Think-Realty-Magazine-July-August-2016

to having a single-family home and are trying to simplify their lives and not have as big a house or yard. But they’re going to want some of the common luxuries that come with a single-family home without the headaches of a big lawn or a yard to maintain. How can you select markets where prop- erty owners are likely to be profitable? It’s obviously knowing your cap rates and being well-informed on the local market and what trends are going on. I think there are always areas that will drive higher rental demand. For exam- ple, is it near a teaching hospital where there are professionals who are typically renters? Is it near a military base? Those obviously would generate more of a rental turnover over a couple of years. So, those are always easy, bankable kind of markets to look for. It’s hard to single out each market because, quite frankly, it seems like

risk if you do this poorly. You can expose yourself on a lot of different fronts if you’re not complying with local municipal regulations. You could be incurring fines for not doing things correctly. You could put yourself at risk by being sued by your tenant for not complying with fair housing. There are so many exposure points, and so it’s kind of “proceed with caution” if you’re going to manage your own assets. Correct. That’s where we look at leg- islation and things that don’t show up on the radar as much to individuals. It’s almost “ignorance is bliss” until there’s a big problem. Look at the percentage of people who sell their own home. It’s very small because it’s pretty complex, has some liability, and that The consequences could be high without the proper know-how.

there’s almost little sub-niches within each market that have opportunities. Ten percent of the homes on average are rentals. So if you talk about a Phoenix market, where the population is several million, you can almost create your own sub-niche within that. Obviously, school districts play a very heavy role. Typically, for people looking for single-family homes, education is usually at the top of the list. I would look at ideal guidelines rather than single out a market because we see strength in every market we’re in. It’s hard to say if there’s any market where we’re going, “Oh. This one’s really outpacing it.” They all have their own unique elements. What’s your best advice for being a great property manager? Education. It’s not only buying well and understanding the market dynamic because if you have an asset, you get educated very quickly. There’s a lot of

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