Broker's Corner with Tanya Chappell | August 2019
Secure Investments Realty and Management
Happy fall y’all!!
Are y’all ready for this year‘s hurricane season? Something tells me it might be a doozie. Could it be all the standing water that doesn’t drain off as quickly being the aquifer appears to be fairly replenished? It’s probably also those buckets of rain that come down leaving us with 2 to 3 inches of water or more after a few hours of rain. Don’t get me wrong I absolutely love storms. I think it’s all very exciting and beautiful. I’m just a little concerned about where all this water is going to go if we get a hurricane this season. Oh but wait, speak of the devil as I write this a Hurricane is now headed our way. Hurricane Dorian! The ground is already saturated, the rivers are high right now. Steinhatchee on the gulf had major flooding recently. North Florida is still recovering from Hurricane Michael due to delayed Federal Funding.
Now is a really good time to check your insurance and make sure it’s all up-to-date including your flood insurance. Don't think just because you are not on a body of water your neighborhood won't flood. All this new building leaves the water few places to go. Thankfully as of last year, FEMA is allowing more independent insurance companies to write and bundle flood policies so the cost for flood insurance has come down. But be sure you’re going with not the cheapest, but the most reputable. It does you no good when you can’t get them to respond to your claim. I included a handy link for a hurricane preparedness checklist in our helpful links above.
Along with a slight feel of fall in the air, there is the feeling of less pressure in our property management world. We just finished with what we call our busy “turn” season. It’s that spring through summertime when it seems like all the world is moving. Granted I no longer have to keep track of 75 leases ending on the same day like I did 20 years ago when all of Gainesville moved on July 31 but it’s still a very busy time.
This seasons turn was complicated a little by loosing our main handyman due to illness. My brother, Michael Byrne has been my main handyman since I started Secure. Michael is currently recovering from a double lung transplant. Thank God! The outlook for his full recovery is great! We are very blessed. of course, it will be hard work and constant maintenance but we are so grateful. We did a brief run with Latchel Maintenance services and after finding that was not a good fit, we began working with First Mark Maintenance services. Adam who runs First Mark is a great guy who continually focuses on solving all of our handyman repair needs with a high level of integrity and good customer service. There were a few bumps in the road along the way as we adjusted and learned how to work thru this busy season together smoothly. There’s nothing like throwing a vendor into the fire and their rising to the occasion. We are deeply thankful to Adam and his team for being there for us and ironing out any wrinkles that occurred along the way. I admire Adam for seeing our need and seizing the opportunity and conforming where needed to make a very mutually beneficial business relationship. He is well on his way to being equipped to provide us with a full “turn-key” type service for our properties.
Adam is not the only vendor we have. We work with 2 to 3 of each different type of vendor. Most of the vendors we work with are small companies that I have worked with for many decades. Having nurtured a full list of qualified vendors is a big part of our success. Without them, we could not do a good job of taking care of our owner's investments.
Of course, there’s no way we could accomplish all this without our awesome team of Tianna and Ashley. They too were kind of thrown into the fire this turnover season as they started working with us just as the busy season was cranking up. Doesn’t It always seem to be the case that in property management your employee turnover happens right before the seasonal turn over of properties? I know you other Property Managers can relate. I love working with Tianna and Ashley. They fully own their positions and are eager to learn and exceed mine and our clients and customers expectations. Going thru our first turn season together was made easier because of their sincere desire to resolve problems quickly and thoroughly and taking complete ownership of their position and duties. In property management, there will inevitably be problems. That’s the nature of the business. We had many roof replacements, floods, rehabs, large tree removals, hot water heater leaks and replacements, massive amount of lawns suffering drought and difficulties dealing with the various homeowners associations over the dead lawns, air conditioners going out in the evenings and on weekends not to mention the mini renovations that get done as properties turn over and new tenants move in. Thank you so much ladies for your desire to learn and excel in this crazy business!
Our Investor services have also been very busy this year with handling several fix and flips. Having a strong property management background makes It a natural fit for us to work with homeowners and investors that need help with fixing up or renovating their home before renting or selling. A lot of that activity also happens in the spring thru summer months. You can view some of these before and after videos on our YouTube playlist click here.
Like our feature article mentions; having someone you can trust to supervise your remodel that can also pick good vendors, trending materials/products and colors and coordinate it to all come together seamlessly for the property owner and timely for the market has become a real joy for us. It satisfies that desire I have to make owning investment property easier and less stressful for those that brave this sometimes scary and frustrating path to wealth that I love so much. I would never classify it as easy. It’s definitely challenging and frustrating at times as is anything worthwhile. I do find it very rewarding when you have owners share such positive comments like this one from Mr. Hertz this month; “We have worked with several property management companies in Jacksonville and none of them have ever met our expectations. We are getting ready to change companies up there again. You all seem to always surpass our expectations.” It’s comments like that that gives me tingles and makes me feel like I’m right where I’m supposed to be in my career. Nope, not the easiest career but very, very satisfying.
I look forward to "Normal Season". I would say slow season but we are never, ever slow. It just gets more normal and manageable in the late fall and winter. We plan to take advantage of this time by improving systems, technology, and communications. Fun time!!! You Florida folk stay safe during the storm.
PS. I included some video of our fun quick trip to upstate New York and Canada. What a blast we had at Niagara Falls and a few other falls in New York
Psssssttttt!!!
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Our featured article provides tips and insight to our current and future investors looking to fix and flip property or renovate and rent! Both options are lucrative and if you have interest in these types of purchases please get in contact with us. You can reach out to us via our contact page, the sidebar contact form on this article or by texting and or calling 352-478-8029.
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