Peter Lohmann's Podcast
00:52:16 · Matt Luke, Peter Lohmann
[00:52:16] S1: Correct. [00:52:16] S0: Yep. And how about security deposit? Because what I find... We also try to push everyone to do online only, but for security deposit, you know, there's issues with that because they can reverse it, and now suddenly they're in... Moved in with no deposit and things like that. [00:52:32] S1: Mhmm. So I haven't had an issue with that to this point. Okay. Obligo is used about 30% of our tenants use Obligo, And then the other security deposit that we would collect manually would be done through AppFolio. So they're either paying with credit card, debit card, or e check payment for their deposit. [00:52:52] S0: And that's all just through AppFolio? Correct. It's at... Or Oblago. Yeah. [00:52:57] S1: Yep. Okay. There's one other tool that I have thought of that we haven't touched on is Z Inspector. [00:53:04] S0: Okay.
00:53:04 · Peter Lohmann, Matt Luke
[00:53:04] S0: Okay. [00:53:04] S1: So I use Z Inspect, a vendor to do maintenance checks and move in and move out maintenance checks. And we do that, the ongoing maintenance checks every six months and that vendor gets a work order, recurring work order for that unit or property in Property Meld, then they go and do the inspection with z inspector and I've set up each property at the way you walk through each one is exactly as it is in in z inspector to make it as simple as possible for that inspector. And then when they flag an item in Z Inspector, it then creates a work order in Property Meld and assigns the vendor. So in Z Inspector, that work order is flagged as damage, goes into Property Meld and includes information about that work order and then links to the photos from Z Inspector in Property Meld to give the vendor a little bit more context as to what you're getting into. So instead of having to take flagged items in an inspection and manually enter them, I pushed hard on Z Inspector and Property Meld to work together [00:54:12] S0: Cool. [00:54:12] S1: To get that integrated and then also assign the tenant so that the tenant's notified as well too about any issues that we're gonna come back to take care of. [00:54:22] S0: And is the tenant, like, given the option to fix it themselves, or you just... You do it and you charge them?
00:54:22 · Peter Lohmann, Matt Luke
[00:54:22] S0: And is the tenant, like, given the option to fix it themselves, or you just... You do it and you charge them? [00:54:28] S1: Yeah. So if it is tenant damage, we call that process a home assist. It's a nice way of telling them it's tenant repair. So we call it a home assist. The vendor who does the inspection will type in home assist in the work order, And then I have a tag in property mail that triggers a message back to the tenant that says, hey, this is a Home Assist. We're gonna line up a vendor. You have fourteen days to do it on your own and upload pictures so we know that it was done. Otherwise, the vendor will be coming and there's gonna be pass that bill along to you. [00:55:04] S0: Love it. That's really cool. I wanted to ask about the wealth adviser title that you use and is all over your website. Share a little more about why you went that route and kinda how that impacts your conversations with owners?
00:55:04 · Peter Lohmann, Matt Luke
[00:55:04] S0: Love it. That's really cool. I wanted to ask about the wealth adviser title that you use and is all over your website. Share a little more about why you went that route and kinda how that impacts your conversations with owners? [00:55:18] S1: Yeah. I mean, I feel for myself, I've been working towards building wealth through real estate, and I have a good understanding of how to do that. But when we're managing property for somebody, a lot of what we do is really helping them build their investment and grow their investment and make sure that it's the best for them. So more than just taking phone calls and handling maintenance and getting tenants in, when we do the preventative maintenance, when we make sure the property is in great shape, we're making sure their investment is getting a good return. So yes, there's a property management component to what we do, but there's also a wealth building component that is tied to property management. And that helps our owners feel like we've got a big... Got their back. We're taking care of them, and it's more than just making sure that the tenant is paying rent on time.
00:56:15 · Peter Lohmann, Matt Luke
[00:56:15] S0: Love that. And it's, you know, it's very clear. If you go on your website and you look at your team, you know, more than half of the team members, you would expect, like, property manager or director meetings, whatever, but they say wealth adviser. And I imagine that helps you in your conversations with owners, helps the owners zoom out from the day to day toilet clog repair cost and understand that you're helping them build long term wealth. Let's look at this on a twenty year time horizon, not just this this month's statement. So I... I'm really into that approach. I think that's... It takes it a step further. Like, we all talk about asset management, but it's really taken it a step further, and you're... You found a way to sort of remind owners in a subtle way that there's more going on here than just, you know, collecting the rent. [00:57:03] S1: Right. We also have the AppFolio investor manager tool. Mhmm. And so that software, if the owner chooses to have us handle the asset management, we migrate them from that AppFolio property manager to the investor tool so that they're seeing a high... Higher level view of their investment and not getting those day to day notices or owner packets because they're trusting us to handle that part and they're looking at... We're moving them from property owner to property investor. [00:57:37] S0: Okay. I'm super into that. And tell me a little more about that. What do you handle for them, for those owners that you don't for your normal clients? And then how do you... Do you charge them differently? Or
00:57:37 · Peter Lohmann, Matt Luke
[00:57:37] S0: Okay. I'm super into that. And tell me a little more about that. What do you handle for them, for those owners that you don't for your normal clients? And then how do you... Do you charge them differently? Or [00:57:48] S1: Yeah. So there is an add on percentage for handling the asset management side, and then that would include things like paying the mortgage, the taxes, the insurance, helping them get their tax... The information pulled together for taxes, making sure that they're... Have the proper LLCs set up. If it's time to refinance and pull the money out, what are how are we going to do that to leverage more properties? How what kind of return on equity are you getting? So we're diving into a more investor focused side of the process. And because anybody who owns a property is going to have to go home and do bookkeeping. They're going to have to pay the taxes. They're going to have to find insurance. And so we provide the resource to take those steps off their plate. And a lot of owners when they come in don't even understand that like, wow, there's a lot to do, even as an owner outside of the property management side that they may just take for granted and feel like they can either do it on their own or have been doing it correctly. And I try to show them that there is another way to outsource those components as well and let somebody who's been doing it for a long time help you make better decisions.