. That is not a owner responsibility. That's a tenant responsibility.
Kevin Clayson (22:56.22)
That's fun. Yeah.
Steve (23:09.922)
Like they clogged the toilet and per their agreement, they're responsible for it. So what did I do, Kev? I called up Nick. I'm like, hey Nick, I was doing my little audit thing. I found this little issue. I should have seen a reimbursement for this plumbing repair. It was pretty significant. It's like 289 bucks. Kev, on this house, like when things go perfect, do you know what my cashflow is? It's probably 289 bucks. You know, it's right around that $300 mark.
Kevin Clayson (23:32.796)
How much?
You're right. Yeah.
Steve (23:39.374)
Like it's got pretty decent cashflow. But when I have a $300 expense, like that literally wiped out my cashflow for the month. So anyways, it's kind of cool. Found that thing and he's like, oh man. And what was cool is Nick's response. He's like, absolutely. This should have been, you know, charged to the tenant. We do have protocols that normally catch this and you would have been reimbursed. He's like, I'm not sure why this happened. I'm going to do a little bit of research and find out, but be assured.
you're gonna get reimbursed for that expense. Bam. that little audit took me, like I probably spent like 15 minutes going through it, because it's been a minute since I went through that account. And I actually found a couple of things. And that was one of the things that I found. And I'm like, sweet. Like if I spent 15 minutes and I found a, you know, almost a $300 item, extrapolate that. That's like 1200, that's a $1200 an hour job I just did.
Kevin Clayson (24:37.072)
Yeah, that's right. It's pretty good. Yeah.
Steve (24:39.086)
Right. If it took me 15 minutes. So that's a best practice. Now, guess what? By me doing that, I actually feel like that is helping SPM to become a better company. Cause guess what Nick's going to do in his next meeting with his superiors? He's going to say, Hey, we need to make sure that this automation is fixed. And whenever we have an issue like this, um, that, that the protocol that it goes through, like when the vendor checks the box that says, Hey, this is either a owner cost.
or a tenant cost that, for some reason that box didn't get checked, he'll be able to make sure that that happens for everybody else next time. And so it was just a quick thing. And you know what else it did for me is it reinforced my relationship with Nick and with SPM that I am engaged with them. I don't spend a ton of time at it, but when I do, like,
I like, and I didn't get mad at him or I wasn't upset at SPM. I wasn't like, they're trying to steal from me. It's like, no, it's like a simple oversight. Like these are good, good people and they're an excellent company. And when there are things like that, bam, no, no second thought. was like, yeah, that'll be taken care of. I'm so sorry that that happened, Steve. that's, we have protocol in place and somehow that got overlooked. And so we're going to take care, we'll take care of them. I'm like, great, awesome.
Kevin Clayson (25:43.446)
Right. Yeah.
Steve (26:05.538)
Thanks, Nick. So that's one of the other best practices, everyone, is take a few minutes, if you have one or you have 10 properties, like just set up your little system where we're on some kind of frequency, you get into the property software and you just do your own little audit and then you call Nick with any of those issues. So I don't know if you have anything to add to that, Kev.
Kevin Clayson (26:29.594)
No, I would just say visibility is important. You know, I know on, for example, our midterm rental company, who's our property manager on the midterm side. One of my favorite times of the month, you know, is when I go in and I review the statement for the month and I look and I could see every single issue that came up, that there was maintenance that needed to be done. And look, let me just tell you my opinion on maintenance, okay?
When I go in and I know some people, see a maintenance item and they roll their eyes like, my gosh, I can't believe something else came up. I choose to look at it entirely differently. When I see an item for maintenance, assuming that I wasn't, as you just described, inappropriately charged or something like that, I look at it and I feel comfort. You know why?
because I know that my property is being taken care of by those that are being compensated to do the job I've hired them to do. But I don't know that if I don't have visibility. One of the things I notice with our clients, if we're not checking in and we don't see what's going on, we as humans have a tendency to out of sight, out of mind it. And when we're not looking at it and it's not in our mind, when we
do, all of a sudden begin to think of it, we're like, man, I wonder if these guys are even doing their job. I haven't heard anything. I don't know what's going on. The reality is the communication has been there all along. If you've chosen to ignore it, that's on you. And so I get comfort when I look at those items, when I see a filter got replaced, when I see that a paint touch up happened, whatever the case may be, I go, man, this is awesome. Somebody's watching over.
my tenant and my property. And I'm happy to pay for that because I know what I'm still making on that property. And so that's the other thing that I would say is I think like anything, an investor mindset is required to be a successful investor because numbers alone are not what makes an investor successful. Perspective is. And if you don't have the right perspective, you will view things as somehow.
Kevin Clayson (28:42.972)
deficient or somehow, this isn't working or my gosh, I can't believe there was another repair. Look at that. We look at that, we go, my gosh, perspective. I can't believe there was another repair. I must have bought a lemon. This is trash. My tenant must be trash. This is terrible. But I look at it I go, man, my property manager is there. The tenant is being taken care of and I own an asset worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
that I'm not even paying for, because the bank paid for most of it, the tenants paying for the other, I'm getting a little bit of cashflow and tax benefit, and I know somebody's watching over me and watching over my property. And so, yeah, please.
Steve (29:19.354)
Can I say one thing on that real quick? Because what you're saying is like so critical and it's and it even goes beyond just perspective and the investor mindset. It's like. Sometimes I'll talk to somebody and they're like, yeah, like they're just like no news is good news. Like like I haven't heard from my property manager and I get my paycheck or I get the I get the rent check every month and like nothing's going wrong with my property. Yeah, I don't think so and.
This is the scary part. When you haven't heard from your property manager for a while and you haven't had a repair for months, it's like, think about your own house. How long can you go without fixing little things here or there? What happens is it accumulates. You accumulate what's called deferred maintenance. And I can't tell you how many times I've had clients who, they just think that, it's like, yeah.
my property managers, they're so amazing. then like a year later, there's tenant turnover and the house has been destroyed. Like the property manager hasn't been there. They haven't done the annual walkthrough. They haven't been in the house and maybe they even haven't heard from the tenant at all. And it's like, if you have like radio silence, you might be...
Hey, I just need you to like go buy and I mean, I highly recommend a at least an annual like in home inspection. have the, checked that box on all of my properties. And I can't remember if I said sick every six months or every, or every 12. think I, gosh, I think, I think I set up for every six months actually. I'm a little bit, you know, protective of my properties.
And I want, in fact, I just had three inspections this week, Kev, and you talk about peace of mind. I got to see like 50 photos on every single property that they just did. They did three of them this week, as PM did for me. And in each case, it was awesome. Like it was very comforting. Like, hey, the tenant's taking great care of the property. One of the tenants, the house is a little bit messy, quite honestly.
Steve (31:40.802)
But it was okay. Like I kind of looked at the photos closely. It's like things were in good condition. Their inspector did a thorough job. He had some notes on everything. And then there's another house. I was like, holy cow. These guys are way cleaner than I am. It's like, talk about like spotless and just in good shape. And so like if you're not having any like repairs and things going on, just know that it's just accumulating. And sometimes the accumulation is worse because
Kevin Clayson (31:52.38)
Yeah.
Steve (32:09.41)
the worse the house begins to look and feel, the worse it gets treated by the tenant and things pile up. And if there's a little leak and it's not being taken care of, then that can be the worst thing. Water is the worst offender of all potential damages. And so just know that, like keep that in mind. If you've not seen anything or heard anything or had any repairs, don't jump up and down for joy just yet. Do a little bit of, do a little bit of
due diligence and make sure that your tenant, mean, make sure your property manager is getting in there and checking it out and that they're providing you with the evidence that everything is good to go. And then if there's nothing going on, you just have this amazing tenant, then go ahead and jump up and down and be like, sweet, we're gonna keep those tenants forever.
Kevin Clayson (32:53.125)
Right.
Kevin Clayson (32:56.72)
Yeah, because deferred maintenance does not mean no maintenance. That means it's being deferred and sometimes the, you know, the Piper comes calling. I don't think that's a phrase, but you know, the bill comes due when you're in a tenant turn, you know, one tenants moving out, a new one's coming in or you're looking to sell the property or something like that. And it's like, holy cow.
Steve (33:16.247)
Yeah.
Kevin Clayson (33:24.314)
I got hit with this multi-thousand dollar bill, what's going on? I would say, along with Steve's best practices, if I had to add one to the list, it would be what Steve just mentioned and what I talked about. Shift your perspective to where you are staying in the loop. You know what's going on. You're excited to see that there's movement on the property. You're excited when there's little maintenance issues because you know the property's being taken care of, the tenants are being taken care of, which...
bodes well for the long-term benefit of you and your property. And so it's just one of those things. Do the things that Steve talked about. Get into the portal, contact Nick if you're with SPM, talk to your property manager, get your properties inspected, go in the portal, see what's going on, take a look and realize that there is activity because I'm telling you, when you just kind of stop thinking about it and you just go,
check after check after check, great, I haven't heard anybody, no news is good news. Then all of a sudden when an issue does come up that you have to be notified about, your brain will begin to believe that investment was not a good investment because you have this bill for this, that or the other. It's important that you stay away from that mentality because we all know that over the long run, these properties will crush it for you.
if you're doing the sorts of things that we're talking about and you're working with quality management and you're buying quality properties and that's what we do at DFI. And so with that, I think this is a great episode. I hope that these tips, tricks, hints, best practices are helpful to you. I hope that you'll jump in to your portals, you'll talk to Nick or your property manager, you'll be in the loop and you'll start to look at things maybe through a slightly different lens and continue to enjoy this wealth.
that you are creating day after day, month after month, year after year, because real estate is awesome. So with that, Steve, thanks so much, man. It's a good podcast.
Steve (35:31.81)
Yeah, that was great. It's good to see you again.
Kevin Clayson (35:32.826)
All right, everybody, we'll see you. Talk to you soon. Bye bye.
Steve (35:35.64)
Kavderevan, bye.