Thomas Martin-BROKER, PROPERTY MANAGER Property Manager in Sacramento, Folsom

Investors Choice Property Management (ICPM) is a small, service-based property management company serving the greater Sacramento area, as well as Folsom, Natomas, Elk Grove, Lincoln and Rocklin. Our business is 95% referral based, we do NO Sales, and property management is our only business.

With a phone call, email or fax, you can refer your client for services they will thank you for, earn a $400 referral fee, and develop a supply of future sales leads. because we do NO Sales, we will gladly refer your clients back to you should they express a desire to buy or sell at any point in the future.

Your referred clients will enjoy our personalized approach to property management, which emphasizes custom service over unchecked growth. While other companies strive to grow at any cost (often sacrificing customer service), ICPM remains focused and effective for our clients' benefit.

We charge NO Markup on Repairs. Clients may choose to use their own vendors or ours to service their property's maintenance needs. Many companies charge significant markups on maintenance, anywhere from 10-20% in some cases. These costs (often hidden) can make the difference between an investment property breaking even versus becoming a "money pit". In some cases, the enormous profits made on the maintenance end of management actually outweigh the monthly management fees.

If you or someone you know has an investment property in need of expert care, we'd appreciate your referral. All properties are personally managed by a licensed Broker that stays involved with every aspect of property management.

To all of you that made our success possible, a sincere thank you for your support. We look forward to an amazing 2009, despite all media outlet reports to the contrary.

Investors Choice Property Management (ICPM) manages 105 single-family units with the care and diligence our Landlord clients deserve, in a manner that has them referring their friends, co-workers and family members. With over 16 years professional property management experience, our business is 95% word-of-mouth referral, we do NO Sales, and pay among the highest referral fees in the industry for management accounts. Visit our website at www.investorschoicepm.com today for more details, and find out what we mean when we say:

“Experience Property Management the Way it Should Be.”

Well, it has been an interesting ride to be sure, but we made it through another year. While we did not set any records for business growth, we met all of our goals for the year. In this market, that is something in and of itself.

My family is happy and healthy. Our clients are satisfied that their properties are being well cared for. We owe a debt of gratitude to all the agents that made our success possible. Our business is still 95% word-of-mouth referral, and word has definitely gotten around Sacramento that there is a great (and small) service-based property management company in town that is raising the standard of excellence for our industry.

Our $400 per client referral fee has been a decent attraction, but most of the agent I talk to say the fee is incidental. "Just take care of my clients" is the most common comment. Some agents even refuse to accept the referral fee, though we still donate $50 per referral transaction to a local charity.

Once again, to all of you that made our success possible, a sincere thank you for your support. We look forward to an amazing 2009, despite all media outlet reports to the contrary.

Investors Choice Property Management (ICPM) manages 105 single-family units with the care and diligence our Landlord clients deserve, in a manner that has them referring their friends, co-workers and family members. With over 16 years professional property management experience, our business is 95% word-of-mouth referral, we do NO Sales, and pay among the highest referral fees in the industry for management accounts. Visit our website at www.investorschoicepm.com today for more details, and find out what we mean when we say:

“Experience Property Management the Way it Should Be.”

As Broker of a small, service based property management company serving Landlords in the greater Sacramento area, we do our best to stay at the top of the learning curve.

I recently attended a class offered through a professional organization called NARPM (National Association of Residential Property Managers). While much of the material covered we found to be derivative of previous legal classes attended, we always come away with at least a few valuable pieces of information. I was happy to see many of my peers in the industry in attendance, though being "sardined" into a room designed for 40 occupants when 55 showed up was a bit stuffy. It was a small price to pay for our clients to get that much more knowledge from their broker.

Boiling down 3 hours of listening to an attorney lecture, we came away with the following (there was more, but these were the bullet points):

1. Pools must be equipped with a safety drain (following an unfortunate incident somewhere involving a disembowelment via someone being trapped by an unsafe pool drain).

2. Landlords and Property Managers alike must take appropriate steps to guard against ID theft by having concise credit screening procedures whereby any and all addresses listed on a credit report are accounted for.

3. In an attempt to stem the flow of frivolous "drive-by lawsuits" filed in the name of ADA compliance, Architectural firms are offering ADA compliance inspections for businesses that feel the need for such measures.

4. Victims of domestic violence (abuse, stalking, etc.) have the right to break their lease under a new law in effect. While they can be held to a 30-day notice along with charges for any normal turnover maintenance costs (less wear and tear), they cannot be charged any penalty (advertising, leasing fee, etc.).

As anticipated, we spent entirely too much time talking about the foreclosure market and how to handle any one of 100 different scenarios involving property management, tenant/landlord relations and what happens during the foreclosure process.

If you or you client(s) have a question about property management, tenant/landlord relations, rental trends or rates for a particular area, give us a call or email as we are happy to assist in any way possible.

Investors Choice Property Management (ICPM) manages 100 single-family units with the care and diligence our Landlord clients deserve, in a manner that has them referring their friends, co-workers and family members. With over 16 years professional property management experience, our business is 95% word-of-mouth referral, we do NO Sales, and pay among the highest referral fees in the industry for management accounts. Visit our website at www.investorschoicepm.com today for more details, and find out what we mean when we say:

“Experience Property Management the Way it Should Be.”

My wife and I have a friend that is struggling in her serviced-based profession (sound familiar?). She does nails- manicures and fills mostly, but her business has been dropping off in the past year due to clients tightening their budgets and doing away with some luxury services.

As a Sacramento area property manager, I can relate to this plight. Although we appear to be weathering this economic cycle quite well, still meeting our growth quotas each month, I would be lying if I said I was not concerned over the possibility of our clients deciding that management services are a luxury. While we consider ourselves as vital to the success of our clients' investment properties, our profession is often misunderstood. So much of what we do for our landlord clients goes unnoticed, behind the scenes, invisible.

But I digress- this story is about how we decided to help our friend to help herself. Each week at the local SAR meeting, there is someone giving away a small gift as an incentive to come tour the listing they are pitching. It is almost always a gas card, coffee card or restaurant gift card. That got me to thinking...how often do these gifts generate new leads for the giver?

I decided to try an experiment. You see, most of the women who attend our local SAR meeting get their nails done, and I know from conversations with my wife and business partner that clients often talk at length with their salon person about business and personal issues. These same women are also real estate Agents, Brokers, Realtors, just the kind of people that we would like to get management referrals from.

We are purchasing between $600-1000 in gift certificates good for a free manicure and nails done, and giving these away at our Realtor meetings. Our sincere hope is that we can help to regrow our friend's client base (she really is a wonderful person) while in turn generating some word-of-mouth referrals for both of our businesses.

My questions to fellow real estate professionals is this- when was the last time you ever got referral business from a Starbucks, a restaurant or a gas station? If not, why not try some creative marketing with other serviced-based individuals, even those that have nothing whatsoever to do with your industry?

I am curious to know how this turns out and will report on the experiment's success, or minor success. Because either way we are helping out a friend, failure is not an option nor an outcome.

Investors Choice Property Management (ICPM) manages 100 single-family units with the care and diligence our Landlord clients deserve, in a manner that has them referring their friends, co-workers and family members. With over 16 years professional property management experience, our business is 95% word-of-mouth referral, we do NO Sales, and pay among the highest referral fees in the industry for management accounts. Visit our website at www.investorschoicepm.com today for more details, and find out what we mean when we say:

“Experience Property Management the Way it Should Be.”

We accepted another client today, who left their current Sacramento Property Manager after 7+ years of service. The culprit? Poor communication stemming from a pet policy.

Our new Landlord client has a duplex on a quiet cul-de-sac in Sacramento. One side has a long term tenant that recently had to get rid of an unauthorized pet (a pit bull). The other side had a tenant that wanted to purchase a pet themselves (a lab). Rather that discuss this with the Landlord, the now ex-property manager denied the request, and the tenant subsequently vacated the property during the slowest time of year for re-renting.

One simple phone call would have resolved the issue and retained the tenancy. As a Sacramento area Property Manager for the past 16+ years, I have seen this scenario play out in some form or another time and time again. Less experienced managers will often use blanket policies (i.e. if the owner says no to this dog, he must mean no to all dogs), rather than take the extra time to clarify a client's position on issues.

The moral of this story- communication is key to the success of a company. Policies and procedures and iron-clad contracts are fine, but they are a poor substitute for good old fashioned hands-on service. Sure, I might have a piece of paper that says I can "call all of the shots" for a Landlord on their rental unit, but I choose to keep the client involved with the process. As a real estate professional, I feel it is incumbent upon me to help my clients make sense of the tangled mess that is Landlord/Tenant relations.

Investors Choice Property Management (ICPM) manages over 100 single-family units with the care and diligence our Landlord clients deserve, in a manner that has them referring their friends, co-workers and family members. With over 16 years professional property management experience, our business is 95% word-of-mouth referral, we do NO Sales, and pay among the highest referral fees in the industry for management accounts. Visit our website at www.investorschoicepm.com today for more details, and find out what we mean when we say: “Experience Property Management the Way it Should Be.”