Ashley:
How do you pick the right market as a new investor? Today we’re answering questions just like this to help all of our rookie investors make sense of real estate investing
Tony:
From making sure your contractors aren’t overcharging to knowing how to price your property. This episode could be exactly what you need to help you make your next.
Ashley:
This is the Real Estate Rookie podcast. I am Ashley Kehr.
Tony:
And I’m Tony j Robinson. And with that, let’s get into today’s first question. So our first question today comes from Oscar and Oscar says, is it unusual to ask your property management company to get multiple bids for repair work? I’ve always found that contractor pricing can vary significantly, and getting a few estimates helps me make a more informed decision. In this case, I’m getting some pushback from my management company after requesting a second bid on repairs. Just curious, how do others handle this? Is it standard to expect multiple bids or am I a crazy out of state investor who has no idea what he’s doing, which also may be true? So fair question, Oscar and I know what the experience is like for me, Ashley being a long distance investor, but you’ve actually got a lot more experience here. So what’s your take? Is Oscar in the right for wanting his PM to get multiple bids or is he a crazy out-of-state investor?
Ashley:
So I have two different takes. So when I was running a property management company, our rule was always three bids for over five things. That would be over $5,000. If it was a plumbing thing that would be $200 or whatever, we would not go out and bid out different plumbers for capital improvements mostly, or apartment turnovers that needed a remodel, things like that. We always bid out. But when I had a property management company, I also got pushback. They would do it. They would also take consideration as to my preferred vendors that I would want to use. But it was a very difficult process and there was a…