Peter Lohmann's Podcast
00:47:01 · Peter Lohmann, Adam Willis
[00:47:01] S1: Horse trading. [00:47:02] S0: Yeah. Horse trading. And then the last one is, like, quarterly rocks. 25% of their bonus is based off quarterly rocks. So we've gotten really clear on, like, quantifying those are. Because those really can move the company forward, and we wanna compensate people for going above and beyond and doing their quarterly rocks well. [00:47:17] S1: Nothing will encourage you to identify as smart rock like compensation being tied to the completion of that rock. Very specific. [00:47:26] S0: Yeah. And they earn them. Sometimes they miss. And when they miss, they say, this is why you missed. Yeah. And that's uncomfortable. [00:47:33] S1: Yeah. I bet. Yep. Alright. So you had a great note here about AI AI empowered tenants. So we talk a lot about how empowered we are as businesses and business owners with AI. Tenants are coming back, you said, filing an unusual amount of small claims lawsuits about security deposit dispositions and complaints around fair housing. I know my team is dealing with this as well. Right. What do we do about this? [00:47:58] S0: It's it's so tricky because, I mean, AI, your chat, your Claude is like, Adam, you're so smart. Peter, you're so smart. I think, oh, that's a great idea. Telling that to everybody. [00:48:10] S1: It could be a serial killer, and they'll be like, yes. I love this plan.
00:48:10 · Peter Lohmann, Adam Willis
[00:48:10] S1: It could be a serial killer, and they'll be like, yes. I love this plan. [00:48:13] S0: Yeah. And and so we're we're running into that. There's... Well, like, we're double digits on the amount of fair housing lawsuits and the number of Yeah. Security We're winning them all. That's the problem. It's like, people are like, here we go. Like, we're suing you because you discriminated on x y z, and they're filing something with the, you know, labor division With no attorneys. Us. No. This is all pro se. [00:48:40] S1: This is all pro se. There's no ability to even get, like, you know, win their attorney's fees back or anything like... [00:48:45] S0: Oh. Yeah. No. And then security deposit disputes, we're... So we're double digits between both of security deposit disputes and small claims, and then also little hearings saying, hey. You're under investigation for discriminate. We're dealing neither of those. What to do about them? I don't know because it was like, AI can do so much for us, but, like, what is it doing to us as well? And I'm like, it's really creating a massive drain on our court system, but more importantly, myself, my team members, morale, just the trauma that you have to go through in order to settle these things, and just all the fact finding and going through and submitting everything to the courts just for them to say, hey, you guys are doing really great. There's nothing to see here. Like, that is a major problem for us. It's so bad.
00:48:45 · Adam Willis, Peter Lohmann
[00:48:45] S0: Oh. Yeah. No. And then security deposit disputes, we're... So we're double digits between both of security deposit disputes and small claims, and then also little hearings saying, hey. You're under investigation for discriminate. We're dealing neither of those. What to do about them? I don't know because it was like, AI can do so much for us, but, like, what is it doing to us as well? And I'm like, it's really creating a massive drain on our court system, but more importantly, myself, my team members, morale, just the trauma that you have to go through in order to settle these things, and just all the fact finding and going through and submitting everything to the courts just for them to say, hey, you guys are doing really great. There's nothing to see here. Like, that is a major problem for us. It's so bad. [00:49:33] S1: You ever hear your BDM or or just talking around the industry and someone will be like, yeah, man. Like, all the other companies, all I hear is, like, no one can ever get a hold of anyone there. Right? You ever hear that complaint? Hear it all the time. The older I get and the more longer I've been in this business, when someone says, yeah, x y z company, I can never get a hold of anyone over there. And I'm thinking to myself, yeah, I think I know why. Because the longer you've been in this business, the more you're like, let me make myself unavailable, uncontactable. Because the only thing that's coming through that other end of that phone or that email address is AI generated lawsuits and [00:50:18] S0: Yeah.
00:50:18 · Adam Willis, Peter Lohmann
[00:50:18] S0: Yeah. [00:50:19] S1: Complaints about security deposits. And so it's kinda like the more I hear those complaints, I'm like, yeah. I get why people are, like, unreachable in this business because no one's ever calling you to say, I think you did a great job today. Thank you for maintaining a safe and habitable home. My family's so happy here. Like, I appreciate your landscape. Or, like, never. So I think the inevitable, like, last third of every property management company's life is just, like, close down the phones and emails and just do the bare minimum. [00:50:49] S0: Well, what's unique is that when you do get that person on the phone and they can't generate these tirade emails to you, they're actually, like, a lot of times pretty reasonable. You can be like, hey. What do you really want? Like, I understand that you went on this diet trip. K. Cool. I'm... I just wanna have a conversation. Like, what's up? Like, what what do you want? And all of sudden, they're like, oh, they're they're actually human being again. They're not this, like, tyrannical [00:51:16] S1: Yeah.
00:51:16 · Peter Lohmann, Adam Willis
[00:51:16] S1: Yeah. [00:51:16] S0: Awful person. They're actually can be really reasonable, but they... When they get so... Human nature, when people attack here and get really aggressive, you have no other choice but to become defensive. If you're really mature, you can get really curious. Right? And, like, if we can get away from, like, us constantly being so defensive and always feel like we're under attack and just saying, I just wanna get curious with you, mister resident. Hey, homeowner. I just wanna get curious. Like, what's the real issue for you? And you can actually connect on a human level. So everyone who's avoiding this, you're actually probably making it worse. Oh, 100%. [00:51:53] S1: Yeah. [00:51:53] S0: We were in... We went to court. So case in point, we were in small claims court two weeks ago, three weeks ago. I showed up. I had two other directors there. So this meeting is easily $600 an hour for us. We went pro se. Tenant shows up. Wait. How does he [00:52:07] S1: do pro se? [00:52:09] S0: We don't have to. Our our attorneys are like... When we show up to small claims court and we come out and we have to teach these judges who are attorneys that are just doing some volunteer work, When we show up, it looks really bad. You're the big bad landlord. So a lot of times, we'll go just sell low. And this is, like [00:52:28] S1: not a property... This is for a property you don't own, though? [00:52:31] S0: No. We represent the homeowners in court. [00:52:33] S1: I don't think that's allowed, my boy. [00:52:35] S0: No. We do it all the time.
00:52:35 · Adam Willis, Peter Lohmann
[00:52:35] S0: No. We do it all the time. [00:52:37] S1: That's crazy. You're you're, like, practicing law. [00:52:40] S0: Well, they're suing us. [00:52:42] S1: Yeah. But you're you're just an you're just a you're just an agent on behalf of your principal. [00:52:47] S0: That's a great perspective. I would love to not go to court, or I would love to not go to court on behalf of my clients. But we've been doing it for forty plus years. I think most property management companies in the state of Utah are doing it that way as well. [00:53:00] S1: I bet you're right. And I can see why that is effective for the reason you articulated. Definitely not allowed in Ohio. And I haven't been in a courtroom for this business in six or eight years. [00:53:12] S0: That's fantastic, Peter. Like, we... I need to reflect on that and be like, hey, you know what? We can't represent you in court. Here's an attorney. You gotta pay them [00:53:20] S1: Oh, yeah. [00:53:20] S0: $400 an hour, 650 an hour Yes. To represent. And I think they might be a lot more willing to settle. I'm thinking out loud here. I know we're supposed to like, I'm an expert in this too. No. No. We're all [00:53:31] S1: figuring it out.